$900 in 3 Hours? Not Bloody Likely
TL:DR: It’s impossible to make $900 in three hours via Textbroker, so don’t even try.
Do I Recommend This Side Hustle? — No
Is It Possible to Make Money With It? — No
If you follow any number of TikTok or Instagram channels devoted to “side hustles,” you’ve likely come across this “stupid easy” hack:
“Make $900 in 3 Hours! It’s Stupid Easy!”
Being one to want that kind of money for only a few hours' worth of work, I had to find out what it was all about.
Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed as soon as I saw how this “hack” supposedly worked. Basically, it works like this:
First, you sign up for Textbroker.com and create an account. If you go to “I Write Content,” you can see that it’s potentially possible to make $456 for 8300 words of writing.
Next, you go into Google Docs, set up the “talk to text” function, and then speak your words onto the page. Apparently, the average person can say up to 180 words per minute. So, 8300 words would be a breeze.
Then, you “fix” your writing in Grammarly (using a free account), submit the text to Textbroker, and get your cash!
This hack isn’t even remotely true for three primary reasons. As a freelance writer for the last nine years, I know how much bullshit is in this hack.
Problem 1: Textbroker Isn’t Accepting New Applicants
Now, I can’t prove that the site doesn’t want new writers because of so many people applying after seeing this hack, but I have to assume the two things are related.
But, regardless of the circumstances, Textbroker will flat-out tell you not to apply because there are too many writers and not enough work. But, let’s say that changes in the near future. That leads us to the next problem:
Problem 2: You Won’t Get Paid as Much
The $456 for 8300 words figure is only for five-star writers. However, if you don’t have experience writing copy (like I do), you’ll start at the three-star level. That level pays 1.1 cents per word, or about $90 for 8300 words.
Also, it won’t take you only three hours to generate that much material. Even using the talk-to-text feature on Google Docs, you’ll have to do a lot more work on the back-end to “fix” your writing in Grammarly.
The feature doesn’t add punctuation, headers, bullet points, or any other formatting necessary to make your writing look polished. Imagine having to go through 8300 words and add in all the periods, commas, em-dashes, and even the capital letters of each sentence. Did you shudder at the thought? I did.
Realistically, it would take far longer to generate that much content, so when you break it down, you’ll be making about the minimum wage (or less).
Problem 3: Textbroker is a Content Marketplace
For some reason, these side hustle gurus believe that Textbroker will just pay money for whatever words you choose to submit. However, it actually works like this:
Clients come to Textbroker to find writers to create content.
Textbroker connects writers with clients.
Clients submit orders, including keywords, SEO, outlines, and more.
Writers complete the orders and submit them to the client. If the client likes it, the writer gets paid, and Textbroker takes a small cut.
So, the only way you can write 8300 words is if you can find that many orders in the marketplace. Since the maximum order count is five per writer, that’s not likely. Plus, you have to write to the client’s specifications, not just whatever you feel like writing.
The Bottom Line
As a copywriter myself, I would love to make $900 in three hours by using this hack. Unfortunately, though, the reality is nowhere near as lucrative.
