The Work from Home Farce - Rethinking the Term 'Business Opportunity'

I feel a big guilty today. Why? Because I have found that great article on the HitExchange News
of Jon Olson and I felt I must reprint it here. Even I haven't known better but I do. Speaking of seen that, done that. Yep, that's me! I am sure, you, the valued opportunity seeker, can relate to this sort of stuff, scammed x-times and still falling for another one!

With that I am sooooo glad, I have found PIF4P. Working it hard and it start to pay off! Finally something that is different and doesn't have anything to do with the great article by Tim Whiston I copied and pasted below. And you know, it helps you to promote YOUR business if you've go a genuine and legitimate one, too.

Have a great read and then come back to me. Let's talk, ok?

The Work from Home Farce - Rethinking the Term 'Business Opportunity'

Few people would consider a trip to the casino a lucrative business opportunity. Yet every day on the World Wide Web, thousands of people invest their money into obvious scams claiming to be internet business opportunities.

What comes to your mind when I say 'business opportunity'? This is a broad term that could easily apply to dozens of scenarios.

For example, someone with an interest in running their own restaurant might see a great deal on a piece of commercial property as a business opportunity. And a young person with a pick-up truck and a set of strong garden tools might seize the opportunity to start their own landscaping business.

Of course these are just two quick examples off the top of my head. Not everyone has the investment capital to buy up commercial real estate, or the aptitude for hard physical labor needed to plant large trees and build stone retaining walls.

But there is surely an opportunity for every budget and skill set. Sometimes it just takes a little creativity and open-mindedness to spot a potential venture.

Of course the reality is most people have no desire to be either creative or open-minded. They say they are looking for a business opportunity, but all they really want is a hand out.

Enter the age of farcical work from home "opportunities".

If you spend a significant amount of time surfing the web, you have no doubt seen your share of alleged business opportunities being promoted. In fact, it�s hard to make it through an entire day of being online without seeing phrases like 'turn-key business' or 'proven wealth system' at least a dozen times.

Almost all of these ludicrous programs are built on the premise of recruiting people who pay for the opportunity to make money. These individuals are then required to refer other people to the 'opportunity' in order to accrue commissions.

Some systems use a product or service as the basis of their referral program, i.e. over-priced health products, information products, etc. But quite often the entire business model is based on recruiting new members who then pay a monthly membership fee.

I should point out that any program that relies solely on the membership fees of new recruits to pay existing participants is a blatant ponzi scam. Such systems are illegal in the U.S. and many other nations.

Of course there are ample ways around this in the wonderful world of business law. And numerous companies have found loopholes and technicalities that enable them to operate (often barely) within the legal framework.

But the point of this article is not to debate the law as it concerns the structure of so-called business opportunities. Many programs that are compliant with FTC regulations are still very much scams in the truest sense of the word.

Consider this:

A website promotes a 'business opportunity' to millions of people via the Web. Every individual who decides to join the website and participate in the perceived opportunity is required to pay at least a nominal fee, and usually on a recurring basis.

According to research compiled by the FTC and numerous independent consumer research firms, approximately 1% (and less according to some studies) of everyone who participates in this type of business model ever sees a profit.

But what about all the money being paid into these work-from-home opportunity sites by millions of people every year? How can it be that less than 1% of all these people ever see a return?

It�s simple. This is exactly how these systems are designed to work.

The individuals and organizations that found these dubious opportunity systems and then mass market them to a population of gullible, lazy, and unimaginative cyber citizens enjoy multi-million dollar profits.

In reality, operating a work-from-home opportunity site is much like running a casino. Lots of people are going to pay to play, as it were, but almost nobody is going to leave the floor with any money. Close to 100% of the revenue put into the system by the participants is absorbed by the business owners.

So the only people exploiting a true business opportunity are those who conceive, launch, and promote these programs in the first place. The members who participate in the system are, at best, independent sales representatives and, at worst, suckers caught in the con game.

This is such an obvious fact that it should require no emphasis. Yet people continue year after year to dump their hard-earned money into business opportunity scams, and then whine and moan about their losses after the fact.

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Tim Whiston is a full-time entrepreneur and Internet marketer. He assists small businesses in his local area and Internet entrepreneurs with the development of a profitable web presence. Check out Tim's Internet Marketing Course for more great info.