How to Closely Scrutinize a Home-based Business Opportunity

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7 minutes

Presented with a home-based business opportunity? Don’t fret, rush, or panic!

You see, business opportunities are like buses. There’s always another one that will come along, so don’t feel that you’re going to miss out on an opportunity if you don’t sign up right away.

Do Your Due Diligence

As a true entrepreneur, you need to do your due diligence first before you jump all in to whatever business opportunity your friend or relative peddles.

Keep in mind that no matter how close you are to the “person who invited you”, you are not obliged to sign up and sucker yourself into pyramiding schemes just to please your friend or relative. Specially if the sign up includes expensive “starter” kits or inventories that you’ll have to purchase – most network marketing companies’ business systems are designed to sell it’s products to the distributors that’s why there’s a huge weight on getting people “sign up”.

You should also NOT rush yourself into a home based business opportunity just for the sake of “owning a business”. Regardless what business it may be, you have to have a long term commitment into whatever business you’re going to start. There’s no such thing as overnight riches, you need to have a five year plan and a 10 year commitment that’s why it’s important to closely scrutinize a business opportunity before signing up.

And I can’t stress this enough but as an entrepreneur; it is your obligation to yourself to make it a point that you have done your due diligence before committing yourself into a home based business opportunity.

Why? Because if you’re really serious about making  something work, you’ll be putting NOT only your hard-earned money into it but also also your blood, sweat and tears… and I didn’t even mention your valuable TIME.

In other words, simply joining a business opportunity wont’ cut it; regardless of what the presenter has to say, a business be it home based, brick and mortar or online requires your time, money and commitment at least in the first few years in order for it to be successful.

So again, don’t jump in right away. You have to do it right so you land the right home based business opportunity that fits your values, work ethics and personality.

Fully understand the Company’s Compensation Plan

Of course, there’s more to a business opportunity that the compensation plan but you have to closely look at this too for this will define whether or not you’re going to make money with your business.

Keep in mind that not all business opportunities are created equal and most network marketing companies are designed to only make the one’s on top very very successful and leave everyone else in the “someday” isle.

A lot of network marketing companies have too complicated compensation plans that you will only fully understand it when you’re too deep into the business that you can’t quit.

The best compensation plan is one that will allow you to make money right away from your personal production or sales. While most network marketing companies’ compensation plan requires your to recruit at least two down-lines to start making commissions, the best ones will allow you to start earning from day one.

The compensation plan should be presented with transparency, if not, then you’re being

A compensation plan isn’t the be all of starting a business, while the commission scheme is important to measure profitability; it is likewise important to note the company’s culture, the values, background and credibility of the people who built it, product and leadership quality.

While you may have the impression that a home-based business opportunity entails a lot of recruiting, the best network marketing companies are more focused on product movement than recruitment.

Building your sales team sure helps but it is also your obligation as a business leader to properly equip your sales people with the necessary knowledge and skills in order for them to be successful and there’s only one way to do it, and that’s by growing slowly.

Recruiting everyone you come across with is counter-productive because you can only train a handful of associates at a time.

If you’re in a business that pressures you to recruit everyone to become your associates; you have to get out right away and join a business that focuses on product movement first because you have to accept the fact that not everyone you cross path with is for the business that you’re doing.

It is also important to remember that you can not effectively train another associate when you yourself is just one week in the business and are still learning the ropes.

The Right Opportunity Isn’t A Get Rich Quick Scheme

When searching for the right business opportunity, it is very important to avoid get rich quick schemes. You have to keep in mind that you will not become a millionaire overnight and that no one has. A real business takes work, and just like anything worthwhile, takes time to grow.

if the business opportunity being presented to you claims otherwise, run as fast as you can to the opposite direction.

Real business, isn’t a get rich quick scheme so you have to avoid these.

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is!

You don’t build a business overnight; no matter what your “mentor” tells you, you have to be ready to commit between 5 to 10 years in growing your business. You just can’t build an empire overnight. Get your mindset right, it will help you avoid get rich quick schemes and the shiny object syndrome.

