On-line work anyone?

[Maximilianus]

Hi everyone!

I recently became jobless, and while looking for solutions I have many times heard people claiming to earn their living by working on-line, though they don't clearly say what exactly they do. I was wondering if anyone of you ever had such an experience, what you did, how you did it and how it turned out. I would like to know if it's safe, and if there's any guarantee to get payed once the job is done.

I found a site that claims to pay for working as a columnist in their blogs. Has anyone of you ever done something like this successfully?

Thanks in advance.

[Niamh]

No i've never earned any money by working online. Would be interesting to do though!

[Shalot]

Hi everyone!

I recently became jobless, and while looking for solutions I have many times heard people claiming to earn their living by working on-line, though they don't clearly say what exactly they do. I was wondering if anyone of you ever had such an experience, what you did, how you did it and how it turned out. I would like to know if it's safe, and if there's any guarantee to get payed once the job is done.

I found a site that claims to pay for working as a columnist in their blogs. Has anyone of you ever done something like this successfully?

Thanks in advance.

I would love to work online. However, most of the ads for online work around here anyway end up being scams. You have to pay them for a "set-up" fee and then you send your money away and it doesn't pan out... be careful!

[pussnboots]

I also thought about getting work online but like Shalot said there are a lot of scams out there. The ads may say you can earn X amount a week but then you read the fine print and you have to invest upfront.
If you do end up doing this make sure you check the company out from the Better Business Bureau.

[OrphanPip]

My brother became a millionaire from online work, but he's an online marketing expert and he owned a bunch of porn sites and worked as a marketing consultant for the largest porn company in Quebec (which he also owns 5% of), largely to my mother's shame. Although, it's incredibly difficult to make money this way.

It's harder and harder to make money on the internet because there's so little room for entrepreneurs now. I've never bothered to learn how to do any of it though, and I'm absolutely computer illiterate.

Edit: He's in real estate management now though.

[billl]

Max, I've seen ads for internet companies that are looking for writers, and then when I checked one actual website, it was absolutely full of advertising, most of which was about the website itself. It seemed like writers would make money by getting people to join up as writers for the website, or something like that. They weren't writing about sports, politics, or their neighborhood, or whatever.

Just be careful about how much personal info you give them without knowing who they actually are. (e.g. don't send a resume to some email address when you don't even know what the company's name is. First send a nice email asking who they are, some more info about the job, etc. A lot of the scams start out very vague.) Try to get a look at the actual website, understand how you'll get paid, and see if it really makes sense. And if this sort of info is hard to get, then I recommended being very wary of those guys.

[applepie]

I've seen a handful of sites that you can write for remote. Try searching the job pages for working remotely or telecommuting. These normally bring up more legitimate opportunities. Many jobs lend themselves to this type of work, but I would expect that you will still need to be available to go to an office once or twice a week. Good luck in finding something.

Meg

[Wilde woman]

I used to work for a start-up online company for three years, and it was legitimate. However, I was able to do a one-on-one interview at a cafe with them beforehand and visit their headquarters from time to time. So there were some personal relationships I was able to develop in the company. I personally would be wary of never meeting your employer face-to-face and doing all your work online.


I found a site that claims to pay for working as a columnist in their blogs.

Is the blog associated with a magazine or a well-respected website?

[keilj]

he owned a bunch of porn sites and worked as a marketing consultant for the largest porn company in Quebec

It's harder and harder to make money on the internet


no pun intended??

[Jozanny]

Max:

I did make a living as an online contracted freelancer, but not for very long; it was a good fit for me, but publishers still have not quite figured out how to make digital publishing profitable, and as billl mentioned, you have to be cautious in approaching some jobbers online.

When I can still work at all, for now I have reverted to more traditional query methods, hoping it will lead to something as it did in the past, and to the extent I have any advice, that would be it. Use traditional job hunting methods but keep your eyes open.

I am basically living on what I have left, but have done my best to refrain posting about in order to avoid my worst tendencies, but at least I'm aware that I am not the only one staring into the abyss. When it crushes me I'll deal with it then, as it were--but I'm sure you'll land on your feet.:nod:

[Nikhar]

Well.... one topic where I have something to say. :biggrin5:

I basically do not know about permanent jobs online or even jobs such as the one you mentioned. But I do know of a lot of online earning oppurtunities. I spent quite some time on it (not that I exactly needed to but yet...). If you google earning online, you'd come up tall claims of making millions in months. Obviously, that's gibberish.

Now, there is something called 'Paid to click'. If you work for months on it, then you'll surely be able to buy at least a packet of peanuts. :| But, apparently, as I see, you are looking for something much better. So, stay away from this.

Also, for earning quick bucks, we have HYIP's. High Yield Investment Profits. Take what these sites say with a pinch of salt. These sites require an initial invest and then they return enormous profits in short periods of time. Basically, these are money cyclers, i.e., they pay older members with the money from the newer members. But the big problem with these sites is that they come quicker than they go. You can trust your opponent in poker more than you can trust these sites. If you think you are lucky enough, go for it. But it's not a source for regular income.

