Question
How can I convince a lady I know, not to waste her time with this company?
She has watched the infomercial (ya know, the one with Tom Bosley) , sent away for the package. She is thinking of giving this company A LOT of money for a "personal business coach". She honestly believes she is going to become RICH selling their stuff.
I know it's a waste of time & money, but I cannot convince her. If I only had a nickel for every little shop or flea market table I've seen full of this resin statue stuff, made in China.
I've searched the net trying to find something on this company to show her that it is a rip off. But I'm not getting too far. One site I found, does have some posts about people who were scammed, but every other post was from someone claiming they have made tons of money with them.
*also, no offense intended for those of you who like resin statues.
Answer
Hmmm, can you do an advanced search on some of the completed items on eBay, show her how glutted the market is, and that some people are literally selling those same items at or below cost just to pad their feedback profiles? I think sitting down with actual figures might help convince her to spend her time in a more profitable manner.
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breaks your heart, but jen has the only good idea to combat it, and then
try really hard not to say I told ya so.
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Hmmm, can you do an advanced search on some of the completed items on eBay, show her how glutted the market is, and that some people are literally selling those same items at or below cost just to pad their feedback profiles?
I did that yesterday, printed off sheets of ended auctions with no bids & showed her...her reply was..
"I'm not going to sell online. I'm going to open a store."
She might just end up learning a very expensive lesson.
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oh no my heart is breaking, it is not a product line I would build a business plan on.
but the stuff does sell, friends of mine stock it, and people buy it, some pay as much as 600.00 for large ones. ....
they just don't make enough or turn over enough to impress me, but we are in a small town.
I just hate plastic and cheap crap, so i keep telling myself its my problem because I just plain out and out.... don't like it.
but it is also too narrow of a market for my liking, hope she finds a high traffic location in a large populated area, and/or plans on diversifying into other stuff to compliment it.
what is she paying I'll come down and coach her and write her business plan for her.
Gently suggest she see if she can find stuff locally at wholesalers that she can buy just a couple of at a tme, that way she can flip it and replace it with something different, etc....try that avenue, she can probably drive to a few wholesalers and spend the day "shopping"-which is the fun part anyway, spend half as much money, have an adventure and still come home with a truckload.
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(speechless)
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Many years ago I was a member of SMC and tried selling some of their stuff at flea markets. You have to be VERY selective in what you buy from them.
As for other people's opinions, try doing a search for "home based business specialty merchandise corp."
Supposedly they sell you a "lifetime" membership and after a few years of inactivity I tried to reopen my account, no such luck.
I don't recommend them from the simple fact that there's too much of it out there and generally speaking, you get what you pay for.
By the way, there's a few similar operations out there who sell "dime store" type merchandise without making the "make your dreams come true" speech. And their product lines are just as, if not even more interesting. But, you'll just have to discover/find them for yourself. No sense in putting a big red "X" on the treasure map. :-)
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I've met some people, who it seems no matter how valid your reasoning or logic might sound, they'll go ahead and do it anyway. To me, those people aren't experiencing a lapse of logic or anything, they're just gullible. Tho I don't watch much TV, I've seen a few of the infomercials, and even if my brain is saying "no no no", my gut might be saying "buy buy buy" Call it advertising at it's apex. The science of psychology has shown all kinds of ways to manipulate people into buying things they don't need.
Well, I guess society always needs a few dreamers who'll stick to their fantasies in the face of reason--just wish these sham marketers wouldn't take so much advantage of them
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Only once was I wrong on this type of subject
and I still visit the store ten years later, and walk in and tell them how proud I am of them.
BUT, they started with that one plan and metamorphed into something opposite over 5 years, but it doesn't matter, if they had of listened to me instead of to their hearts they would have never started in the first place. They only made it because they started and had enough smarts to change to what their customers wanted, FAST.
They were not so proud and stuck on THEIR idea as to make a move away from the original plan....
Let's all hope this is the same scenario.
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I really do wish her luck. I told her she might be better off buying some stuff from the dollar store & marking it up a few bucks.
I would think that after paying smc, plus shipping (I've read that its really high) that she would not be making any profit.