Wow, where does the time go? It's been a busy week for me. Just over a week ago I posted some ads online in my local area saying that I would be available to help people with their web design needs. It's been great, I've had a few replies and I have gotten started on some projects. I love working on websites, so it's a good opportunity for me to constantly upgrade my skills. It's been taking quite a lot of my time working on those projects, but I'm really enjoying it and it is a lot of fun!
On another note, since my Amway/Quixtar experience, I decided that I liked the idea of networking marketing (or multi-level marketing) but not the approach that they were taking. I could not imagine myself meeting people in all sorts of coffee shops to go over a scripted pitch time and time again. I could also not see myself driving over 1 hour each Monday night in order to attend the weekly meeting or pep rally.
It all seemed too much! I needed to find out if there was an online alternative. So I started to search the web for other online network marketing opportunities. I found one that looked interesting and submitted my details. There were no promises of 'Earn $100,000 while you sleep' just the opportunity to work hard and earn a living online. So I submitted my details on the site to watch the free video. Within hours I received a telephone call from the owners confirming my details and setting up an appointment time the next day to go over any questions I may have once I finished watching the online video.
In the end, it ended up being exactly what I was looking for. Something I could do from home, online and on the phone. I signed up and started training straight away. Once I completed the 6 training modules I was ready to go and get my own site.
Since I started with www.ilovethisjob.net in October 2007, I have had a lot of interest from people all over the world and spoken to many people over the phone. I basically only advertise that site through the team Online Business Center advertising co-op and it's been really good. I now spend my time part-time on that, part-time on this blog and part-time on web design. All I can say is it is so much better than typing up letters and setting appointments for my boss (as an Executive Assistant in my former life).
Some of you may have noticed that I recently added the Kontera content links to my site. It's not really that profitable yet, but hopefully with more visitors it will become more useful for everyone. So if something pops out at you, go ahead and click on any words that are double underlined.
Also, as members here, everyone seems to be quiet! Please go and submit some questions in the forum! I seem to be the only one talking there. I'm really interested to hear how other people make money at home and what is most profitable. That's why I started this club, so we could all learn and share ideas.
As some of you may know, I keep this blog and club as a hobby on top the OBC (Online Business Center) work from home business that I run full-time.
I enjoy this blog as it is an excellent way to develop my web design skills and also to share my views and experiences with the world.
It's fun (and mostly necessary) to have multiple sources of income when trying to blog or start off working from home. Unless you have a huge advertising, marketing and development budget, it is very difficult to make money solely from one or two blogs. As everyone keeps saying, 'don't put all your eggs in one basket' and I believe them!
There are only a handful of very successful bloggers and I read a blog entry on John Chow's blog today titled 'Blog earnings and income tax' which I found quite interesting. He seems to be one of the successful ones so I tend to believe what he is saying. This will be my first year with deductions from a homebased business and a blog, so I'm quite excited to see what happens!
If you're looking for a fun business (with tax benefits) and want to join forces with me, why not register at my other site www.ilovethisjob.net for more information. I promise you it's nothing like the Amway/Quixtar business (see my post on that) there are no tool sales and it's all computer and phone based. I have met some really good people (Hi Team!) and had a lot of fun in the last 4 months building this business.
I believe the world is our oyster, especially since you only live once. I personally can not stand making other people fortunes by doing admin work and slaving away at a 9-5 job. Saying that, there are some people who can't do what I do and this business isn't for everyone.
I enjoyed DJ from Business Wife and Life's post on 'Why you might not be cut out to work from home' and the links she adds. If you need someone to constantly tell you what to do, you might be better off in an office somewhere, working for a boss. On the other hand, we always need doctors, lawyers, cops, mechanics, builders, plumbers etc. So there are way more people who can't work from home than those who can!
You need to consider hard if you need a boss or not and want to work from home. If you want to, join my team and create your own future! If you register I will give you a quick call and send you all the details via email for you to read further. No pressure as I don't want to team up with people who aren't right or ready for the job.
Keep in mind that this is not a 'get rich quick' scheme as pretty much the only way you can get rich quick is by winning the lottery! You do need to put time and effort into your career, whatever it may be, in order for you to be successful. I encourage everyone to give it a go and follow your dreams!
Well I decided to have some fun and set up an online shop for bloggers! So far there is only one design, but I'm working on creating some more which will be active over the next few days.
It's time to tell the world what we do and be proud to be bloggers! I've ordered the t-shirt so when it arrives I'll post a picture of me wearing one.
Prices start from US$11.99 for the Men's T-shirt you see on the right. Have fun with them!
Please leave your suggestions for other cool saying's you'd like to see on the merchandise.
Click here to visit the shop and see a full list of products available!
About 6 months ago, I was working full-time in an office. I had been looking for a new job, something completely different than office work. I saw an ad for 'Skincare Consultants' and the ad said something like 'flexible hours, contract work'. It sounded interesting so I decided to give them a call and find out more about it.
