Ask Appropriate Questions

Even though these work-at-home opportunities often state that you have to act now or join by a certain time to secure your spot, you must take time to ask questions. Then, don't join unless your questions are answered to your satisfaction.

Here are some of those questions:

1) Ask exactly what type of work you will be expected to perform. 2) Ask how you will be paid. If you are going to be paid by commission, be sure to ask exactly what your percentage will be. 3) Ask exactly how much money you need to spend, including fees, supplies, inventory, etc. 4) Ask how long company has been in business since non-legitimate companies frequently change their name to go out of business. 5) Ask to get copies of company's sales materials and product descriptions, so you can determine how product-focused company is.

Know What to Do If You Are a Victim

If you are victim of one of these scams, then you need to know what to do next.

Your first course of action should be to notify company. Talk to someone as high up in business as possible and be sure to make them aware that your plan to contact appropriate authorities.

If you don't receive any satisfaction from company, your next step is to report company to authorities. You should file a complaint with at least one, if not all, of organizations below:

1. The Federal Trade Commission – You can file a report through their web site at www.ftc.gov 2. The Better Business Bureau – You can contact them through their web site at www.bbb.org. 3. The Attorney General of Your State – You can find out how to contact attorney general in your area by doing a search for “Your State attorney general” at Google.com. The right page should be first or second that appears in search results.

The bottom line is if a business opportunity seems to good to be true, then it's worth checking out. Any business that tries to pressure you into making a hasty decision isn't a business you should be working with.

Think about how long you want to do it for, and how you will get out of it when that time arrives. Think about whether you will sell business, pass it on to your family, or just close it down.

All of these things will have an effect on how you plan and structure your business.

“begin with end in mind”

Thirdly – people. If you look at any famous entrepreneur and look at how they achieved what they have done, you will find that none of them did it alone. Most will cite a mentor or coach who supported them. It is a great idea to get yourself somebody like this who can help you focus your ideas, and keep you on track with your plans. This could be a business coach, a life coach, a professional advisor another business owner or maybe even a friend or family member.

Start to think about building a support network of people who can help you, and people you can share ideas with. This might be through face to face meetings, by telephone or on line.

And once your business is up and running you will need to think about staff, suppliers and of course customers. But that is for later. Here we are looking at getting you going.

Finally, practicalities. How do you Start Up Right? Where do you get all information about tax, VAT, employing staff, computer software, where to work, selling and so on?

Many people start in business with no real idea of what is involved. I don’t doubt you are an expert at your trade, or skill or you wouldn’t be contemplating starting a business - but have you run a business before? Do you have first idea about what to do for tax, financial information, and marketing? Often people learn these things as they go, and find out about what they need to know when it is too late – often at great cost. How often have you heard “if only he had told me that before…”?

To avoid this it is worth putting in some time up front to find out what you need to know. Do some research – there is plenty of information on internet now. And ask experts, you will need to use professional advisors such as accountant in your business, so take opportunity to find out some useful information whilst you are interviewing them. That is why I wrote my eprogramme, so that people could find out about all of this kind of information in one place.

And once you have done your thinking and research and decided that business is right for you you need to take action! A great idea is completely worthless…. until it is turned into action. Without action there can be no success.

Remember Nike – Just do it!

Summary

Making decision is often hardest part. Once you have decided to run your own business and know what you need to do you can move forward with planning and research to make it happen.

Think about what you need to do to move towards your goals. It helps to involve others to help you. This may be by bringing in an expert, or it may mean reading a book, listening to tapes or watching videos. Learn from those who have done what you are trying to do.

Think about whether it would help you to have a mentor or a coach. Promising someone else that you will do something usually means you are much more likely to do it. It often helps to have someone who can act as a sounding board, or ask you some searching question s to help you on your way.

And most importantly of all – go do it!

Julia McDaid is a business coach and author, specialising in helping business start ups. The first 10 readers to contact her on coach@startupright.co.uk will receive a free Kickstart coaching session and the first Module of her eprogramme Start Up 101.

For more information see www.startupright.co.uk