And the Survey Says….

No, first off, I did not just finish binge-watching Family Feud with Steve Harvey.  I love that show, and when I was little, it was Richard Dawson as host, but personally, Steve is the best host Family Feud has ever seen.  Plus, Richard Dawson would get a harassment suit today, since he used to try to kiss the ladies. That was then, this is now.

No today, the survey says that taking surveys, as a form of earning extra money, can be beneficial, and earn you thousands of dollars ($$$$$$) ß Yep, Those things. Not only that, you can earn other things, such as gift cards, trips around the world, cars, boats, houses, and free products.  As a person who does surveys, I am going to ask you to read this before you fill out one application.  This is Tip Thursday, and this is my tip for today. By the time you read this, it will be Friday, Sorry for being late.

What are surveys?

Surveys, in its true definition, is basically, “What is your opinion or your review of a question we (an establishment) had on our mind.  It can be in the form of a Q&A, Essay, or a Cause and Effect.  Most times, it is a company who is trying to put out a filler on what a group of people thinks about a new or improved product.  Another name for a survey is a poll.  You may have seen a few in your lifetime.

Well, someone thought it would be a good idea to pay for other people’s opinion, and the idea spread like wildfire.  In some cases, sadly, it is not a good idea, and I will get to that further down the article.  But first, these are my views and tips on making money off Surveys

Tip # 1: Diversify your streams of income

I say this all the time.  Just like they tell you to diversify your financial and stock portfolios, if you are into investing, you should do the same for earning income.  What does this mean in terms of taking part in surveys?  Not all surveys are alike, and to depend on taking surveys as your only means of income or extra income can be dangerous. Survey taking does not always guarantee you the big prize, money and other rewards, sometimes they put you into a pool of other survey takers, draw a name, and if your name is pulled from hundreds of other names, you will get the money.  In other words, it is like pushing a button on a slot machine at a casino.  Sometimes you may get all 7s giving you the big payout, but mostly, you are feeding the piggy bank for someone else to win.

In addition to taking surveys, do affiliate marketing, write and freelance articles and graphic designs, offer your expertise on a skill (course selling), sell your best art and other handmade products, do direct selling, invent that new or improved product, babysit, walk dogs, or take on that second job or gigs.  All of these can guarantee a faster payout than just doing surveys.

Tip #2:  Not all surveys are the same

Some surveys have different rewards, and if you are looking for just the greenbacks (money), you may be out of luck there.  Most surveys pay in gift cards and/or product.  In other words, you may not be able to pay for your utilities with the earnings you get from surveys.  Really there is a way to do it, but it means to find a website where they will take the value of your gift card, and turn it into cash, but they also may be scammers out there who will do the same thing.  Best thing to do is if the card is to your favorite store, use it in good faith, and enjoy the item you bought.

Tip #3:  Do I smell a trap?

Unfortunately, scammers and hackers today use surveys to gather your information.  Do not take this as a sign of not doing a survey.  Remember, I am still doing them.  What I do before giving out my information is search the survey company. 

Today, for instance, I was sent in my notifications on my computer about a survey site called MySoapBox. Their payout is in gift cards and other rewards.  Right away I went to Google and typed, “what is MySoapBox?  The first entry is the one I always read first, which was by SurveyPolice, a website that tells you about a reviews survey sites by telling you if it was worth you going to that survey site.  It gives MySoapBox 3 stars out of 5.  Not bad, but I wanted more.  So, next, I backed out of it and went for another result called Work at Home No Scams.  This site tells you if the survey site you are about to visit is legit or not. It tells me that MySoapBox does not payout real money, but points to redeem for gift cards and vouchers, and if you do not want that, you can give those points to charity.  I have to wonder about the charity part.  They also say that in order to “cash out”, you need to earn about 1000 points, which is about $25 USD.  The person doing the review points out some of the bad points about MySoapBox, which is my problems with surveys overall, and I will get to that in a moment.  Overall, if you want to give MySoapBox a try, which is what I am going to do, follow the links provided (not sponsored).  If not, consider this a very good example on what to do when getting ready to sign up for a survey site.

