Disclaimer: I am not saying that all of the job posts who screams as an easy work are bogus.
What I just realized is oftentimes, those job posts with that word in the title will probably have a catch.
Just like what happened to me. 😑
Last Monday, I saw this job post in Upwork who needs a Virtual Assistant to promote his website. It is a fixed-rate of $30.
I applied for it and received a job offer.
He said he will pay $0.20 per reply that I make on related forums promoting his website.
So $30 divided by $0.20 per reply equals to a total of 150 replies that I should be able to make.
I asked my fellow classmates for advice and finally been convinced to take it for now while I am still waiting for other job offers on the proposals I sent.
I accepted it, and to start, he made the first milestone for $5, meaning I should make 25 replies first and submit to him an Excel report.
Easy-peasy. That's what I thought.
Until I created the accounts he asked and started posting on forums.
Long story short, it felt like it was not worth the price.
Completing 25 replies took me 12 hours to finish!
Why?
Because his website is about a commercial software and other forums are very strict when it comes to it (open-source and free are allowed but if it is commercial maybe you'd need to search for sponsored posts where, I guess, you'd have to pay to advertise your product or is commission-based).
Twice or thrice have I experienced my posts being deleted and banned from forums.
And I had to search thoroughly because his rule is I can't reply to forum posts where his website has already been mentioned.
And if you look at his Upwork profile, you will see that he has hired a lot before and I can really see on related forums that a lot has already mentioned his website.
When I finally found some forum where my posts got through, I made a waiting period just to play it safe and not be considered as spam.
Even though I am not that knowledgeable about the topics, I also had to search for it and understand even just a little bit to be able to customize my replies and lowkey recommend his website.
The dates of the posts as well have to be kept in mind because a majority of the posts related to his product were made around 3 to 10 years ago.
I made one mistake of replying to a post made way back in 2004 and there they detected that I am spamming. My post got deleted as well as my account.
Most posts I found that are quite recent, around 1 to 2 years ago, were either archived or answered already and you can't reply to it anymore.
20% of replies were allowed to be made on blog posts, around 5 replies.
But most blogs enabled comment moderation and since their posts were made way back since I don't know when I can't tell if they are still active or when will they see and review my comment.
So in total, I spent 12 hours of my time just to complete 25 replies for the first milestone worth $5.
Will he still continue to the next milestone?
Oh please, even though it is just $5, I would gladly just take it and not continue anymore.
For his website, I guess what he needs is a marketer.
Since we are on the age where the majority is on social media, I guess he can hire a Social Media Marketer to promote his website. (I am not an expert on giving advice and I am not sure if this is the right strategy that he should make. This is just what I thought.)
Because from what I have experienced, it might also have a negative impact on his side if the accounts promoting his website were banned.
Also, from what I saw, the related posts were made years back which could also mean that not so many people are talking about it at present.
For now, I have already submitted my report and waiting for his approval of the first milestone.
I don't know what I should specifically hope for.
I will just hope for the best on whatever happens next.
Gladly my friends and I are going on a trip tomorrow.
What a perfect time to unwind. 😊
~~~~
I applied for it and received a job offer.
He said he will pay $0.20 per reply that I make on related forums promoting his website.
So $30 divided by $0.20 per reply equals to a total of 150 replies that I should be able to make.
I asked my fellow classmates for advice and finally been convinced to take it for now while I am still waiting for other job offers on the proposals I sent.
I accepted it, and to start, he made the first milestone for $5, meaning I should make 25 replies first and submit to him an Excel report.
Easy-peasy. That's what I thought.
Until I created the accounts he asked and started posting on forums.
Long story short, it felt like it was not worth the price.
Completing 25 replies took me 12 hours to finish!
Why?
Because his website is about a commercial software and other forums are very strict when it comes to it (open-source and free are allowed but if it is commercial maybe you'd need to search for sponsored posts where, I guess, you'd have to pay to advertise your product or is commission-based).
Twice or thrice have I experienced my posts being deleted and banned from forums.
And I had to search thoroughly because his rule is I can't reply to forum posts where his website has already been mentioned.
And if you look at his Upwork profile, you will see that he has hired a lot before and I can really see on related forums that a lot has already mentioned his website.
When I finally found some forum where my posts got through, I made a waiting period just to play it safe and not be considered as spam.
Even though I am not that knowledgeable about the topics, I also had to search for it and understand even just a little bit to be able to customize my replies and lowkey recommend his website.
The dates of the posts as well have to be kept in mind because a majority of the posts related to his product were made around 3 to 10 years ago.
I made one mistake of replying to a post made way back in 2004 and there they detected that I am spamming. My post got deleted as well as my account.
Most posts I found that are quite recent, around 1 to 2 years ago, were either archived or answered already and you can't reply to it anymore.
20% of replies were allowed to be made on blog posts, around 5 replies.
But most blogs enabled comment moderation and since their posts were made way back since I don't know when I can't tell if they are still active or when will they see and review my comment.
So in total, I spent 12 hours of my time just to complete 25 replies for the first milestone worth $5.
Will he still continue to the next milestone?
Oh please, even though it is just $5, I would gladly just take it and not continue anymore.
For his website, I guess what he needs is a marketer.
Since we are on the age where the majority is on social media, I guess he can hire a Social Media Marketer to promote his website. (I am not an expert on giving advice and I am not sure if this is the right strategy that he should make. This is just what I thought.)
Because from what I have experienced, it might also have a negative impact on his side if the accounts promoting his website were banned.
Also, from what I saw, the related posts were made years back which could also mean that not so many people are talking about it at present.
For now, I have already submitted my report and waiting for his approval of the first milestone.
I don't know what I should specifically hope for.
I will just hope for the best on whatever happens next.
Gladly my friends and I are going on a trip tomorrow.
What a perfect time to unwind. 😊
~~~~
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