Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie
Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t
Millions of you dream of someday starting your own business andachieving financial success and independence--it's a universaldream. Many also discover the internet and are led to believethis is the perfect medium for making that dream a reality. Whichis true, because you can accomplish things on the internet thatyou don't have the resources to accomplish off-line.However, many of you looking to start a business on-line alsohave a big fear of being ripped off. And yes, there is very goodreason to fear being ripped off! There is a good chance you willbe ripped off by some half-witted money-making scheme. The factis that there's even a chance you will be ripped off by someonewho doesn't even know he's ripping you off!"But how can you be ripped off by someone who doesn't even knowhe's ripping you off?" you ask. Many people with no real productcreate one by taking someone's advice -- often extremely badadvice -- and compiling it into an info product. By passing thisalong to you in an e-book or manual, and giving you a "clear roadmap" they not only waste your money...they make you worse offthan you were before you started. This is true because you willwaste time, money, and energy trying to make something work thathas absolutely NO chance of working.For example, the business of "making money, teaching others tomake money, by teaching others to make money" is one of theeasiest ways to make money. Agreed, there is a large market forthis product. But, it's also a very dangerous place becausecommon sense is often over-ridden by greed and very deep-seateddreams and ambitions.So how do you avoid being ripped off? The BEST way IS using yourcommon sense. Ask yourself if something makes sense. Also askyourself, "If the person telling you how to do something hasreally discovered the secret, why isn't he using it to get rich!"There are very few "real secrets" -- information travels veryfast on the internet. Yes, there are many proven methods andtechniques that do work, but if you look hard enough you will seethem in everyday application. Go to any famous "guru's" site andmake sure you see that he is actually using what he teaches.Avoiding getting ripped off involves, to an extent, learning whoyou can trust. A trusted friend who really cares about you simplywon't give you bad advice. A trusted advisor won't recommend badproducts or services to you.Here is a very big challenge I am faced with weekly: I get lotsof people sending me trial versions of their products or reviewcopies of their books. They want my "thumbs up"...myrecommendation. I know that if I give this recommendation...thistestimonial...and the product is not extremely good -- I willcause harm to a lot of people. I also know that I will destroyone of my most valuable assets...my goodwill, AND the reputationI have spent six years building with my potential on-linecustomers. So, I'm COMMITTED to closely guarding that trust, andputting my clients' best interest FIRST. You need to make asimilar commitment BEFORE you even open your business.Until you develop a few trusted friends whom you can call oremail for recommendations, learn to ask a lot of questions. Ifyou are thinking of buying a product or getting involved in acertain business -- ask around. Discussion boards are a goodplace to ask what people think about a given product or service.Ask in a way that you won't be perceived as trying to promote theproduct yourself, because that type of post will simply bedeleted. Also ask in a way that you aren't bashing a product orindividual. Discussion board operators don't want the legalhassles from a post on their board unjustly harming someone'sbusiness.Also, just spend a lot of time surfing relevant discussionboards. Read the hundreds, if not thousands of posts alreadythere. There are boards set up just to warn you about rip-offs.My favorite is the Friends In Business board. This board wasstarted by a lady who got ripped off, and years later it's theperfect place to go to find out about hundreds of scams. That'sthe sole purpose of the board. In fact, you should add this boardto your bookmarks. It's:
Some of the best discussion boards are closed communities. Theseare member's-only sites; some with tens of thousand of membersall banned together for a common purpose. Two of themember's-only sites I belong to are The Internet MarketingWarriors and The Affiliates Club. Both are "support groups" whereyou can brainstorm and bounce your ideas off people buildingon-line or home-based businesses. I am a moderator at one ofthese groups and have written many articles exclusively for theother (my articles are often published in The Affiliates Clubbefore they appear anywhere else).For more information on the Warriors, visit:
For more info on The Affiliates Club visit:When considering a business opportunity, one of the wisest thingsyou can do is to ask for referrals. If they are as good as theysay they are, they should be able to refer you to lots ofsatisfied customers. If you were considering getting involved ina franchise or business venture off-line this is how you wouldcheck it out. On-line should be no different. If it's a largeinvestment you're thinking of making you'd be crazy not to. Emailthese references, or better yet, give them a call. There arethings you can detect in a person's voice that you can't "hear"in email. Off-line, if at all possible, I would pay them aface-to-face visit.Another common sense approach to avoid getting ripped off is tosimply research the site or product that you are consideringinvesting in. It's fairly easy to research an individual orcompany on the internet to see if their own businessesdemonstrate that they really know what they are talking about.For instance, is the person selling the "How To Explode YourTraffic" ebook getting any traffic to his own site?This can easily be researched by utilizing the Alexa Toolbar.The Alexa Toolbar shows how popular a given site is. It isn'tfoolproof but is a good indicator of how successful a site reallyis. It shows a sites "ranking." You can learn about and get thefree Alexa Toolbar at:Along the same lines, research the private site that's going toteach you "All the secrets of improving your SE ranking" bychecking where they are listed in Google and AltaVista. If theyare going to teach you this, they certainly should have alreadyattained these results for their sites. Just this little bit ofinvestigating, using the search engines, can save you frombuying into some theory offered by someone who has NO CLUE whathe is talking about.We all know that there are no internet police. However, manyparts of the community are self-policing. These are the parts ofthe internet community that agree to adhere to certain standards.Members who fail to live up to those standards are investigated,and if they are not adhering to community standards they are notallowed to retain membership. Two such communities that I belongto are The Better Business Bureau Online, and The InternationalCouncil Of Online Professionals. You have to invest in an annualmembership in both of these organizations once you qualify.Both of the above organizations require applications, and youhave to demonstrate that you are ethical and meet theorganization's standards. They actually investigate your websiteand look at the products or services you offer. The BetterBusiness Bureau actually sends someone to your place of businessso that they can better understand your whole business operation.If you survive the application process, you are given an emblemto place on your website that is hyper-linked to their sites. Avisitor can click on the emblem to continue investigating youbefore doing business with you. For more information on I-Copmembership visit:Membership in BBB Online requires that you be a member of yourlocal Better Business Bureau. That often requires that you havebeen in business for at least a year, and the application processcan take several months. In the Northwest Florida Division, acommittee reviews each membership application. If you'reinterested in BBB membership, look in your local phone book.Better Business Bureau membership is only available in the US and Canada.Millions of you migrate to the internet looking for anopportunity to supplement your income. Far too many spend a lotof time and other resources trying to build a business -- only tobe very disappointed. If you apply the common sense adviceoffered above, you GREATLY reduce your chances of becoming one ofthem.Reread this article several times, then start applying what itteaches. Reading and knowing something without using it isactually worse than not knowing, since you have no excuse. Manyof you already intuitively knew everything in this article. Yetby failing to apply that knowledge, you were still susceptible tobeing ripped off. Now, hopefully you're not :-) Article Tags: Avoid Getting Ripped, Avoid Getting, Getting Ripped, Being Ripped, Business Bureau
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