Reviewing Actual Business Opportunity Programs

There are a lot of negative reviews here, so I need to make one thing clear. If we find a good program that is sound, we will say so. We only list problems if we really feel that they will provide an obstacle to nearly everyone who tries it. If we think you can make money at it in spite of our negative opinion, we will say that too. Company names are listed for all that have been reviewed when applicable, so you can find them if you want to. We only provide links to those programs (to their home page) that we have thoroughly researched, and that we can recommend as being a reasonable risk.

Traditional businesses that work well in the home are listed in the Profiles section. We have found that they are more successful than any distributorship program.

Please read the Common Problems listing lower down on the page. Rating System explained in sidebar, lower down on left.

Let us know about your experience!

Home Assembly and Envelope Stuffing are ALWAYS Scams, as are the following: Gambling Systems, Government Auction or Hud Refund books, Government Grant books, Stock market "secrets", and other get rich quick promises.

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Common Problems Found with Business Opportunity Packages These may NOT all be reasons to avoid a program, but they are certainly reasons for caution. You must be sure you can deal with the problems which will result from each of them before you invest in a business which has one of these problems. If they have more than one, please consider more carefully. Items in Red are considered major problems 1. No differentiation between the product, and the ability to resell the product - in other words, if you buy the product, you are also buying the ability to resell it. This is a flaw in our opinion, because this often means that the product itself is not sufficiently valuble to sustain long term sales, and that the program will suffer burn-out common with unstable MLM businesses. This puts such businesses in about the same category as the chain email letters for which you receive a "report" after you pay your money. The product itself is not what people value, it is the ability to resell the product. People who join want to make money just to make money, not to provide a product of value. To our way of thinking, this categorizes them as a glorified pyramid scheme. 2. Product overpriced due to high MLM compensation. This interferes with the ability to sustain long term repeat sales. I have heard people say repeatedly about popular MLM products: "I love the products, and would love to keep purchasing them, but I just can't afford to." 3. Contradictions and inconsistencies in advertising literature or presentation. We see this a lot, in many ways. One is the Plan, that shows you how much you can make, but neglects to mention that payment to your downline has to be deducted from that amount. Another is in the fine print at the bottom of the presentation that says that the average distributor makes only $X per month, and the amount is under $100 - or this quote "*The income testimonials presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and are not a guarantee of your income nor are they typical. The incomes presented are those of persons within the top 1% of all participants." Yet another is that the seller tells you how much you can make, and then confesses they only just started, or worse, they have been doing it for years and are not making anything. The last one we see commonly is someone who tells you that this latest product is THE way to go, but when you ask them, they are working five or six different programs, all with only a little result. You see a lot of this online, you go into someone's website and find links to all sorts of other things, each with a similar pitch. Many people are addicted to programs the same way a gambler is, but are successful at very little. Not a reason not to do it, but a reason to be cautious and investigate carefully. 4. Restricted ability to use company logo and name in your own advertising of their products. If a company wants you to sell their product, then ties your hands on being able to use the logo, they are effectively taking away your best tool for doing so. It is like telling your child to sweep the floor, then taking away the broom. Some companies have limitations on how you can use it, and for legal reasons that is acceptable to a point, but others do not let you use it at all (or charge you a fee to do so!), including limiting unreasonably, the use of product names, and their company name. We recommend you avoid companies that do this, because it becomes almost impossibly hard to effectively advertise the product. If the product has a good reputation, you ought to be able to use the name and logo to market it. If they charge you extra to do so, then they are counting on making their money off of your fees, not off of the legit product. 5. Marketing strategies which conceal the identity of the business until you get to the end of the presentation. This smacks of dishonesty. Not only that, but it indicates a real problem with the company's own self-image...I mean, if you know your company is a good thing, and it is honest, then why wouldn't you want to use that name as THE fundamental advertising presence? If it truly is a great thing, then the reputation that preceeds it should be a good one, and the name itself should do half the selling. If you run into companies that do this, it means that they know that most people who try the business fail at it, and that people are more likely to have a negative attitude about it than a positive one, which is why they hide the name until the last. You may feel that you can advertise the products or recruit downline in a more up front way, but when the company is not supportive of this, and all sales tools are geared toward a different approach, you will find it almost impossible to make headway. You will also be fighting a negative attitude among your prospects. It usually ends in discouragement. 