A real business takes a bit of time, effort and hard work. You’ve read that right, there’s no way to build a business without investing in yourself and working hard so you have to be willing to invest some time into it. Avoid get rich quick schemes, 99.99% of the time, they don’t work and they’re designed for suckers. Stop being a sucker and start building a real business!

A real business opportunity offers real solutions at competitive prices.

If you need to recruit people first so you can sell them, your business may not offer real solutions to real world needs because a true business opportunity offers products and services that you can sell without having to recruit a prospective buyer first. Your client should be buying your business’ products or services because they see the value in it or at least they feel that it will solve their needs.

The problem with a lot of home based business opportunities are the crappy products and services they shove down the associates’ throats and sky high prices, that’s why they have to sell people on the opportunity first so it will be easier to sell the goods.

The best business opportunity to join has products and services that you can sell on their own (hint: without the business opportunity or recruiting the prospect.)

Is There A Market for the Company’s Products and/or Services?

While you’re evaluating the company’s products and services, it is also important to check if there’s a market who needs the products and/or services your prospective company offers.

You can do this by observing other brands of similar items or doing a keyword research to see if people are actually searching for the products/services and how many times people search for them at a given month.

You may have heard of gurus saying that it’s all about marketing but truth of the matter is, no matter how good your marketing is; it all starts from having a market wanting and needing the products. In other words, there should be a demand for your products and services.

Without demand, there’s no business. So, you have to determine first if there is a market waiting for your products and services before you start marketing.

Is It Feasible?

Back when I was in business school, one of the things I learned was to do a Feasibility Study. A Feasibility Study is nothing but a research on a business idea’s probability of succeeding in the real world. Simply put, it’s all about finding proof that your future business will thrive.

Now, you don’t have to do an intensive feasibility study for a home based business opportunity but you have to do your due diligence. Lucky for you, almost all the information you’re going to need for this may already be available on the internet. All you have to do is “google” the company name and read third-party write ups and reviews on the company. You have to be careful with this as a lot of the write ups and reviews may be written by the company’s associates who are also trying to recruit people off the web. If necessary, try to leave a comment or ask questions on the review(s) or thread and whenever possible, contact the person who wrote the review.

You can search for terms like:

• “company name scam”
• “company name complaints”
• “company name experience”
• “company name proof of success”
• etc.

Do You Want to Do It?

Sadly, most people join a home-based business or a network marketing opportunity for all the wrong reasons. For a lot of us, we tend to be business opportunity junkies where we buy into various programs and business opportunities and never take a single dose of action.

When joining a business opportunity, you have to look deep inside and ask if this is something you’d want to do. Will you be comfortable selling the company’s products and services or did you just want to recruit people so they do all the selling for you.

An important point to remember is, when somebody presents you with a home based business opportunity and tells you that it does not entail any selling; run away from that opportunity and the person introducing you to that because that will be the biggest lie you’ll ever hear in your entire life. A business will always involve selling, in fact; it will always be about selling. Heck, a recruitment presentation is sales in itself!

Look at the people doing the business, are they truly successful? Don’t be afraid to ask for proof; not just from the higher ups, you have to determine how much an average associate is earning from the business. Forget about the legends who have been in business when the business started; look at the people who have been doing the business for 3 to 5 years as wherever they are in the business, you’ll most likely be at that level.

Does the business practices, culture and sale process coincide with your principles? Will you enjoy doing the business if you are to leave your job and focus all your efforts in running the home based business being presented? This and more are the questions that you should ask yourself. If you answer otherwise, then it may not be the best home based business opportunity for you.

Finally, is it profitable?

If everything else is satisfactory and you will not be scamming people, one final point to scrutinize is the company’s profitability for you as a business associate. I’ve mentioned briefly on the previous section above that you have to ask and whenever possible, demand proof of income from existing associates of the company, NOT the legends who makes millions of dollars from the company, but the average associates because in the worse case (or average) scenario, you’ll be getting the same results as most associates of the company.