What do you look for in an opportunity?

Biz ops come and go, and everyday people get burned by jumping into them.  People need to seriously and honest evaluate things before they jump. 

Is there a true need/value or is it falsely created by hype to get you in?

While it is possible to ‘create’ a need where none exists (Think of all the electronic gadgets we cannot live without) These gadgets do add value.  What I’m talking about is fools’ gold.  Look at guru systems these programs tell you how wonderful they are and you throw money at them waiting for that villa on the beach, Ferrari and beautiful girls(or guys) to suddenly appear just because some guru told you it would.  All those things are appearing for the guru and you are the one paying for them because in the end it’s a garbage program that you have bought into because you listened to the hype the guru used to falsely create a need for you.

Is it established?

If you can’t find any information on this opportunity, don’t buy into it.  Every business on earth has to follow some ‘regulation’ somewhere.    It has to report income, pay taxes, pay overhead etc.  This is going to leave a trail.  If you can’t find that trail somewhere there’s a reason and it’s not a good one.  Online affiliate websites do not qualify as proof that a business is legitimate.

Does it have name recognition?

Many companies are household names and have been for decades and these businesses are still going strong.  Names like Watkins and Avon have been around longer than the large majority of us have been alive and people are still making very good money off of them.  No matter that Guru telling you it’s played out because they want to convince you to join their start up that will probably fold within the next year or two.

 How much competition is there in the marketplace?

Check out who and what you are competing with and understand the more competition you have the harder it will be for you to work it unless you can depend on Name recognition to overcome the competition.  A good example of this is cosmetics.  How much competition is there in the cosmetics industry?  Not just the different companies out there but the ease of customers in shopping around for what they want.  They don’t have to come to you because they can walk into any drug store department store or grocery store and get what they want right off the shelf.  Mary Kay and Avon Distributors are still making good money with the opportunity and that’s because they both have the name recognition to overcome the fact that you can buy Maybelline or Max Factor cheaper in the store.  Tupperware is another one that is still going strong despite the fact that ever grocery store sells plastic containers.

Where is the money coming from? Can it bring in enough money to cover promised payments?

If you are getting into an opportunity it’s because you are either looking to supplement your income or replace it.  It’s all well and good to have some opportunity promise big money but promises mean nothing.  Have they put money in people’s hands?  How much are they charging for their products and is it enough to cover what is promised not just to you but to everyone else involved.  Be realistic.  If a company brings in $200,000 in sales per month and they have 1000 distributors or affiliates it looks like you are getting $1000 a month doesn’t it?  Wrong you are getting way less than that because the company has to pay it’s expenses first that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.  Then there is production costs, shipping etc (On physical products)  What this means is the Gross Income means nothing-you want to look at the net income.  If the net income is little that company cannot afford to pay you out a large compensation.

Can you find customers and clients outside of your downline?

If the company is not selling to outside customers to generate income it’s not going to survive because as soon as you run out of bodies to bring in, the income stops.  No business can survive without regular infusions of money from an outside source, customers -not affiliates.

 Is the compensation worth the effort?

Find out how much you can realistically earn over a given time period.  Now is it worth the effort that you will put into earning it.  Decide how much your time is worth and see if the opportunity adequately compensates you for your time.  Right now the U.S. Federal Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, different states vary from $6.15 in Minnesota to $8.67 in the state of Washington.  So is joining an opportunity that realistically pays you $10 a month truly worth it if you are trying to supplement or replace your income?

All of these questions need to be evaluated and answered before joining anything!  Look at every opportunity with a critical eye, because you will be depending on that opportunity to do what you want it to do for you, not what the opportunity creator and pitchmen say it will do for you.