… and avoid the heartaches, headaches and pocket aches of
online scams
Did you notice that the world is moving from offline to
online?
This is true of dating, learning, working, entertaining,
gaming, buying, selling, banking and other activities which used to require face-to-face
contact. Take commercial transactions
for example. Nowadays, you can pretty
much buy or sell goods with just your computer.
Running a business can now be done from home (meaning anywhere) without
employees … anytime of the day (or night).
Unbelievable!
There was a time when you had to go to a lot of places, talk to a lot of
people, and spend a lot time to start your own business. Not anymore.
Today, “opportunities” are everywhere.
The last time I “googled “online business”, I came up with 3.7 BILLION
results in less than 1 minute.
Superfast!
We’re literally flooded with information. With so many choices to evaluate but with so
little time to do it, how do we separate the real from the imaginary, the
genuine from the scam?
Here are 9 characteristics of an ideal online business
opportunity. When you evaluate an online
business opportunity, please rememberto consider all 9 attributes.
1. Money-back guarantee
If the opportunity is real and
can make you money, the seller should not be afraid to let you use the product
or service for a good number of weeks to test it out. They’ll do this because they’re very
confident of the quality of their product.
And because of that quality, returns are minimal.
Talking of confidence, I know
of a seller who offered a legal guarantee of profit to his buyers. To top it off, the guarantee was backed up by
a bank deposit with a big bank.
2. Software tools
Every professional has tools to
make the work easier. A tool is anything
which makes the work faster, easier, better.
I remember a pimp saying “Carpenters have hammers, plumbers have
wrenches. We have expensive cars and
jewelry to lure girls to work for us”.
The software tools can be used,
for example, to promote products or automate email communications with
customers.
3. Step-by-step procedures
This is perhaps one of the most
important elements. The language should
be simple enough that even a 6th grader can understand and follow
along. The delivery method should be in
multiple formats (i.e. audio, video, written) to allow you, the customer, to
learn in different ways. Some people
learn best by listening (e.g. play the lesson in your car stereo), others by watching,
and some by reading.
The lessons should also be
available anytime so you can learn at your own pace and watch them over and
over again … even at 2 o’clock in the morning.
4. Community
It’s nice to learn by
yourself. But you learn more when you
“talk” to other students who are taking the same course as you are. There’s really nothing new. What you’re going through other people have
already gone thru (or are going thru). Your
questions have probably been asked by other students, and been answered by
their mentors.
So it helps if you can log on
to a community dashboard to look at the questions and answers of your fellow
students.
5. Support
Support makes you feel you’re
not alone. You always have somebody to
run to when (not if) you run into technical issues or are lost. Nobody likes to feel abandoned and helpless.
Support should be multiple - by
telephone, email and chat. Some courses
offer 24/7 chat support. How convenient
it is when you’re lying in bed in the middle of the night and you come up with
a question that makes you sleepless. You
log on to your computer and there’s somebody who can help you.
6. Endorsed by business groups
If a business is innovative and
growing fast, even though it is not yet firmly established, it usually makes other
people notice. For example, Forbes,
Entrepreneur, INC and other reputable magazines feature outstanding business
that are making waves.
7. Track record (verifiable)
If I were just starting out in
business and evaluating online opportunities, I would ask questions like:
a.
How long has the company
been in business?
b.
How much revenue does it
generate annually?
c.
Is the company registered
with the government
d.
How many people have bought
the course?
e.
Is there any negative
feedback (i.e. complaints, legal cases)
If the answers to these
questions look good, then your probability of success is very high.
8. Testimonials
Success leaves clues. And one of the clues is people telling the
world about their experience … whether good or bad. Of course you’ll find all the good
testimonials in the company website or sales page. What about the negative ones? Well, you have to do your own research on
this one. How about typing and adding the word “scam”?
You have to be careful, though,
because there are people or groups who “ride on” the popularity of successful
companies and brand. Try typing in your
browser your favorite brand of whatever item and add the word scam. See what comes up.
9. The value of the course is more than the cost
This is a tough one. How do you measure the value of the
course? You need to do this so you can
compare it to its cost. If you get more
than what you pay for, it makes sense to buy it.
How? To me, the value should be at least 10 times
the cost. Meaning the money I will earn
in one year should be 10 times what I spend to buy the product. For example, if the course costs $1,000 I
should earn $10,000 from that course in one year. And at least $10,000 the following year and
every year after that.
When you consider all 9 factors above, you will virtually
eliminate buying a “lemon”, and increase your chances of making money online.
In conclusion, using the 9 criteria above can you tell if
the opportunity below measures up?
(Note: The links below will open only until Apr. 30, 2015
12:00 midnight EST. Hurry. Life-changing information inside! Click the links now)
The hangout will
happen on Apr. 30, 2015 4 pm EST.
We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please send themto:
Raisa Calida
rbcalida@gmail.com
