How do we determine as intellectuals whether a home based business is legitimate. There are many home based businesses that actually work and are able to produce fantastic results. Unfortunately, there are also many home based businesses that don’t deliver and most people end up wasting their money. Some people spend thousands of dollars trying to find the right home based business. These businesses can be anything from home assembling to selling a product as an affiliate marketer. The problem does not usually exist with the type of work involved but with the company you are interacting with.

Most home based business entrepreneurs that decide to try out home based businesses are beginners. They have grown tired of their 9 to 5 job and are looking for more freedom and the ability to be their own boss. The excitement of this possible venture sometimes plays games with their minds and they opt-in to every opportunity that comes along. That is simply the wrong thing to do and a lot of these companies exploit this by saying you make millions over night. You must be realistic when deciding on a home-based business and expect that the money doesn’t simply fall into your lap. Sure their are a small percentage of home based entrepreneurs that make it very big in a short period but they are in the minority.

The most important thing to remember when contemplating a home based business is researching the company. There are some definite criteria that any person should take into account when conducting a study. Some questions that should be asked are, “does the company have a proven record” and “are there any legal issues with the company”. So essentially you are trying to prove that a company will produce for you based on past occurrences and that the company is not in legal trouble that could seriously affect your success. These are not the only questions that should be asked. In fact, the more questions you ask the better. You need to sometimes dig deep in order to find the answers but its worth the effort.

Some other things you should consider when deciding the legitimacy of a home-based business is the product. If you are going to be selling a product as an affiliate marketer you must make sure that its sellable. Their are some good products and their are some bad products. The most important question that you should be asking is, “will this product stand the test of time and always sell in poor economic times”. Lets be realistic you are not entering into a home based business for the short term and to make a couple of bucks. You want to be extremely successful and want a product you can use to sell to the right consumer at the right time.

A company should also have proven customer service that is always available for you. The worst nightmare for any home based business entrepreneur is not knowing what their doing and having no one to help with their problem. Good customer service should consist of answering questions promptly, correctly and offering advice whenever possible. The key to the legitimacy of any home based business is the ability for a company to stand by their business and to be confident in their interactions with their affiliates. A good way to determine the legitimacy of a home based business is by e-mailing or calling them to see if they respond to you.

Determining the legitimacy of any home based business is not rocket science. Its simply a step by step process by asking a lot of questions. Its not about acting impulsively because it looks good. That is simply good marketing because they are able to reel you in. However, a smart entrepreneur will always do their homework thereby determining legitimacy. If you find out about legal issues, track record, customer service and the product, you can make an informed decision on whether they are worth buying into.

Beginners often have a difficult time knowing where to start a home based business. In this article, we are going to go over 7 simple steps to launch a business online.1. Create a business/site that offers valuable information to people and in order to generate income by supplying information, it has to be something that people want, need and ready to pay for. Surveys have reveals several times that people are willing to pay for information that they really need than for information that they only want.2. 43things dot com is a site where people go to list their goals, objectives as well as desires. At the same time, it’s also a good site for discovering what members of the site need or want. There are several other sites like this one that render similar thing.3. Create a list of potential business ideas which you could build your first business on.4. It is very vital to do some research to find out if people are searching for information to justify building your site. Wordtracker at Freekeywords.wordtracker is a good place to begin.5. You need to find a suitable product that is related to what you base your site on. ClickBank.com should be your first bus top.6. Create your website, if you don’t have the skills you might want to hire a professional to do the job for you or join a business program that provides you with a complete money making site.7. Now you need traffic (customers) to start profiting from your website. Because your site is new, no body knows about it, you are going to do a lot of marketing to get the word out about your business. Below are some few ways to promote a site online.- Go to Squidoo and Hubpages and sign up for an account. Those two site are very simple,modular site building program that is a big favorite of Google which means a great opportunity for people to see your site.- You either write articles yourself or take articles from article directories like EzineArticles, Articlesbase e.t.c and use it on your Squidoo lens and Hubpages, if the article is not yours ensure you include a link of the author otherwise it won’t be approve.- Write a reviews about the product.- Create a blog and post quality content on a frequent basis.- Participate in forums and build status and reputation. You can find a lot of different forums at big-boards.com. Do not forget to include a link to your site in your signature area.- Use social bookmarking to target a huge number of prospects. Onlywire.com allows you to have your post bookmark to multiple sites in less than 5mins.There are many other ways to promote a site on the internet. As time goes on, you will get to know them.I hope you find this article on how to start a home based business in 7 steps informative.To Your Success,John Benjamin

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.