I Need To Make More Money Now!
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I got a Tweet last night asking if she could instant message me. I said sure.
“I need to make more money now! What should I do?”
Well – I didn’t know this mom personally, so I visited her Twitter page and read through some of her recent posts. I couldn’t really figure out by her Tweets what it is that she’s doing as a home business, so I clicked through her profile link and ended up on a site that promotes just about every ‘make money the easy way’ scheme on the internet.
- ‘Read email for pay’
- ‘Click banners for points’
- ‘Answer surveys for cash’
- ‘Surf for pay’
- ‘No cash needed business op’
The sheer number of programs that she had signed up for and was promoting was staggering.
I’ll tell you this dear reader… I am not a fan of these programs.
In fact – I can’t stand them.
They prey on the desperate and turn otherwise nice moms into referral vampires.
At best they suck a mom’s time and deliver a miserable hourly wage. At worst, they actually take a mom’s hard earned money and fail to provide the promised return on investment.
The only people making any money with these schemes are those who are able to promote their referral links far and wide – pulling as many others into the scheme as possible as soon as possible, earning their referral bonuses for their efforts.
These programs rise up and collapse like summer dandelions.
Their fast growth and sudden burst of color gives a false promise of value but after a short life they’re gone in a puff of wind. For a moment they look like a pretty flower but in truth, they’re a life sucking weed.
So, this WAHM Tweeter is asking me for help in making more money.
My response is this: Drop the easy money schemes and pursue something with real long term value. I’d be glad to point you to some good online business ideas.
Her response: But I like these programs cuz they’re easy! I’m not good at anything.
And then:I don’t want to have to work hard at something. What’s wrong with easy?
My response: But is it really easy? How many hours do you put into these programs?
Her response: About 30 hours last week.
Me: And how much money did you make?
Her: $83.50
Me: $2.78 an hour is easy money?
Her: Well, some weeks I’ve cleared $100.
This is by no means an uncommon discussion for me. I get into these interactions on forums, by email, by instant message and on the phone quite often.
So I asked her: If I offered to pay you $3 an hour to work for me 30 hours a week – would you take the job?
Her: What would I have to do?
Me: The same thing you do now – tell others about my websites, my radio show, my blog, etc. Invite them to check out my products, subscribe to my list, attend my seminars and all that.
Her: Wow! Yeah – I’d love that! I’d totally do it.
Me: You’d work almost full time for $90 a week?
Her: Yes!
Me: Girlfriend, you have been drinking the Kool-Aid far too long. It would be completely inappropriate for me to pay you so little.
Me: It would be taking terrible advantage of you. I’d be devaluing you every single day.
Her: I don’t mind. I’m used to it.
Me: Bingo.
This and other conversations like it generate a lot of feelings in me. Sadness for the mom who has lost respect for the value of her time. Anger towards the unethical program creators who have no problem making money off the backs of moms who just want to pay the bills. Frustration with areas of our WAHM Community that allows these programs to be freely promoted knowing full well that most moms fail to make even a tiny return for all of their time and money.
Me: I worked 26 hours last week and brought in $2400.00
Me: It was not particularly easy. I’ve been building this business for six years.
Me: But it was fun.
Her: Wow… can you teach me to do that?
Me: Now we’re talking 
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Leslie Truex is the pajama-clad work-at-home mom dedicated to helping other moms live and work comfortably. She's the author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible and owner of 
Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Star Director with 
Wow. It really is sad that there are moms out there who are willing to work for next to nothing.
I`m glad you were able to show her the value she has to offer.
Genesiss last blog post..WAHM Gone Fishin`
Wow…that is about all that I can say. Dumbstruck. We pass laws so that people aren’t exploited for wages like $3.00 an hour why in this “free” world would someone allow themselves to be used this way? You have a calling Kelly and you’re responding to it
Sharons last blog post..Praying with your Children
Wow, that is amazing. I’m glad you stuck with her long enough to tell her the truth, and glad she appears to be listening!
Carries last blog post..Whose Day Have You Made Lately?
Oh, my goodness! I’m finding this more and more common through the WAHM community. They don’t give themselves enough respect or credit! They just settle….WHY?
Tara B.s last blog post..My Interview @ Sparkplugging.com
What a blessing, Kelly, that you listen and speak in such a way that is empowering to women finding their way. This post took me through a range of well-known emotions and ended with the knowledge that this woman is in good hands. You are an Angel!
Wow! That truly is sad. Thanks for helping us WAHMs out Kelly !!
