That's just choice I was faced with when I returned to full-time workforce last month after running my online business on a full-time basis for two months. I realized almost immediately that if I kept on way I was, my business wasn't going to go any further. It was taking all my time to deal with administrative side of business and that left none for really important business- development activities that kept getting pushed to back-burner until I magically found time to get to them. In this article, we look at getting help when you need it. And no, I'm not talking about going out and hiring a wage-earning full-time employee or even a part-time employee for that matter although that, of course, is one option open to you. Instead, with a little bit of lateral thinking you may well find you can get help you need for very little (if any) up-front cash outlay.

COMPENSATING YOUR ASSISTANT

Because (I assume) you're still running your business on a shoestring, you can't afford to pay someone a wage in advance of generating additional income. This means that whoever you choose needs to be someone who's prepared to work for a percentage of profits of business rather than a wage. For this reason, person you choose will most likely be close to you ... a family member, spouse or very close friend.

As for proportion of profits that you pay to your assistant, this is up to you and your assistant to negotiate and will depend on several factors including types of tasks your assistant performs, time they have available to work (and actually do work) and overall contribution they make to business. An assistant who takes an entrepreneurial interest in business and contributes to its growth in addition to its maintenance should be rewarded accordingly.

TAX CONSEQUENCES

Be sure to get professional advice before you start your arrangement with your assistant. You need to think about tax and other issues such as whether your profit-sharing arrangement might create a partnership rather than an employer-employee relationship (this may or may not be something you want). Also, assuming you're not intending to create a partnership relationship with your assistant, think about whether you want an employer-employee relationship or whether you prefer your assistant to be an independent contractor. There are tax consequences for each of above scenarios so be sure to talk to your accountant about your options.

CONVERTING TIME INTO INCOME

It should be self-evident that you are going to have to convert time you free up with help of your assistant into income. In other words, if your business doesn't generate any more income as a result of you taking on an assistant, by time you split your profits, you're going to be behind. So it's crucial that you take time you save and spend it wisely. That means using your time on projects that are going to increase income of your business by more than cost of splitting your profits.

WHO TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR ASSISTANT

Now, who should you choose for your assistant? To start with, consider who in your immediate circle has both time and ability to help you in your business. It could be a spouse, teenage son or daughter, parent, next door neighbor, brother or sister, close friend or colleague.

In my case, my first choice for an assistant was my computer-savvy mother but, because she is retired and on a pension, she can't earn an income without jeopardizing her retirement income. I therefore didn't consider her as a real possibility.

Make no mistake, People will start BEGGING you to sponsor them in!

Take a look at this Income Projection Chart:

Level | # of Days | # Benefactored | Income Projection

1 3 3 $70 2 6 9 $130 3 9 27 $290 4 12 81 $660 5 15 243 $1520 6 18 729 $3520 7 21 2,187 $8160 8 24 6,561 $18,880 9 27 19,683 $43,520 10 30 59,049 $99,840 11 33 177,147 $227,840 12 36 531,441 $517,120 13 39 1,594,323 $1,167,360

Days add up in a hurry and so does your downline!"

OK people ... I know how tempting this looks but REALITY check time. This is but one example of a number of "wealth generation programs" currently being touted online. The idea is that you must find three people who want to join this program, you pay $20 to "benefactor" each of them into program (for a total "investment" of $60) and you're set for life. Oh, and you have to do it in three days. Each of your three, if they are to remain in game and thereby derive same wondrous riches from program as you, must also find three people, benefactor them into program (again within three days) and their three must find their three in three days and so on.

And, because non-performers are booted from program, so theory goes, only people getting paid are ones actively benefactoring in their own recruits, each of whom down line contributes their "investment" of $60.

THE "PRODUCT"

The product each person gets for their $60 (because this is NOT, of course, a PYRAMID SCHEME - banish thought!) is:

"Software entitled "Building an MLM Empire using Internet", in which you Own Full Licensed Retail Rights to Market software. Retail Value $29.95 All Sales Are Final-No Refunds!"

OK, three points on "product".

First, your investment is $60. The product is worth (let's give them benefit of doubt) $29.95. HELLO!? But you get RESELL RIGHTS!, I hear you protest. That makes it more valuable than just purchase price of product itself. Oh yeah? Well, you HAVE to be able to sell product otherwise whole scheme ... er ... program would be nothing more than a wealth distribution arrangement wouldn't it? And that's against law, and we couldn't have that.

Second, this is not "software", it's an e-Book.

Third, title of e-Book deviously and insidiously implies a relationship between this "wealth creation program" and MLM (multi-level marketing). MLM is a different thing altogether. For a more detailed explanation of what MLM is and what it is not, read "Not MLM! ... Why ever not?" at http://www.ahbbo.com/notmlm.html .

'WEALTH CREATION' PROGRAMS

OK, so what about these "wealth creation programs" then? Sounds like a great idea, right? Everybody wins! Well, think about this ... if everyone goes out and gets three people who each have to throw $60 into pot for their three, everybody up and down line has effectively contributed $60 and that's all there is in pot. How do you get more than your $60 back?

Ahah! you cleverly point out, those who don't recruit ... er ... "benefactor in" ... er ... SELL (yeah, that's it, SELL) "product" to their three gets dropped, don't they, so now $20 their benefactor contributed for them to join program is still in pot but they're not. They've forfeited their investment. THAT'S how we make money.

OK! Very good. I can see you're paying attention. Just one, teensy little problem with this brilliant plan.

It's B.S.. It's a pyramid scheme and it's ILLEGAL.

PYRAMID SCHEMES VS. LEGITIMATE MLM

In her prepared statement to International Monetary Fund's seminar on "Current Legal Issues Affecting Central Banks" in May 1998, Debra Valentine, General Counsel for U.S. Federal Trade Commission, had this to say about pyramid schemes:

"What is striking about these schemes is that while they are very old forms of fraud, modern technology has vastly multiplied their potential for harming our citizens. The Internet in particular offers pyramid builders a multi-lane highway to world-wide recruits in virtually no time.

"What is a Pyramid Scheme and What is Legitimate Marketing?

"Pyramid Schemes now come in so many forms that they may be difficult to recognize immediately. However, they all share one overriding characteristic. They promise consumers or investors large profits based primarily on recruiting others to join their program, not based on profits from any real investment or real sale of goods to public. Some schemes may purport to sell a product, but they often simply use product to hide their pyramid structure. There are two tell- tale signs that a product is simply being used to disguise a pyramid scheme: inventory loading [recruits are forced to buy more product than they could possibly sell] and a lack of retail sales [sales are made only between people inside pyramid, not to public in general - sound familiar?]. ...