Saturday, December 5, 2009

I Just May Have Found Something Good

I had originally planned to wait till I’d fully investigated the work from home opportunity I’m working on, but I’ve actually started to have some success with my current endeavour and it’s gotten me a little excited to have possibly found my ticket home.

I stumbled on this opportunity by chance about a week ago while I was reviewing one of my blog postings. The website is http://www.maxprofreedom.com, and I’m having trouble remembering what it was that drew me to the ad, but even though I’m not supposed to click on Google ads from my own site, I elected to click on it anyways. Besides, I don’t think anyone would be mad since I was legitimately interested. It’s not like I was clicking on my ads in order to get paid for them.

Actually, now that I’ve been thinking about it, I believe the ad had said something about the opportunity providing a system that did most of the work for me, though it likely used far more provocative language. I have to be honest, that is likely what drew me to the ad since I am kinda lazy. I’m drawn to the idea of not having to work too hard, especially since my priority is to spend more time with my family.

I was a bit nervous at first, since I needed to pay some fees to indorse my opportunity, which raised a red flag for me, but as I read about the opportunity my feelings shifted from nervous to a nervous-excitement.

I am not a wealthy man and my job has begun cutting back on my hours, because winter is coming and that sparks the beginning of the slow season for my work.

Just the thought of using money I didn’t really have to buy into some opportunity I wasn’t so sure about was stressful to say the least and if it wasn’t for the 60-day money back guarantee, I likely wouldn’t have even dared even test this opportunity.

Thankfully, I did take my chances and I’ve begun to see some success. I’ve made back everything I’ve paid, and so my nervous-excitement has transitioned into excited-anticipation. I am excited at the possibility that this might actually work for me. It’s looking like, at the very least, this could become a nice supplementary income, and hopefully one day I’ll actually make the kind of money they speak of on the site and I could then quite my job and finally stay home with my family, but for now I at least happy I took this chance.

Check back soon, I’ll try to keep you up to date on my progress through this opportunity. I’m not going to Rate this one just yet. I’d like to fully evaluate it before I commit to a rating.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Primarica Financial Services

I’ve started another at home opportunity, but until I’ve fully explored it’s potential growth or failure I’ve decided to not speak of it. So, I’ve elected to bring up another past experience, Primarica Financial Services.

Ok, Primarica is not exactly a work from home job, but it does work in much the same way. It’s sort of a Job/Work-from-home hybrid. Sure, you don’t get to stay home and you will need to go out at night to get recruits, make sales, and go to opportunity meetings (opt nights). Opt Nights are one night a week when you bring your potential recruit out to the office to learn more about the opportunity of joining the company.

I did this business for a little over a year, and the fact of the matter is if you can find the right person to join under and they have an office that follows the system properly this business does work and there is potential for explosive personal growth if you can effectively devote yourself to following the system.

So, now you’re asking, “if this business has so much potential and does work, how come it didn’t work for you?” That’s a very good question, and believe me it’s a question I’ve debated with myself many times and the answer deeply frustrates me, because the system works, but some times people fail you.

There is a reason why I mentioned earlier the importance of finding the right person to join under and that their office follows the system properly. It’s because, if one or both of these factors are not met, there is a great potential for your failure.

The man that brought me in to the business was my first misfortune. His whole persona felt that of a used car salesman. Everything from his smile and the way he dressed to the way he talked and the half-truths that spilled from his mouth he just felt untrustworthy, but I was able to see past him to the potential of the system and joined despite his character.

I was later met with an obstacle. I worked for another financial institution at the time I tried to join and thus I was rejected the first time I attempted to join the company because it was a conflict of interest, but I truly seen the potential of the company and I elected to quit my job. Now just to give you some perspective into the situation I was placing myself in. I had just quite my job to join a company that hadn’t yet approved me, so essentially I was jobless. I was not wealthy in the least in fact at the time I was living pay-check to pay-check and the loss of just one pay check was enough to place my family in a serious bind and that’s not all, my wife was pregnant with our first child.

