There is an important principle which is too often overlooked in any income-generating endeavor.
That principle is EXCHANGE.
Fair exchange is when you give something and someone else gives you something of equal or similar value in return.
It’s even better when you give something a bit better quality or more valuable than what you have received.
Trying to get money for nothing is not only dishonest. In the long run, it is unworkable.
What kind of person tries to get money for nothing? Right – a thief, a robber, a criminal.
That doesn’t mean that everyone who plays the lottery is a criminal.
But I could imagine that if someone attempted to live off of won lotteries, inheritance, gifts, or any of the more unscrupulous money making ideas, one could eventually lean toward criminality.
Why? Because criminals try to get things for themselves without giving anything to others in return.
There are shades of gray, between the straight-out put-me-in-jail-tomorrow criminal, and the honest tradesman.
Online, we often refer to these shades of gray as “Get Rich Quick Schemes,” “Scams,” “Spam,” “Black Hat,” “Hype,” “B.S.,” etc.
A common denominator of many scams and unethical ways to “make money online” are that they promote the idea that one should receive money without offerring anything valuable in return.
Think about it for a second.
When you see a home-based business opportunity, you often try to sniff out the scams.
Well one fast way of filtering out a lot of garbage is by just asking yourself – “Does this person recommend I give little or nothing of value in exchange for income?”
If the answer is yes – steer clear.
Even if you only earn money from ad revenue on your site – well, as long as you are providing useful information, entertainment, or something of value, you are giving something in exchange for that money. Right? You are also providing the advertisers with an opportunity to promote their own products.
Honesty pays off in the end. And it also feels better.
Tags:
Internet Marketing, Honesty, Integrity
Good stuff Anna…I agree, it’s easy to pick out the scams if you’ve been around for a while. But for those new to it…that’s where folks like you come in to help
Something for nothing isn’t worth it…I like to be rewarded for my work and effort, plain and simple lol
JK Swopess last blog post..How to launch a website. Want to see a live site launch?
That is so so true. There simply must be an exchange. My wife were having a discussion not long ago and we were talking about the lottery. The question was: Would your rather hit the lotto and win $20 mil, or build a business and earn $20 mil over a few years. She couldn’t understand why I chose the business route in a heartbeat. I think you understand me.
Talk to you soon,
T
@ Joe – Yep – sometimes keeping simple basics in mind is really helpful.
@ T. Edwards – Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog! I have been to yours and I LOVE it!!!
I definitely agree with you on this lottery business. Other than the fact that it causes you to rely on LUCK which is relatively out of your control (and frankly, is more likely than not to NOT happen in the end) it is not proper exchange.
Now obviously this doesn’t mean that if I won a lottery I would stick up my nose and say, “no, I’m sorry, I can not accept these funds, I have not earned them!
” (But I would have to enter the lottery to begin with and I never have.)
But generally, if more people focused on producing valuable and helpful, useful products, the world would simply be a better place.
And these ARE the people who succeed the most in the end.
What famous celebrity or Internet Marketer do you know of, who “made it big” on a Get-Rich-Quick scheme?
Ah, yeah, I can just see it – Eban Pagan or Yaro Starak. is going to tell us that they really made their millions but putting a bit of code into their site. Which you can get on Clickbank for $47.
Honesty pays off in the end. And it also feels better.
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