From that moment on it was as if I had swallowed ?stupid pills?, I seemed to become less interesting to other people, as if I no longer had anything of value to say. After a while I started to believe them, I began to lose my confidence and even made some financial decisions I never would have made when I was in business. My income began to dwindle and I realized I was becoming insecure and depressed.

My salvation was my computer. It sat there, on my desk, neglected and forlorn, mocking me to get a life. I finally decided to get back online to look for something to do, first, to make money, but also to regain my confidence. I needed to remind myself that I could draw on a substantial bank of knowledge and business experience.

When, as a newbie, you search Google for any words connected with Home Business, Online marketing etc, the response is overwhelming. With so many choices and so much hype you quickly realize that to proceed is to walk in quicksand. How do you choose someone to trust? How do you pick out the genuine offers from the scams? And if and when you do, will there be anyone to back you up with support once you have paid the money? More than likely there won't be.

Like most people I was very cynical about the possibility of making money on the Internet. Reading a lot of the websites didn't help. Unrealistic promises don't impress online any more than they do offline. Despite knowing this, I read as many as I could find and even joined a couple to test the water.

I learned some very valuable things that all newbies would profit from. For example, there would not be half the websites on the net if you were to remove all the misleading, if not outright scam websites, run by people who are focussed only on recruiting for membership fees and offer you nothing in return but self serving hype and empty promises. I am sure many enthusiastic beginners find themselves back in the real world with an overdrawn bank account or a maxed out credit card.

These pseudo sites purport to have systems that are ?new? and ?different?, and can guarantee to make you a fortune. People unfamiliar with affiliate programs often have no idea that beneath the veneer lie a common link between most of them and what people are really paying for is a sales pitch with no purpose but to sign you up and get your money. Sure, some of them have a good story, they may even believe that they are going to help the buyer, but at the end of the day they have their own business to run and their priority is to move on to the next prospect.

I wonder if they realize that they leave hundreds; possibly thousands of disappointed and often, financially wounded victims behind. These people have been let down and hurt, but they have also been lost to the industry forever and they will no doubt perpetuate the common consensus that you can't make money on the Internet. Doesn't that mean everybody pays?

Perhaps it's time to ?out? these websites. It would be a public service to list them and make the list available in as many places as you can find the scams.

As for myself, I was lucky, I found an honest, helpful trader and I'll be forever grateful for having decided to search just one more day for just the right business for me, because, you see, I was one of those ready to give up.