Now, I needed to get started and fast. I was soon approved, which meant I could begin my training which included a two week course, and start recruiting others to the business. Before I went to the course I already had 2 recruits. I even took one of my recruits to the course with me. I got my insurance licence and finally I was able to sell products and make money and this is where everything fell out from under my feet because of a poor trainer and poor office leadership.

My upline (the guy that brought me into the business), started taking me to see people (my family and friends) to show me the business and how to sell products. After a couple nights of this the reaction from my family and friends was that this guy felt creepy and untrustworthy.

So I went to my RVP (Office manager) and asked to be trained by someone else, and my RVP decided to train me, which I was very excited about, but unfortunately this didn’t work out either since she short changed me by taking me out on only one appointment and even she admitted at the time that the way she was doing the appoint wasn’t the proper way of doing it. So I was then sent out on my own to make money.

Needless to say I failed miserably. I made 2 – 3 sales got about 5 – 6 recruits (which was great), but the one sale I made, which was a huge commission ended up backing out and I needed to pay back the money I was paid, this ultimately was my doom in the business.

By the time I received the money I was desperately in need of the money and I was forced to use it to pay up bills. When I was left with such a large balance owing back to the company, I started making more sales trying to save myself, but each sale went to paying back the company and I was making no money which started to strain the safety of my families financial well being.

Ultimately, I was unable to keep in the business, because I could not afford to pay the business back the money I owed and feed my family which forced me to go back to work and eventually because of the length of time that passed with me owing a balance to the company they had to let me go.

In the end I place most of the blame on my RVP for a lack of proper training, and I high recommend that anyone considering joining Primarica Financial Services to as some important questions. Ask about a man named Ray Young, his base shop is in Oshawa, Ontario. And ask to be trained in the same way he trains his people.

It was shortly before I had to leave that I learned about Ray Young and his system and let me just say that, if I were to do it all over again I would move my family to Oshawa just to be in his base shop.

He trains his people to recruit first. The base shop I was in taught sales first. It is easier to recruit someone then it is to sell to someone. He trains people on how to make money before they ever quit their job. All said, his system is the right system and if the base shop you are looking at joining is not doing it his way, they are not doing the system right and you should not join them, unless they are willing to train you the Ray Young way.

Overall Rating for this Opportunity: 7/10

I believe this opportunity is a very viable one and as long as you find the right people to train you and mentor you through the system, you can make a lot of money and completely change your families lives, but you need to be wary of offices and people that are too lazy to train their recruits properly.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Easy and No Risk = Pennies a Day

Last week I was looking through some ads on http://www.kijiji.com/. The ad was for PT Readers Needed! Looking at the ad this seamed fairly simple and I could easily do it in my spare time, which was great and even more appealing, There was no cost to start up and a $1o bonus just for starting. Bonus!

The company is http://www.hits4pay.com/, and they have lived up to all their promises and I've given this work at home business a honest go. I was told that the best way to make money from this site was to get other people to join and the more emails they read the more I get paid for what they read as well as what I read, a novel idea.

When I decided take on this project I decided I would put a valiant effort towards any opportunity I took on and this was no exception. I did everything from reading my daily emails to placing ads and recruited new people. In a little over a week I've gotten 8 Direct Referrals and I've coached my referrals to get referrals of their own and I now have 12 2nd Generation Referrals beneath me. I'm actually quit impressed with my effort.

Now for the reason I'm quiting. It comes down to Math, which I was never really any good at in school, but I did learn enough to know I'm waisting my time. So lets do a breakdown.

How I get paid:
If read an ad I get $0.02 X 4 ads = $0.08
My Referral reads an ad I get $0.01 X 4 ads X 8 referrals = $0.32
My 2nd Gen Referral reads an ad I get $0.01 X 4 ads X 12 referrals = 0.48

All this gives me a grand total of $0.88 a day. I can't support a World Vision child for that let alone support my family, and this is also based on the idea that every referral will actually read the emails, from my current numbers I have 2 Direct Referrals actually reading emails and the same 2 are generating referrals of their own so 25% of my referrals actually work.

