While
it may seem that there are thousands, even millions, of great
freelancing jobs out there, be careful and cautious. That great
job you saw over the Internet may not be so great beneath the
surface. When looking for legitimate freelancing work, you might
want to avoid the following:
Envelope
stuffing — Sounds great, right? I mean, anyone can stuff
envelopes! You don’t even have to pay for anything! However,
although you can make $2 to $5 per envelope you stuff, you typically
stuff the envelopes with the same advertising flyer you saw. It’s
just a circle, and you’re just drawing other people in. Data
entry/typist — These ads typically explain that you can
earn a certain amount of money for each page or each word you
type. Sounds wonderful, because everyone can type, right? Well,
yes, but be aware that like the envelope stuffing scam, you will
be perpetuating the data entry scam if you do it, because your
job will be typing the same kind of ads you saw. You also may
ask people to send you money for software to learn how to type
the ads. Basically, you’re just passing along the scam. Chain
letters — Stay away from them! No matter what the letter
says, the letter is illegal. Import/export
businesses — Apparently, many companies inside and outside
the United States are advertising for serious homeworkers. The
ads say you can get started for no fees, but when you actually
request more information, you are asked to send a deposit of up
to $100. The deposit is to weed out the people who aren’t
serious about the job, the company representative says. It costs
money to send these materials, you know. What do I think? You
should never pay money to work for someone. There is one exception
to this rule — Direct sale organizations may charge you a
fee for a starter kit. Be sure to get details on the kit though,
including exactly how you will make your money, what you will
receive, and how you can return the starter kit if you don’t
like it.
Advertising
revenue — Don’t work for any web site or company
that pays you from a portion of their advertising revenue or by
the number of hits your article gets. For example, http://www.sagebase.com
pays writers from revenue it generates through banners or articles
on the page the writer’s article is placed. However, I wrote
more than five articles for them a few years ago, and I haven’t
seen any money yet. While it is possible you may receive some
money from such web sites or companies, you would most likely
receive more from a company that pays you an assigned fee directly. Writing
research papers — I have seen at least three advertisements
asking for people to write research papers for students. I recently
worked for one such company, http://www.aboutpapers.com, for about
three weeks. I was told the papers I wrote would be examples for
students to use when writing their own papers. Aboutpapers.com
pays at least $10 per page, but the representative I spoke to
wouldn’t tell me how much the students actually pay for the
papers. I checked out the web site, which doesn’t give many
details, and actually states something like, “If you want
more information, we suggest you look elsewhere for a job.”
I wrote two papers for aboutpapers.com, and earned $160. However,
even after writing several e-mails to the aboutpapers.com representative,
and leaving several messages on his answering machine, I haven’t
received my money. While this is just my experience, I wanted
to share it with you, so you would be aware that all is not what
it seems.
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Lori Tate has ten years of professional writing experience, including
four as a journalist. She is looking for research, writing and
editing work. You can contact her at onehappyperson30@yahoo.com.
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