It has been said that home business are scams where it really can be the marketing that is scams.

Thanks for this report.

MEGAN

Great info! I’ve worked in the IM field for several years now, and yes, there is a lot of crap, a lot of hype … and a lot of dreamers. I’ve met many people who have spent thousands of dollars without seeing results.

But from what I’ve seen — talking with other entrepreneurs, working with my clients and even watching what’s happened with my own investments into opportunities-in-a-box and how-to courses — is that the amount of work you do plays a tremendous role in the payoff you get. A big pitfall is thinking that you can’t get started until you’ve attended these 3 seminars and purchased those 5 courses … when in fact, you need to start ASAP and learn as you go.

I also have to agree with a previous commenter who said “most everything you need to work an internet business is available somewhere online for free”.

However, it does take a lot of effort to dig it out. I’ve spent a fair amount on courses and such in hopes of short-cutting that process, and for the most part I got decent value for the money.

But I’ve got to admit, I learned the most by the “digging it out for myself” process, which I highly recommend for anyone serious about learning this business.

I can see trying to cut corners and invest in a complete packet of what others have learned under one roof, but to believe there are actually get rich quick schemes that work is just fooling yourself.

It’s taken me almost that full 10 years to get to where I am – only 1 year ago to where i can support my entire family and now I’m supporting my family AND saving some too.

It’s there to be had, but the ones who are selling the evangelical packets of work at home wealth are making it more difficult to uncover the truth.

Tom Lindstrom
The Home Business Archive

Whilst there are great internet marketing products out there that can help you build you business, there are way too many unscrupulous marketers ready to pounce on a VERY information hungry market. I’ve only bought a few products in my time; some great, some not. One of the questions I ask before buying is: “Will this product help me build my current business as it stands now?”. If the answer’s “No”, then it’s no good for me. By this I mean, can I take the principles and apply it to my non internet marketing business to increase sales. Or is it just going to tell me some nonsense about how I can get rich quick throwing up ton of adsense sites… IYSWIM!

We need sites like yours Wendy, with recommendations we can actually trust. I’ve been considering Aaron’s SEO book and now that I have a recommendation I can trust I think I will go for it. Please fee free to send me your affiliate link Wendy, it’s only fair. Perhaps you could send it via the contact form on my site?

Lovin’ yer work!

It does take hard work and long hours. I’m learning how to improve my writing, via spell check and research. However, I am improving and our site is growing and we’re less then one year old. It’s been my dream and after finding a partner who believed in me, we’re here and loving every moment. I’d be happy to share what I know.

I respect and admire your integrity. I’m from a corporate world, where it’s not as common as one would hope I look forward to the day when I can do this full time and write, and write, and write. I’m once again, so glad I found your site.

My best,
Dorothy from grammology
remember to call your gram

http://grammology.com

I work for a search engine where small business owners can find wholesale suppliers, and one of the main issues many have with finding suppliers (if not THE main issue) is whether they’re “true” wholesalers and not just out to scam folks. We’ve taken the approach of educating our site visitors about always researching suppliers (we even published an article about avoiding work at home scams).

It amazes me to no end how much financial trouble many people end up getting themselves in, when they had so much information right at their fingertips to help them avoid the scams out there. Research is key – it takes a lot of time, but your business (and your whole life) is worth it.

Kari Rippetoe
Marketing Manager
goWholesale.com

I´m launching a new wahm business directory next week and though that will have some ads, I will be checking very carefully that only legit products are represented.

So many people are just plain lazy. They want to buy a product that tells them how to do it, but then when they have the info, they don’t DO anything.

That’s not the fault of the person who put the info together. Is John Reese at fault because people buy is Traffic Secrets yet don’t take action? Empowerment comes from within. It’s not the job of the author of the product to motivate anyone.

I’ve worked hard for 4 years to earn what I earn with my online business. I have spent less than $1,000 on infoproducts during that time. I tried things that didn’t work for me – including direct sales. (Although a good friend of mine who is also a mom of 7 earns more than I do with direct sales.)

I kept at it and took action. That’s the bottom line.

And yes, we should hook up when you are here. There is a starbucks on every corner, so it won’t be hard to hook up for coffee if that’s the route we take

RE: the previous comment. I started touching on the whole responsibility issue when I was writing this, then realized it was getting too long and I needed to dedicate a whole post to that side of things.

But I’ll reiterate that I am only refusing advertising from programs that I haven’t personally had experience with, and will no longer take the time to research them if they are potential advertisers. I will continue to promote the small handful of programs I am willing to put my name on the line for, such as Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook, Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, Brian Clark’s & Tony Clark’s Teaching Sells, Yaro’s Blog Mastermind and Jeremy Palmer’s Affiliate Classroom.

But the other door I need to close on that loop is getting AdSense off of the site, because all of those scams can still get at our audience that way. I’m just waiting until I make the minimum payout again before I take it off the site completely. Never made more than $114 in a month off of it anyway.

The only problem is that my wife’s due date is a few weeks later… I will have to talk to her about it. At the very least, we can let you know where some good restaurants are.