Just One More Reason to Work for Yourself

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/KnowYourRights/EmployersGrabAccidentVictimsCash.aspx

Buying in Bulk? You Might Be Giving/Throwing Away Your Money.

I like to read articles about tips to save money and not let the store scam me out of my money. Of all that I have read in the last few years I haven't seen anything about how grocery stores are using the unit prices to scam you out of more money.

Most people were brought up to believe that you save money when you buy in bulk. The idea was, since you were buying more at a time and the manufacturer didn't have to use as much packaging, the cost to you was less(as long as you could use all that extra product before it went bad).

I was also taught to always check the unit price anyway. The unit price will tell you what that jar of mayo costs per ounce. For the first years that I had grocery shopped the larger containers were almost always the cheapest but now things have turned around. I believe it is because the stores know that most people think they are getting a better deal when buying larger packages and don't know about or think that comparing unit pricing is too hard. I've seen my friends and my husband do it!

Hey, I look at it as a positive for me because I don't have to always buy a larger quantity and I save even more because there's less of a chance that I will throw away extra food but for others who aren't aware of this, these stores are really taking advantage of them.

Feeling Scatterbrained

Back when I was locked in a cubicle for a good portion of my day, I would use my lunch hour to research ways of working from home. This little hobby has resulted in a file cabinet drawer filled with articles, magazines and notes that I had hoped one day would pay off. I have been feeling very overwhelmed with everything I had to do and everything I wanted to do so I didn't dare touch that drawer. Lately, I've been feeling like I have my energy scattered in too many places to be productive anywhere. So while continuing to scout out oppurtunities, I haven't really acted on some I would like to.


I had a thought today and knew that the information I needed was in that drawer. I actually only got 4 items in when I came across this article called Diversifying Your Online Income. Basically it advises you not to put all your eggs in one basket regarding your home business.

After reveiwing the first side of the article I was already feeling better about stepping into some other areas I've been interested in. Then I turned the page over, and there I had highlighted this sentence:

"You'll be hard-pressed to find a successful work at home entrepreneur who has focused his or her efforts on only one product or business model."

This may have just been the answer to the question I have been struggling with for the last few months. It's funny because the information I had originally began digging for relates to a job outside of the home I was afraid I would become desparate enough to take. I'm going to take this as a sign.

SMC on Ebay

I did a little research on SMC items being sold on ebay. I wasn't suprised to find many sellers competing with eachother, pedaling items that people didn't really want. My thoughts are that most of the SMC items are not products that people would go to ebay to purchase. Take this for example. I watched 16 items from various sections of SMC's "World of Products" catalog. Of those one sold and not suprisingly for much less than SMC's listed retail prices.

Just Under the Wire

Despite the initial issues I had with SMC, I decided since I had gone as far as to order the kit and I had it in my possesion that I would give it a try. My plan was to distibute catalogs to friends, family and other acquintances but my main goal was to recruit wholesalers and fundraisers. This way, I didn't have to sell the actual products to many people to make money. I just had to sell one person at a time on the oppurtunity. I had even called the PTA president who was going to consider me for a fundraiser. This made it all the more difficult to make the decision to send back the kit and time was running out on my 30 days!



What made me reconsider returning the kit after I had called the PTA? The shipping costs. My shipping costs would have been 27% of my cost of goods sold for orders of $30-$500. Which they say all you have to do is charge your customers 10% of their order and you will have more than enough to cover the 27%. Well that justifies nickel and diming me to death, now doesn't it? I can't see where a person can make any money with 27% going towards shipping and don't forget about the cost of other supplies ie. catalogs.



I had also figured on doing some selling on ebay but that would have been a waste of time as well.


Here is a link to the Ripoff Reports on SMC, 198 total.



Oh, yeah, I sent it back on my 30th day. I hope I get a refund without any problems.

Checked Out FHTM

When I checked out FHTM on the BBB website two things struck me:

"Some callers indicate the offer appears to focus on making money by recruiting others rather than on the sales of goods or services." That's nice.

