What is it that makes people give up on earning online / working from home?

[alditoharrods]

Without reading the replies, I think it comes down to laziness and time.

People don't have time to research methods that work, because of course not everything works for everyone, and that is aside from all the scams out there. Then the laziness....I was talking to my brother a few weeks ago. My brother is 19 years older than me and works for a barely above minimum wage. I was explaining affiliate marketing to him as a great money making idea for him. And his response was simply "but I want to spend my days off doing what I want to do". I think that sums it up perfectly. People expect too much too soon and get despondent when they're only earning 50p from a survey.

 

[Twiggy]

I read online, people complaining about the amount of "unpaid" study needed for Leapforce. Alot of new jobs require a bit of reading up on things at home, but I think because it is a work from home opportunity people don't see it in the same light and don't want to put the effort in.

I would give up on what isn't working for me. At the moment I don't do the WUD or any surveys as 9/10 I am screened out, so I don't want to give it head space. I would have given up Fiverr, but I have had 12 gigs in the past two weeks so I will keep that on. Haven't bothered with chasing work on PPH though as that wasn't working for me either.

 

[alditoharrods]

I would give up on what isn't working for me. At the moment I don't do the WUD or any surveys as 9/10 I am screened out, so I don't want to give it head space. I would have given up Fiverr, but I have had 12 gigs in the past two weeks so I will keep that on. Haven't bothered with chasing work on PPH though as that wasn't working for me either.

Exactly. As I'm progressing, I'm deciding that AppTrailers and smart phone apps that earn me maybe $1 need to go, my time is much better spent elsewhere.

 

[Blackpepper1]

People I find don't have patience and it does take patience and allot more effort and hard work to make money online compared to a job where you go do the hours and get paid a certain amount per hour.
You need allot of patience and it is finding things that work the best for you everyone is different.
Luckily I have loads of patience and I have slowly weeded out the sites that aren't worth my time.

 

[caledonia1972]

Agree with pretty much what everyone else has said.

If you start a job working on the till in Asda, you know you're definitely going to be paid at the end of the month. If you decide to start working for yourself, it takes at least that long to plough through all of the opportunities which are out there and decide which one is for you. Then you have to accept that your earnings aren't going to be constant. We all have good months and bad months - I know from experience that December is a very slow month for writing because nobody's looking for new copy between about 18th December and 2nd January. If you're relying on the same amount coming in every month without fail to cover bills, it takes a lot of confidence to take the leap.

From what I have seen on Netmums and similar, Benefits/Tax Credits is also a massive issue. The "system" does not work well for people who are self-employed as your tax credit award relies on an estimation of earnings and if you under or over estimate you're in trouble and either left short or left with a huge overpayment to pay back. Many people are also unwilling to take on any work which will affect the level of Benefits they are getting and again, self-employment is unreliable so it's impossible to calculate how much better off you'll be.

Finally I think some people just lack the right mindset. They don't have the drive, tenacity, lateral thinking, nouse or plain motivation to seek out opportunities and make them work. They want it all handed to them on a plate. Some people are quite happy in a very routine job where they are no required to make decisions or take the initiative and where there's always a manager telling them what to do. They may LIKE the idea of working for themselves but lack the mindset to do anything about it. That's why schemes like Younique are so popular as they promise a lot of hand holding and support.

 

[Jon]

Agree with pretty much what everyone else has said.

If you start a job working on the till in Asda, you know you're definitely going to be paid at the end of the month. If you decide to start working for yourself, it takes at least that long to plough through all of the opportunities which are out there and decide which one is for you. Then you have to accept that your earnings aren't going to be constant. We all have good months and bad months - I know from experience that December is a very slow month for writing because nobody's looking for new copy between about 18th December and 2nd January. If you're relying on the same amount coming in every month without fail to cover bills, it takes a lot of confidence to take the leap.

From what I have seen on Netmums and similar, Benefits/Tax Credits is also a massive issue. The "system" does not work well for people who are self-employed as your tax credit award relies on an estimation of earnings and if you under or over estimate you're in trouble and either left short or left with a huge overpayment to pay back. Many people are also unwilling to take on any work which will affect the level of Benefits they are getting and again, self-employment is unreliable so it's impossible to calculate how much better off you'll be.