It's time for some fantasy math based on this math:

If I continued working at this for the next year at a rate of 6 referrals a week I'll have 312 Direct Referrals and 520 2nd Generation Referrals and if only 25% of them will actually do anything that means I'll make money off of 208 X 4 ads per day X 0.01 = $2.08 per day X 30 days a month = $62.40 per month for something that costs me about 1hr a day and essentially $2.08/per hour after a year of work. Not exactly the best value for my time.

Overall Rating for this Online Opportunity: 3/10

The only reason I even give it a 3/10 is because it's not a complete scam and you can actually make money off of it, but it is definitely a complete waist of time and resources.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The List of Survey Sites

I've decided that it's easier to just list all these survey sites on here than it is to answer all the emails so, here's the list I was talking about and good luck to everyone that wishes to try them.

http://www.2020research.com/

http://www.yourvoice.com.au/au/

http://www.adeptconsumer.com/indexframe.html

http://awres.com/

http://www.advisorypanel.com/index.html

http://www.anr.com/home.html

http://www.acop.com/

http://asksocal.com/

http://www.askmiami.com/

http://www.athenamarketresearch.com/

http://www.atkinsresearchinc.com/

http://www.australianfreepaidsurveys.com/

http://www.brandleaders.com.au/

http://www.beginsurvey.com/BeginSurvey/

http://www.bellwethersurveys.com/

http://www.betaresearch.com/

http://www.voc-online.com/evaluator-center/index.html

http://www.blarry.com/home_f.html

http://www.brandinstitute.com/

http://www.busreslab.com/

http://www.buzzback.com/

http://home.buzzsponge.com/

http://www.ciao.co.uk/

http://www.clarionresearch.com/

http://www.clickiq.com/

http://www.clickin.com/

http://www.cobbey.com/

http://www.cbr.com.au/

http://www.compurxinc.com/

http://us.lightspeedpanel.com/US/public/index.us

http://www.consumerlink.com/

http://www.consumerlogicresearch.com/

http://www.consumer-panel-online.com/

http://www.cosvc.com/main.html

http://www.zoomerang.com/

http://www.amplituderesearch.com/

http://www.epinions.com/

http://www.consumerviews.com/index_consumer.html

http://www.contractorboard.com/contractorboard/

http://www.streamlinesurveys.com/

http://www.cross-tab.com/

http://www.cyberpulse.com/

http://www.cybersurvey.com/

http://www.delve.com/

http://www2.dialego.de/index.php?id=72&L=3&size

http://www.digitalresearch.com/

http://www.reactionsopinions.com/

http://www.mousebuzz.com/

http://www.drugvoice.com/

http://www.e-bc.ca/survey/

http://www.epollsurveys.com/epoll/clients/splash.view

http://www.e-rewardsresearch.com/eri_m_home.htm

http://www.esearch.com/

http://www.easyrewards.com.au/

http://www.eckersf.com/

http://www.edigitalresearch.com/

http://www.ejury.com/

http://harcourtschool.com/activity/elab2004/index_2004.html

http://www.elementskateboards.com/

http://www.rewardscentral.com.au/

http://www.encuesta.com/

http://www.executiveadvisoryboard.com/ExecV5/

http://www.survey-reviews.com/eyecloud.html

http://www.factfinders.com/

http://www.feedbackplus.com/

http://www.fishersci.com/wps/portal/HOME

http://www.ffrsf.com/

http://www.focusline.com/

http://www.focusonboston.com/

http://www.focusworldinternational.com/

http://www.foodquiz.com/

http://freebiepeople.gather.com/

http://www.gamecrew.net/eval.asp?PID=1&bok=yes

http://www.gang.net/

http://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp

http://www.globalreviews.com.au/

http://www.globalsurveygroup.com/surveys.php

http://www.globaltestmarket.com/

http://www.goglobal.com/

http://www.golftesting.com/

http://www.gongos.com/

http://www.onlinesurveyspaid.com/survey-reviews/gozing-review.html

http://www.gmrnet.com/register.html

http://www.greenfieldonline.com/

http://www.gulfsurveys.com/

http://www.hagensinclair.com/

http://www.harrispollonline.com/

http://freepaidsurveys.net/medDir.php

http://www.onlinesurveyspaid.com/survey-reviews/healthtrak-review.html

http://www.hotspex.com/

https://www.ithinkinc.com/home/default.aspx

http://www.insideheads.com/

http://www.survey-reviews.com/intelliquest-review.html

http://intellisurvey.com/run/website?gfrm=home

http://www.interactiveopinions.com.au/

http://www.internetpoll.com/

http://www.internetsurveycenter.com/

http://www.internetsurveypanel.com/

http://www.onlinesurveyspaid.com/survey-reviews/internet-surveys-american-opinion.html

