Determining the Difference Between Online Jobs and Home Business Opportunities

Here are some tips to help you determine if the opportunity you are researching is an online "job" or a home based business opportunity. While much can be learned from the wording, it is also determinable by the offer itself.

First, let's have a look at wording. Most of the home business opportunities will actually state that they are offering you a chance to start your own home based business at some point in their ad. While the main headlines may read "Work from home part time, Income from home, Earn money from Home" or something to this extent, the key is to look for the words "own business, home based business or Be your own boss". In these cases, you are being offered the opportunity to start your own home based business using their companies' products. Also, just because these opportunities require an investment, don't assume that they are a scam. Ask yoursel one question..." Who in their right mind would allow me to start a business such as a retail store without investing money into my business?" I think that you know that the answer would be NOBODY. That is exactly what a home based business is offering. You are offered the chance to start your own business with very little investment and overhead compared to a brick and mortar retail store. Therefore, it would only make good business sense that you would have to invest to get started. Keep in mind that most home based business opportunities are Network Marketing/MLM type businesses and you should learn what this is and how it works as well as what to look for in order to determine if it is the right opportunity for you. There are several of my Hub pages that address these issues,one titled Avoiding Those Online Work Scams, which teaches you what to look for, what to avoid and questions to ask when looking at these opportunities. Also, the Hub titled Network Marketing How It Works, gives a simple explaination of how and WHY MLM business works.

Now, to move on to the online "job" offers. These are normally things such as data entry, filling out surveys, getting paid to read emails, things of this nature. Personally, I have tried many and never found any of them worth mentioning and some even ended up costing me money in the long run. The thing to watch for here is things like "free to join". This is a very popular selling technique! Maany times it is not the "join" process that costs, it is the hidden upgrades and purchases required to participate and qualify for your pay that costs. In these types of situations, you definitely should NEVER pay for any of these programs. In these cases, you are an employee and should not have to pay anyone to work for them as such. I have also tried many in these cases as well with the same results. Also, may of these require that you purchase information to get started. This is a major red flag that you should avoid!

There are several things that you can do to prevent being taken in by these types of "job" offers. For one, always check with the Better Business Bureau to see if they are acredited with them and if so, read the report. If they have several complaints, see if they are excessive. Even if there are only a few (and most legit businesses may even have some) find out if they have been resolved and if the company is working with the BBB to get them resolved. How a business handles these complaints is crucial to helping you make an informed decision as to their business character. Be sure to find out how long the company has been in business and if there is any information on the company owner and contact phone number with physical address of the company. Also, type in the name of the company into the search engine with [scam] afterwords to see what comes up.

Now, if what you are looking at is a home based business opportunity, you will notice words such as "compensation, commissions, recruiting, new members, team members, pay plans, jump start bonuses, party plans, sales, direct selling, sign-ups", things of this nature. While this is the most lucrative form of income I have found so far, it is also important to know how to choose a good company with a good plan in these types of business. That topic is also discussed in my hub page "Avoiding Those Online Work Scams".

The most efficient protection you have against being scammed by any offer is EDUCATION. Be sure to do research on how to look for the right opportunity before you join any program, be it online job or home business. And please, BEWARE of any opportunity that claims that you don't have to invest anything and that you can set it and forget it! This is the biggest crock I have seen online yet! You should always understand that nobody is going to pay you money for doing nothing!

If you do your homework and invest the time to learn how to look for the right opportunity you will find it easier to avoid being scammed and weed out the "BULL" offers. Once you have done due diligence, you will be rewarded for your effort by finding something that suits your needs without costing you your bank account!

© 2007 Bonnie N. Ramsey

Bonnie Ramsey

Diamond Team Leader/Business Owner