And under the "Educational/General Comments" (3rd paragraph) is a blurb about pyramid schemes. Wonder why that is there.

I had three votes on my survey about wether I should send back my SMC kit. One voter refered me to her FHTM site which, I am only assuming but, I think was one of her recruiting techniques. The other only refered me to the main headquarters website.

I found this other cool site (wish I had before I bought into SMC) Ripoff Report. There are three reports here.

I will probably be bombarded with recruiters now, but again, the reason I was turned off by this company from the start, without checking into it further, was the lack of information I recieved from a 96 page magazine I purchased for $5.95. Oh, and that magazine, by the way was "Success from Home". You shouldn't have to buy a magazine to be sold on getting into business with one company. I bought it thinking that I would get some ideas from it.

Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing

Always on the lookout for inspiration and opportunity, I stopped by the magazine/book rack at Staples and this one caught my eye. One headline read “How to Make Money By Saving Money”, this was one of the selling points for me and after checking that the others didn’t look more impressive, I purchased it.

I was excited to begin reading, the feature stories looked very interesting and I was hungry for money making ideas. When I finally got to sit down with the magazine my excitement turned to disappointment when I realized the entire magazine was a come on for Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM), a network marketing company. I flipped through the entire magazine full of success stories, a little bit of product information and from what I could tell, no contact information or website. I thought at least if I could find a website, I could by-pass all the fluff, find out what this is all about and make a decision on whether this was worth while to persue.

I have to admit the health products and organic shampoo intrigued me. That, combined with the tech products, conflict me. And the fact that I couldn’t easily find contact info ticked me off. Oh, and that blurb on the front cover, “How to Make Money By Saving Money”, I can’t comment on it because I found nothing in the magazine that referred to it. Now maybe if I read this thing front to back I would feel differently but so far reading any further feels like a chore rather than an exciting peek into what might be a very good opportunity.

I popped in the “free dvd” hoping to get more information. In hind-sight I would hardly call it free since I paid $5.95 for what I am now considering a sales pitch of some sort.
One of the first things I heard was that the “sole purpose” of this company is to help people. The bottom line is not determined by how much money it makes but by how many lives it impacts. That sounds really good but is hard for me to believe. They don’t want to make a lot of money but they want others to. Again, the dvd, is loaded with success stories but I still don’t know exactly what’s involved.

Has anyone heard of or dealt with this company? Any comments? Can anybody answer for me: how does it work?

Afraid of Money?

Whoa! That last post was long. Sorry about that but I wanted to make sure to inform you what went on so you can make an educated desicion if you are considering doing business with Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC).

The horoscopes in my newspaper are usually stupid (though that doesn't halt my curiousity). The one from this Sunday's paper has actually got me thinking. Maybe they save the good ones for Sunday.

It read:
If you fear money, it's very difficult to make any. Get used to the idea of dealing with bigger numbers. A wealthy mindset is and essential ingredient for a wealthy life. It adds up.

At first I was thinking that I was scared to make money. But after the phone call with my business coach I realized that it means not to fear the investments. You know the saying that goes you've got to spend money to make money. That still doesn't change the fact that SMC wasn't upfront about what it would cost to get into business with them and uses high pressure sales tactics.

Well I've been thinking about it and since I have come this far maybe I should just work with what I recieved from my initial investment and see how it goes. Please vote and let me know what do you think.

Phone Call with My SMC "Business Coach"

My Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC) "Business Coach" called me yesterday to get me started on the marketing of my new exciting business. Kim asked me a few questions about what I have going on in my life right now and what my goal was with SMC. We came up with a goal of $500/month working 20 hours a week at it. $500/month seems a little low but I did want to start out small and test the waters. She went on to explain the need for a web-site to meet my goal. I told her that I had signed up for a web-site initially. She informed me that I signed up for a basic site limited to selling only 150 items and those items would be under $19.95, of course, Chris didn’t tell me this when he sold me on it.

So in order to reach my goal Kim suggests the platinum web-site. SMC was going to send me catalogs, samples of their 8 best selling products, 105 $10 gift cards and a $250 credit. The cost of the platinum web-site is $1095(which, of course, is a deal that won’t be offered again)! Kim asked me if I had money set aside for this expense. I told her I had not counted on this expense.