http://www.iocs.org/

http://www.iopinion.com/

http://www.ipoints.co.uk/

http://www.ipsos.com.au/

http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/reviews/paytolearn.htm

http://www.mvimarketing.com/

http://www.kellyresearchtech.com/

http://kidspanel.com/kidspanel/index.htm

http://www.kidzeyes.com/

https://www.knotsclub.com/

http://www.leresearch.com/

http://www.leibowitz-research.com/home.html

http://www.livesurveys.com/

http://svc008.wic019v.server-web.com/home.asp

http://www.mktintellect.com/home.html

http://www.marketreaderpro.com/

http://www.marketsurveys.com/

http://www.marketinganalytics.com/

http://www.marketviewresearch.com/

http://www.marsresearch.com/

http://www.mbsinternet.net/

http://www.mcmillionresearch.com/

http://www.memolink.com/

http://www.survey-reviews.com/michaelherbertassociates.html

http://www.musicpoll.com/C3Web2/

http://www.musicresearch.com/

http://www.mypoints.com/emp/u/index.vm

http://www.myvoice.co.uk/

https://www.mysurvey.com/index.cfm

http://www.npd.com/corpServlet?nextpage=corp_welcome.html

https://www.evalonline.com/home.php

http://www.opinionbar.com/

http://www.opinionnow.co.uk/

https://www.opinionplace.com/main.adp?sesid=7y90h351

http://www.opinionsquare.com/Home.aspx

https://opinion.trone.com/panelist.asp

http://www.onlinesurveyspaid.com/survey-reviews/opinions-count-surveys.html

http://www.opinions-unlimited.com/

http://www.zyra.org.uk/opistat.htm

http://www.osmoz.com/Community

http://www.ostermanresearch.com/

http://www.participantsonline.com/

https://www.partnership-plus.com/login/

http://www.performanceresearch.com/

http://www.physicianscouncil.com/pacv2/

http://www.pickthehits.com/

http://www.planetpanel.net/

http://www.pragmatic-research.com/

http://www.preres.com/

http://www.onlinesurveyspaid.com/survey-reviews/prizeomatic-review.html

http://www.product-testing.com/

http://www.pureprofile.com/

http://www.qfact.com/

http://www.qar.com/

http://www.qstation.com/

http://www.questionmarket.com/site/home/home.html

http://www.researchconnections.org/discover/index.jsp

http://www.dimensionsintl.com/

http://www.restaurantpoll.com/

http://www.savitzresearch.com/

http://www.seniorsurvey.com/

http://www.shifrin-hayworth.com/

http://www.site-reporter.com/

http://www.socraticforum.com/eval.asp?bok=yes&rl=271120675&hc=2

http://www.sotech.com/main2007/eval.asp

http://www.songpeople.co.uk/

http://research.spectracom.com/

http://www.speedback.com/

http://www.spidermetrix.com/

http://www.sportinginsights.com/

http://www.startsampling.com/

http://studyresponse.syr.edu/studyresponse/

http://www.surveycenteronline.com/

http://www.surveynetworks.com/

http://www.comscore.com/Products_Services/Custom_Research

http://survey.com/

http://www.surveycafe.com/

http://www.surveys.com/

http://www.surveysonline.com/

http://www.surveyspot.com/

http://www.taylorresearch.com/

http://www.technologyboard.com/tecv2/Default.aspx

http://www.onlinesurveyspaid.com/survey-reviews/techtv-opinions-review.html

http://www.testspin.com/home

http://www.hartman-group.com/

http://www.thenetpanel.com/survey.asp

http://www.scienceboard.net/

http://www.trendscan.co.uk/

http://www.trcpanel.com/

http://www.usabilitysciences.com/

http://www.userworks.com/

http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/services/software-product-engineering/testing-veritest.htm

