It takes money to make money, but should you spend your hard-earned money on a writing ebook/program/webinar that promises to make you oodles of money? I once spent money on one of those ebooks and I was completely satisfied with my purchase. I didn’t get rich – nor did I believe I would – but I used the strategy to create a web product that’s more than made up for what I spend on the book. The product still continues to bring in a small amount of residual income every month. I consider it a good buy.
Get rich quick schemes won’t make you rich (unless maybe you’re the one duping people into buying them). Far too many of these programs promise that you’ll either get rich or make an insane amount of money per hour (like $300). I’m betting that you won’t get rich, but you may make $300 in an hour, but not 40 hours a week.
These schemes can be used to enhance what you’re already doing. If you ask me, the writing section of the bookstore is extremely under stocked with books talking about writing online. But there is a tremendous amount of good information available on the internet – free and paid.
Don’t buy a scheme you can’t afford. Don’t overdraft your bank account trying to buy a get rich quick scheme. And don’t skip your mortgage this month thinking this program is going to make you rich enough to pay your house off by the end of summer. Instead, save up for it just like you would any other purchase and if you get rich, great. If you don’t, at least you still have a roof over your head.
Read some reviews about the scheme you’re considering. I’m not talking about the testimonials that appear on the page selling the product – those may or may not be real. Search out reviews from an unbiased source. Google the name of the product + review. If there aren’t any reviews or feedback on message boards or blogs, be wary. It could be that this is a new product and no one’s reviewed it or it could be a scam that no one cares about. I also suggest looking up information on the author.
Background check the author. Who put together the program? What are people saying about the author? Does the author have a reputation for results? If you can’t find an author, can you really trust that the information you buy is going to help you? Checking up on the author will also give you insight into whether that person’s a known scammer.
Get rich quick schemes are a tax deductible business expense if you buy one of these programs to help your current freelance writing business. However, you can’t take the deduction if you’re just interested in becoming a writer.
There are some scams out there, but there are also some wise buys. The key is to be smart about what you purchase. Do your due diligence and don’t expect to get rich without working hard.
Have you ever purchased one of those “Get Rich Writing/Make $300 an Hour” type of ebooks?
I really stray away from anything that has “overnight success” and crazy numbers that seem too good to be true.
Okay, if I give them the benefit of the doubt, it could be possible but ya know what? I still won’t believe it.
I much rather buy something from someone that can show their work on the long term – not some person that popped up over night.
I want to see how they’re interacting the with community, how they built their skills and give me proof of their work other than just screens that show their money, ya know?
I get what you mean. I actually wrote this post because I saw one of these “schemes” offered by someone who is respected in the writing community. Check out this and this. It made me wonder if the schemes are all schemes or if some of them are actually good information that look like schemes because of the sales pitch and the price. This is one I purchased about two years ago and was actually happy with my purchase.