FINANCIAL FREEDOM! Those of us yearning to create a better life for ourselves strive to become financially free. There are several ways we can reach financially freedom; some involve luck and others involve dependence on others. However, there is a way that one can reach that plateau without relying on luck or direct help from others: TO BECOME YOUR OWN BOSS.
When you strive to become your own boss, you are taking your life into your own hands. Thus, there are several ways you can create a better life for yourself. The best way to start earning an income for yourself is ECOMMERCE. Why not? If you have a computer and internet access (where millions of people access daily), you have the initial tools to start earning online income. Once you create (or discover) a product or service you can market, you are on your way to financial freedom. Welcome to the world of INTERNET MARKETING.
For those who are familiar with internet marketing, you may find opportunities that tell you that you can “make money overnight” or they may tell you how easy it is to start earning $10k per month. Also, some of these opportunities will tell you that it’s “free” to start making money online. I want to discuss some of the misconceptions you may hear about Internet Marketing, and the truths about each of these misconceptions. Before I get into these misconceptions, I will illustrate an example of a misconception that I faced years ago when I was looking for a business opportunity.
The year was 1987, and I was a sophomore at Howard University in Washington, DC. At the time, my mother was paying some of my tuition. I received the rest from financial aid. I know it was hard on my mother to pay for my college education, so I wanted to find a way to help her with those expenses. After all, I ultimately wanted to be responsible for my own college education.
I am not able to remember where I saw the opportunity, but it was an ad that says MAKE MONEY BY STUFFING ENVELOPES. Of course at the time, the Internet was not available to the general public, so I had to send for the information via mail. About a week later, I received a letter in the mail. I started reading the letter, getting excited about the possibilities of making good money. I remembered some of the things that were mentioned in the letter:
First, it mentioned how easy it is to make money stuffing envelopes, and to get paid for it. Secondly, it would ask: HOW MANY ENVELOPES CAN YOU STUFF PER MONTH? 10? 50? 100? 300? Reading this, my excitement grew. “YES, I can stuff 300 envelopes or more.”
The next thing that the letter focused on is the amount of money you can make. I don’t exactly remember the amount, but the amount was in the ballpark of $2k to $5k per month.
The bottom line is… the letter focused on how much much you can make, which would get anyone excited about signing up. At the end of the letter, there was a price of about $24.95, which you would have to pay in order to start stuffing envelopes. I paid the fee, then sent off my order form. I was thinking to myself… not only will I be able to pay for my own college expenses, but I will be able to do some Christmas shopping during the holiday season.
When I got the report and I read it, my excitement suddenly turned to disappointment. After reading this report, I found out that I had to place ads in order to solicit others who want to stuff envelopes, then I would have to send interested parties the same letter I received previously, thus the term “Stuffing Envelopes”. In the report, it was suggested to place an ad in the National Inquirer. When I bought the National Inquirer, you wouldn’t believe how many STUFFING ENVELOPES ads I saw. There were HUNDREDS of ads. UGGHHH!!!!!
The stuffing envelope scheme was an example of a chain letter scam. Such tactics would be illegal in this day and age, but at that time, there were quite a few of these business scams. Deception is the name of the game with these opportunities. You convince whomever is reading your letter how much money they can make without discussing the details, put a price on it, and after the prospects pay, you reveal the truth about what is offered. Unfortunately, many business opportunities today use the same tactics. Many of them tell you what you want to hear as far as making a lot of money, and they tell you how easy it is to make that money. After you pay the fee, or opt in to receive emails, you get the truth about the opportunity. In my opinion, this deception is one of the reasons why many people who want to become Internet Marketers fail before they can get started. When a person who is striving to become his/her own boss comes across a business opportunity that deceives them, thus saying one thing, then after you pay or opt in, saying something else, that can be discouraging to say the least.
Below, I listed 6 misconceptions about internet marketing, followed by the truths that accompany these misconceptions.
MISCONCEPTION #1: YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OVERNIGHT
The Misconception: This is probably the number one misconception one hears about Internet Marketing. Believe it or not, there are business opportunities out there that claim that you can make money “overnight”. When they say this, they don’t mean that you can literally make money overnight, but you can make it quickly.