5 ms·

There are some truly awful suggestions here. The question isnt about changing his life by learning to code or setting up a plastics machine (which is pretty co

There are some truly awful suggestions here. The question isnt about changing his life by learning to code or setting up a plastics machine (which is pretty cool but takes investment) or starting an affiliate site and then generating traffic, it's about generating income during a global pandemic. 1. Fiverr 2. Mechanical Turk 3. Craigslist Gigs 4. UpWork Can generate $50 by dinner time if you're willing to focus and put in the time.

fred_is_fred 6y ago
I think it's disingenuous to suggest that you can setup an account on these sites and have $50 by the end of the day "if you are willing to focus". With the exception of Mechanical Turk, which pays pennies, the others require you have a skill that people are willing to pay for.
- tiborsaas 6y ago
  OP didn't really help by not sharing any details about his friend. It's friendly to assume that some skills might be monetized on these platforms.
- ge96 6y ago
  I think the competition is nuts too, when I've been on the other side(hiring) it's overwhelming how many people you get to respond/hard to tell if the person is competent/trustworthy(with regard to allowing access to your tech to work on it). Starting from 0 is really hard(people with former work look more trustworthy).
  - fred_is_fred 6y ago
    Excellent point. This is the modern version of the oft ridiculed Boomer idea to "just go door to door until you get a job like I did back in 1967".
    - cosmodisk 6y ago
      I've got a feeling that it'd probably be even easier nowadays. I remember when I came to London about 10 years ago: no money,no connections, nothing.Went online to check some jobs just to see some ads with 200+ applications.. Printed my crappy CV,a list of a few agencies and started going from one to another. Managed to get a job 4 hours later..
      - type0 6y ago
        > when I came to London about 10 years ago Surely not London, Ontario. Wouldn't work in any city on any time.
      - fred_is_fred 6y ago
        You're surely right. In a world with 20% unemployment you'd probably get a job in 27 seconds, and if you don't you are just lazy right!!?? Was your reply sarcasm?
        cosmodisk 6y ago
        There was no sarcasm. All I meant was that sometimes knocking on a few doors could yield better results than just sending CVs around. I did quickly find a job 10 years ago but it doesn't mean that in current situation it'd be the same.
        ge96 6y ago
        I guess it depends what you're looking for. Before I was in this industry the "quickest" job to get into was washing plates at some restaurant... have to go through all the hiring bs but that's a high turnover/low skill job. edit: hiring bs as in these philosophical quizes of how many people would you kill, one or several, etc... like man I'm just here to wash plates.
        ciceryadam 6y ago
        While a good idea in general, I don't know how many doors would open up right now after knocking. Coronacrisis and social distancing make this approach harder than ever, most offices are working remotely, and most service industry places are closed.
Nextgrid 6y ago
From experience on Upwork, that platform is a big dumpster fire that should be avoided at all costs. Any task will immediately get spammed with lowball offers by monkeys which means it's impossible to actually earn realistic prices. The clients are non-technical for the most part so they will not see the red flags and will go with the lowball offers anyway, with predictable results. The rating system has been gamed to death so everyone is 5 stars regardless of their actual skills. Submitting proposals properly takes a lot of time and isn't worth it when you know the client is more likely to go with the lowest bidder. You're better off getting a low-wage job in a supermarket or sandwich shop.
- mtlynch 6y ago
  Just as a contrasting datapoint, I use Upwork a lot as a client, and I've found a lot of good contractors on there. I agree with you that the platform itself is terrible and seems to succeed in spite of itself, but it's worked well enough for my needs. I've hired cartoonists[0], editors[1], writers[2], accountants, and developers. I had the worst luck with developers because, as you say, the ratings are meaningless. They have the lemon problem[3] that good developers won't really work for $15/hr, but there are also bad developers who charge $125/hr. But to evaluate whether a developer is good or bad, you generally have to invest 10-15 hours with them. So a string of expensive bad matches can cost you $5-10k in trial hires just to find a decent developer. I think other tasks are easier to hire for because costs are lower and the outputs are more easily inspectable. [0] https://mtlynch.io/how-to-hire-a-cartoonist/ https://mtlynch.io/how-to-hire-a-cartoonist/ [1] https://mtlynch.io/editor/ https://mtlynch.io/editor/ [2] https://mtlynch.io/hiring-content-writers/ https://mtlynch.io/hiring-content-writers/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons
  - odonnellryan 6y ago
    It's probably good for hiring, but awful for freelancing. They still have $1k of my money (well money I earned through a client) because they banned my account without explanation! I haven't used them in years, maybe they have gotten better.
illegalsmile 6y ago
That brings up a question: What can you do to earn $50 in 24 hours? Unless you already have mturk the waiting period is days to weeks if you're not rejected. Fiverr/Upwork would all require a large amount of luck to make $50 in one day as communication with client and turn-around time could take 12-24 hours before even starting a small one hour project. CL might be the best way to make that money in that time period doing a miscellaneous yard service or delivery or whatever. I'm curious though if there are other avenues to make $50 in one day.
- cgh 6y ago
  If you own a pickup truck, put a junk hauling ad on Craigslist. Charge $50 + dump fees. You will have to err on the side of caution here, as dump fees are determined by weight.
- jpindar 6y ago
  People Ready (aka Labor Ready). Be there early before they open, and if you're lucky (because I'm sure they're swamped these days) you'll get a full day's work. You get paid that evening.
  - jrumbut 6y ago
    A trick I learned back in 2009 was that if you bring a drill, or even a screwdriver, you can get assigned to much nicer jobs (never worked for Labor Ready, but worked for very similar companies during the 2008 recession).
  - ohyeshedid 6y ago
    I've always been pretty nomadic, and one trick I was taught long ago when you need cash in a hurry is to go stand outside a self-storage facility and look for people that need help moving. I was able to make $50-$150 a day when times were tight. I bring this up because people actually do call day labor companies for this all the time.
- sonofaragorn 6y ago
  Is it really possible to generate $50/day on mturk? What kind of tasks would pay that much?