Wow is right! I am a web designer who charges standard industry rates… I’ve done a bit of advertising on some sites aimed at WAHM’s, and can’t help but click on the ads of other WAHM web designers.
I am always completely shocked to see their rates. The services many of them offer, well, when you calculate the average amount of time it will take to design or develop a site, coupled with the rates I’ve seen – their hourly rate easily comes down to something like $3-5/hr like you list here.
I see it so often though, and don’t quite get it! Yes, it’s some extra cash, but with all the hard work that goes into it, I don’t know how they can afford to do it at such low rates.
I’m so glad you posted this – I hope it helps a lot of WAHM’s realize that whatever they do (whether design, or setting up an affiliate site, etc.) well it’s all completely important work no matter what it is. They should be paid well for their time!
Thank you for sharing!!!
Selene M. Bowlbys last blog post..Lessons from Paradise… Back From Hiatus in the US Virgin Islands
It boggles my mind how many moms want to make fast money, easy. If there was truly a way to do that, we would all be rich. And so they settle for schemes that pay them peanuts and seem easy, but in reality aren’t.
I am making good money now. But I have been in business for 20 years (holy cow)and the first 11 I only made a profit one year. Now things are good, but I have never.worked.so.hard.all.my.life.
It takes time, perseverance and the knowledge that your time and work IS worth something.
I was glad to read at the end that she was willing to listen and learn. Great post.
* It’s the last day to enter my CONTEST! Do you need a piggy bank??? *
Lynn K.s last blog post..Friday’s To-Do List
That’s what drives me nuts about so many work at home moms. They’re so desperate that anything will do, and it’s not just the ones who think they don’t have skilled. Even the professionals will often agree to a pay cut for the convenience of working at home.
Stephanies last blog post..Make an Obstacle Course – Free Fun Friday
That was an awesome story!
Yeah, really, a lot of times, when you do the math, you will know that your hourly wage can be really low with these referral programs. And each referral program gives more money to the people that have more referrals, so if you are in a hundred programs, you are only spreading yourself thin so it won’t help you.
Of course, many are stuck doing this because they think it’s the best they can do. Maybe what they are asking is what’s a more profittable model they can have.
Kelvin Kaos last blog post..The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
What an excellent response you gave to this mom and what a super post! Very very useful indeed, stumbled!
Barbara
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coachs last blog post..Romancing the Spouse
Hey can you teach me to do that too?
Kats last blog post..Life: The Foundational Right
I’m glad so many are out there that agree with me. Let’s all do out parts and step up to make sure that new moms don’t fall for this crap!
@Kat I sure can!
Thanks Kelly for such a super article. I’ve been blogging & posting like crazy to Moms out there about not letting small potato affiliate companies take advantage of them. Your post reinforces my position.
Cindi @ Moomettesgram’s Musingss last blog post..Hey Newbie Entrecard Members ~ Either Approve Ad Requests Quickly or Don’t Bother Putting a Banner Up
Awesome blog Kelly. I’ve been blogging & screaming about this for years now…where wahms will ‘work’ wasting their time with a zillion ‘things’ to click on, submit, ‘work’ and when all’s said and done they’ve spent twice as much time as a normal FT working person to earn pennies! Apparently they don’t have a household and kids to run totally on their own, perhaps then they’d grasp the reality of their situation and that is making pennies doesn’t amount to anything other than pennies and last time I checked mortgage/rent, gas, food, utilities takes more than pennies a month!
Tara
I completely agree about all of those make money fast schemes. Rarely do any of them work out and rarely do you make any substantial money with them.
Kurt Henningers last blog post..Blogging and Blogrush
Absolutely fantastic post… We could absolutely share a brain as I’ve written about exactly the same things. This kind of mentality and exchange is what makes me so angry about the WAHM community and the vultures (who often are WAHMs themselves) preying on WAHMs. Even in the Virtual Assistant community, where people are typically more business-minded, they fall prey to this self-devaluing mindset as well. And they become easy targets for cannibalizing colleagues. It’s one of the reasons I started my organization, the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce… to pull the rug out from under the self-proclaimed industry leaders feeding these women nothing but BS and in the process lead them into nothing but low-paying businesses. It’s criminal and it deprives their family, their children and themselves from income and self-respect they very much deserve.
What a great post! Thank you for such honest open dialogue! The range of emotions that this took me through was intense but really worthwhile thinking about.
I’m hooked on your blog from here on it!