You’ve seen the ads on CraigsList and every other job service website: Make $1,000s stuffing envelopes.  Here’s what I’ve found and what you’ll need to know about how to make money from stuffing envelopes.

What You’re Really Doing…

So, you read that people are making $1,000+ a week stuffing envelopes.  You even sent your $19.99 commitment fee and when the letter arrives, you find out that the way to make money stuffing envelopes, is to sell the information to others.  That’s right, you’re not stuffing envelopes, you’re selling information about stuffing envelopes. That same letter you’re holding in your hand is the same envelope you’ll be sending to others and that’s how you’ll make money stuffing envelopes.

But can you really make money with this?

Sure you can, but you’re not going to be stuffing envelopes, you’re going to be advertising information for sell on how to make money stuffing envelopes.  You’ll put up an ad and when someone signs up for the $19.99 stuffing envelope information from your ad, then you will get paid a percentage of that fee.  Are you a marketing expert?

But it sounds so good

Of course working from home sounds good, people always want to work from home.  But what many people are missing, working from home is not an easy job.  It’s hard work working from home.  And the stuffing envelopes “opportunity” sounds so… easy.   About the only thing most people are ever going to see from the stuggin envelop job is a $20 deduction to their checking account.

Whatever work from home plan you are thinking about, you are selling something.  You might be selling time shares, real estate, cars, yachts, house cleaning services, babysitting or whatever, it doesn’t matter what you sell, it’s how you sell.  And here’s the secret to selling, the one big secret  that is no secret at all - believing.  Yes, it’s that simple - believing.  If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, you can’t sell it.  You can only sell the truth.  You can try to sell something you don’t believe in, but you’re not going to prosper.  You may make a living, but you’re not going to be breaking the bank.  You have to believe in your products or services before you can get the first sale.  The truth sells and always will.

A Guide to Success

Everyone wants to succeed in their business.  Nobody is starting a business with the intention to fail.  But over 98% of work from home business plans will fail.  Is it because of a bad product - sometimes.  But more often than not, the reason the work from home businesses fail is because people don’t know what it takes to make it in business.  Starting a new work from home business, even if you have the best product in the world, isn’t an easy thing to do.  Many of the work from home plans are going to fail from lack of support.  You’ll buy into their ’system’ and that’s the last you’ll ever hear from them again.  If you want to succeed, if you want to make the kind of money you have always felt you deserved, you’re going to need some help.

Believe in Yourself

I remember the first time I heard someone say, if you can believe it, you can achieve it.   I laughed.  I laughed for years thinking about it.  And then, I started to see what they really meant.  It was when I started my second business.  My first business had failed and it was looking like my second attempt was going to fail as well, but then I had a change in attitude.  To be more accurate, someone changed my attitude, not about my business, but about myself.   I sought help from a business analyst that helped me see the potential, the path and the goal.  That was two years ago and I’ve never looked back.

A Plus Coaching

The one thing that Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods all have in common - a great coach.  The entrepreneur spirit is strong and self reliant.  I was sure that I could do it on my own.  But I learned something from my first failure, that I didn’t want to repeat.  You can’t know everything.  The greats in sports and in finance didn’t rise to the top alone, they had someone show them the ropes, point out the hazards and show them how to achieve their goals.  You need someone to show you the ropes, point out the hazards and show you how you can achieve your goals.  People will invest thousands of dollars in books and manuals on how to get rich or how to succeed in business, but what their missing is the personal touch.  What works for Joe may not work for Paul.  If there was a simple method that worked for everyone, everyone would be rich.  A book may help, but what you really need is a coach that can give you personalized instruction on how to make your business succeed.  A good coach is worth their weight in GOLD!  Coach, mentor, analyst, whatever you want to call them, the point it CALL THEM!  Unless you’re Warren Buffet, you need someone who has ‘been there’ to show you YOUR way, not the way some book says you should go.  Personalized attention from a mentoring professional will turn your business around.  It did for me.

Seminars and Telenars - Listen and Learn

Another great place to help you in your business is the seminar or telenar.  While these are not as valuable as live one-on-one coaching, the wealth of knowledge that is given at seminars and telenars is a great value.   I try to get into at least one telenar a week to keep me current, refreshed and informed.  Seminars and telenars are a great way to gain a tremendous amount of knowledge for a small investment.

You Can Do It!

