To, All The Ways of Earning I’ve Tried Before!
P.s. it’s not you, it’s me
Digital world filled with opportunities. Ah! What a great time to be alive. You have everything at your finger tips,
— you want to know a cooking recipe? just click it.
— You want to know the weather? just click it.
— You wanna know a thousand ways of earning? Sure thing.
I searched every available platform, be it instagram, twitter or youtube. To know the different ways I could earn money online. I found hundreds of ways, I tried a few of them and succeeded at only one or two. (Luckily, I guess)
Let me take you through the list. First up…
1. Affiliate marketing world
Everybody is talking about being an affiliate,so many people are doing it. I found so many videos to start from scratch and earn thousands and even billions a month from it.
I did my research, I found different websites, I saw videos, I read about it. I joint a hosted place on twitter regarding the same and the next day, someone on twitter sent a dm asking me to me to sell their products.
I was excited looking at their products but as I started signing up, it asked me for a big load of money to pay up first. It was a three figure amount as per usual clickbaits, sometimes even more.
Well, the idea of affiliate is a good one in the first place because of the fact that there is zero investment! Why would I pay someone that much money! That too without an experience of selling anything yet. I want to be the seller not the buyer.
I hit the back button faster than the speed of light.
1.1 Next, I found the safest option, Amazon affiliate marketing.
Amazon.com is a world-renowned, most reliable source for a billion of people for shopping and selling and stuff. It is a big place which is safer as well. I could start there.
I saw multiple videos again on YouTube as of how to become an affiliate on Amazon.in. It was pretty easy.I was an Amazon Prime member so I got the approval easily.
I made a website… for free of course. But I couldn’t buy the domain.It was suggested to buy the domain but I couldn’t risk it yet but a free domain had little chances of getting successful.
So,I again did my research and found about bloggers.com and starter writing there. It had better chances of taking off according to google and YT research.
I wrote a few articles but it was in the initial stages, I knew I won’t be getting traffic. But Amazon has this three-month policy to sell at least 2 items through your affiliate link. They will check up on it after 3 months.
I had to do something. I shared my website link to the people I “trust” not to the people I “know”.
The list of trusted people is really short for me and I couldn’t find the courage to send it to everyone.
It did not feel “right” to ask anyone to buy something.I know it’s not a big deal for a lot of people but I felt hesitant doing so.Eventually, I dropped the ball.
It didn’t feel right. I wasn’t happy doing it. It put me in a situation of constant stress and depression. I realised sooner that It was time to find something else.
2. Another commission job
I found a site that “I’m not going to name here” from where you can sell stuff, and get commissions. The site seemed legit.
I dived in with my head first! I made an Instagram account this time. I uploaded pictures ,I replied quicker than a fox to any dms that I received and eventually… I found 6–7 loyal customers for myself. From different parts of my country. This is still a fact of my life that I can not believe till date.
Ah! I used to scream every time I got an order.
My work was to bring in the order, rest everything was their headache.
All of my orders reached on time, everything was fine, even there was COD(Cash on Delivery). But… the quality of stuff always lagged.
The clients always complained about those because at the least cut amount for me, still, the items were pricey. The customers were right. I saw it. Nobody ever returned any product or threw their rage at me because I had good communication with them but it broke my heart.
If I couldn’t deliver quality products, it wasn’t worth it. So, I took the exit from it before it gets dirty.
3. Online writing jobs
During the hunt of the first few online gigs, Something I saw a lot of people saying was to “find your passion”.Selling something or anything was never a part of my passion and I realised I was just pushing my energy in the wrong direction.I dug deeper and asked what is my real passion?
My answer? Writing! It was and it will always be Writing.
I searched online platforms again, this time on Pinterest as well, along with Google, YouTube and Instagram. I tried to find 5 websites that pay good amount for writing articles.
I found ONE, that was perfect for me. I did not want to divide my energy into multiple fractions and there is also a legal term that you should not submit the same article to any other website due to copyright issues.So, we start with just one.Their usual modus operandi was for you to submit your article and they’ll let you know within a week if you’re in or not.
I gave it my best shot Now,I just had to wait.I waited for a weak. No response.They must be busy with the work, I sent a mail to them, waited again. No response for another weak.
I wasted two weeks waiting for a single response. I was sad about the fact that even if it was a “NO”, they had stated that they let the writer know it. I didn’t even get that. I wasted my time because of them.
Then… I dusted everything off. I thought I’ve wasted so much time. I’ll find a way to earn but I really want to write somewhere.Then I found my true love… medium.com.
I am not overstating it but I loved… it here. I am writing for just the sake of the love of writing.In all honesty, I would have loved to earn a few bucks and I was quite upset about it as well. But who cares. I love writing.
4. Freelancing
I made a freelancing accounting on Upwork to start somewhere last month.And guess what? It’s going well for me. I am happy doing it.
I have a few more ideas that I want to turn into reality. My own start ups. Not yet into full bloom but it will… Slowly and steadily.
All of this happened in a matter of a single year but I am grateful for the opportunities that I have, things I’ve achieved, things I am working for, even the things that I’ve failed at. I’m grateful for the person I’m becoming.
Tagging my group members here from the writer’s group Ilana Lydia, Angie Smartt, MN, Julie Green , Meliha Avdic.. We found each other at Coffee Times challenge. Feel free to leave a comment to join the group.