Now, there are sites that would pay you for reading mails. Yeah right, I'd pay you for eating my lunch too.

And there are many sites that pays for surveys. I'm not quite sure about them. In India, we don't have many surveys. But there in Canada, I guess, you'll have loads of them. Give it a try but don't expect too much.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes the paid surveys can work for small sums only. Mrs Neely does several but you are only talking £10 a week max, obviously not a career move. Again though watch out for scams, stick to reputable sites, if you want you can pm me your email address I'll refer you from one of the sites that is open to people outside of the UK and US too. You’ll only make £5 a week or so but I suppose it is there (you get to go in draws and things too).

Generally speaking though I think that you can't make any money online - I mean if you could everyone would be doing it, but if you do find out how let me know. :nod:

[OrphanPip]

Oh, when I said my brother worked online, I meat his work involved the internet, not that he did those filling out survey things. Webmasters can make decent money, but this does usually involve meeting and talking with people in person about the website, it also requires a certain amount of experience and knowledge of marketing and scripting. I wouldn't trust those get-rich-quick things online or anything that offers you easy money for minimal work.

[Maximilianus]

I want to thank everyone for your kind replies. I'll be back later to make it more specific, since I'm a bit tired right now. It's incredible how unemployment can exhaust oneself almost as much as overwork can do.

[Jozanny]

Not to me :). The more marginalized I become, the more physically exhausting it is. I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it is for disabled persons of my degree to live in other countries without the resources of the United States. You might say I have television, food, was able to rebuild my old power chair, and have computers, internet access, my education-- but it will not be very long until I am back on the real bottom of hard poverty unless I can truly marshall some sales and or game the support system in some way to sustain some modicum standard of living I have been used to since my career struggles started.

Keeping my anger in check is difficult, but I am saving it for an opinion piece--and won't steal anymore of the making a living online Max, except if I find something useful to share ;). I am rooting for you in spirit, though, and feel optimistic that you will find the resources to land.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Well, maybe if you can, try and do an IT course...there are many opportunities in the IT industry and then obviously on the internet as well. For example, learning HTML and so on is very easy (I learnt it from a manual) and once you know the basics and get a little creative you can help people with setting up their own websites...obviously smaller scale, but it's something. There are probably lots of free web design tutorials, etc. on the Internet as well...

Good luck to you and Jozanny!!!

[Maximilianus]

Sorry for the belatedness. I very much appreciate all posts, which I have thoroughly read. Thank you all, really.


No i've never earned any money by working online. Would be interesting to do though!
Thanks anyways, Niamh.


I would love to work online. However, most of the ads for online work around here anyway end up being scams. You have to pay them for a "set-up" fee and then you send your money away and it doesn't pan out... be careful!
I have seen much of this too. Thanks for the warning.


I also thought about getting work online but like Shalot said there are a lot of scams out there. The ads may say you can earn X amount a week but then you read the fine print and you have to invest upfront.
If you do end up doing this make sure you check the company out from the Better Business Bureau.
Thanks for your advice.


My brother became a millionaire from online work, but he's an online marketing expert and he owned a bunch of porn sites and worked as a marketing consultant for the largest porn company in Quebec (which he also owns 5% of), largely to my mother's shame. Although, it's incredibly difficult to make money this way.

It's harder and harder to make money on the internet because there's so little room for entrepreneurs now. I've never bothered to learn how to do any of it though, and I'm absolutely computer illiterate.

Edit: He's in real estate management now though.
Thanks for your input, Pip. I am much of a porn illiterate myself, so it wouldn't really work for me :p


Max, I've seen ads for internet companies that are looking for writers, and then when I checked one actual website, it was absolutely full of advertising, most of which was about the website itself. It seemed like writers would make money by getting people to join up as writers for the website, or something like that. They weren't writing about sports, politics, or their neighborhood, or whatever.

Just be careful about how much personal info you give them without knowing who they actually are. (e.g. don't send a resume to some email address when you don't even know what the company's name is. First send a nice email asking who they are, some more info about the job, etc. A lot of the scams start out very vague.) Try to get a look at the actual website, understand how you'll get paid, and see if it really makes sense. And if this sort of info is hard to get, then I recommended being very wary of those guys.
Thank you for your advice, billl. What you tell me to be wary of is the same I often find whenever I look around. Most of what I see seems rather suspicious, if not completely. Moreover, there are many dangerous sites attempting to install malevolent software in your computer. Fortunately, they haven't breached my browser's security so far.


I've seen a handful of sites that you can write for remote. Try searching the job pages for working remotely or telecommuting. These normally bring up more legitimate opportunities. Many jobs lend themselves to this type of work, but I would expect that you will still need to be available to go to an office once or twice a week. Good luck in finding something.

Meg
Thank you, Meg. I'll keep it in mind.