It was Tuesday afternoon and I called and a man named Nick answered. I asked him about the position and he basically told me that you buy this machine (that checks the skin through fluorescent light to see impurities) for about $2000. You then go to people's houses for free facials with the intent of selling your skincare products. It sounded ok, but I was not convinced it was the right position for me especially with the cost.
He then asked me about my background. I explained that it had mainly been office and computer work. He told me that he had a friend who was looking for 2 people to help him with a new internet venture he was starting up. He asked if I might be interested in that type of role and I said yes of course. Nick said he would call his friend and find out if it was alright if I came to an information session about the position later that week or if it was already filled.
Nick called back a few hours later and said yes the session was still going ahead but that he would have to meet with me first for about 10 minutes to ascertain my suitability. I said ok and met him on Thursday around 5:30pm at a McDonald's near my house.
He was friendly enough but seemed like he was in a hurry. He didn't even buy me a coffee, we just used their tables and chairs. He had with him a hand held phone of some sort with a tiny presentation on it. He told me that I needed to 'relate' to at least 2 of the 4 concepts that he would show me. They all somehow related to making more money and most people would relate to them, so it wasn't a surprise when I did.
Nick said great and told me about the information session happening the following Monday at 8pm. He said he would call me back on Sunday to confirm the address. I got the call on Sunday but by that time I really didn't want to drive over an hour away by myself to meet with these people. He then asked if I wanted a ride with him and his wife who lived nearby. I relented and said ok.
In the car I was asking them about the business, but they wouldn't tell me anything and said I would find out when we got there. I was a bit confused because Nick has told me before they had been in the business for over 4 years. How can you do something for 4 years and not know anything about it??
When we arrived at the information session it was at a massive house that he told me was built on 3 lots. There were probably about 10 people there. We sat in their theater/entertaining room and listened to the presentation but I still had about a million questions. I found out later that the hosts Craig & Anna are Amway Double Diamonds.
When Craig mentioned they had been in 'the business' since 1989, I was confused since Nick had told me that this was Craig's 'new internet venture'. The presentation was about Quixtar which has been around since about 1999! Hardly new, and hardly Craig's!
We left soon after and Nick said he would go over the business with me in 2 days time at the same McDonald's we had originally met at. He left me a few CD's to listen to which I did. I agreed to meet him there a few days later. I did a quick check online for Craig and found he has a few other online businesses which was a bit fishy.
So when I met with Nick again (more out of curiosity than anything), he talked about what would be involved and drew on a scrap piece of paper. He explained that I would need to find other people who would also want to do this which was meeting with people in McDonald's and taking them to meetings to sign up. He said it would take approximately 10-15 hours a week. Three of those hours would be every Monday night at either Craig's or a hotel presentation. I would also need to attend a Saturday night rally in the city once a month.
When he started telling me that I needed to bring him the business cards of 100 people I knew by Monday's meeting I was shocked. I don't have any business cards and even if I did, I wouldn't want to subject those people to this until I fully understood was it was. He then said ok, 5 would be enough. I agreed to that, but I was still very very 'iffy' about the whole idea. I returned the CD's he had lent me on Monday and he gave me a few more to listen to and a video to watch. I watched the video at home and apparently it was about products I would now be forced to buy.
The problem was he made a fatal mistake with one of the audio CD's he gave me. The speaker was talking about recruiting people and exactly what to say to them. He instructed that the first introductory meeting should be swift (10 - 15 minutes max) and if the prospect wants to talk more you should make an excuse to go (which is exactly was Nick did). It was uncanny how the tape said everything Nick had just said to me within the last week. This tape was obviously for more 'indoctrinated people'. I know now this tape should never have been given to me since I hadn't even joined yet!
When Nick called a few days later I had to tell him to call me back in a months time because I didn't have the 10-15 hours extra a week at the moment. That was only a half truth because I wanted to do some more research.
What I have since found out about Amway/Quixtar is truly shocking!! I found this website Quixtar Amway Business Analysis and read a lot of it. It is an excellent site has some really good information about pyramid schemes and the like.
I also found this ebook titled 'Merchants of Deception' by Eric Scheibeler. I printed off the ebook for future reference, but had already decided it was not the business for me.
After sitting on my shelf for the past few months, this weekend I decided to read the ebook and could not put it down! Eric and his wife's story about their lives with Amway is shocking! I had my suspicions about Amway/Quixtar after my short experience, but this book nailed the head in the coffin. Basically, you can only make minimal money from actual product sales, the big money doesn't come until you hit the 'Diamond' level. And even then it's all a big scam of tool sales (ie. CD's and seminar tickets) where the big guns make their money (and lie to all the people below them). Sounds great!
After reading Eric Scheibeler's ebook and looking back at my own experience with Quixtar, I agree that it definitely is a cult-like organization and should be avoided at all costs. I'm just lucky I'm new to Australia and didn't have any contacts so decided it would be too hard for me to do. I feel sorry for people like Eric who had a huge network for friends and destroyed a lot of their lives.
This book could almost be a novel, but it is an honest autobiography. I highly recommend you read this book. It's absolutely free and Eric does not try to sell you anything!
Also, watch this dateline video that Eric takes part in! All I can say is it's SO wrong!
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