Well, do you have a credit card with $1000 in credit?

I don’t think I am willing to risk that kind of money.

Well, you know, in any business there is risk involved and you know you will have to purchase supplies to get your business up and running.

Yeah I know that, but here’s my thing: If a company is going to advertise a business opportunity, they need to be up front about what the real cost is going to be.

I expected to have to buy catalogs and gift cards and other admin supplies, I understand in business, you have to spend money to make money. It makes you wonder though, after paying for the $314.95 membership and signing on for a $29.99/month web-site that Kim says likely won’t make me a lot of money, and then shelling out another $1095, what else are they going to say I need to buy from them in order to make this work? At this point I have lost my trust in SMC.

I had several questions I never got to ask because once I told her I wasn’t going to purchase the platinum web-site, she said my best bet was to go with catalog sales but with a web-site that only sells 150 items at $19.95 or less I figure why bother? I had wanted to inquire about sub-wholesaling since I had one person interested but Kim basically ended the call when she knew I was frustrated and no longer receptive to the “sales pitches”.

Something else that gave me a not so fuzzy feeling was the commotion that was going on in the background. Twice Kim put me on hold because of the noise. The first time it sounded like when the telemarketers or sales people get all excited and in an uproar about making the sale and the second time it sounded like someone was yelling in an angry tone. This reminded me of a scene in the movie Boiler Room when the stock broker got very beligerent with a man who said he would have to consult with his wife.

One more complaint: I signed up for all this on September 12th. I didn’t receive the kit to review until September 20th. I was unable to speak to my “Business Coach” until September 26th and my 30 days to return the kit and receive a refund ends on October 13th. To me the clock should not have started ticking until the kit was received.

Do I feel SMC is a scam? Possibly there is money to be made if you know a lot of people who have the disposable income to spend on these types of products. The fact that they rope you in with a smaller initial investment then smack you with a bigger one after giving you plenty of time to think about it seems dishonest and who wants to do business with a company like that?

Gonna get busy!

Well I finally recieved the Membership Kit yesterday and had a chance to read through most of the material and now need to call my coach. The website should be up soon so I will have a link to that here. If I can promote the website well, I think I might be able to make this work. I will try for some catalog distribution too, starting with family and friends, but I dislike selling and asking people to buy stuff. Just don't like it. There are several others revenue streams outlined by SMC in the kit and I may try wholesaling, subwholesaling and fundraisers.

I have many other interests and worry about spreading myself to thin. I had been considering taking a course through ed2go.com which started on Wednesday. When I still hadn't recieved my kit from SMC by Thursday morning I enrolled in the class and then the kit arrived a few hours later. Not a suprise to me, when it rains, it pours as the saying goes. Yesterday I also received a call about a job that needed to be done on another new venture I will discuss later and I had to take care of some business for my local government which I do only a few hours a month when needed. Yikes!

Still Waiting

It's been six days and I still have yet to recieve my SMC Membership kit which seems odd to me. You would think that they would send that right out. If it doesn't arrive today maybe I will call.

Want to Lose the Training Wheels? Lose the Pedals Too!

Maybe off the topic but a good tip if you can use it.

My daughter had been practicing riding her bicycle without training wheels for weeks without success. Then my husband read that if you remove the pedals and let the child just practice the balancing part without worrying about pedaling they will be riding without training wheels in no time. It makes sense because it's not the pedaling they need to learn, it's the balancing. After maybe 6 hours of just pushing herself around without pedals and training wheels, Daddy put the pedals back on and like magic she was riding like a pro! Well, like a pro that just learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels.

You Don't Need New Carpet!