Remember this:  If a site is too good to be true, it usually is, so do not give out any information that you do not want others to scam you for (Your name, address, phone, financial, children, and most certainly, your Social Security Number or TIN (if you are a business), and your birthday).

Why I hate surveys?

Remember a while ago in this article I said that you are not guaranteed in getting the money or the other rewards?  Chances are that you are not guaranteed that you will get to take the survey either.   Let me explain:  when a company sends out a survey, they are looking for one SPECIFIC group of people, and these people have to match the demographics that the company is looking to attract.  This could be a new product, moving to a new location, embarking on a new marketing concept, anything.  The problem is when you tell them “yes” to the survey, you are not aware of who they are looking for to take it in the first place. Let me give you an example.

A copy of an Outpost Survey note I got
When I clicked on it.  Note: I do surveys with Outpost.
Screenshot by P.Lynne Designs 

I am an African-American Female in her early 50s, and Kellogg is thinking about a new cereal concept that targets people over the age of 60.  They send out a bunch of emails, but they do not tell me who they are looking for to take the survey.  I get the email, click on the link and start taking the survey.  It is set up like a multiple Q&A (Question and answer).

Now, I am taking the survey, and it ask me a series of questions like, “What is the highest education you have completed?” “What is your income before taxes?” and “Do you have any children?”  For the education and income question, there should be a button that says, “Prefer not to answer”.  If not, back out, and do not go past go.  I do not care how legit it is, do not go any further.  I really do not feel comfortable in answering what is my birthday, but believe it or not, children and teens try to take surveys, and it is to weed them out.  In fact, the whole question portion is to weed out any outliners that may send the results in a wonky way, and analysts do not like wonky numbers, LOL.

Once you have answered the questions, the results may be in the form of “you qualify for this survey” or you do not qualify for this survey, do you want to take another?”  This is the survey site’s portion. Next, if you pass, you will get the survey right away.  Now, you got to answer the companies weeding answers.  Sometimes, they will let you take the survey questions, THEN you answer the weeding out questions.  If you meet the company’s approval, you get your reward (money, points, card, jewels, (maybe not the jewels-one can only dream, LOL)).

That’s it.  You are done.  If you get this far in the process, you have done good, but not so fast, darling, I hope you did not give out the information that makes the scammers and hackers happy that THEY got a payout.  Remember you need to do your homework and research this site before getting approved to take the survey.  It is up to you to keep your information safe.

Takeaway Tip (the final tip):  Remember:

-          Not all surveys and survey sites are the same

-          Diversify in your streams of income, especially if you are not working outside of the home.

-          Do your homework and research each survey website, for researching is your friend.

-          Do not give out information that you do not want to put out there

-          Scammers and hackers are out there watching and waiting for slipups.

If you like this post, please comment and share.  Have fun looking for surveys and be well. God Bless.  Peace

Why I will not do a blog income and traffic report on my blogs

To post or not to post, that is the Question
(c) 2017 P.Lynne Designs

Lately, I have been seeing on Pinterest boards pins like this: “How I made $250 ($1000, $4,000 whatever amount) in my first year (first month, first week) of blogging.  At first, I thought it was a joke, but now I am sort of concerned.

We have all heard the phrase, “Never discuss your income with anyone at work”.  Well, there is a good and valid reason for that quote.  Companies do not want animosity among the minions (Oops, I mean employees). Let me give you an example of what could happen.

Two people are going for the same job.  Both are hired and start on the same day.  They are both given 90 days probation, which is the standard in the United States. Although, I had a preschool teacher’s job once, which the director gave me one week to take a deconstructed classroom, clear the junk, and turn it into a working classroom for me to teach in.  She was going to bring in my potential students in the classroom that Friday.  I started that Monday, had to ask the other teachers if any of their stuff was in my classroom, please remove it. Oops, off-track, you will have to read until the end of this post to find out the rest.  No skipping ahead.

Anyway, back to the two new employees.  If one employee finds out that the other is making more money than other, that could cause problems, and maybe a fight or two.  This is one of the reasons you should never discuss your income with a co-worker unless you are looking for a fight.

So, back to why I will not share my blog income.

