…aka “It’s gotta be a scam, right?”
There’s so much information online about how to make more money. Make money from home, make money while you sleep, make money with drop-shipping or crypto or print-on-demand or copywriting or… any number of other avenues I’ve clicked or scrolled right past.
Probably while rolling my eyes.
Why have I passed them by?
Scamticism.
I’m skeptical that everything sounds too good to be true, and, therefore is a scam. Or at least scam-adjacent.
But, there has to be SOME truth to them, right? Am I being overly skeptical? Overly pessimistic?
What if I really could spend an hour, 3 times a week and replace my current income?
If I could do that, I could spend a hell of a lot more time on my writing. I could carve out a daily routine that doesn’t revolve around a 40+ hour work week, I could take time to go for thoughtful meandering walks through the middle of the day, sit in cafes with my MacBook and sip espresso and then the sparkle rainbow unicorn will shit me a cupcake.
See? There’s that skepticism again.
I suspect that the reality is somewhere in the middle. It’s not ACTUALLY a scam, it’s not TECHNICALLY untrue, it just requires more luck/time/effort/mercenary-pragmatism than most people can muster. Including me.
If I’m going to spend time on something, I want to care about it. I want to believe in it. I want to feel like I’m adding value to the world, not building a brand to get people to buy random self-help/life-improvement products so I can take my piece of that sweet sweet affiliate action.
Still. There’s always a part of me that asks… what if it’s not a scam? What if it’s only partly untrue, but still viable.
What if I could live that life?
What if…?
Every single one of these opportunities that I incessantly stumble over online has felt a bit too shiny, a bit too slick. Maybe I’ve missed out on something legitimate because I’ve refused to take the bait. Maybe that’s my loss, but maybe it’s kept me safe.
I honestly don’t know.
What if the unicorn really can shit me a cupcake?