Easy Money? NOT! By Dave Balch, the "Stay-at-Home CEO"(tm) I recently read an article in a postal publication about a scam where people are sent letters asking for help transferring a very large sum of money (tens of millions of dollars) out of Nigeria. In return for their help, they will be paid a percentage of the transfer resulting in a fee of millions of dollars. As it turns out (no big surprise here) they have to pay large fees for "red tape and taxes"; some people actually went to Nigeria where they ended up paying more fees before being abandoned. A few were even murdered in connection with the fraud! While reading the article I remembered receiving such letters and turning them in to the postmaster. Someone is going to just give me millions of dollars as a fee for doing something simple? C'mon! I continued to read the article and was astounded to read that it is estimated that, in America alone, over $100 million dollars has been taken by this operation! What is wrong with this picture? The Internet is teeming with offers of "$10,000 per month working 2 hours per day from home GUARANTEED" (I just love the "guaranteed" part...), "Sign up for our program and start receiving thousands of dollars in the mail, "As seen on national TV you can be debt free in six months..." and so on. It is disgusting, disgraceful, and disheartening. These sorts of offers have been around for years, and that fact alone tells the saddest tale of all; the ads must be working. How can people be so gullible? Have we become so lazy and greedy that claims like these are actually plausible? And what about those people (I use the term loosely) who prey on the lazy, greedy, and gullible? How do they sleep at night or look at themselves in a mirror? As someone who has been out there making a business happen, I can tell you this with absolute certainty: there is no such thing as a free ride. There is no such thing as easy money. And there is no such thing as getting rich and debt-free quickly. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but if you want to be successful and make a lot of money, you are going to have to work hard. Very hard. There is no getting around it. But there is more to true success than making a lot of money. There is having balance in your life, time for your loved ones, peace of mind, feeling like you are making a difference, etc. The irony is that the very people that are selling their get-rich-quickly-and-easily schemes are probably working ten times harder than required by the very scam they are offering! It's tempting to look into these offers isn't it? Who doesn't want to make a ton of money with no work? I know I do! Who wouldn't want to win the lottery? I would! Everyone needs a dream. Everyone needs a fantasy or three. Now it's time to face the real world. The easier an offer sounds to make money, the faster I run from it. I hope you do too. ------------------------------------------- "Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your small business! Dave will show you how with his FREE newsletter, or his FREE 'Min-E-Seminar': "Secrets of an Actual $5 Million Home Business." Visit http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/art.htm to sign-up, for information on speaking services, or for copies of past articles and newsletters. Comments and/or questions are always welcome at 1-800-366-2347 or [email protected]. (c) (Mom)