http://www.vocalabs.com/

http://www.wellness-interactive.com/

http://www.survey-reviews.com/wiredinsights.html

http://www.legalsurveycompanies.com/review-all-wired-pulse.html

http://research.yahoo.com/

http://www.yougov.com/frontpage/home

http://www.your2cents.com/

http://www.yoursay.com/mainframe.aspx

http://join.zoompanel.com/zoompanel/?master_id=18&menu=Join+Now

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Where it all started

I think it was in 2005, shortly before the birth of my son, that I attempted my very first work-from-home (WFH) job. For the life of me I can't remember how I found the site, but it sounded fairly simple and looked viable so I plugged in my Visa number and took my chances.

The site was called paymesurvey.com and for the most part it lived up to it's promises. I've checked back to the site and it no longer exists and to be honest I'm not surprised. Looking back on my memories of the site it certainly had that fly by night feel, but I looked past it's cheaply made website and paid the $30 - $50 that they were asking for a lifetime membership (which obviously was referring to the lifetime of the site and not myself).

From my experience with paymesurvey.com I learned a valuable lesson. When you do pay to join these work-from-home sites make sure you save all the valuable information on the site for yourself. This way if the site does go belly-up, you still have everything you need to continue if that is what you want to do or you can share that information with others as I am going to do.

Though it was never my intent republish the list at the time, I saved their long list of survey sites so that I could go to them without having to constantly log in to the paymesurvey.com website. If anyone is interested in having the list of Survey sites email me at wfh_experiment@live.ca and I'll send you the list. It didn't work for me, but it could work for you. In most cases when you do the surveys you get entered into draws for money or prizes.

Overall Rating for this Online Opportunity: 5/10

There is a lot of upfront time investment required before you will see any benefit, but there are some great rewards available mostly in draws, which if you are lucky, taking surveys could actually pay of, but it is a complete gamble on your luck of the draw.

My Disclaimer to a completely Subjective Experience

So before I begin my journey and telling everyone about my experiences I want to make one thing perfectly clear:

I AM NOT ENDORSING ANY SITE OR WORK-FROM-HOME OPPORTUNITY. I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DECISIONS MADE BY YOU OR ANYONE WHO CHOOSES TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY WORK-FROM-HOME OPPORTUNITY I TEST. IF YOU OR ANYONE CHOOSES TO ATTEMPT A WORK-FROM-HOME OPPORTUNITY THAT I SPEAK OF, TEST FOR MYSELF OR IF YOU GO AND TRY OUT ANY OTHER OPPORTUNITY OF YOUR OWN CHOICE I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR YOUR EXPERIENCES, EXPENDITURES, OR PERSONAL LEVEL OF SUCCESS, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT OT INDIRECT. THIS BLOG IS A COMPLETELY SUBJECT VIEW OF MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND JUST BECAUSE AN OPPORTUNITY WORKS FOR ME OR DOESN'T WORK FOR ME THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL EARN MONEY USING THE TECHNIQUES AND IDEAS EXPRESSED ON THIS WEBSITE AND BLOG.

Simple put Don't try to sue me because I'm trying these products for myself and accounting my feelings thoughts and opinions for others to see. I personally believe that in most cases when you join a work-from-home opportunity you are taking the chance for yourself that it likely will not work for you. So, if you are not willing to lose the expenses incurable by joining a work-from-home opportunity DON'T JOIN IT!

I am testing these sites out for my self, using my own money, and letting everyone know how well each opportunity works for me and if I do find an opportunity that works for me and you choose to attempt the opportunity for yourself and it doesn't work for you don't blame me.

I will not share any passwords for sites I try, but I will speak frankly about the processes required to complete in order to make money through certain opportunities including extra possible costs, recurring monthly subscriptions, etc.

And now that all the boring stuff has been discussed, let's start the experiment.