To not share my income with the world is something that was taught to me by my father.  This was something you never do because you do not want to be one of the troublemakers in the workforce.  Sharing is caring, but not in this case.  Everything I learned about working a 9-5 job, I have carried over to my business.  The second reason it is simply no one’s business.  If someone asks me that question, I give estimates, not the real amount.  If someone wants to know how much my business is making, I will tell them that too, but only certain people like bankers and my accountant need to know that.

The last reason is I do not like to discourage people.  I do not like to see people upset, and well, in the African American community, some people do not like to hear that your business is successful.  They do not like to hear that you are doing well and you do not need any financial help.  I guess that is in every community.

I was at a community vendor fair.  I was taking orders for Longaberger products.  There were many African American vendors at this fair, and this was my second one.  I had done one the previous year.  People would come, look around, and leave.  Of course, I would greet them, ask them if they were interested in purchasing an item, and they would kindly say “No”, and leave.  This went on for several hours.  Finally, one lady came up, and she asked me, “why do you sell these baskets?” “They are white man’s products” she would further explain herself in her line of questioning.  Soon after, I received 5 more people who asked the same thing.   I did not think that I was offending anyone with the product line, but I was.  Why were 6 people so offended with the product line? I still ask myself to this day, since I still sell the products, as well as doing my own business.  I got the same question when I came back the next year when I sold Tastefully Simply food products.

I am happy to discuss what I sell, my target audience, and again my income regarding the business itself, but not my personal income.  I also will discuss my recommendations on how to make money and what I use to generate extra income.  Everyone has their own way of generating income. There are billions of ways to do it.

Now, if you stuck to the end of the post, you know I started to talk about my 7-day probation period with that preschool.  Where I left off was I asked the teachers if there was any stuff they had in my classroom, please remove it.  No one came to get their stuff. 

 The second day, I asked if the extra light bulb box (the big florescent light bulbs) be removed from my classroom.  They were too heavy for me to lift.  The janitor did no move the box.  The third day, I was almost done, when I heard a knock, and it was the director with the children.  “Ugh”, I thought, “not now.” I had no bought my materials from the teacher supply store.  I was going that afternoon.  She said that she brought the kids in so they could meet their teacher.  The official day was still Friday.  I thought it was 5 minutes, it ended up being the rest of the afternoon.  Again, I was not prepared.  I had seen a box of stuff that no one claimed (meaning no teacher has claimed it), so I took out some windmills, and handed them to the children. I came up with a brief lesson on the wind.  Second, that box of bulbs, they broke because one of the boys was trying to find out where his cubby was.  Thank God, he was not hurt.  I was mad at the inconvenience that was thrown at me.  I was not driving at the time, so my mother picked me up.  I cried in the car.  Later, we went to get the materials I needed to teach these kids something for Thursday. 

When I arrived the next day, the children were not arriving in my classroom.  They had gone back to the previous class, which I thanked God for that.  Now, I had an extra day to truly prepare.  So, I put up my stuff, banged out a couple more lesson plans for the next week, and everything was smooth sailing, when all of sudden, one of the teachers came into my classroom.  She wanted to know if I had seen the windmills in the box I looked at the day before.  “Yes, I used them for my children,” I told her.  “I did not have anything set up for them when the director brought them in. I used them for a lesson on the wind.”  The teacher’s concern turned to anger, as she explained to me that they were for her kids to play with, and one of them was broken.  Apparently, I owed her a windmill.  I then explained to her that I asked Monday if there was anything in my classroom that was theirs, and to come get it.  No one claimed the box, so I used it.  I offered to pay for the windmill if it meant so much for her to have it.  She said, “No”.  After she left the room, I went back to planning the first real week with my kids.  I left work that day thinking that is was a rough week, and the next week should be better.  It was not.  Sunday night, I received a call from the director to not come in.  I was fired.  7-days in, and now I had no job.   I went in the next day to gather my stuff.  Mom went with me.  When you are in your 20s, parents tend to stick up for you.  So, when I got there, my stuff was neatly in a box, and the director saw us in. Before I could say two words, mom wanted to know why I was fired.  I thought, “Mom, I think if I was old enough to get the job, I think I am old enough to ask why was I fired.”  The director explained that I was not prepared to receive the kids.  She then sighted the problems that I was having, which her staff caused in the first place. If anything, I should have quit before I was fired.  I enjoyed setting up my classroom and my kids, the two days I had them, but I needed cooperation from her, the other teachers, and the janitor. If she did not want to hire me in the first place, she should have said it the day of my interview.  