fred_is_fred 6y ago

I think it's disingenuous to suggest that you can setup an account on these sites and have $50 by the end of the day "if you are willing to focus". With the exception of Mechanical Turk, which pays pennies, the others require you have a skill that people are willing to pay for.

tiborsaas 6y ago
OP didn't really help by not sharing any details about his friend. It's friendly to assume that some skills might be monetized on these platforms.
ge96 6y ago
I think the competition is nuts too, when I've been on the other side(hiring) it's overwhelming how many people you get to respond/hard to tell if the person is competent/trustworthy(with regard to allowing access to your tech to work on it). Starting from 0 is really hard(people with former work look more trustworthy).
- fred_is_fred 6y ago
  Excellent point. This is the modern version of the oft ridiculed Boomer idea to "just go door to door until you get a job like I did back in 1967".
  - cosmodisk 6y ago
    I've got a feeling that it'd probably be even easier nowadays. I remember when I came to London about 10 years ago: no money,no connections, nothing.Went online to check some jobs just to see some ads with 200+ applications.. Printed my crappy CV,a list of a few agencies and started going from one to another. Managed to get a job 4 hours later..
    - type0 6y ago
      > when I came to London about 10 years ago Surely not London, Ontario. Wouldn't work in any city on any time.
    - fred_is_fred 6y ago
      You're surely right. In a world with 20% unemployment you'd probably get a job in 27 seconds, and if you don't you are just lazy right!!?? Was your reply sarcasm?
      - cosmodisk 6y ago
        There was no sarcasm. All I meant was that sometimes knocking on a few doors could yield better results than just sending CVs around. I did quickly find a job 10 years ago but it doesn't mean that in current situation it'd be the same.
        ge96 6y ago
        I guess it depends what you're looking for. Before I was in this industry the "quickest" job to get into was washing plates at some restaurant... have to go through all the hiring bs but that's a high turnover/low skill job. edit: hiring bs as in these philosophical quizes of how many people would you kill, one or several, etc... like man I'm just here to wash plates.
        ciceryadam 6y ago
        While a good idea in general, I don't know how many doors would open up right now after knocking. Coronacrisis and social distancing make this approach harder than ever, most offices are working remotely, and most service industry places are closed.

Nextgrid 6y ago

From experience on Upwork, that platform is a big dumpster fire that should be avoided at all costs. Any task will immediately get spammed with lowball offers by monkeys which means it's impossible to actually earn realistic prices. The clients are non-technical for the most part so they will not see the red flags and will go with the lowball offers anyway, with predictable results. The rating system has been gamed to death so everyone is 5 stars regardless of their actual skills. Submitting proposals properly takes a lot of time and isn't worth it when you know the client is more likely to go with the lowest bidder. You're better off getting a low-wage job in a supermarket or sandwich shop.

mtlynch 6y ago
Just as a contrasting datapoint, I use Upwork a lot as a client, and I've found a lot of good contractors on there. I agree with you that the platform itself is terrible and seems to succeed in spite of itself, but it's worked well enough for my needs. I've hired cartoonists[0], editors[1], writers[2], accountants, and developers. I had the worst luck with developers because, as you say, the ratings are meaningless. They have the lemon problem[3] that good developers won't really work for $15/hr, but there are also bad developers who charge $125/hr. But to evaluate whether a developer is good or bad, you generally have to invest 10-15 hours with them. So a string of expensive bad matches can cost you $5-10k in trial hires just to find a decent developer. I think other tasks are easier to hire for because costs are lower and the outputs are more easily inspectable. [0] https://mtlynch.io/how-to-hire-a-cartoonist/ https://mtlynch.io/how-to-hire-a-cartoonist/ [1] https://mtlynch.io/editor/ https://mtlynch.io/editor/ [2] https://mtlynch.io/hiring-content-writers/ https://mtlynch.io/hiring-content-writers/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons
- odonnellryan 6y ago
  It's probably good for hiring, but awful for freelancing. They still have $1k of my money (well money I earned through a client) because they banned my account without explanation! I haven't used them in years, maybe they have gotten better.

illegalsmile 6y ago

That brings up a question: What can you do to earn $50 in 24 hours? Unless you already have mturk the waiting period is days to weeks if you're not rejected. Fiverr/Upwork would all require a large amount of luck to make $50 in one day as communication with client and turn-around time could take 12-24 hours before even starting a small one hour project. CL might be the best way to make that money in that time period doing a miscellaneous yard service or delivery or whatever. I'm curious though if there are other avenues to make $50 in one day.

cgh 6y ago
If you own a pickup truck, put a junk hauling ad on Craigslist. Charge $50 + dump fees. You will have to err on the side of caution here, as dump fees are determined by weight.
jpindar 6y ago
People Ready (aka Labor Ready). Be there early before they open, and if you're lucky (because I'm sure they're swamped these days) you'll get a full day's work. You get paid that evening.
- jrumbut 6y ago
  A trick I learned back in 2009 was that if you bring a drill, or even a screwdriver, you can get assigned to much nicer jobs (never worked for Labor Ready, but worked for very similar companies during the 2008 recession).
- ohyeshedid 6y ago
  I've always been pretty nomadic, and one trick I was taught long ago when you need cash in a hurry is to go stand outside a self-storage facility and look for people that need help moving. I was able to make $50-$150 a day when times were tight. I bring this up because people actually do call day labor companies for this all the time.
sonofaragorn 6y ago
Is it really possible to generate $50/day on mturk? What kind of tasks would pay that much?