Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Before You Start any Business

How I got taken by a work-at-home scam

Thandi Zulu was single, pregnant and staying at a women's shelter in Houston, Texas, when she received a mysterious letter one day.

A company told Zulu that she could make big money working at home in a data-entry job. No résumé or experience was needed. All she had to do was pay a $200 fee.

You probably know what happened next. Zulu called the company, gave them her checking account number and then tried to stop herself because she realized that she was doing something stupid.Zulu, the single mom, subscribes to Durst's theory.

"I didn't pay attention," she said. "When you're desperate and you're looking for something, you just go ahead. I was pregnant, and I didn't have a job. I wanted to work at home."

Zulu says she finally found a legitimate job. She moved to Laurel, Mississippi, and now sells medical and dental plans through a company called Ameriplan USA.

She even calls people and tells them that they can sell Ameriplan from their own homes.
advertisement

But sometimes she runs into an unexpected problem.

"They don't believe me," she said. "People think we're scammers."


ameriplan fraud, ameriplan scam

Ameriplan Business Opportunity is an operation set up by Dennis and Daniel Bloom back in 1992. The Ameriplan Business Opportunity aims to provide discount: vision, dental, chiropractic, prescription, and pet care. They target the uninsured or underinsured citizens of America.

According to the Ameriplan Business they are the largest provider of medical benefits at extremely low prices. This kind of claim and the promise of not having to deal with products or inventory gets people to join the Ameriplan Business Opportunity.

From my research it seems that very few people end up making money with the Ameriplan Business Opportunity, and that the way this company makes money is through training and developing independent Ameriplan brokers. As a broker it will be your goal to actually go forth and recruit people into signing up with Ameriplan as their healthcare provider.

There have been questions, just as there are of almost any Multi Level Marketing business, whether the true focus is on selling product or on recruiting new members. And whether all the money is to be made in selling the actual policies or selling training materials to your downline.

Some people say it's difficult to make money in the Ameriplan Business Opportunity because the majority of healthcare providers do not accept Ameriplan at their locations. This makes it difficult to recruit members since you can not accurately tell them where they can go to receive health care with an Ameriplan discount plan.

I believe it would be a quite difficult business to get started in and set up succesfully; having your Ameriplan Business Opportunity referrer financially take advantage of you when you need support doesn't make it any easier.

Note: If you are at this website because you're looking for a way to make money online then you should check out my top recommendation. It's the best method I've found that anyone can use to earn an income from home, Click Here.