Finally I think some people just lack the right mindset. They don't have the drive, tenacity, lateral thinking, nouse or plain motivation to seek out opportunities and make them work. They want it all handed to them on a plate. Some people are quite happy in a very routine job where they are no required to make decisions or take the initiative and where there's always a manager telling them what to do. They may LIKE the idea of working for themselves but lack the mindset to do anything about it. That's why schemes like Younique are so popular as they promise a lot of hand holding and support.

Sometimes that amount of hand holding and support with Younique can go wrong...


http://tinyurl.com/ossf69o

 

[caledonia1972]

Indeed - but it's a very persuasive selling tool in the first place for people who want to get into a "job" where they have the benefits of independence and self-employment but still a manager to guide them. By which point of course, the direct selling company has been paid their £70 or whatever.

 

[tickling]

Its about desire and risk. Do you want to the safer route with guaranteed income each month or the risky but ultimately more beneficial working from home.

 

[Jon]

Its about desire and risk. Do you want to the safer route with guaranteed income each month or the risky but ultimately more beneficial working from home.

I think this is a good point and it could be a big swayer for people.
They may not get on very well at the start and may end up looking at what they 'think' is available and decide that it is not worth the effort of putting in the time and research to get to the decent well paid work.

 

[RobW]

From my own point of view, having the time available to do the necessary research is a big issue. I've worked for 63336 for 6 years and recently signed up to a whole bundle of survey sites to supplement that income (and am slowly discarding the ones that aren't worth the time & effort), but my priority every month is making enough money to survive. Obviously Christmas brings extra expenses, but in truth nearly every month has its own "surprises" (my fridge broke down in Sep, fence collapsed in Nov etc), and so it's hard to take time out from earning in order to properly look into other opportunities. I'd love to get into blogging or content writing, but I'm realistic enough to know that I'll be making peanuts from that to start with and so it's hard to put the time aside for getting started when I know I could be making more by logging on and working for 63336.

Having said all that, I try to keep abreast of everything that's being discussed on this forum and I know there are loads of helpful titbits that will speed up that learning process when I finally find the time to embark upon it. I think, as with most things in life, it becomes a question of gritting your teeth and settling down to some hard slog (and keeping everything crossed that my dodgy roof doesn't spring a leak until I've got the cash to fix it!).

 

[Lloydsdad]

In my opinion people need to have a realistic amount in their minds to earn per month. If they hit that target great the desire is there to continue however these things usually start slower than anticipated and become a chore eventually bring discarded

 

[Jon]

I would agree that things do start slow however it is important to have targets

I always aim for circa £900 a month from home / online.

If I don't have a target I think I would struggle to have something to motivate me

 

[serenlas]

For me it's about confidence and logistics. There are so many things to consider when leaving a secure (albeit unhappy) job to become a home worker. Some of my worries are: will I be able to find enough paid work (and from the word go) to continue to claim tax credits? Will I be able to earn enough to give my kids a decent life? What if nobody wants to employ me? What if people don't like my work? I know the only way to find out how it'll pan out is to take the plunge but it just seems HUGE. I can understand why people would look into it and decide it's too much of a risk. Also, being unhappy in your work does knock your self confidence a lot and it can be extremely hard to get out of that mindset and feel able to take risks and promote yourself when you know there's a pretty good chance of rejection. I still very much hope (and believe) that I won't still be plodding along unhappily in 12 months time but if I am, this will be why.

