So Many Choices

If you've ever done any poking around at all on ways to make money on the net, you know what a minefield of information there is out there. I've not written here for several days, mainly because I've been plowing, mining, investigating (whatever else you want to call it) the net for LEGITIMATE business opportunities. In the last week or so, I've looked at literally hundreds of programs, "systems" and what-not promising to be the end-all solution for making a fortune online. There is a small handful that may have potential. Of that handful, a few could actually have rather big potential. I'm still looking into those and looking for others. The process of sorting through all the "bovine-generated solid waste" out there is a very time consuming ordeal indeed. For every real piece of valuable information I find, I have to wade through dozens of "get-rich-quick" sales pitches. I promised when I started this blog that it would not turn into another cluttered page full of links to junk systems. While I reserve the right to include a few links to help pay the rent, I intend to keep my word on that. As I do more research, I'll post back here with what I find. If you'd like to keep abreast of my progress, just click on the button to the right and add my blog to your favorite feed and get notified whenever I Come up with something new. Thanks for stopping by.

One Offer I had

I was approached via private message on a message board about an opportunity that the individual promoting it was very excited about. He even gave me his toll-free phone number, so I gave him a call. I had a nice conversation with him and he gave me a PIN to get in on a national q&a call. I did that and I must say that I came away with very mixed feelings. This company, known as sixfigureincomeschool.com (I am not connected with them in any way), sells educational products via digital download. I found out that they want you to buy into one or more of 3 different "levels" of representation. The first level is about $1295 to get into. The second is about $6000 and the third is somewhere around $13000. The thing is, you have to "buy in" at each level before you can then resell that level of product. On top of that, your first two "training sales" go to your sponsor and after that, you're a "director" yourself and you can then sell for the big commissions, which are %75. My thoughts are first of all, if a product is truly phenomenal, then shouldn't the product stand on its own? Shouldn't someone be allowed to sell this product without paying a lot of money for the privilege? I know that the requirement to "buy up front" is a powerful motivator for new "distributors" to produce, but in my opinion, that also would tend to make new distributors say almost anything to move through the "training" stage and then in turn produce sales just to get their money back. They say that the program is not MLM, but there certainly do seem to be components of it in the system, at least until the new recruit gets the "two-up" training sales out of the way. After that, it seems that the new rep would then be in direct competition with his or her mentor. I don't know, but the jury is still out on this one.

Things Past

I have been on this rock for a pretty long time and have tried numerous income opportunities over the years. Way back in the 80's, my wife and I went the Amway route. That was our first effort in MLM. While there were and are plenty of people making a go of Amway, I can't say that we had any success. Even 20 years ago, the "stigma" associated with what is probably the most recognized MLM of all time proved to be a major stumbling block for us. Additionally, I was uncomfortable using some of the methods my upline suggested for getting past people's initial resistance. I felt that I was always bothering my friends and family and before too long, we washed out. Failure in that venture certainly wasn't due to a lack of effort either. We hosted dinner parties, attended meetings, made cold calls and everything else we could think of. The dinner parties were particularly difficult for me because of the way we were coached to go about them. We were supposed to get friends over for a "friendly get-together" and then "spring the opportunity" on them once they were a captive audience. I never could bring myself to do that. I would always tip everyone off about what we were up to and as a result, attendance to these events always suffered. I've never been any good at deception. A few years later, we gave A.L Williams (now Primerica) a try. Went to school, got the license to sell insurance and everything. I truly feel that this was a legitimate opportunity. Circumstances of the time along with my lack of sales skills contributed to less than spectacular results. Around the time we were getting started, A.L. Williams was under a LOT of negative publicity mainly funded and fueled by the insurance industry. A.L. Williams was selling term insurance and teaching people how to save on insurance and invest the savings. A very solid plan at the time, but they were just too big of a threat to the mainstream insurance companies who were selling universal life and whole life products with ridiculous comissions. As a result, the industry soiled the name so much that they eventually changed their name to Primerica, but by that time, much of the damage was already done. I know Primerica is still around, but I don't know much about them these days. Fast-forward a few years to the late 90's and I found myself approached by an educated professional gentleman and he convinced me to give Nikken a try. For those of you who don't know, they're a Japanese MLM company whose products are mostly based around magnetic therapy. The presentations were first class, the literature was slick, the products were extremely well made, but it's magnetic therapy for crying out loud. Long story short, I don't know what the heck I was thinking. Fast forward to today. We now have this extremely powerful tool known as the internet that was not available during most of my previous ventures. I'm still looking for a better way. Through this blog, I'll keep everyone posted on my progress in my quest for financial freedom.