6. Affiliate sites that tell you they know the secret to making money online, and they have links to 50 different online programs, including other programs telling you how to make money. If they knew how to make money, they would focus on what worked, not on advertising everybody else's systems in hopes they can sucker you into being their downline. Watch out for anyone who gives you a link for signing up for an online business if they have not told you exactly what you can expect out of it. If they have tons of links, you can figure that none of them are really making it for them, and they are still hoping for one of them to pay off if they push it hard enough. These are different from genuine informational sites that use affiliate links as a means of supporting the site or of increasing site revenue, the sucker sites don't have any really useful information in them. 7. Low initial costs, but high continuing costs for materials and renewals that suck the profit out of your efforts. This is pretty common, many "business opportunities" exist just to see if they can get money out of you long term, not to help you make money long term. Look for sales materials that are provided as an ongoing thing (at a reasonable cost if they are charged for), renewal costs that are reasonable and well within what you feel you can earn. If a company exists just to get the distributors to support the company by sales to the distributors, then the company does not have a product of general interest that you can make money selling. It also sets you up to be considered a customer of the company (to get money from), instead of a partner with the company (to help you succeed along with them). Companies that do this do not appreciate the value of their distributors as a help to success, but see them rather as someone to take advantage of. 8. Anyone who tells you they can tell you how to make money without doing any work or paying anything (either one - they are going to get you somehow). This one is not something you can live with, this is a clear mark of an outright scam - EVERY TIME. Common sense tells us that nobody will pay you for doing nothing. They can replicate their website as many times as they want for themselves and rake in the profits if it really works - they don't need you unless they can get something out of you. If they tell you they will set up a website for you and you don't have to do anything, it is certainly a scam, and the scammer is hoping they can get you to abandon common sense long enough to pay them, or that you will join and pay them something later in the hopes that if you pay for the "special" version of the program that you will actually make something. The net is full of these types of things, and none of them make money for anyone but the scammer (you will always find that their pleas to get you to upgrade are always carefully worded to avoid promising that you WILL make more, only that you MIGHT, though they do a good job of SOUNDING like they are promising something without ever really doing so). It is just glorified gambling on the part of the person who is scammed. If you keep common sense in the driver's seat you can spot these and not get taken. 9. ANY offer that is unsolicited, or arrives by email, that you did not specifically request. Legit companies do NOT do business that way, this one also is ALWAYS a scam - NO exceptions. And why would a total stranger send you an email that they are looking for a "trusted partner". When they don't even KNOW you? Common sense again tells us that you cannot trust someone you do not know! And common sense should tell you that you cannot trust someone you don't know, who fished your name out of an email mass mail list, to deliver on promises that sound too good to be true. There is a reason why they sound that way! 10. Signs of poverty in the website when they are promising you big earnings. Such things as obvious spelling errors, poor site layout (or obvious boilerplate site layout), the site being in free server space, or using several free services such as Bravenet mailing lists, etc. If they really had such a supportive parent company, the parent company would provide such simple things as a quality site template, newsletter software, or autoresponder software. If they really knew how you could make money, they would be making it too, and they would at least have a regular domain name. And major spelling or language errors are a dead giveaway that something is probably not right. Everyone makes a mistake sometimes, but if the parent company is supporting the business, then the website template would not have obvious errors! Now, slick design, domains, and expensive web interactivity are no indication of legitimacy, and having to operate on a budget is no indication that a person is fraudulent. BUT, when they are telling you that you just have to enter your email address and click here to be rolling in the dough, and those signs are there, then obviously they are not making it themselves! 11. The Questionable Value of Testimonials. In every single thing that is being sold online by anyone other than a huge corporation with a well-established reputation has testimonials. And every single book that talks about marketing a "business opportunity" says to put testimonials on your website. There is a reason why they say that. Because people read them and think, "Well, if they said THAT, then it MUST have been good!". Only consider - Testimonials are totally anonymous. Sure they have a name below them, but who knows if the name is real? Who knows if the quote is genuine? And sometimes, even when it is, there are clues that ought to tip you off that something is not right. Like the one that has five testimonials, all of which say, "I bought your book last night (or last week) and read it and can tell it is really going to help me." but not a SINGLE ONE of anyone who actually USED the advice and stated that it worked in practice. Sure, you can use testimonials on your site. I use a few quotes from people on mine, but I use genuine ones. Things people have said to me in an email, which I have asked them if I could quote. And a lot of times they are abstract, or specific to a certain circumstance. But I could easily write a dozen of them if I wished, and I could be convincing about making each one unique! Be sceptical about testimonials... Even mine! Because while they work for sellers, buyers should ALWAYS be suspicious of raving compliments, especially in combination with indications that it may be a scam, or near scam!