Although it seems like I spend 99.9 percent of my waking hours in my home office, every once in a while the opportunity presents itself to get out and run some errands. The first thing I do after starting my car is to change the radio station from whatever noise my kids were listening to the last time they were in the car to something that I like. Today I was driving around and I heard an interesting advertisement. While I don't remember all the details, the main theme was this: The President and Congress have just agreed to the biggest stimulus of the American economy ever, and there are billions and billions of dollars just waiting for smart businesspeople like you and me to claim. Of course, the ad implies that if you're REALLY a smart businessperson, you'll waste no time picking up the phone, calling the company, and getting your piece of the stimulus pie.

You know the old saying: if it sounds too good to be true...

While this particular company may be on the up and up, the ad reminded me that these are indeed desperate times, and lots of businesspeople in all kinds of businesses and industries are feeling the pain. Unfortunately, desperate times often lead to desperate actions, and that makes businesspeople in need of a bit of cash flow enhancement ripe targets for scam artists -- or at minimum, fly-by-night loan "specialists" who overpromise and underperform. I don't know how much of the economic stimulus package has been earmarked for loans to businesses that aren't banks or other financial institutions, but I suspect it's a small fraction of the total. In other words, there probably isn't a pot full of billions and billions of dollars waiting for you -- there may be nothing at all.

I guess the point of all this is that you should do some serious due diligence before you decide to put yourself in the hands of someone who says he or she has the secret of tapping into the economic stimulus money well. Can the company really do what it says it can? Will they show you a list of their successful clients? Can you talk with execs or owners at the companies for which they say they have secured funds? Will they do what they promise to do without your having to write out a big check to them in advance?

If the answer to these questions -- and others like them -- is "no," then run. Far, far away.