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From the Email Bag - Get Paid to Tweet By Christine Durst & Michael Haaren, Dallas Morning News / Creators Syndicate Columnists Dec. 15, 2011 Dear Rat Race Rebellion: Are there any websites that pay people for their ideas? I’m the person everybody comes to when they want a catchy name for their home-made jewelry line or their recipe blog. I don’t charge for my suggestions, but it would be nice to get paid! – Carla in Rapid City, S.D. Dear Carla: In a word, yes. The spread of the Internet has also brought us “crowdsourcing” – businesses tapping into the online population for ideas, small tasks, etc. You won’t get rich, and sometimes you’ll have to compete with many other contributors (that’s the “crowd” part of “crowdsourcing”). But some sites pay $500 for slogans, for example, while others pay modest sums for domain-name suggestions, tweets and brief blog posts. Here are a few to get you started:
Dear Steve: As a rule, yes. Unlike Craigslist and other open marketplaces, both sites offer feedback on hirers, so you can get a sense of who you’d be working for. The sites also offer payment protection for contractors. On the minus side, you’ll have to compete with freelancers from all over the world, which can drive down rates. But if your credentials are strong and you focus on more specialized projects and keep your ratings up, you can mitigate the competitive effects. Dear Rat Race Rebellion: I found a website that lists hundreds of data entry jobs. They pay $20 an hour and up for part-time work. Some of the jobs pay much more, for just a few hours a day. Registration is free. Should I sign up? – Margaret in Fayetteville, N.C. Dear Margaret: Probably not. Legitimate data entry jobs are extremely scarce, with most of the work going to India, the Philippines and other offshore locales. The demand for the jobs is high, however, which makes a “perfect storm” for scammers. When you register for such job lists, your own data is often sold to affiliate marketers and boiler rooms. Your inbox will soon fill with spam, and salespeople will call and pressure you to buy into get-rich-quick schemes. A more reliable way to find legitimate data entry work is to apply directly to growing young companies. These often outrun their small administrative staffs, and they need help handling the data generated by their expanding sales, but don’t have time to set up offshore support. To find these “young tigers,” see Inc. magazine’s annual “5,000” list. ---- Christine Durst and Michael Haaren are leaders in the work-at-home movement and advocates of de-rat-raced living. Their latest book is Work at Home Now, a guide to finding home-based jobs. They offer additional guidance on finding home-based work at www.RatRaceRebellion.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 BY STAFFCENTRIX, DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM |
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