How to Determine If a Work-at-Home Business Opportunity is a Scam

OK so everyone wants to work at home, but everyone also believes that the majority of opportunities out there are scams. Everyone is afraid to win and afraid to lose! However, the fact is that many of the programs you find through a personal referral are not scams but rather hard to succeed at. The word "SCAM" is way overused and should be reserved for companies that take your money and run. Not everyone is cut out for a MLM (Multi-level marketing) plan. In this case you will earn money by selling a product or service and you will also ask others to join in the business to increase your earnings.

My first experiences with misleading job ads was in the local newspaper classifieds. Have you ever gone to an interview with a group of "applicants" are given a sales pitch to join? Obviously misleading! Before the Internet boom, I had joined a few different MLMs only to fail and lose money. I'm sure that someone succeeded with those companies, but it wasn't me. I have found the same trends on-line at WAH sites but in a new format.

So how do you tell if an opportunity isn't right for you? First of all I always recommend using your intuition, but when all else fails, use my scoring system. When each of the following characteristics is present in the literature or website, score one point.

1. On the first page of the website, you can not find information on what product or service is being sold.

2. The font is huge, flashy and the web page is set up unprofessionally and may appear more like a blog.

3. You have to fill in your name, phone number or email address in order to get more information.

4. The main web page only talks about the benefits of working at home. Don't we all know that already? This is wasted space!

5. When you try to exit the site, a pop up window comes up.

6. The first page has a bunch of testimonials that still don't tell you what it is that they do. In addition, huge amounts of money are being reported as income by these members.

7. The website asks you to pay money for an e-book on how to make money on-line, usually upwards of $25.