by Art Sprague, Art Sprague Consulting
Starting a home business is a dream for many people. The idea of spending more time together or with the kids is an attractive dream. Modern technology has made the capability of being able to work from home an even more possible. Working from home gives people more opportunities to create their own hours and work around other family schedules such as school and taking care of aging parents.
Before you invest you need to do your homework. The internet is a global community and there are many people who have developed elaborate schemes to get people who are following their dreams to part with their money. You need to take the appropriate steps to research the opportunity and the company. Don't be a victim of these people.
These steps will help you get started researching business opportunities and avoiding the scams:
Here are some common business scams:
Where did you get the offer?
Did the offer come in the mail, email, or posted somewhere? If so, be very wary of the offer. Most of these are scams ready to take advantage of you. If you saw the ad in a newspaper, jobs
or business opportunity magazine, or on professional website, then it may be legit. Use the criteria above when looking at the offer.
Common Home of Business Startup Scams:
Envelope Stuffing -
This is one of the most established work-at-home scams and one of the oldest. Basically, once you pay your money and
sign up to work from home, you're sent a set of envelopes and
ads just like the one you responded to. You might make some
money if someone responds to your ad, but eventually there just
won't be a market for it any more. Not only are they deceptive the are illegal in most states.
Charging for Supplies -
The practice of charging for supplies does not make it a scam. However, consider it as a red flag. Depending upon the business offer there may be a need for specific supplies. In addition, this may be part of how the people who are brining you the offer will make their money. Consider it to be a similar arrangement to a franchise where you are required to use their products.
If you are required to purchase a starter kit get a good luck at what you are buying. Some scams will require a small 'investment' for whatever materials would be needed
to do the work - and then you'll be sent very shoddy materials
that aren't worth anything like what you paid, and you'll probably find
that there's no market for the work anyway.
Working for Free - You may be
asked to work at home making clothes, ornaments or toys.
Everything seems legitimate - you've got the materials without
paying out any money, and you're doing the work. Unfortunately, when you send the work back, the company will tell you
that it didn't meet their 'quality standards', and will refuse
to pay. Then they'll sell on what you made at a profit, and
move on to the next sucker.
Home Typing, Medical Billing, and Similar Businesses -
There are lots of work-from-home scams that involve persuading
you that some industry has more work than it can handle, and so
has to outsource to people working from home. For example, you
might be told that you'd be typing legal documents, or entering
medical bills into an electronic database. These scams have one
thing in common: they all say that all you need is your
computer, and will need to purchase some 'special software'.
This software might appear to be from a completely unrelated
company, but don't be fooled - the whole reason the
'work-from-home' ad was there to begin with was simply as
cynical marketing for the software.
About the Author
Art Sprague is president of the Sprague Company LLC
Their website www.artsprague.com is a business portal for small companies looking for promotion ideas and inexpensive website solutions.