I’ve learned a lot about contests this week and I have come to the conclusion that everybody wants free money.  The scariest part of this educational journey was learning how many websites (and the people behind them) take advantage of these wannabe millionaires, which pretty much covers everyone on the planet (except the real millionaires of course).  My best friend is a wannabe millionaire, my dad is one, and keeping it all in the family - I actually married a wannabe who has been looking to strike it rich for 17 years now.  Our marriage has survived sure-win lottery strategies, emu investments, selling rocks, the stock-market (bull & bear), herbs and greenhouses, and more than one trip to the casinos.  Luckily, I was raised by a great-depression survivor that taught me that only hard work and being prepared will save you during tough times, and after all I’ve learned this week – I am so very thankful for the million-dollar education she gave me for free.

Just as an example, my best friend called me on Monday to say she had been hired as a Secret Shopper to evaluate Western Union.  She was mailed a $3,800.00 check from some unknown secret shopping company, on a very legitimate looking Regions Bank cashier’s check.  She was so excited; all they wanted her to do was cash the check and then send $3,500 via Western Union back to the company.  In return, she got to keep the extra $300 to spend however she liked.  She went to her local bank, cashed the check and was handed $3,800 dollars in cash.  She called immediately to inform me that it wasn’t a scam, and her husband was going to quit his job and be a stay-at-home dad so she could shop full-time.  Talk about a woman’s dream!

The resounding cliché clinking around in my head about this time was that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.  Everybody is looking to make extra money right now, jobs are being lost, food prices are up, investments are down – the wolf is at many people’s doors and with Christmas only a week a day, get-rich-quick schemes are at an all time high.  Luckily, my friend was smart enough to hang onto the cash until it had cleared the bank, and sure enough – she got a call the next day requesting the money back.  He told her to take it directly to Regions Bank and see if they would process it – they immediately showed her how to detect a fraudulent check.  Needless to say, her husband won’t be quitting his job and she’s back to shopping with her own money and kids in tow.

This isn’t to say that there are not very legitimate secret shopping opportunities out there; I just get the heebie-jeebies when these business opportunities want money from me or want to give me free money.  Real businesses just don’t operate like that, at least the successful ones don’t.  The moral of this story is just to spell out how easy it is to get scammed in today’s world.  Gossimer.biz is hosting a very legitimate contest to try and help out people wanting to start a new business in 2009.  I am promoting it because I believe in the companyand I know the prizes are fabulous, as a matter of fact, I am actually a little disappointed that I can’t enter since I would love to have a free professionally designed website and free hosting - but once again, I guess I’ll just have to work for it.

Since my over-all goal for this blog is to provide free advice and resources for businesses, I thought I might as well post some of the legitimate contest information I was able to find on the internet.  Whether you are looking for a contest to enter, or a place to promote your own business contest, here are some great links.  I hope you win a million and for goodness sake, protect yourself out there!

Corporate Contests:

Golden Wish Ticket from Sears.Com HP Magic Giveaway Best Buy and Electronic Arts Young Entrepreneurs’ Invent-a-Game Net Fools Christmas Giveaway My Coke Rewards Intel “What’s Inside You” Contest Staples.com Gift it for Free Pepperidge Farm Holiday Win & Give Verizon Wireless NHL TXT2WIN American Airlines Travel Concierge

Blog Contests:

List provided courtesy of Blog Contest Central

Contest Blogger   Laura William’s Musing   Contest Beat MyBlogContest  The Prize Blog About Blog Contest RevieWow Blog Contest Site Contester Blog Contest on the Net Link and Earn Blogging Contest My Blog Contests The Contest Winner Contest Blog Cat Link Right Contest Prize-a-thon Contest Time Expert Boss Submit Your Contest Blog Paradise Enter Now Blogetition