“Items that I enjoy include but are not limited to: lakes, music, children, fertility, breakfast, walks, sexual intercourse, animals.”
– Craigslist Personal
I had a solid Craigslist lead. Writing fake profiles for an Adult Friend Finder type site. $100 a day, I could even get paid in Bitcoins if I wanted. It was a sweet deal and I was excited.
The guy bailed at the last second.
Just vanished.
Craigslist is actually a lot harder to find work on than I’d imagined. Half the jobs are obvious scams. The other half offer no pay. I have zero interest in writing for an “exciting” construction blog without getting paid.
However, my Craigslist adventures have taught me one very valuable lesson. Never write for free.
When I was in school I always heard about having to “pay your dues.” Unpaid and underpaid internships were, for whatever reason, considered normal. It was the experience that counted, not the money.
F*ck that.
If you want to write for free start a blog. I have 280 published posts. I had fun writing all of them. An article about dinosaur porn or sex might not be politically correct, but it will get far more attention than a piece about carbon steel I beams.
Sit down and think of the last five articles that you voluntarily read. I bet that none of them were about innovations in the quick dry cement market.
When I write bland articles I get paid for them. They’re tedious to write and tedious to read. If there wasn’t money involved no one would publish them.
If you want to write for free, do it for yourself. Write about something that interests you.