Hooah, Deb!

About the unethical stuff, I would put paid wikipedia editing in that category. Wikipedia’s policy is to only include “notable” people/things, and not to let people write about themselves, so people who want some advertising will pay writers to write a wikipedia article about them. It’s skeevy, totally against the spirit of Wikipedia, and the article is just gonna get deleted anyway. I’ve occasionally seen this sort of ad posted here, so I thought I’d let you know.

Thanks again for a great website!

Congrats Allycat!

Chris>> I think even a piece of candy would be better than nothing. LOL

That’s comedic gold right there. The guy could AT LEAST offer peanuts and snacks. Maybe some kind of Cheetos retainer or bonus plan? Though Cheetos might be a bit too high of an expense for him so he might consider Lay’s Potato Chips.

HAHAHA! and I need winning lottery numbers and an all-expense paid trip to Europe.

That’s my cynic coming out.

I have perused your site many times seeking some freelance work. I wanted to THANK YOU for your article on What I Won’t Post” I was just burned by someone who asked me for a complete web page sample. I thought it was a little unscrupulous, but I did it anyway. Now that I sent the beautifully written SEO Article for the website, he blocked my email account from his and won’t answer the phone when I call either. I feel so foolish. I have been freelancing for years, and to think this is the first time I have ever been burnt. Live and Learn. Thanks for all you do! Oh, Love your office pic!

This is how I bill as a grantwriter / consultant / strategic planner. It’s how I make most of my living.

My headline rate is $80 an hour. I estimate the number of hours and come up with a total bill.

I ask for 25% down, 25% is based on completing milestones in the workplan, and 50% is based on achieving several goals for actually raising money.

That means I’m taking a lot of risk, but I only think it’s fair. A lot of the reason I ask for a retainer, BTW, is to make sure the check clears.

This way I price by project, even though it’s really based on an hourly rate. And it’s all tied to the client getting something.

If we’re not raising money and just doing strategic planning or something I still ask for 25% down and do all of the rest based on milestones.

Can you just imagine these kinds of ads posted during the 18th Century?

“WANTED – go-to people not afraid of a little bit of work for the exciting field of SUGAR CANE CUTTERS.

We’ll pay your passage to the exciting West Indies where you can start your exciting new career right away. We need people that are willing to work for no wages of any kind ever because they know it’s the opportunity of a lifetime (and those of your descendents).

If you’re motivated and work hard, you may even qualify for our special incentive program where we keep the manicles not quite so tight!

Serious inquiries only.

Oh wait, let me get my facts straight. He doesn’t make 30 grand a month. According to him:

“Well, I am CEO of 7 successful dotcoms and last 3 have made their goal of over 10 000$ per month for each team member.”

Take note, that’s 10 grand PER each team member. Whoa…he must be super rich. Wonder why he can’t spare even a dime for six months.

And in response to your question, no Katharine, no links to web sites have been posted at all. :/

Well, I’m not digging to deep into this, I’m not planning to work full-time without pay for the next six months. I just had to share my disbelief over that ad.

Shell>> I think more it takes more than just being desperate — they must be uber-desperate!

Did he even say in the post which websites are making him $10 grand a day? That way you could verify his claims. I bet it’s not true, though.

I’m not cynical about scammers, am I?

That is mind-boggling. Thanks for posting that.

What amazes me is that he expects writers to put in 6 months of full-time work without pay, while he (supposedly) rakes in $30 grand a month. Ha, ha.

Announcing a launch of next successful, high-paying, dotcom!

Who Else Wants to become a part of team of next internet multi-millionaires?

…typed in his sales pitch and talked about how he’s a big internet web master and that he’s created three web sites earning more than 10 grand a month each. He was advertising for copywriters and web programmers who are “hard working individuals who are willing to work for their success, who wants to earn every cent of their big paycheck”.

The best part of all, however, is THIS:

“I need guys who can work at least 8 hours a day without a payment for about 6 months until this project become successful. I am NOT looking for Average Joe to start working at this in his free time. Serious money is in game, I need serious people for it.”

Excuse me…if you own three web sites earning 10 grand each month, I think you could afford to pay a couple of people in their internship, if you should want to call it as such.

I’m sorry! I put Aug. 24th when it’s actually the 22nd.

Sorry about that but that is the link.

I was looking through the comments and couldn’t find a link on the Laray Carr posts. Could you or someone direct me to it?

Congrats to AlleyCat on the new gigs!