You really can make it in home based business.  I think everyone has the potential to make it, but you need the right information, coaching and attitude.  It doesn’t matter if you’re selling envelopes or airlines, the number one way to make a difference in your business is to get the right information for you.   When you have a good coach, a good attitude and believe in your product and yourself, success is assured.

Recommended Sites

The Godfrey’s Beach Camp - an intense entrepreneur mentoring and coaching camp.  One on one coaching from online professionals.  These guys made over 2 million dollars online and they can help you explode your business.

Why I Didn’t Join - Everything you wanted to know about Liberty League, Carbon Copy Pro

Entrepreneur Newsletter - Get great information about all things business.

LiveTelenar.com - Live telenars to learn everything about online business from marketing to closing.  Weekly and monthly telenars and package deals

After hearing a lot of ‘buzz’ about Carbon Copy Pro, I thought it was time to finally check into the facts behind Carbon Copy Pro. The first thing I found out was Carbon Copy Pro and Wealth Masters International are basically the same thing. No, they’re not similar, they are the same. Wealth Masters is Carbon Copy and vice versa. I dunno, but that seemed a little odd to me. Maybe I missed something, but making information easy to find didn’t seem their forte. The next few paragraphs could save you nearly $20,000 and at least the $39 to get their information DVD.

What Does Carbon Copy Pro Sell?

You mean other than selling you on an overpriced product? They sell self help information and discounts on services you’re going to need after joining Carbon Copy Pro; products like debt relief. I’m sure their products are ‘good’, but they sure are expensive! And I’m serious, $19995.00 for the Platinum Plus Program. That’s not exactly what I would call a small investment. Like nearly all of these methods, the main thing you’re going to be selling is memberships and building a team.

Carbon Copy - You’re Going to be a Millionaire ?

Maybe. I am sure it is possible to become a millionaire with the Carbon Copy Pro method, but nearly $20K for the Platinum Plus Program to find out - wow. Here’s the thing about most of these systems, if you can be successful with Carbon Copy Pro, you could probably be successful in any venture where you really apply yourself and utilize your skills. Carbon Copy is nothing new and if you’re a marketing professional, you will make money with Carbon Copy Pro.

100 Millionaires by 2010

This is the goal of Carbon Copy Pro, to produce 100 millionaires for people using their system. I’m sure the people who started Carbon Copy Pro are millionaires. And there are a lot of people who have made a lot of money with Carbon Copy and Wealth Masters. But it sure doesn’t look like a long-term products with residual income to me. I would give them a few more years before it all goes belly up, but I may be wrong, but I’m not willing to gamble $19995.00 to find out.

Carbon Copy - Passing the Buck

I like it better when the buck stops HERE and by here, I mean in my pocket. When you make commissions on sales, you have to “pay up” the ladder. You’re always going to be giving your money ‘up’ to someone and not keeping it for yourself. Are those 100 millionaires the first 100 people to join? Paying up is just another method for rewarding the people who are already there.

Snail Mail - Carbon Copy Methods

I hate snail mailing. There are so many ‘ifs’ when using the postal service. You have to wait. With Carbon Copy, your customers have to wait to get their products. I’ve personally had enough of relying on shipping and the postal service. If you don’t mind having to mess with the postal service, go ahead, but after years of working through the mail, I like the 21st century method of customer fulfillment: The Internet!

Is Carbon Copy Pro a Scam ?

Do you hear that little voice? All I can say is, you might want to listen to that little voice. There are a lot of websites that have very strong opinions about whether Carbon Copy is a scam or not. This blog has some good information you might want to read. And here is another website with even more detailed report about carbon copy pro and Wealth Masters International,

Should I Join Carbon Copy Pro?

That’s up to you, but I’m not joining. I would have liked to have been one of the first people involved with Carbon Copy Pro, but joining now would put me a day late and $19995.00 dollars short. If you’re still interested in their program check out the links above for more information.

All that glitters is not gold

After hearing a lot of information about Liberty League, I thought it might finally be time to check into their business model. What I found both amazed, shocked and eventually, left me continuing my search for a home based business.

It takes a lot of cash to really get started with Liberty League. You can join Liberty League for a rather modest fee, but then you have to pay for this and pay for that, it was rather disappointing really. If Liberty League didn’t nickle and dime me to death, the next steps were the coffin nail. I had to give up 5 orders! Yes, five orders! Everyone knows, the hardest sell to make is the first one and with the Liberty League model, it felt like I was going to have to give up a lot and that wasn’t something I wanted.

