& Scams 101 The Gruesome Details Stupidity. (By the way, if you just got here, this won't make much sense unless you start at the beginning and find out what "Scams 101" is all about.) Now, what was I saying? Oh yes, my qualifications.... I prefer to think of it as "determination".... "initiative".... "GUTS!".... but my family would disagree. They call it stupidity. So let's simplify things and assume (just this once) that they're right. That makes me an expert on the subject of Stupid Business Ventures. Over a three-year period, I lost about $30,000 to scams and not-quite-scams (i.e., "Rotten Opportunities"), and it very nearly ruined me. I did it because I was desperate to get out of a business I hate and into something else. Wiping the scammers off the face of the earth is one of my passions. In my opinion, taking your money is far from the worst thing they do. Robbing you of the dream of owning your own business is a much greater crime. Don't let them do it!! Now, before you accuse me of being a whiner, I should tell you that I have supported my family with a home-based business for 19 years. I started it as a divorced mom when "I didn't have a pot to pee in," as my own mother is fond of saying. I built it from the ground up, and for more than 10 years (until I decided I must be completely nuts) I worked at it 18 to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week.... And because I have the personality of a badger, I've managed to overcome my dismal failures, and I'm now making a solid $1,500 a month on the internet. So I know the meaning of "hard work," and I know the meaning of "perseverance." I've never asked the Bluebird of Happiness to drop money on my head.... but I don't appreciate it when he poops on my head, either. And throughout those three awful years, he seemed to delight in doing just that. The trouble started when I decided it was time for a change. I was wiped out in a bunch of fly-by-night MLM companies. I was wiped out in a couple of stable MLM companies. I was wiped out in half a dozen "ground-floor opportunities." I was wiped out when I tried to sell my recipes in the weekly tabloids like 12 billion other people are doing (successfully I thought, hahahahaha). I was wiped out at a five-day "boot camp" where I was supposed to learn to make my fortune, and instead I gave them $2,995 for two days of training and three days of infomercial. (Then I gave them another $1,500 for a pile of "opportunities.") I was wiped out when I bought a "personal trading card" dealership and the company went belly-up and ran away with $8,000 of my money. I was wiped out when I decided to be a closeout dealer and handed the company money month after month after month for absolutely nothing, then just for fun, I gave them an extra $1,500 to talk to me on the phone for half an hour six times to teach me everything they knew. (This company apparently had a spotless record, and they had been around for YEARS.... then suddenly they went bye-bye like crooks are fond of doing.) I was wiped out (emotionally) when I signed on as "mentee" with a "mentor" who was going to teach me to follow in his footsteps. I was wiped out by a couple of telecommunications companies. I was wiped out when I bought a "Business In a Box" and opened it up to find an 18-page booklet and an invitation to attend their $1,695 training seminar in Orlando if I wanted to learn to become a really successful internet consultant. I was wiped out.... Oh, never mind. You probably get the idea. The point is, when I say, "Been there, done that".... I really mean it. I don't mean to scare you off.... These scam artists give everyone a bad name.... but there are some legitimate companies out here, so don't let one (or seven) rotten experiences spoil your dream of working for yourself! After.... (well, let's just leave it at "a few more than seven").... I have finally quit losing. It will take me years and years to fully recover from what I did, but I'm on the way.... and without spending even one night living in the car! So take heart from what I have told you.... AND LISTEN WHEN I TALK :-) I am delighted to share everything I've learned, happy in the knowledge that someone, somewhere, is being saved from a scam and saying, "She didn't flush her money in vain." Take me to the Scams 101 Index!
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