 

[Jon]

For me it's about confidence and logistics. There are so many things to consider when leaving a secure (albeit unhappy) job to become a home worker. Some of my worries are: will I be able to find enough paid work (and from the word go) to continue to claim tax credits? Will I be able to earn enough to give my kids a decent life? What if nobody wants to employ me? What if people don't like my work? I know the only way to find out how it'll pan out is to take the plunge but it just seems HUGE. I can understand why people would look into it and decide it's too much of a risk. Also, being unhappy in your work does knock your self confidence a lot and it can be extremely hard to get out of that mindset and feel able to take risks and promote yourself when you know there's a pretty good chance of rejection. I still very much hope (and believe) that I won't still be plodding along unhappily in 12 months time but if I am, this will be why.

completely get what you are saying here


working for companies who offer work from home opportunities lets you test the water from home. Try and work for a company, see how you get on (not NOT talking about direct selling companies here btw).


Try out Mystery shopping, try out audit companies or text transcribe work.


Trying to replicate an ENTIRE full time wage just from home is going to be tough and you are going to have to work for many companies to do that (or strike lucky)

 

[serenlas]

That's the issue really - it's not very likely that I'd be able to walk out of my job and start earning the same from home straight away, although I don't really want to tie myself to one company anyway so that part isn't a major issue. I'd need to earn £600-700 pcm to match what I'm on now, so it's not mega bucks, but it seems a lot when you're starting from nothing! £450 pcm would be the absolutely minimum.

My short term goal is to find 2-3 hrs freelance work per week, which would get me into the upper tax credits theshold (30+ hrs). I have a few ideas... I just need a bit of a kick up the bum but I think that has to come from myself!

Possibly a daft question, but obviously I'd have to register as self employed for those extra hours. Does anyone know if there's any way my employers would find out about this if I didn't tell them?

 

[Jon]

That's the issue really - it's not very likely that I'd be able to walk out of my job and start earning the same from home straight away, although I don't really want to tie myself to one company anyway so that part isn't a major issue. I'd need to earn £600-700 pcm to match what I'm on now, so it's not mega bucks, but it seems a lot when you're starting from nothing! £450 pcm would be the absolutely minimum.

My short term goal is to find 2-3 hrs freelance work per week, which would get me into the upper tax credits theshold (30+ hrs). I have a few ideas... I just need a bit of a kick up the bum but I think that has to come from myself!

Possibly a daft question, but obviously I'd have to register as self employed for those extra hours. Does anyone know if there's any way my employers would find out about this if I didn't tell them?

£450 a month is EASILY achievable


yes you would have to register as self employed, from experience the only way they may find out is that HRMC write to your PAYE employer and give them your new tax code, if, like me you want to pay your self employed tax out of your daytime job PAYE earnings

 

[serenlas]

£450 a month is EASILY achievable

yes you would have to register as self employed, from experience the only way they may find out is that HRMC write to your PAYE employer and give them your new tax code, if, like me you want to pay your self employed tax out of your daytime job PAYE earnings

Thank you. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they knew I was earning a little extra elsewhere really.

 

[Jon]

£450 a month is EASILY achievable

yes you would have to register as self employed, from experience the only way they may find out is that HRMC write to your PAYE employer and give them your new tax code, if, like me you want to pay your self employed tax out of your daytime job PAYE earnings

Thank you. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they knew I was earning a little extra elsewhere really.

nah not at all, there's jack shit they could do about it anyway


If you want to earn £400+ a month online / from home then you need to go ALL IN on this stuff! You aren't going to earn it just by doing surveys or not grabbing work on the apps when it is around you, you need to be committed to the cash as they say!

 

[toastking]

How much time do you spend a month to earn that £900 though I think it'd be a real battle to get there unless you have a popular blog or forum say...

I am at a crossroads having closed my blog and so all the schemes that went with it, having had some time to play computer games and doddle about (and work insanely hard at work to put myself in a good place) and am now in the re-evaluation stage and contemplating what next in a) job b) project and c) life haha!

As a result I'll be frequenting the boards again but I doubt I'll be doing as many of the 'online opportunities' unless I can find one with the potential to compete with my job which is actually pretty darn good.

 

[Jon]

Well leapforce pays $14 an hour which is around £9 an hour

So say I do £700 a month with them that's 77 hours over the course of a month

Field agent etc pay a fair whack per task -each task takes 2 min at best

Whatusersdo pays £8-£15 for 15-20 mins work

None my income that I ever list here ever includes any money I make from this site