Scam: a dishonest scheme; a fraud; a trick. To swindle (verb).
It sounds as though there has to be a malicious intent behind a scheme in order for it to be considered a scam. The law doesn’t mean much to me as it is manufactured by men with a crippled moral code in an attempt to control. Thus, I’ll go only by the intent of someone trying to sell a product and the buyer being happy or unhappy with it. F*ck the Better Business Bureau because anytime someone is unhappy with something, they want to rant and put the company out of business instead of going on about their business.
How To Duck and Dodge The Scams Of Life
I won’t give you generalized, concept-based bullsh*t that sounds like anything else you’d hear on the “interwebs”. What I put out will be lessons from real experiences I’ve gone through and you can make these determinations for yourself. Here are some things and people to avoid when trying to start a business or when looking for an opportunity to make more money…
Scam Line #1: “Make a list of all your family and friends. Start with your ‘warm market’.” This advice usually comes from a multi-level marketing (MLM) company and is a bright, red flag that we should not be in that business. This means the company in question has no real marketing plan in place and we’ll be begging and pleading with our Mom and Dad, cousins, and friends to buy something we hardly know anything about. Our family and friends will HATE to hear from us. If you are not a “born salesman”, this is not a route we should go. Don’t believe me? Do it and find out.
Scam Line #2: “Investing in yourself is the only way to get ahead in business.” I go all in for this idea, but most of the schisters out there frequently use this group of words to get you to buy their program. Anything we need to improve our mental and physical well-being can be obtained free or at very low cost via the internet. Visit YouTube.com or Amazon.com for no-cost and low-cost material to stimulate the mind and possibly a whole new attitude.
Scam Line #3: Cliche talkers are poisonous. These people really have nothing to say, so they spout off phrases they heard someone else say in the past like, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result”, “if you want something different you have to do something different”, “You must learn how to follow before you can lead”, “The best revenge in life is living successfully”, “Get your piece of the American dream”, “I’m going to help to you get on the road to financial freedom”, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail”, “Get it now, this deal won’t last forever”, “Most businesses fail within the first 5 years of starting”, etc. When you hear these lines used to try to impress you, run!
Scam Line #4: The Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Once I take this offer away, you will never get this opportunity again.” Yeah right! This may be the case with some professional marketers, but most likely, if you go back to the same site or offer in a few days, weeks, or months, it’ll still be there. Even if it’s not, just search Google, and you’ll find someone (often better) that’s offering the same thing. There’s always something else around the corner, take the turn.
Scam Line #5: “You’ll get rich if you use our system.” If we’re going to get rich from an idea or business, it will only happen by us putting in some initial hard work, establishing a repeatable system, finding a huge market that spends money, and automating the business so we don’t have to be there to receive checks. I’ve yet to find a push button, easy-to-use system that’ll have cash flying into our accounts.
Riddle me this: If Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Oprah Winfrey don’t have classes instructing us on how to become rich, why is it that every money-hungry doorknob on the net is trying to sell us a course on how to get rich online? Real millionaires and billionaires don’t openly divulge their secrets to initiate competition for themselves. They often buy up competitors, then shut them down. They DON’T offer classes to show you their biggest and best secrets to the enemy.
The stuff of success is inside us. Stop looking for others to approve you. State that “I am ____________ and I want _______________”. Then reverse engineer a plan in a field that excites you, then go to work. You’ll figure it out…trust me.
Professor X