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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Aug
23
Mainstream radio stations such as WCBS Radio 880 and WQXR, the radio station of the New York Times, now air spots for money making schemes. I have heard them myself while driving down to my office.
This is a fairly new phenomenon.
Home businesses and money making schemes are very much more prevalent today than when I joined Excel Communications as a representative back in March 1997.
Why do I think?
For sure there is wider access to information today through the Internet than there was a decade ago.
There is also increased economic pressure due to offshoring, mergers, acquisitions and downsizing. More and more people turn to the Internet, often out of desperation, hoping to solve their financial problems.
I am bombarded by phone and mail solicitations for anything from illegal chain letters to gifting programs to legitimate direct sales opportunities.
This is not at all new.
What is new is that so-called “mainstream” media are looking to make a quick buck or two carrying some very questionable advertising.
I recall a time when these media wouldn’t accept ads from home businesses, even legitimate ones. They were unwilling to expose themselves to complaints and criticism.
Times however have changed. A decline in ad revenue has apparently led radio stations and other mass media to relax their standards and accept almost anything, even possible scams and rip-offs.
Here’s my advice to you:
- Don’t believe any money making ads you hear on the radio.
- Throw away the home biz junk mail you receive in your mail box.
- Delete all spam from your e-mail or online social networking inboxes.
Don’t get ripped off. Only accept business advice from people you know, like and trust.
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Tags: advertising, Internet, network marketing, network marketing business. scam and ripoff alerts, networker, networkers, offshoring
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I am so glad someone wrote about this. I have gotten a lot of get rich mail in the last 3 months.
Thank goodness I havent fallen for any of these.
Before anyone puts out money, there are ways to check out these rip-off schemes.
The value of a company means a lot to me.
Thanks for writing this,
Vickie
Hi Larry
How come all the negativity?
There are still people out there who want to help the new people learn how to market, if you find the right people on the Net. With all the info on the Net you can check out a business before you join to make sure it has been in business for over 5 years and check to see if there have been reports of scams and look at the ones that are listed.
Another good point is to work with people you know as a team. A good marketer will look through the junk and see the what is new and how they are marketing.
I have seen a lot of junky programs out there. They say you will make money in a week and some say over night. I have tested a lot and maybe 3% turn a profit.
The new people have a hard time building a downline for this reason. I have done surveys and get the same answers. We have to get the scammer offline and make this a better place to do business. I have a training class, and this is what I market.
Sometimes a good program comes out that you can earn money from.
So keep the good work up and if you know of these program you should post about them, the scam ones that is. Or if you know of any that you can make money from, do the same. To me getting my downline into money is a good feeling.
Well till next time
You Friend
Rob
Rob,
I’m sorry for the people who fell into one of your 97% that were money losers.
Larry
Not only are there lots of money making schemes on the radio and TV, but also there are many snake oil ads for products that have not been tested sufficiently and don’t do what the ads claim they do.
I’ve been getting lots of those kind of ads in my social networks also. MySpace has a good feature to report messages as spam. I use it as often as needed.
Morgan Mandel
Larry,
Another great post!
But don’t forget to mention those homebiz opportunities that are NOT scams but give people false hopes and promises about the type of money they will make, like 10k a month in the next 3 months and a six figure income by the end of the year. All you have to do is come up with a budget of about $1200-1500 a month, yeah right!
Be smart, people, and realize that having any successful business takes a great deal of HARD work and integrity. Learn a lesson from ASD.
- to all of our Network Marketing Success!
Jeff
Hi Larry!
Thanks for this article. Yes, there are too many get rich opportunities out there. Anything that promotes tons of wealth, I steer clear of. All these programs do is make the guy advertising them rich and add to his wealth!
Thankfully, here in the good ‘ole USA there are wonderful opportunities to make a living and do well, but getting rich quick isn’t usually part of it. Time and hard work are.
Thanks, Larry, for keeping an eye out for us!
Deb
I agree–it is quite unfortunate that people are being “sucked into” opportunities that are either flawed or unscrupulous by these ads that are viewed as “legitimate” because they heard it on the radio or even on tv.
The increasing prevalence of these ads only reinforces the fact that consumers need to be more educated.
Thanks for your article–even though I’ve heard these ads, I never really put two and two together. And I consider myself pretty educated!
Ginger Jones
Do not consider this post to be an endorsement for any money making program or legitimate home businesses.
As I will explain in an upcoming post, it is difficult to make even the best money making opportunities work. There are enormous obstacles in the way.
I will however share some of my thoughts on how one might overcome these obstacles.
Larry,
Nice post and so true. In fact I just wrote about this subject in my own blog, and we’re not the only ones who are speaking out. Those of us who legitmately market online are tired of businesses which lack integrity ruining the power of the Internet for everyone else. And I truly feel bad for those that fall for this garbage.
Thanks for speaking out,
Janis Pettit
http://smallbusiness-bigresults.com/blog
Larry,
Thanks for this warning.
I think the problem with so many business opportunities is that they play to people’s laziness and greed.
Many people want to get rich without much work, but it doesn’t work that way. I consider anyone that makes such a promise or enticement to be unethical.
Larry,
I, just like many others, cannot wait to hear about these obstacles and how to overcome them.
Might the answer be in… My Private Classrom perhaps? Just a thought.
Jeff
Jeff,
I wish the answer was a simple as “join the right training program, and you will overcome your obstacles”.
Inadequate training and preparation is only one of a number of obstacles which new entrepreneurs face.
I also was part of Excel but never did anything with it (like most network marketers).
When any animal or market has a void to fill the hunger gets great. Nature abhors a vacuum so when these stations and mainstream outlets see a money train they get on it because they’re now desperate.
It will be interesting to see if this changes when the economy improves in late 2009 or early 2010.
Alexander,
I don’t believe that the recession is the main cause of mainstream media’s desperation.
Radio, television and print have permanently lost much of their ad revenue to the Internet.
Furthermore, once advertising to mobile devices catches on, even more revenue will be diverted.
I always say “There is no such thing as a free lunch”.
Something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Kind regards
Stella Holman
Nice article, it is a shame some people are scammed.
I really liked the way they came off.