I used to work for a start-up online company for three years, and it was legitimate. However, I was able to do a one-on-one interview at a cafe with them beforehand and visit their headquarters from time to time. So there were some personal relationships I was able to develop in the company. I personally would be wary of never meeting your employer face-to-face and doing all your work online.

Thanks for the info and advice.


Is the blog associated with a magazine or a well-respected website?
It seems a safe site, but I still have to check for the info they request. If I find they don't ask for too much personal data, I may give it a try. Still, I keep a certain level of suspicion, as it seems too good to be real.


Max:

I did make a living as an online contracted freelancer, but not for very long; it was a good fit for me, but publishers still have not quite figured out how to make digital publishing profitable, and as billl mentioned, you have to be cautious in approaching some jobbers online.

When I can still work at all, for now I have reverted to more traditional query methods, hoping it will lead to something as it did in the past, and to the extent I have any advice, that would be it. Use traditional job hunting methods but keep your eyes open.

I am basically living on what I have left, but have done my best to refrain posting about in order to avoid my worst tendencies, but at least I'm aware that I am not the only one staring into the abyss. When it crushes me I'll deal with it then, as it were--but I'm sure you'll land on your feet.:nod:
Thanks for your advice and kind words, Jozzy.


Well.... one topic where I have something to say. :biggrin5:

I basically do not know about permanent jobs online or even jobs such as the one you mentioned. But I do know of a lot of online earning oppurtunities. I spent quite some time on it (not that I exactly needed to but yet...). If you google earning online, you'd come up tall claims of making millions in months. Obviously, that's gibberish.

Now, there is something called 'Paid to click'. If you work for months on it, then you'll surely be able to buy at least a packet of peanuts. :| But, apparently, as I see, you are looking for something much better. So, stay away from this.

Also, for earning quick bucks, we have HYIP's. High Yield Investment Profits. Take what these sites say with a pinch of salt. These sites require an initial invest and then they return enormous profits in short periods of time. Basically, these are money cyclers, i.e., they pay older members with the money from the newer members. But the big problem with these sites is that they come quicker than they go. You can trust your opponent in poker more than you can trust these sites. If you think you are lucky enough, go for it. But it's not a source for regular income.

Now, there are sites that would pay you for reading mails. Yeah right, I'd pay you for eating my lunch too.

And there are many sites that pays for surveys. I'm not quite sure about them. In India, we don't have many surveys. But there in Canada, I guess, you'll have loads of them. Give it a try but don't expect too much.
Thanks for all the clues Nik. I'm considering all of them carefully. If you still want to pay me for eating your lunch, such an income would be highly appreciated :D


Yes the paid surveys can work for small sums only. Mrs Neely does several but you are only talking £10 a week max, obviously not a career move. Again though watch out for scams, stick to reputable sites, if you want you can pm me your email address I'll refer you from one of the sites that is open to people outside of the UK and US too. You’ll only make £5 a week or so but I suppose it is there (you get to go in draws and things too).

Generally speaking though I think that you can't make any money online - I mean if you could everyone would be doing it, but if you do find out how let me know. :nod:
Unfortunately, it seems that most surveys are conducted chiefly in the northern hemisphere, but I'll keep checking. Maybe they will get a wider scale some day. Still, thanks so much for the idea.


I wouldn't trust those get-rich-quick things online or anything that offers you easy money for minimal work.
I don't trust them either. Thanks again, Pip.


Not to me :). The more marginalized I become, the more physically exhausting it is.
I can't even imagine. I can still use my legs in a quest for a job. Sorry for your situation, Jozzy. It's really unfair :(


I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it is for disabled persons of my degree to live in other countries without the resources of the United States.
Resources or not, it will always be an awful thing to bear. Of course, without resources we're better off dead, I'm afraid.


You might say I have television, food, was able to rebuild my old power chair, and have computers, internet access, my education-- but it will not be very long until I am back on the real bottom of hard poverty unless I can truly marshall some sales and or game the support system in some way to sustain some modicum standard of living I have been used to since my career struggles started.
Absolutely comprehensible. Nowadays it seems strange not to have to pay for the air we breathe... unless we need an oxygen tank.


Keeping my anger in check is difficult, but I am saving it for an opinion piece--and won't steal anymore of the making a living online Max, except if I find something useful to share ;). I am rooting for you in spirit, though, and feel optimistic that you will find the resources to land.
You have stolen absolutely nothing, Jozzy. Your posts remain among my all-time hall of fame :p and I will always enjoy reading them. Thanks for the good wishes :nod:


Well, maybe if you can, try and do an IT course...there are many opportunities in the IT industry and then obviously on the internet as well. For example, learning HTML and so on is very easy (I learnt it from a manual) and once you know the basics and get a little creative you can help people with setting up their own websites...obviously smaller scale, but it's something. There are probably lots of free web design tutorials, etc. on the Internet as well...

Good luck to you and Jozanny!!!
Thanks for suggestions and good wishes. I'm also considering this.