Quality Sells - Right?

The Liberty League products wasn’t worth the price to me. I am sure people buy their products, I’m just not sure why they buy their products. A CD, workbook and a 3 ring binder cost $1295 and no, I didn’t leave out the decimal. That’s $1295 for a CD, workbook and binder. I don’t see the value in their product, but others may. Their products seem to consist of “self help” and motivation stuff. You’re going to need the self help stuff…

Help me Rhonda!

I knew nothing about Liberty League when I started looking into the Liberty League company model. Everything I found, I had to find out for myself and that was disappointing. I really like when you call someone and get answers, but every answer I got left me with more questions or I got the run around and sales pitches. I’m not an idiot, but I was confused by the industry jargon and lack of someone who would give me real honest answers.

Liberty League - No Thanks

I guess the best thing about Liberty League was it didn’t cost me as much to learn it was a bad idea. I’ve paid more to learn that lesson from other companies, so at least Liberty League was a fairly inexpensive learning experience.

Overall, I would give Liberty League a 6 of 10, which isn’t bad in this industry. They actually sell something and they have been around a long time. Those are some strong positives. But they also sell a product that I think isn’t worth the price and that’s a big negative. People have gotten rich from Liberty League, but I don’t think I would. Liberty League also lacked what I think are essential marketing materials. You could make your own I guess, but that’s not what I was after.

I’m sure you have read or seen on tv that you can make millions and start living the millionaire lifestyle this week. You’ve seen success stories all over the television and the internet and there are people who have become an over night success and there are people who have lost everything.

Before you begin any work from home or any of the life success models, before you take even a penny from your pocket, you need to ask yourself, what are the benefits of this method? Does this method really work for you? And finally and most importantly, does the plan fit my abilities.

Play your strongest hand

One of the biggest mistakes people make in home based business models is choosing a method that doesn’t work for them. If you couldn’t cook, you wouldn’t expect to get rich being a chef would you? Of course you wouldn’t, but it’s this primary and most basic of questions that many people fail to realize is what makes or breaks their chances for success.

List your strengths and your weaknesses. Be honest with yourself and keep that list handy; let it be your guide. Avoid the methods that require something beyond your abilities and grab hold of the opportunities that play to your strengths. It sounds simple, but it’s the number 1 reason that most people fail to find the success in the plan they chose.

After a few failed attempts, I finally found the requirements that any method must have for it to work for me. Of course, your requirements will be different, but maybe you can find some insight from my list.

Long Term
My first requirement was long term business models. I don’t care about fly by night business plans and models. I wanted something I could do for the rest of my life and not have to worry about tomorrow.

Quality Products
You need a quality product. I have to be proud of what I’m selling, otherwise, what’s the point. If you won’t buy it, you can’t expect someone to buy it. And the main reason I needed a quality product was because quality sells itself.

A Reputable Company
There are a thousand and one new businesses a day and I wasn’t about to invest my time, effort and name into a company without integrity. When you choose a company, you want one that you are proud to call yours.

Global Market
You need a business that has a global customer base. There are 6 billion people on this planet and limiting yourself to a particular country limits your ability to succeed.

Internet Based
Working from home isn’t about having to ship products, it’s about working ‘from home’. You’ll be amazed how many home based businesses require you to spend more time on the road than at home. I didn’t want my work at home job to require constantly being away from home.

Easy to Market
You need results today and not several months from now. The easier it is to promote your product, the easier it is to make money.

When you choose a model that plays to your strengths, you can succeed. Choose wisely. There are a lot of methods out there that work, but they don’t work for everybody.

I was looking around the web today and found a really interesting read on a blog about how to make money working from home using Craigslist. It’s a really easy and simple plan if you need to make a few extra dollars. It won’t make you rich, but it might be just what you’re looking for and it follows my favorite mantra - do what you know.

Basically, the plan is to advertise a service on Craigslist and let the job come to you. For instance, if you’re a good cook, advertise that you will cook dinners for people who are too busy to cook for themselves. That’s a pretty good way to help make a few extra dollars a day.

The best part about the plan is it plays to your skills. Advertise what you can do and what you like to do and get paid for it. With this method, you don’t have to learn a new trade, you just do what you do.

The worst part about that plan is there’s no residual income, you have a very limited market, you can’t work from the road (like while on vacation) and the earning aren’t going to get you rich. It’s a nice way to make some cash while working from home, but it won’t ever make you rich.