Success leaves clues. Finance Strategists sat down with John Bel, head of Technology and Marketing at VettedOpps.com. He shared his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the company, as well as the insight he gained at the business. Q: Who are you and what’s your background? I'm John Bel, head of Technology & Marketing at VettedOpps.com. I've had the "entrepreneurial itch" for a long time. While in College, I started a consulting business focused on technology services (building websites, setting up networks, computer and printer repair, really anything related to technology that someone would be willing to pay for). Over the past 15+ years, I've also held management and senior management positions at large multinational firms leading tax technology initiatives typically focused on streamlining work. Having experienced both entrepreneurial & corporate environments has given me a unique perspective that I now try to use in helping the VettedOpps.com community transition from the corporate world into entrepreneurship with the risks and freedoms that come with it. That being said, entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and that is one of the reasons that at VettedOpps.com, we provide our readers with honest, unbiased reviews of various home-based business opportunities. We've been focused on virtual businesses for many years, and as a result of Covid-19, interest in legitimate ways to make money in a virtual environment has grown substantially. People I have known for over 10+ years are suddenly asking me for guidance on how to diversify their streams of income. Q: Who has been your biggest influence, and why did they have such a significant effect on you? My mother. From a young age, she taught me about the importance of saving money. She loves getting her point across via stories. I can recall her telling us stories of what happened to people who did not spend their money wisely (I realized later that some of the people in the stories were fictional). This concept stuck with me to this day. I expanded on the lessons she taught me to include overall financial literacy like the importance of investing and diversifying sources of income. Aside from my college tuition, I graduated college with no credit card debt. I would read the fine print in the dozens of credit card offers for college students to make sure it made sense, and I would transfer balances from one card to the next while being meticulous in making sure every single payment was made on time. Although I had fun in college, my guiding principle was not to live beyond my means. I graduated with a 745 FICO score, and I am now in the exclusive club of those with a perfect 850 FICO score - thanks, mom! Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have told yourself when you were in your twenties? Don't be afraid to hire others and delegate so that you can grow your business. When I started as an entrepreneur, I spent too much time being the one doing all the work. I would advise a younger me that there is other high-value work that younger me should have been focusing on, and while hiring others to do some of the work, younger me would have been able to scale the business. I would also reaffirm the importance of understanding trends in business and the changing landscapes that drive value. Q: What is VettedOpps.com? VettedOpps.com is the go-to source for home-based business reviews where we evaluate opportunities to earn money online. No get rich quick schemes; we only recommend legitimate ways to make money virtually. As indicated in our name, we focus on: Vetted - make a careful and critical examination of something Opps - a business or money-making opportunity Q: What makes your company different from its competitors? At VettedOpps, our focus is on providing our readers with the best opportunities to make money. Several years ago, we noticed many sites promoting opportunities that were not beneficial to readers but earned them money to promote. We found that to be a short-sighted approach and instead focused on discerning reviews that would build our goodwill over the long term. We also have one of the largest lists of business ideas online. Q: What led you to start VettedOpps.com? My business partner and I have always wanted to go back to entrepreneurship. He was also transitioning from the corporate world into business ownership. As we researched various opportunities, we found a void of information that we could rely on, and that's how we came to be. Q: What has the experience of building the business taught you? I've learned many lessons. I'll highlight three that come to mind: In business, as in education and many other aspects of life: do what you enjoy. It will give you more satisfaction, and you will be able to do more with less. Take action. Action is infinitely better than inaction. Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretsky had a great quote "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Do your "due diligence" but, at the same time, avoid "analysis paralysis." Q: Where do you see things headed for you in the next 5 years? In the next five years, I see a trend where a larger portion of the population will participate in the gig economy or otherwise focus on building their businesses. What we've seen as a result of Covid-19 and the impact it has had on the economy (which, as you know, is very different from the stock market) - massive unemployment, shattering the perception that business travel is a necessity. The technology revolution that continues to make things more automated will continue to displace white-collar workers, and I think the controversial topic of Universal Basic Income will resurface. All is not doom and gloom, though; those able to understand and leverage technology to simplify tasks will continue to be in demand for years to come. One of the future projects we're looking forward to participating in is producing clean water and renewable energy. We'll see where we are in 5 - 10 years, but I think breakthroughs in quantum computing may alter our world in incredible ways. “Most online reviews of home-based businesses are done by affiliates. Many times these reviewers will give positive reviews on programs that should never be promoted at all. Every review you see here on VETTED OPPS is unbiased. We vet each opportunity thoroughly which means you can be assured you are getting honest reliable feedback.” Learn more at vettedopps.com.
Introduction
Who is John Bel?
Business
True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.
True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide, a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University, where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.
To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon, Nasdaq and Forbes.
