by Alan Tutt
Everywhere you look online, someone is touting a new, fully tested,
impossible-to-fail method of making more money than you've ever dreamed
possible.
And if you're the type to fall for the flash and sizzle of the
marketing claims, you've tried enough of them to know that it ain't always what
it's cracked up to be.
Actually, I get a chuckle out of many of the get-rich-quick schemes
that flood my email inbox on a daily basis. Even though some of these
proposals do seem to have some validity, I know enough about the true
secrets of prosperity to know when a proposal is a genuine business
opportunity, and when it's just a baited lure on the end of a fishing line.
I learned this from personal experience.
When I was still in high-school, my dad helped me get into a business
that sounded great. In only a matter of months, we would be earning
well over $5000 per month, and after a year, we'd be earning over $20,000
per month.
The company we talked to gave us newspaper clippings and industry
reports to show the demand for what we would be producing. They gave us
pages of numbers showing us just how easy our product would multiply and
grow in value. They gave us so much information that we just KNEW that
we could succeed in the business of earthworm farming.
Right now, I'm imagining that most people who read this will be rolling
on the floor with laughter. I understand completely. Even now,
thinking about that time, I can't believe we were so foolish to think that we
could make that much money with worms.
My dad and I spent over a year building special boxes in which to keep
the earthworms. We watered the soil every day and sprinkled corn meal
and alfalfa over it before we broke up the soil to give those little
guys room to move around.
But after a year, we built a contraption to separate the worms from the
dirt, and hand delivered our first year's crop of worms to the company
we bought the starter package from. I don't remember how much we got
from that transaction, but I can say with absolute certainty that it was
less than $1000.
Where did we go wrong in that venture?
First of all, we never investigated further to see if the information
that was given to us was valid. The company that sold us that starter
package could have been telling us lie after lie just to get our money.
Those pages of numbers could have been completely made up for all we
really knew. And the newspaper clippings? I know now that there are
companies that offer printing on newspaper stock for a fee.
Another mistake we made was not checking with other 'earthworm farmers'
about their experience. If we had talked to others who had pursued the
earthworm farming opportunity, we would have learned that the money
wasn't going to be rolling in as we thought.
In short, our main mistake was not having enough information to make an
informed decision. Had we spent a few days (or even a few hours)
checking into the claims made, we would have known that it was a waste of
time and we'd be better off in another business.
Before you jump into another business opportunity, make sure you have
enough information to know you're not biting a flashy lure.
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