Thought I'd write a quick post about my new vacuum cleaner because I am very happy with it. It is a Eureka 4870GZ Boss Smart-Vac Upright Vacuum. For the longest time I was concerned that I would have to get new carpet throughout my house. The old carpet just looked so worn and dirty. I didn't want to do that because of the cost and chemicals. So the Hoover, which we were given when we moved into the house 13 years ago, really needed to be replaced. My 12 year old dog had chewed up the cord when he was a puppy and my 7 year old kid had broke the latch on the bag door when she was a baby. Let's just say, replacing this vacuum was a long time coming. We checked Consumer Reports and it was the cheapest of the CR Best Buy recommendations. I almost can't believe the difference the Eureka has made. The carpet looks so much nicer now that the brush on the Eureka has fluffed the carpet back up, something the Hoover didn't do from day one and now I don't mind vacuuming as much because I know it is actually making a difference. If you read other reviews on this vacuum, you will notice some people complaining about it being noisy. It's a vacuum cleaner, vacuum cleaners are noisy. Also some complain about it being heavy. Most are, but I look at it this way, I'm getting more exercise and they need to be heavy to have the power you want to clean your floor. For the price and the performance, I don't regret our decision to purchase this product.

Feelin' Guilty

I have been trying to swear of processed foods as much as possible for obvious reasons and heading to the farmers' markets for fresh and healthy food. I purchased and prepared red beets for the first time ever and was struck by just how much they look like mice, so much so that it prompted me to pop an eyeball off a craft and snap this picture.

Yesterday we went to a local farm for their corn maze and before I left I checked out their website which I really liked because it suggested taking a break from processed foods and going to their farm for fresh fruits and vegatables. But this just got me feeling really guilty because I didn't have much in the house to make for lunch so I stopped at a fast food resturant before we got there! Ok, I'm going to try not to beat myself up over it and do better next time.

There's something about this picture of adding my beet mice to boiling water that makes me feel guilty too! lol

Checking with the Better Business Bureau

Today I checked with the BBB and read their report on Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC). It had 750 complaints. It bothered me a bit but then I remembered reading that a company which does a lot of business is going to have complaints. You will never please everyone all the time and the report does have a blurb about that.

If Not for the Incessant Phone Calls...

I have been planning to start this blog for months but it wasn't until the steady phone calls from SMC Corp. and the subsequent sale they made, did I say ok, I have to do this. Years ago I had sent for info on the company and after checking with the BBB (nothing negative was found) and mulling it over I just never followed through. Months later I was glad I hadn't because a friend had a home party and I was able to see the whole gamut of products Speacialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC) offered. I honestly couldn't pick even one thing to buy out of obligation. I went over and over the catalogs and I seriously left without buying a thing. I prefer to buy practical items since I'm a pack rat and while buying new stuff is nice, eventually you have to get rid of stuff and that's hard for a pack rat. Since that time I have come to realize that most people aren't like me, while I can say no, I really don't need that, a lot of other people buy, buy, buy but I would never have been able to ask people to buy this stuff.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago: I once again caught the informercial on TV which peaked my interest. I sent for the info, no harm in that. Then the phone calls began! I answered SMC's calls about 5 times, each time no one was there. This is what they do in boiler rooms when you don't answer quick enough, they hang up because they need to call someone else as quickly as they can to try and make a sale and they can't wait for you to pick up the phone slow poke! Eventually I stopped answering all together until last night, lucky for Chris I was standing by the phone. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know from my previous inquiry but somehow managed to sell me on it.

And this is the cost:
The initial info mailed to me says for the Gold Membership:
$414.95 ($399.95 plus $15 s/h)
Including a "free" website (with a monthly hosting fee of $29.95) and
$100 free merchandise
I am saving $64.00 over the Silver Membership
The Silver Plan
Twelve payments of $39.95 for a total of $479.40.
Also 90 days with a business coach (who I assume may just be another sales person to keep you from requesting a refund in 30 days).

I was told that if I go with the gold plan I would get $300 in free merchandise instead. After much thought I decided to go with the Silver plan, the amount isn't so scary. Once I decided that Chris asked me to hold. When he came back he told me if I went with the gold plan I could actually get it for $100 less. I still was up in the air and he offered another $50 in merchanise and I went with the gold. I should recieve my stuff in about 4 days he said and I will be selling stuff on the internet and making money while I sleep. Let's hope he's right.