We are a society in the fast lane, and as a population, we have been desensitized by hype in advertising. Our televisions, radios and newspapers are rampant with product advertising having deadlines. We have annual linen sales, home remodeling sales, jewelry sales, and even car sales. I cannot believe that I am the only person that is fed up with all the impersonal marketing crap that is out there. People are suckered into buying something they do not need, did not want, and were not even looking for every day just because they fell for advertising that made them feel like they must act now or forever regret not buying. The sad part of it is that most of what is advertised and sold like this is nothing but junk.

In recent years, this type of advertising has spilled over into business opportunities as well. Every day I get email telling me I should sign up to sell some healthcare product and participate in someone's teleseminar to learn how I can make tons of money, BUT in order to take advantage of the "opportunity" I need to act quickly because the successful entrepreneur running the show is only accepting the first 100 serious applicants. I read this as, "Hurry up and send me your money sucker, don't waste any more of my time trying to convince you because there are plenty of others out there that will jump at the chance to give me their money."

The first problem I see with advertising with an urgency to sign up for a business "opportunity" is that if there truly were an urgency, then by the time you read the advertisement, it is already too late. Part of this I attribute to the fact that if the opportunity was really that great and the person promoting it really made the millions they claimed to make, they would not sell you their system for $39.99 when they could just as easily employ a few people at nominal salaries and make even more for themselves. I can't believe people fall for the con man that says he is only going accept the first 100 applicants because he wants to train them himself one-on-one before accepting any new applicants. Are we really supposed to believe that someone making millions of dollars a year ($20,000+ per week) is going to coach us one-on-one for $39.99? Based on an eight-hour day this person would be earning $480.00+ per hour if he were making $1,000,000.00 per year. That means that a $39.99 one-on-one session with him would be worth only five minutes of his time. Do you think he is going to tell you anything in five minutes that is going to make you a millionaire too?

The next time you see a business "opportunity" advertised and you find the concept interesting, ask yourself why is it being advertised at all. If you are looking to make a steady income by using the Internet, find a product or service to sell that has a good reputation and does not rely on hype to instill a sense of urgency in order to get customers to buy it.

Personally, after a couple years of looking and trying some of the other "opportunities," I opted to sell books online. I have sold books through Amazon.com, Alibris.com, Abebooks.com, ebay.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Half.com, Biblio.com, and a few other marketplaces that are not as well known. I'll bet you have even heard of a few of these marketplaces too, haven't you? That is precisely why I chose to sell used books online. People know the products, they trust the marketplaces, and they know it isn't a con.

It doesn't take anything special to become an online bookseller, I get most of my books to sell from local thrift stores, Friends of the Library sales shelves, library book sales, and the clearance shelves of a local used book store. I am averaging over $11.00 profit per book, I know which ones to buy before I pay for them, and people actually appreciate being able to buy books through my third-party store in these well known marketplaces.

If you enjoy reading, spending time in places with books, and being around others that enjoy books, online bookselling just might be the home-based business opportunity you are looking for.