The business opportunity market is huge. It includes all of the companies selling moneymaking booklets in the business opportunity magazines (like Money-Making Opportunities, Get Rich at Home, and Entrepreneur), the thousands of money-making websites online, late-night infomercials that promise you “instant real estate riches” and “money in your mailbox”, and even the traveling “workshops” that visit large cities, hawking various wealth-building systems.
The demand for information on how to make more money is so large that thousands of companies are making millions of dollars a year just trying to keep up with the demand. In fact, some people are making up to (and over) $1 million dollars a month selling this wealth-building information.
Because of this huge demand, there are some schemers and con artists who take advantage of people who are looking for wealth. Because they’re more interested in getting rich than helping others, they have no problem fabricating lies and telling people what they want to hear. These companies often rake in a large amount of money selling worthless information and then disappear into thin air before customers can get their money back. Then, a few weeks or months later, they start over again with a different name and a different product. Fortunately, the FTC keeps an eye open for these types of scam artists, but even their diligent efforts can’t rid the business opportunity marketplace of everyone who wants to make a fast buck taking advantage of people’s dreams.
On the other hand, there are also very good, honest, hard-working people in the opportunity market who really are trying to help their clients and customers make money. I’m proud to say I’m one of those people. Because of my background, living hand-to-mouth in a beat-up mobile home (with a family of mice) in a dirty, run-down trailer park in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas, my mission in life is to make sure the people who want out of their present circumstances have the information and help necessary to achieve their dreams. I understand what it’s like to feel like you have untapped potential. I understand what it feels like to believe that if you only had the right system, the right information, you could become a millionaire. So I’ve dedicated my life to providing the best financial freedom information to those who want it.
Fortunately, there are a lot of people just like me. And they deliver great, high-quality information on how to truly make a lot of money. Whether it’s in real estate, mail order, the Internet, or starting your own home-based business, they’re “good guys and gals” focus on helping their clients break free of their money worries and move toward true financial freedom.
In this section, I’m going to reveal some of the techniques used by the shadier side of the opportunity market. I want to help you avoid being taken advantage of. I’ve talked to too many people who have gone into serious debt, up to $90,000.00 and more, buying worthless “get-richquick” junk from con artists. Please read this section carefully. It has the potential to save you thousands of dollars a year in money wasted on money-making systems that don’t work.
A “Blind Ad” is any advertisement (magazine ad, sales letter, website) that doesn’t tell you what the system is behind the money-making program. An opportunity publisher leaves out the actual “secret”, because-- in most cases-- the method for making money takes work and effort, which often turns off the business opportunity buyer.
Instead, the ad tells a story of how the opportunity marketer was down on his luck, broke, and struggling to get by. Then, often through a lucky twist of fate, the marketer found a get-rich method. Maybe he stumbled onto a dusty book in a used bookstore. Or maybe he sat next to an elderly gentleman on a park bench that turned out to be a millionaire. Once the get-rich method was discovered, the marketer had an almost miraculous turnaround, going from broke to superwealthy, with a mansion, exotic cars, and taking luxury vacations.
The story of this amazing reversal is enough to capture the imagination (and wallet) of the reader. If the story captures the attention and imagination of the reader, he or she rarely needs additional facts or figures to decide to purchase.
If any details are given about the actual money-making method, they’re normally vague and often very simple. Some phrases used in blind ads include...• Do everything while you sit in front of your TV.
• Do it from your favorite easy chair in your spare time.
• Make money in as little as 15 to 30 minutes a day or less.
• All you do is fill out one simple form. That’s it!
• Just do ONE SIMPLE STEP and you can get paid for life!
• Just go to your mailbox and pull out checks!
Often, the reader is told what the opportunity IS NOT, instead of what it is. For example, many money-making ads and sales letters try to keep you from guessing what the opportunity is (without actually telling you what it is) by saying...
This isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s...NOTMLM
NOT Mail Order
NOT Real Estate
NOT Internet Marketing NOT Import/Export NOT Online Auctions NOT Personal Selling
Often, you’re fed excuses as to why they can’t reveal the actual method in the marketing piece. They only want to let a few people know about it. They only have time to work with a small number of people. They don’t want to let the cat out of the bag. They want to help only those people willing to take action. Whatever the reason, it always sounds believable. But normally, the reason is that if they did tell you what it took to really make money with their getrich method, you wouldn’t be interested. At least, that’s what they believe. So they promote it by using their own success story (if it’s actually real), photocopied bank statements, and a statement from their accountant. That’s enough to hopefully get people to buy. And often, people do buy. In droves.
It’s illegal to make up testimonials for a product-- very illegal. However, that doesn’t stop opportunity marketers from doing it. I’m certainly NOT suggesting that many opportunity marketers do it. In fact, only those who are on the fringes of the business opportunity market take the risk of going to prison by creating testimonials and success stories out of thin air.
However, it does happen and you should be aware that it does happen. Often, people decide to purchase a money-making opportunity NOT on the basis of the actual opportunity, but based on the success stories and testimonials of people who have used the opportunity to get rich.
There’s one very well known case where an opportunity marketer made up testimonials and went to prison for a very long time.William J. McCorkle sold a real estate course through a late-night TV infomercial. In his infomercial, he showed his luxurious lifestyle-- complete with stretch limousines, helicopters, and planes. He also trotted out one “Success Story” after another who supposedly got rich using his wealth-building methods.
In reality, these “Success Stories” were friends of Mr. McCorkle, as well as actors and actresses paid to give fake testimonials for his infomercial. These people hadn’t made one dime with his system, yet their stories motivated thousands of people to dig into their pockets and pay for Mr. McCorkle’s system.
