When I think about all the things that have made me successful or what at least got me to the point where I am now financially stable, being a business owner has been a strong part of that. Currently I run two great businesses.
The first is my personal finance blog which I started in 2008 and has had some great success. The other is a manufacturing business which my father owned and I took over in 2009. However, these two businesses were not my first.
My first business was a business opportunity brought up by a friend of mine who was working with a financial services company known as World Financial Group or WFG for short. So in this article I’m going to cover why getting involved in a business opportunity just might be what you need to get ahead in life financially and what to look for when you’re getting started.
Finding a Business That Is Right for You
To start, there are a lot of business opportunities out there from Amway, to Avon, but for me I wanted to get involved with something that allowed me to really help people and World Financial Group was that vehicle for me.
So the first thing you need to ask yourself is what kind business do you want to start? For me helping people with their finances was exactly the kind of career I was looking for. In fact once I was licensed I was able to work with families and sit down with them at their kitchen table and help them out one on one, and put a plan together to help them improve the quality of their financial lives.
To me this brought a certain degree of joy to know that I’ve helped change somebody’s life for the greater good. So when you’re looking for a business opportunity to get started in make sure it’s something that is beneficial to others just as much as it is you.
3 Things to Consider When Getting Started
Then next thing you need to do is your due diligence, and research the company you want to get involved with. So here is a comprehensive list of things I found that you should be looking for.
- Cost – How much will it cost to be a part of this business opportunity? For me, there was a $100 one time membership fee, plus I also had to pay for my own training and licenses. This added up to be around $1000 altogether. Not bad when you consider the type of business I was getting into.
- What are Others Saying? – The next thing I did was researched the company. This was easy for me to do since I already had a few friends in the business. However I also did some research on the internet. I simply typed in WFG Scam into Google and I got all kinds of results. In the end though everything checked out great.
- Time – Finally, the last thing you may want to consider is how much time this business opportunity is going to take up. This is one factor I never considered. In fact, I had to give up a lot of evenings and weekends from my family doing paperwork and training. On top that my branch office was located nearly an hour and a half away from home which also ate into my time as well.
How a Business Opportunity Can Improve Your Life
However when you consider the cost, and time of joining this business opportunity I learned two valuable lessons. First off, I learned how to manage my money very well. I learned everything from how life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, to mortgages worked.
Now as it turns out, I never stuck it out with World Financial Group, but to be truthfully honest, if I had never joined WFG I would have never started my own personal finance blog and had the success I did. I guess it’s like they always say when one door closes another opens.
The second thing I learned from this great business opportunity was how to run a business. I use to think that running a business meant putting a detailed business plan together and hanging a sign on your front door but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I learned everything from marketing to branding, but most of all I learned one very important principle and that is as long as you do the right things long enough you can succeed. When you break things down that’s all a business is really doing, a collection of tasks long enough to reach a certain goal.
Final Thoughts
So have you ever joined a business opportunity? If so share how did it work out for you? What did you learn and gain from that experience? Share your thoughts and comments below.
About Chris Holdheide