Such is the cut-throat world of biz opps that in order to sell an opp it seems you have to over-state your earnings.

Nothing fraudulent, obviously, but a lot of promoters seem to constantly talk about how much they “pull in” rather than their actual profits.

The trick, it seems, is to word the sales letter so that a reader is given the impression that you are talking about your profits when you are actually talking about the total sales amount you made.

If your sales for any particular month add up to £5,000 but you spent £4,500 on advertising and other costs, you’ve only made a profit of £500. However, the common concensus would be to state your earnings as £5k on the sales letter.

The only way you can tell if the promoter is telling the truth is by looking at their accounts submitted to Companies House.

Unfortunately you can only do this if they run a limited company.

Take for example one enterprising UK internet marketer who as early as September 2005 was boasting about how he pulled in between £2,000 and £15,000 per month selling information products.

For £1 you can order this particular person’s accounts for the 2005-2006 tax year. If you did you would find that his total profit for the year was just under £4,000 – around £330 a month. In other words, far from the £2k – £15k claimed on his website.

So, this person may have “pulled in” £15,000 a month but he must’ve spent £14,000+ on related costs.

Not quite as impressive when you look at it that way…

Another biz opps promoter claims to make up to £25,000 a month but his loose talk on a forum reveals that the actual profit is closer to £1,000 after he has paid for all the incidental costs.

Unfortunately this particular marketer doesn’t run a limited company so his accounts cannot be checked but £12,000 a year isn’t quite as impressive as the £300k that his website suggests he makes.

Moral of the story? Well, don’t assume anything when you read a sales letter – some marketers use specific words and phrases to suggest that their earnings are higher than they actually are.

“Pulled in” usually means total sales, not total profit and as you may well know, advertising in the national newspapers and also via PPC can be very expensive…