If you're at all skeptical like me, your eyes roll and your stomach turns when you review the results of online searches for terms like "work from home," or "make money at home," "make $4,000 per week, from anywhere" and the like. Even though the search results slam you in the face with modern-day snake oil salesmen, thrusting ridiculous trappings of wealth in front of your eyeballs - fancy cars, luxurious homes, shiny suits - some of them actually are worth considering. The trick is to look past the sensationalism toward the substance, because you might be pleasantly surprised.

All of these claims can't be true, can they? You know the ones - the single mom who, in the old days, with 17 kids, battling an addition to crack, living out of a box managed to raise herself out of the gutter and now lives in a $2,000,0000 home on the water, owns 11 Rolls Royces, etc. etc. etc.?

Wanna hear the dirty little secret that the people behind these systems don't want you to know? At least 95% of the people who buy their offering FAIL.

Does that mean that the hapless users, who plunked down their hard-earned money (or financed it on credit cards), got ripped off?

Surprisingly, the answer is "not necessarily." Here's what I mean.

The biggest determinant as to whether someone will be successful has less to do with the actual system than with the person himself. Sure, there are legions of flawed methods or business opportunities out there. But understand two things:

1. No system is perfect. 2. It's better to implement a flawed system than nothing at all.

Let's take a quick look at each point just made. First, I hope I'm not disappointing you, but there is no such thing as a perfect, 100% automated, risk-free business opportunity. Some systems require less human intervention than others, but if you believe the claims that something works all by itself, you're being extremely unrealistic.

(In other breaking news the Tooth Fairy was recently proven to be fictitious and serious doubt was cast on the existence of the Easter Bunny. Sorry to let you down.)

So you get the point - you will need to be involved at least somewhat, because the myth of a business that works completely on autopilot is just that, a myth. But just because it's impossible to totally automate your business does not mean that you should not try to eliminate your involvement as much as possible.

Why?

Because, just like in any business, most of the tasks involved can be handled by low level, or 7 dollar an hour employees or assistants. If you want to make real money, like $4,000 plus per week working only two hours per day, you've unconsciously made a decision about what your time is worth. Check out what I mean.

Assuming you work six days a week (you should take off at least ONE day, for the love of Pete!), two hours a day, or 12 hours per week; and your income goal is $4,000. $4,000 divided by 12 hours is $333. You've decided that your time is worth $333 per hour. So if you're involved with a business that requires manual labor, like licking stamps, data entry and other administrative activities that can be handled by a $7.00 per hour high school part-timer, you're actually losing $326 per hour.

The answer is to delegate as many of these low-level activities as you can, either to technology or to other humans who are paid less than what your time is worth.

You, on the other hand, should be spending as much of your time as possible on high-yielding activities; i.e. those that bring in the big bucks! Marketing, sales, strategic alliances with other potential joint venture partners, whatever. Anything designed to bring in bucks!

By the way, one important book that I'd whole-heartedly recommend to you is the "E-Myth" by Michael Gerber. The first book; I've never read any of his follow-up E-Myth books. It's still in print and available at Amazon and everywhere else.

Let's move on to the second point - you're better off implementing a flawed system than doing nothing.

I believe that procrastination is the biggest obstacle to success. I'm guilty of it; so ar you; We all fight this demon to some extent or another. But I understand the main reason why people delay taking action - usually it's out of fear of the unknown. They're uncertain that the path they are considering will work out the way they hope; thus, they're not committed.

This is not a new problem - it's embedded in our genetic code. A famous Greek myth describes a battle waged by a small, outnumbered army against a larger, more powerful force. The general of the small army led his fleet across the sea, landed on enemy shores and, before going into battle, set fire to all of his soldiers' ships. They understood that there was no turning back - that's commitment!

Shakespeare's Hamlet also is a famous example of waffling, indecisive figure. The reason Hamlet, like all of Shakespeare's works, endures is because of his accurate portrayal of the human condition. So hesitation is nothing new!

Understand this, however: there is no perfect time to launch a new venture; no magical moment when the starts align and all of your over-analyzed details are neatly categorized and pointing to clear action. There is always risk. In any entrepreneur's life, there is always a moment when he or she must take a leap of faith. Sometimes there are several such moments.

Ironically, the bigger, more common risk is the risk of doing nothing. If you don't act, even with a flawed plan, you are almost certain to continue down a path that you're trying to avoid, such as piling up bills, being unhappy at work, whatever. If you don't commit to trying something new, giving it your all, I can almost guarantee you that you'll fail.

I guess that's not so much of a risk as it is a near-certainty!

I hope you found this article provocative and consider it next time you're faced with a business decision.