The Truth about Uber and AirBNB income.

(c)  2015 P. Lynne Designs

(Warning:  Although I am not affiliated with either site, there are links ahead, and I recommend you try one or both of them, with caution)

Ok, I am official back, writing about how to write, and about the world as I see it. 

Today, I want to talk about earning extra income.  Ok, before you turn the page and read another post, or (gasp) go to another blog, please hear me out.  I am taking issue with these two services, and I am not going to back down on my opinions either.  Before I do that, I want to issue some facts about these two services, in case you never heard of them.

Both of these services are popular among the Millennials (ages 18-35).  Uber allows a person to contact someone with a private car to take them to and fro.  The service (and others like it) claims to be cheaper than your typical taxi service, more accessible than your typical train or bus service, and you can make money by registering your own car, and charging the same rate as other Uber drivers.

Airbnb, on the other hand, is the Uber of staying overnight.  You simply contact someone through Airbnb’s website when you want to stay in town.  Any place (other than an apartment) is up for grabs, and you just simply rent a room for the length of your stay (1 night up to a whole month) or a whole house.  You can also register your home as an Airbnb home to earn extra income.

Now before you pack your bags for the nearing Airbnb in Maui or decide that you are not going to drive to work that day, there are some other facts to consider:  BE CAREFUL WITH THIS TYPE OF TRAVEL AND BE CAREFUL OF THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU.   This is my only issue with these two services, especially outside of the US.  Why? 

With Uber, taxi companies, especially in Europe, have been protesting, because Uber drivers have been taking their money and their potential customers.  Hey after all, it is free enterprise, so I see no problems with the service.  Taxis charge too much money to get from point “a” to point “b”, and for what?   For example, back in 2004, my family and I returned from Walt Disney World.  We had fun, had to wait on another pilot to fly the plane, because the first Captain forgot his schedule, then a part fell off mid-flight, and we had to return to a burnt room at my parent’s house, but overall, we have fun and the Mouse’s Florida Home.  Anyway, the ride for 5 miles was almost $75!! In Columbus!!! For 5 people!!!  Uber would have been cheaper if it had existed.

For Airbnb, the complaint is from the hotel owners and city officials.   A recent news item was about a woman, who had registered her home with Airbnb.  She went through all the paperwork that was required by the city of San Diego, CA.  She double checked everything.  Next thing you know, she was trumped up with massive charges by the city, claiming that she had no right of running a bed and breakfast without a permit.  Many cities are taking issue with this too, like New York City.  Why?  Because of this so-called Hotel tax.  Look, if a person is stay one night in a city, why should they be charged $100 or more a night?  Also, I have a feeling that hotels and resorts are complaining, because, here again, customers are being taken away from them.

My Recommendations:  As I stated before, I love the concept of both.  I suggest you take caution on both ends. 

1.      Be careful who you except in both your car and your home.  It is not really possible for you to do a background check on Uber, except only except people who register on the site.  I am saying this for the ladies, but guys, because careful too.  As for Airbnb, only except those who register as a guest on the site.

2.      Do not go out on your own and put a listing on Craig’s List.  You are flirting with fire.  Do not answer an ad on Craig’s list either, unless you have done your homework about the person you have rented your humble abode to.  

3.      Follow both the rules of the site and the city where you live.  I feel sorry for the woman who was slapped with fines from San Diego, because she did what they asked her to do in the first place.  The city, state, nor the country should not govern what you can and cannot do in your own home.  If that was the case, a person cannot take in roommates, boarders, or anyone else without a permit.  Requiring a permit for someone other than your family to stay for a night or two borderlines the taking of freedom to do what you want in your own home.   If they (the city) wanted taxes in the first place, they should have told the woman.

4.      Abide to al rules of the road.

5.      Keep good records of all earnings and finally

Be safe and make the most of your new found earnings.