365 Days of Good Reading - Day 6 -3 Things They Don't Tell You When You Purchase a Work at Home Program

Are You Looking for a Quick & Easy Way to Make Money?

Do You Want to Start a Home Business so you can stay home with your kids?

Are you tired of working for someone else?

Do you want to set your own hours?

Are you looking for a way to supplement your regular income?

Image cc via Flickr.com

All of us have responded to questions like these and have discovered that there IS NO OVERNIGHT solution.  Even though many ads infer that you could be bringing in thousands of dollars overnight, and the FIRST thing they don't tell you in the sales is that making money, even online, takes time and hard work.  To build up an online business takes several hours a day and many weeks or even months to get it off the ground.

The SECOND thing they don't tell you is that one of the most lucrative markets on the internet is folks just like you who are looking for a quick and easy answer to their money problems.  So the bulk of internet marketing programs aim at selling programs on how to make money online.

The THIRD thing they don't tell you is that once you sign up for a "cheap and easy" make money now program, they are going to try and sell you an "upgrade" to that program.  This upgrade may be one of two things (or both):

1. a membership in a ongoing study/mentoring program that will cost you a monthly membership fee or
2.  access to a software application to automate the processes they are teaching you.

So you start out with a reasonably priced package (say $27-49), that offers a "free website" and you find that the free program does not let you pick your products, track your traffic or host your site on your own server.  To do this you need to upgrade to the $97 add-on.  Once you have upgraded you will be able to modify your products and put your sites on your own server.  You could also have more instructional videos available and a forum to discuss your problems with others who are working this program.  Often these forums have knowledgeable moderators who will help you work through your problems.

If you have upgraded to a membership program you may at this time have access to weekly or monthly online conferences where you can submit your questions in advance and hear the answers in a live broadcast.  Some of the best of these programs offer you live interactive questions and answers via a chat room or phone conference.

The LAST thing they don't tell you (this is bonus) when you buy one of these packaged marketing programs is that once you have signed up for this program you will be included in their email LIST and from that forwarded you will receive helpful little suggestions in your inbox sometimes several times a week.  Most often these emails will include links to articles they have written or recommend and/or products that will "help" you promote you new business.  When you click on these links you will eventually be directed to what is called "an affiliate link" which will credit the sender with a sale if you purchase the item they are recommending. 

These emails continue until you click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of one of the emails and direct the sender to remove your email from their list.

Every time you sign up for a free report or newsletter  or enter your email in a contest you are volunteering yourself as a recipient of another onslaught of sales promotions and instead of becoming the entrepreneur of your dreams you have become the target of someone else's.

In summary, almost all of the online marketing programs teach the same principles and processes, if you want to try your hand at building an online business pick one that is within your budget and beware of overextending that budget  by signing up for the upgrades.  Remember, that all of the programs will tell your that the key to success it perseverance and consistency, none of the programs will work if you quit in the middle and don't stick with them. 

Last but certainly not least, is don't get caught up in every new pitch you receive in your email.  I highly recommend you unsubscribe immediately to new lists that you see arrive in your inbox.  They are just a distraction and will keep you from completing the program you have started.  They will also lure you into buying another program, and another, and another.  

STOP now and just finished the program you started.