Beware of Desperation

Written by Deb Knight:

Yesterday I told you about my experience with Hurricane Irene. After the power outage and loss of work for 5 days I began to feel that desperate need for cash. I try to avoid feeling desperate since I know it can lead to hasty and poor decisions but I figured since I had the twinge I would look at the internet through those eyes so that I could write from that perspective. I know there are a lot of desperate people out there, especially in this economy, and I want to give them my two cents as an experienced work at home professional.

First thing I did was put into the search engine “Work At Home in ‘my location’“. The top site listed was “Top 10 Work At Home Programs” The description of the site said “Free Find 2011 Best 10 Work From Home Jobs Online” I clicked on it like any desperate person would thinking this is going to lead me in the right direction.

What’s My First Impression?

When the page came up I immediately saw the number one thing that makes my gut go into knots and the alarms in my head start blaring…there’s a banner what has the “As seen on” ad. You know the one I am talking about, it has CNN, USA Today, MSN, YAHOO, AOL etc. on it. I have found in general if I see that then the website is probably going to ask me for money at some point. I scroll down the page and read:

“This website is a Free guide to help people start making money online working from home. Each program we review is open for customer review and ratings and we have listed the top 3 opportunities below. Our top 10 list is ranked by earnings potential, support, ease of use, and most importantly of all, customer ratings and reviews. View our top 10 list below:”

There’s a graphic showing the top three and across the top it has a list:

• Rank
• Opportunities
• Return On Investment
• Earnings Potential
• FREE Website
• Earn Money With Surveys
• Ease Of Use
• Customer Support
• Money Back Guarantee
• Rating
• Review

First thing you notice is that clearly there has to be money involved. “Return On Investment” and “Money Back Guarantee” but they also say “FREE Website”.  Most desperate people are only going to see the word FREE and that is my number one reason that I say BEWARE OF DESPERATION!

Just for the heck of it, I clicked on their number one rated site: “Top-Paying Surveys”.  They claim there’s no training needed, no website, no selling, nothing special. Just answer questions and get paid. Sounds great right?

What Did I Find?

First it’s a big page with what I call “Convincing Reading”. Basically it’s paragraph after paragraph of why this site is awesome and why you should be signed up to do these surveys. About half way down the page is my second alarm catcher….a flashing “SIGN UP NOW” button. In general if a page has miles and miles of reading with a flashing “SIGN UP NOW ” button followed by what is clearly a few more miles of reading, it’s definitely going to ask you for money, the question is, how much? I scrolled down the page to find 2 more of those flashing buttons which means it’s probably pretty pricey. I clicked the last button…They are having a special! Regularly $77 now only $39.95!

That my friends is where my travel ended on this particular site.  I went back and clicked on their other links and they were all the same exact thing with the exception that some wanted me to put in my e-mail address before allowing access to their page. I did not do this simply because I do not like the 3rd Party junk mail that I am sure I would have received.

Unfortunately there are a lot of desperate people out there in the world and for every desperate person there is at least one (if not a hundred) scammers waiting with baited hook. Too many people are more than willing to pay that $39.95 because it’s practically half price and this site is promising income that is so desperately needed.

All too often we lack the self esteem to figure out what we are good at in the first place and the desperation wins. We need to unite and put the word out about places that list genuine work opportunities. When I meet someone I know who is struggling to make ends meet that is what I do. I direct them to Facebook links and websites that can tell them what is real and what is a scam. I tell them what is working for me and where I found that listing (which just so happens is right here on this site).  I wish there was a way I could get paid to advertise for these sites because I believe in them so much!  At the end of my day however,  it’s ok because I am making money working from home and I am helping my fellow man do the same and avoiding the desperation!

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