Long story short, Mr. McCorkle was charged with numerous crimes (some for the fake testimonials, others for money laundering and conspiracy). On November 4th, 1998 William McCorkle was found guilty of 82 counts of fraud and money laundering. In January 1999, he and his wife were both sentenced to 24 years in prison, where they remain to this day.
William McCorkle ran a multi-million dollar business opportunity company and most people believed his testimonials were true. They weren’t. Don’t purchase a money-making opportunity based solely on testimonials. Do your research and make sure the opportunity is solid before investing.
Basically, a conditional guarantee states that you can get a refund of your investment, IF you meet certain conditions.
Opportunity marketers use conditional guarantees to make sure their buyers do NOT get a refund. Or, at the very least, to make sure that their buyers must jump through multiple hoops before they get a refund.
A common conditional guarantee is that you must prove that you used the opportunity before you can get a refund. For example, one money-making system I purchased revealed that you needed to place a full-page ad in a magazine before you could get a $25 refund. Since a fullpage ad cost $2,000 at the time, it made no sense for someone not interested in the moneymaking method to spend $2,000 to get back $25. That’s another reason why some opportunity marketers sell their methods “blind”. A marketer selling a business opportunity blind, with a conditional guarantee, has you trapped if you discover the money-making method isn’t something you want to do. You couldn’t tell that from the original ad and by the time you know the method, the only way to get your money back is to actually try the method. It’s a catch-22 situation.
As I stated before, while many opportunity marketers no longer use these conditional guarantees, keep your eyes peeled for them. They’re usually worded like this:“Plus, I fully guarantee your entire purchase-- so there is no risk to you. Simply try my system for 30 days and if you don’t make at least $10,000.00, simply send it back for a full and complete refund, no questions asked.”
The “catch” here is that the guarantee says you have to “try the system for 30 days,” which may involve spending hundreds or thousands of dollars. And, with these types of conditional guarantees, you never know exactly what the marketer means by “trying the system” until you get the system in the mail and they’ve laid out the 18 things you have to do before you can ask for a refund.
Opportunity marketers all know that human beings respond to messages of convenience and ease. We don’t want to exert a lot of hard, back-breaking effort. We don’t want to spend our lives working. We don’t want to go to bed late, dead tired, only to drag ourselves out of bed before the crack of dawn, to toil for another day. We want things quick, easy, and right now.
Opportunity marketers feed this natural tendency by selling us what I and other marketers call, “The Magic Pill”. For example, if you had to make a choice between losing weight by exercising hard 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, and eating only salads OR by taking a “Magic Pill”, which would you prefer? The pill, right?
How about making money? Want to try to start a business, rent an office, hire employees, and deal with the constant headaches and hassles of running your own company? Or would you rather be able to get rich by swallowing a “Magic Pill”?
The magic pill always wins out. Of course, opportunity marketers don’t really sell a magic pill, but they try to sell you the next best thing. Any method they can sell you, that takes little or no work, little or no money, and little or no effort, is like a magic pill.
Turnkey websites are like a “magic pill”. The website is ready to go. Professionally designed. Proven products. Website hosting included. The company selling the website will stock, process, and ship all orders. 99% of the “work” is done for you. ALL you have to do is simply advertise it. And that only takes as little as 15 to 30 minutes a day in your spare time. You can even place ads while sitting in front of your TV, watching your favorite shows.
It’s a “Magic Pill”. Get rich by just placing a few ads and we’ll do everything else to make you rich. It’s a big promise in easy-to-swallow “pill” form.The “Magic Pill” can come in many different forms:
• Ready-to-go website, sales letter, ads
• Drop shipping of products to your customers. No stocking of inventory.
• Printing and mailing marketing materials for you
• Mailing marketing materials to mailing lists on your behalf
• Closing leads by telephone and giving you commissions
Honestly, I like the concept of the magic pill. In some instances, it really can work. For example, you can look at affiliate programs as a “Magic Pill” way of making money. You simply refer people to companies through your affiliate link and you can get paid for any sales made, even though the companies do all of the work of stocking, processing, and filling orders.
However, some companies take the “Magic Pill” idea a bit far or use it simply to capture people who either don’t have any time to start and build their own business or who simply don’t want to start their own business, but still want the financial benefits that come from owning one.
While some companies do offer some services that fall into this “Magic Pill” category, they also have parts of the business that you must do. Other companies, though, may try to convince you that they do 100% of the work and you do absolutely nothing. Let’s get real. If you do nothing and the company does 100% of the work, why would they pay you a dime? These systems are often illegal and can end up getting the people selling them into trouble. In fact, I know of one guy who ran a very large multi-million dollar corporation that promised his clients that he would “Do Everything For You”. All his clients had to do was write him a check and he’d print the sales letters, mailing them to lists, fulfill orders, and send out commission checks.
Well, without going into too much detail, I heard recently that he settled a plea deal with the government – and went to prison for quite a few years.Watch out for these “Magic Pill” deals that seem too good to be true. Too often, they really are.
The opportunity market, like any market, has its share of companies who try to take advantage of people. Unfortunately, these companies make the high-quality companies look bad. To keep from being ripped off, be cautious when purchasing money-making programs – and do your research first. A little bit of research can save you a lot of money and headaches later on.
Check out the company online through Google.com or any other major search engine. If you have questions about the opportunity that aren’t answered in the marketing materials, feel free to call or write for more information. If you don’t get an answer you’re satisfied with, it’s a good bet that you won’t be happy once you’ve purchased their opportunity either.
And don’t worry about those “Limited Bonuses” or “You Must Order Within 24 Hours” offers. Most companies will accept your money at any time. So take your time to investigate and research. If it’s a good opportunity today, it’ll be a good opportunity next week or next month as well.