This has been weighing heavily on my mind for a while now. There are many work at home moms who are being exploited. I’m not talking about a working in a sweatshop type of exploited because there is free choice involved.
What I am referring to is the recent movement to hire WAHMS to write articles for you at $3 or less a pop. The people who do this know that WAHMS don’t know any better so they have no trouble at all asking this price.
Then, these very same people end up bragging that they’ve managed to get their articles written for $3 and then flipped the site for thousands upon thousands. A complete content site could be written for under $50 using this method with you none the wiser.
This is good business sense on the one hand, and totally deceptive on the other hand. Knowingly taking advantage of someone because they don’t know any better is terrible in my opinion. Moms have enough to deal with without having to resort to working for less than minimum wage.
If you are ever approached to do this, stand up for yourself! Do not settle for anything less than you are worth. I am guilty of charging too low in order to maintain a steady flow of business. I’m always worried that my clients will run away screaming if I try to charge any more. But, there is a line.
Do not let scummy Internet marketers take you for a fool. There is enough nonsense going around about mothers who work at home as it is. Take pride in your time and in everything that you do.
There will be many people who disagree with me. The argument is that the moms have the right to turn down the job. So, the solution is education I suppose. The more WAHMS realize how much they are worth, the less this terrible practice will happen.
I feel like putting out a public service announcement… “If you know someone who is being payed $3 per article, get them some help!”
Arg!
Tags: cheap writers · freelance payment · writing charges10 Comments
10 responses so far ↓
Hey,
I just wanted to comment on here and touch base on the subject a bit.
I know what this is over and I totally understand where your coming from but there is a few things not being considered here.
I have writers who work for 3-4 dollars an article and I have created content sites and submitted the articles to directories and most the time I make a profit from it.
I can only do this because ive educated myself for the last few years similar to somone who went and got a degree and somone who got a job at walmart.
Half of my writers have a much weaker currency so USD is welcome and converts much better on there end so they can keep busy and make a good income writing.
The other half are from the US 99 percent have never written till they contacted me and wanted to get there feet wet and I take them on without samples and give them work as they have time.
After they get some experience I reccomend them places and find them higher paying jobs and let them know if they have any friends starting out to contact me and I will have some work for them. Im sure you read this in the wso.
This is being made out to sound like slave labour but myself and the person your reffering to are some of the nicest people you could ever meet.
If you want to talk more about this you can contact me personally. You may have come across some bad seeds but I wanted to put my 2 cents in before my name is added to the ” scummy scammers ” file.
- Trevor
Well, I am also taking writers under my wing and showing them that they can earn a LOT more than $3 per article.
It’s fine if that’s the business model you’re using. What makes me the most upset is not the $3…it’s the using WAHMS to do it. WAHMS who don’t know that there is something better out there.
It doesn’t matter how nice of a person you are, I could never pay someone such a low fee just because they are a work at home mom. I know that’s not your intention, but that’s what it ends up being.
“Ghostwriter” from the other forum and I are simply trying to counteract this a bit by showing WAHMS they don’t need to settle. You have your business model and ethic and I have mind.
We are on the internet guys, WAHM can easily research the amount writers charge.
Also, you do make it sound like us ’scummy internet marketers’ are taking advantage of WAHM’s which we are not.
I personally offer my writers help, advice, work, support and anything else they need. We may only give $3 to start with but most of the writers that have been working for me for over a few months are getting 5-6 figure incomes which is awesome.
Then there should be no problem for you to pay them $5-10 per article since it’s such a great deal for us all…
What’s the problem with doing that?
Also, releasing the report was not a way to “help WAHMS” it was a way for Internet Marketers to take advantage of WAHMS. It’s great if you help them, but that’s not what the report is about. Re-evaluate your methods. Adam, I respect you, but you’re wrong here.
Let’s agree to disagree then. Did you get a copy of the report Jenn? If not drop me an email and I will send you a link where you can check the report out for yourself.
To any quality content writer who wants to get compensated fairly for their work, I’m not so sure that pursuing an online publication career is the way to go. Years ago, when I first started out as a freelance writer, I had to query editors of more magazines than I care to remember before finally having a few breakthroughs. Bottom line, if you consider yourself a great writer, there’s no reason to settle for “peanuts”.
Bennie,
I don’t plan on doing it forever…actually, copywriting is my game plan. But you’re right, you shouldn’t settle for something less then what you’re worth. I myself have a hard time with that as I said in the post. I want to make sure I’m earning, so I’ve gotten comfortable with having the good prices I have. I could charge more, and will I imagine. But I will NOT work for $3…
I agree with you. However, for WAHMS who want to make money without a lot of hassle, being a content writer online is a great way to start
[...] For a great look at the Wahm perspective on this issue, check out Jenn Dize’s post at Project Wahm. [...]
I know this was posted months ago but I must comment. I’ve been freelancing for about 5 years now and was lucky to start out working for reliable, well-paying clients. Recently divorced I’ve had to support my family as a full-time freelancer and have been working to further build my client base. In doing so, I’m appalled at the low-paying jobs posted on freelance job banks. I remember when I first started–I was told that I may have to work for free at times to get my feet wet and build that portfolio. And I did a few times. But after writing quality pieces for next to nothing I decided I was worth more. And all those writers accepting jobs for nothing (I’m sorry, but $3 per article is NOTHING! Not even minimum wage!) are minimizing freelancers in general, sending the message that we’re not worth more. For those of you WAHM writing articles for $3 or less, go to your local newspaper and offer to be a stringer. For a bit more money (most pay at least $10 per story if not $25) you could get your feet wet and built a stronger portfolio of published work.
Thanks for this post. It’s important that writers realize they are worth much more than that and reject offers that minimize their value.