Just because it's a well known source who promises you riches to jump on board does not make it so. How many other opportunities of his promise have you jumped on and gone nowhere with? Do you think that is person to get on board with and to help make rich? Did he support you and help you make sales in last opportunity?

The most credible people I know of on 'net are ones who keep improving their original product or adding to it, with no hype and no fluff. They tell you straight up what they are up to and benefits, with no promises. They don't ask you to recruit people. They ask you to simply sell their product or service. There might be another tier that pays when someone signs up under you, but primary focus is for you to promote and sell product. They want you to KNOW their product so they update you on it regularly. You actually learn from them. Another key factor is they reply to your emails - and in depth you need.

Many of these so-called gurus do not answer their emails - I know. I have tried to get some answers before joining a program - and nothing. I know I won't join their program. Try to communicate with your sponsor before joining - does he reply to you? If not, rethink before joining.

If you are confident you can sell program or product, more power to you, but make sure you feel no guilt in taking money from someone who can't afford it. Make sure to look into caution signs and be comfortable with program. Make sure you aren't just following hype. And if you get scammed, don't say you weren't forewarned.

So, don't stress out over what your mega-competition is doing. Look to your niche and focus on that. Ever tried emailing one of those mega sites? I have. You get auto-generated responses. No such thing as personal service. And how could there be? They're in a parallel universe, after all, where such things as basic customer service are delivered by autoresponders, not real humans.

For you and me, "mundane dot-com survivors", trick is to focus on *business* and not get caught up in hype and swirl of The Internet. We understand that internet is but a tool at our disposal, not some mystical plane where you can afford to throw out antiquated "old economy" principles such as fact that revenues must exceed expenses in order to make a profit.

The LA Times article profiled a small dot-commer who is thriving despite so called "melt-down". A sole-employee business, this entrepreneur "turned her idea for a coupon-clipping Web site into a profitable business by keeping expenses low". Fancy that. Keeping expenses low. What an epiphany. The business took a year and a half to turn a profit with expenses of around $800 a month. It has remained in profit ever since, generating a salary of between $75,000 and $125,000 a year for its owner.

Even more startling is fact that "the vast majority of Internet companies have never seen a drop of venture capital or had a public stock offering. Of about 10,000 dot-coms in United States, fewer than 500 have publicly traded stock. Only a quarter have received venture-capital money, depending instead on money from more patient private investors, their own checkbooks and credit cards or - remarkably - company revenues."