Finding my online comfort level
In regards to making money through the wonders of the internet, I mean.
First off, let me state that I work from home solely online through a corporation that I am an independent contractor for. So I must have some level of comfort, heh. That aspect is not what I am talking about though. I’m talking about all those things you read about people making money from online, anything from taking surveys to “Get a $1000 VISA Card for completing these simple offers!”. As I’ve gotten more into blogging and reading other people’s personal finance blogs I’ve seen more and more diverse ways that people theoretically earn money online. This has caused me to examine my own comfort level in regards to earning a little extra snowflaking money as well.
Advertising: First off, I don’t have ads on the blog and I don’t really intend to. I must admit I find it insanely fun that I have readers, and I welcome anyone who wants to read my ramblings about our financial life, but I didn’t start the blog with readers specifically in mind. I needed a place to keep myself motivated and accountable, for my motivation kept waning and waning no matter what I tried in my offline life to keep me focused. And it has worked, and I have learned so much, and I am completely grateful for that. If I start running ads, I feel like I owe my readership specific enlightening content. And I might enlighten someone to something occasionally, but I feel like I am waaaaaaay far away from the point where you can count on learning something from what I have to say. I’m solely here for the amusement factor. As the sidebar says, I’m just a girl in debt. 
Surveys: Before I ever started this blogging adventure, I was signed up with a few online survey companies. And I still am. I like taking surveys. I have tried many different programs and unsubscribed from many as well. Basically, I like ones that pay in points that you can at some point trade for actual money, or that pay in money directly, and that have low cashout thresholds. I do not like sweepstakes. And although a few of the ones I do have affiliate programs (you get points for getting a friend to sign up) I’m not really comfortable at all with the pyramid structure ones where you earn money based on your referrals signing up and doing things too. And that leads to…
Get Paid To programs: I have actually tried a few of these and I always end up unsubscribing. I don’t want to sign up for offers I have to remember to cancel within a certain time frame, I am not going to give out my credit card number, heck, I hate just giving out my email address! I am not saying that many of these things are not legitimate, they are just not my cup of tea. They end up making me antsy and nervous and not at all worth it. Even though these are what I read about people making hundreds of dollars a month doing. Oh well. I honestly make maybe $10-20 a month doing surveys, nowhere near the hundreds these get paid to programs seem to generate. But it is just not my thing.
The “Get $1000 VISA card for doing some offers” ones: I know people do through much .diligence manage to make these happen but I just can’t deal with the tracking and badgering and complaining to the powers that be involved, and I hate signing up for stuff. I’m too untrusting and unmotivated I guess. Every person I have read about that made one of these happen had to fax in screenshots of completed offers that didn’t report and basically had to be very very on top of everything. Too risky for me I guess.
Selling things online: I, as the readers know, do do that. I have sold textbooks to a number of buyback companies now, I have sold things through Craigslist, and I am working up to using ebay as a seller.
I wonder if my online comfort level in regards to what I do to earn a little snowflaking cash is higher or lower than the average person. I am going to guess higher, although sometimes it feels like everyone with any access to the internet is doing a Get Paid To program and I wonder what I’m missing out on not being motivated enough deal with the hassles that entails. I do have $2 in my paypal account from a completed survey though waiting for me to transfer it. Go surveys!
~J
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August 7th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I love survey sites (Pinecone is my favorite). I’m also a big fan of ipodsweepstakes.com. I earned an ipod shuffle and then sold it on eBay. I’ve been trying out Panada Research and Survey Team, but I haven’t made any cash. I’m a bzz agent…no money, but I get cool stuff…
August 7th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I like pinecone too but you have to find a banner to sign up so i didn’t mention it lol.
August 11th, 2007 at 10:02 am
I like surveys the best. Like Pinecone, NFO/MySurvey and Survey Savvy. Some other good ones I just found are U30 (you mostly do clothing surveys or “test” articles of clothing) and E-Search.
I’ve tried the GPT thing, and have referrals that do it, but I TOTALLY get what you are saying. It can be frustrating. And I steer clear of the credit card offers or anything I have to pay for.