I never thought that I would be involved in a home business.
After all; I was a successful trial lawyer with a thriving practice representing clients who had suffered injuries through no fault of their own.
Most of my cases involve injured people who were working at the time of their accident, but their workers' compensation claim had been denied by their employers.
Having worked for the Department of Workers' Compensation after graduating from law school, experience had provided me with a unique insight into a system that devoured people and permanently changed their lives I also learned how to wage the best battles for injured workers who had been unjustly denied their benefits.
My journey into home business started one afternoon when I received a phone call from a client whom I had successfully represented in her workers' compensation claim.
We had tried the case in court and finally she was receiving her weekly checks.
Her doctors refused to allow her to return to her previous employment.
She called the office and told me that she wanted to report some money that she had received.
She said that she remembered that she was supposed to report any income while she was receiving workers ' compensation and that she did not wish to get in any trouble.
I asked her where she was working, but she told me that she had a home business.
I took down the amount of her earnings and reported it to the workers' compensation insurance company.
My client continued to call me on a fairly regular basis to report additional income and I eventually became curious.
Finally I asked her to tell me more about her business.
I was impressed that she was able to earn a significant income from her kitchen.
It was apparent that she was enjoying success because as I reported her earnings, her workers' compensation checks were decreasing in amount each week.
She told me that she owned an online travel agency and that I could come to a meeting to learn more.
Well I did, but after seeing the presentation, I thought the entire thing had to be too good to be true.
My head was spinning.
I knew the money that the presenter had spoken of was real because I had a client who was receiving it and steadily reducing her workers' compensation checks that we had worked many months to obtain! Well I thought, it must be a scam.
After all, I knew that if it looked too good to be true, it probably was just that...
too good to be true.
So I contacted the Better Business Bureau.
The agency advised that it was a legitimate home business.
But I wasn't satisfied.
I had too much at stake.
My law license, my reputation, my livelihood.
So I contacted the Federal Trade Commission.
After all, the FTC regulated business.
So surely I could trust them.
Again, it checked out.
It was indeed a legitimate home business.
I was relieved, but even more, I was excited.
Traveling was an activity my family enjoyed and now I had a way to earn additional income doing what we enjoyed.
Wecould even deduct our travel expenses from our taxes.
The more I learned, the more excited I became.
I had no idea how much more I had to learn, but I knew one thing.
I was in.