I work at home. I am lucky enough to be associated with a legitimate company, but, sad to say, not every work at home opportunity is legitimate and aboveboard.

The very nature of the work at home opportunity lends itself to manipulation by unscrupulous people and businesses.

First of all, people seeking to work at home with some sort of home based business or network marketing opportunity are usually entering an area they know little about. They tend to believe in the claims made by the ads they read or commercials they see on TV.

Even if they don't truly believe, hope and a desire to find a way out of their present life encourages them to at least "check out" the latest opportunity to work at home that they encounter. After all, it seems so easy, and many people know someone who is actually making some money this way...or know somebody who knows somebody who is.

To make matters worse, many completely honest network marketing, or other work at home businesses are closely duplicated by a myriad of dishonest people and companies which promise the moon, but generally don't even deliver a good, honest clump of dirt! Additionally, once in a network marketing program, many people see the only way to make money is to make claims that will help them build their downline.

Still, the biggest problem with any work at home business opportunity has to be the ignorance of the participants. I do not mean this in any detrimental way, but it is a simple fact that most people who sign up for a network marketing business opportunity or other home based business have no idea what they are getting into, or what they have to do next.

As if that weren't bad enough, what they DO know, or think they know, often does not apply to many network marketing or work at home business opportunities. Just look at business hours for one. Most people are used to working at least some sort of schedule. A network marketer or anyone else who works at home either has to be able to set up a work schedule or accept the fact that they must work when there is work to be done. If that is 3 AM, then so be it. That's when they will have to go to work!

Another example of the sort of thing encountered in network marketing and other home business opportunities was recounted in Richard Poe's classic, "The Wave 3 Way to Building Your Downline."

In this instance, a successful real estate investor got caught by a turn in the real estate market. He saw his wife's network marketing business as a way out of his financial straits. However, despite the fact that he was an excellent and experienced salesman, he still had an office to work out of and bring prospects to, and many other factors which had served him well previously, he was failing miserably in his attempts to recruit new members for his downline.

A more experienced and highly successful network marketer reviewed his presentation and HIS recommendations were to lose the office, the slick presentations, and the business suit...all the things that had helped support the image of the successful real estate investor. He was now dealing with truck drivers, school teachers, housewives, house painters, small business owners...most of whom were intimidated by the thought that to be successful they had to drive a Cadillac, wear a Rolex, and have their own office.

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