Should You Pay to Join a Business Opportunity?
by Vishal P. Rao
Published on this site: September 8th, 2004
If you spend any time online, surfing the Internet, or even
if you spend any time reading magazines that deal with business
topics, you will more than likely run across countless business
opportunity offerings.
Business opportunities are in essence, "turn-key" operations,
where a major company, or even a smaller company, is offering what
are basically franchises or memberships in the company. Any person
that joins, becomes
entitled to use the company name, company marketing materials, and
of course, company reputation. It is therefore, an easy way for
many who have no inclination to start their own business, or who
have no ideas of their own,
to start a home-based business.
There are, however, as in anything, "pitfalls" and "advantages"
to joining any type of business opportunity. Many times, one of
the "pitfalls" is the fact that there is a membership
price to pay when joining, which depending upon
the business opportunity, can be quite a staggering fee. It is wise,
then, before paying any fees to join a business opportunity to research
and ascertain the following aspects of the opportunity:
- How long is the business opportunity "in business"?
Longevity is important. You don't want to join a biz op that's
"here today, gone tomorrow", taking your fees with it!
- How do other members feel about the business opportunity? If
you can speak with other members, this would help immensely in
any decisions.
- How much money overall can you expect to make from the business
opportunity within the first month? You should at least be able
to recover any fees you've spent within the first few months.
- How many others belong to the business opportunity? Too much
competition with other members will make it difficult to make
sales, while too few members indicates that it is not a popular
business opportunity, so how can it be sold?
- How often will you be paid? Some only pay when an associate
reaches a certain amount of revenue (which if you're a newbie
will tie up your money quite conceivably for a while).
- Are there any "undisclosed" extra fees, such as fees
for checks or other payment methods? This will cut into net revenues.
- Is there a money-back guarantee? If you don't succeed, will
the business opportunity supply at least a partial refund?
- Does the business opportunity supply mentors and marketing
materials that can be used? It's easier to start and maintain
a business opportunity with these components already in place.
- How well known is the business opportunity? Whether it's online
or offline, some business opportunities are "household"
names and are easier to promote and sell as a result.
- What is the turnover rate in the business opportunity? Those
that have a large turnover rate among members are usually poor
choices. Turnover means simply the number of members that leave
the biz op within each month. A large turnover usually indicates
that members are not happy with their experiences.
- How much overall does it cost? You need to be able to comfortably
afford the fee of the business opportunity, or you will start
out "in the red" which is not a good way to start any
home-based business.
- How much control does the corporate entity have? If everything
is controlled by the corporate entity (the "home" office
of the business opportunity, so to speak), your creativity and
the way you market may be hampered severely.
There are many business opportunities from which to pick. Everything
from larger scale offline ventures, to smaller scale online ventures
exists. Research into all the above is necessary when choosing an
appropriate business opportunity. Fees are sometimes necessary to
cover the costs of shipping and handling, or the costs of the marketing
materials. Others charge fees simply because their "name"
is important to them as they have spent years building their reputation,
and they only want "serious joiners".
There also exist many free opportunities that cost nothing to join
and can be a good way to experiment with marketing and the world
of home-based business.
The choice of whether to pay or not is an individual choice that
should only be made when weighing all possible factors. If in doubt,
simply research and patiently wait a while. After all, the biz op
will always be there tomorrow (if it's a good one)!
Vishal P. Rao is the editor of http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com
- A website dedicated to opportunities, ideas and resources
for starting a home based business. He is also the owner of
the
http://www.work-at-home-forum.com - an online community
of folks who work at home.
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