ASK AN EXPERT: Home Based Businesses

News 13, the Morning News and scnow.com are committed to helping you make ends meet. Along those lines, we will be bringing you a regular series of online question and answer chats called Ask An Expert.

This week, we feature Ben Pittman -- a home-based business consultant who will answer your questions on working at home.

(This chat is no longer active, however we will offer another opportunity to have your questions answered soon.)

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10:16 a.m.
Lori from Nichols asks ...
How can you tell the real home businesses from the ones who are just trying to get your money? I would really like to work from home but I don't know who to trust. Can you tell me how I will know?

With the growth of the internet in particular, the home based business industry has been impacted greatly in a good way and a bad way. You and 10s of thousands of others are finding it increasingly difficult to separate the good ideas from the bad ones and in answer to your question, there really is not a good way without trial and error. First off, I would tell you to seek only those opportunities that speak to your heart. Dont try or attempt anything just for the promise of riches. However, on the other hand, don't try so hard to find the right business that you simply become frozen with fear in your decision process and simply never attempt anything until the "perfect" thing comes along. Since this is so confusing, I would be most happy to help you by answering questions concerning opportunities that you find to help the best way and it will not cost you a penny to ask. Send me an email at ben@pittmanworld.com or call me 843-455-6875.

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10:25 a.m.
Carol in North Myrtle Beach asks ...
I have wasted more money trying to get a legitimate home business. I am a senior who just lost my job and I am looking for something to do from home that isn't to difficult. Can you help me? I would appreciate it. I need to work to pay my bills.

It is hard for me to answer that one unless or until I know a little more about you. Such as, what have you worked at in the past and other things like computer or telephone skills or writing skills, etc. Do you have hobbies that could be turned into a business? I have a friend who in her senior age started designing cross-stitch patterns and selling them to stores and now is selling them online. Do you like to bake cakes or make pastries or jam or pickles? Do you like or have patience to care for children? Can you teach something to young or old? These are the types of questions to ask yourself and if you need me to help you think up some good ideas, email ben@pittmanworld.com or call me 843 455-6875. Be happy to help you think up some good stuff!

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1:07 p.m.
Johnny in Clio asks ...
I have a product I want to sell online. How do I get started?

We need to know a little bit more about your product to find a good avenue to market it. I have been developing products for over 30 years and hold several patents. First off, if you are going to market the product yourself, you will need to develop online marketing skills or market your product through a company like eBay. The easiest way would be eBay or something akeen to eBay. The other basic way is to build a landing page or website and learn how to attract customers to your product using search engines where you have two basic methods. One is natural search and the other is paid search. Too much info to tell you here but if you like, contact me at ben@pittmanworld.com and after I find out a little more about what it is you have to sell, I can maybe give you a tip or two.

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1:10 p.m.
Jordon in Florence asks ...
What kind of restrictions do you have with an at home bakery or catering service?

I am not familiar enough with the laws surrounding home based food distributors to give you a clear answer but I would suggest that you start learning by talking to one of your local restaurants to see who inspects them and then contact that person for advice.

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1:11 p.m.
Diana in Conway asks ...
I recently attended a seminar on work at home. On Friday I am to attend a workshop and want to know if you ever heard of: Stores on Line. They are an internet marketing team. Is this a possible idea or just another way to scam people out of there money by paying 25 bucks a month to have my own web page?

It is OK to go for a learning experience but call me before you jump in. I attended a couple of years ago and basically, you certainly can chalk this up to your learning curve but as far as being a good deal for you, and depending on what you want to do, I think you should tread cautiously on this one. Call me and we can talk about it further after you attend or call me anyway and I may be able to point you in a better direction. First off, remember to have a real interest in what you want to do at home.

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1:20 p.m.
Jill in Coward asks ...
How can you check out a home-based business (like Google) to see if it is legit?

First off, you can "Google" any home based business and find that somebody will always tell you that it is a scam, whether it is really a good one or not. There are a lot of ways to discover for yourself whether the business is good or bad. For instance, I have worked in network marketing for a long long time and teach people how to spot a good one using techniques that do not rate one company over another, but instead show you how to look beneath the obvious and spot the good parts that work best for you. You are always the magic and most people do not understand that. You make the difference and most people do not understand that. Even the term "scam" or "scheme" is not even valid in most cases because someone in total ignorance told someone else that something like something that their brother in law was promoting two years ago was a bad deal so it is all a bad deal. Can you see what I mean in all of this. If you have a specific company or product in mind, contact me and I will tell on the phone how to evaluate it for yourself, by yourself. ben@pittmanworld.com or 843 455 6875

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1:25 p.m.
Tim in Aynor asks ...
I have seen "kits" on line for $1.95 shipping and handling. Will this just teach me things I need to know to work for Google without the promise of actually getting work from Google? Or is this just someone getting a lot of $1.25 sent to them?

Those kits and other ways to send you something for such a low price is a teaser to upsell you on something else. Not to say that they are bad, but the odds of some people buying the next offer is high enough that they can send you this starter kit for cost. Then, they know that you are willing to maybe look at other offers or their offer and then they sell you name sometimes to lead companies who in turn sell your info to other companies and then you get a lot of offers that may or may not be good. So, be careful when you register for the FREE stuff and always use a special email address when you register.

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1:32 p.m.
Tony in Nichols asks...
I am very interested in the real estate market as an investor,and I have heard that the government will help you with starting and funding this business venture.I have tried to find the sources that are needed to make this a reality, I have gotten nowhere!!! I would appreciate some good quality information that is reliable. I am interested in the single family market and funding sources other than banks, preferably grants or low interest loans or subsidies.

All that baloney about government help to fund your real estate business is "phoney baloney" for the most part. Call me if you like and we can talk further. Too much to answer here. Thanks, Ben 843 455 6875.