How Being Creative And Helpful Can Get You Paid

Do you consider yourself a creative person? Do you have some special skills in web design? Do you have patience and like to be helpful? Do you have a good business sense? Well, if your answer to any of the those questions is an astounding YES, then here is something that you can do to put those skills in motion and good use, while having the possibility of getting paid for it.

We all know that blogging is definitely one form that is at our disposal to build and establish an online presence. Done properly, it is also a form of making money online, albeit having a road to follow to achieve success. Reasons aside, blogging may not yet be working for you. Although this is the case, it does not mean that you have to quit and throw everything away. Patience is a virtue, and with the right mindset and determination, you may just be surprised one of these days.

Anyway, in the past, I have mentioned that there are many forms of making money online. As a matter of fact, there are even ways to make money without a blog or having an online presence, for that matter. That said, this is what I am going to talk about today. Another opportunity that can get you paid by having the following three basic ingredients. These are:

  • Creativity
  • Genuine Desire To Help
  • Expertise

Luck (a bit, more or that later)..

Interested? Read on…

Couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon Prizes.org, a site which objectives is to allow users to create contests, of virtually any sort. Such contest are sponsored by a contest creator and are mostly in the form of “asking” for help or advice to community members about something specific to their needs. Much like Yahoo answers, but with a twist. For example, some topics include…

  • Help me create a slogan
  • Help me design a logo
  • Help me find a domain name for my company
  • Help me create a name for my business
  • Help me ….

The contest creator provides exact details of what they need, how long it will last, and the prize money they are willing to give to the winner. An example of such contest can be – “looking for a good slogan for our next marketing campaign of our luxury apartments in Houston. In this case, the contest creator sets the Prize money, runs the contest, you join (unlimited entries), wait for it to end, and see if the creator picks you as the lucky winner. If the creator does not pick any winner within 6 days, then the most voted entry wins.

Legit or Scam? Credibility Test

I have seen some contests over there indicating that “some” of them were scams. As it appears, some contest are rigged and the winners are picked not by their entry, but rather, on a variety of tactics (votes manipulation, etc..). What can I say, they are all over the place and someone always wants to “game” the system. In any event, Prizes.org has a team of moderators that are strictly monitoring any suspicious activity and that is a good sign. After all, Google did quietly launched Prizes.org via their acquisition of Slide last year, and that gives t a boost in credibility.

Anyway, I am the curious kind of guy, so the best way to see how these things work is by giving it a go. That I did. Signed up (on 2nd November), and started to scour for topics that I felt I had a good chance to win (domain name ideas, business advices, etc.) and participated on some of them. The results?

Won three contest and two honorable mentions.

PrizesOrg Review

That’s $400 in total. After that, I waited for 2 – 3 days for the prize to be credited to my account and once confirmed, I redeemed the prizes and minutes later they were in my PayPal account, less the 15.5% fees that Prizes.org charges, sweet :). Now, and based on my experience, I obviously can not say that Prizes.org is not legit, on the contrary, I have no complaints.

Secrets To Winning The Contest?

Not a secret per se, but a very important tip. Read carefully what the contest creator is asking for and provide your answers to the best of your ability. There is no guarantee that you will win of course, but, one thing is for sure, if you do not participate and apply the “ingredients” I mentioned above, then you never will. The more contest you participate the better your chances of winning, and maybe win enough money to spend your next cancun holidays for free 🙂

That’s it! Now go be creative, helpful and put your skills to test. At the very least there is always something to gain. Believe it or not, one contest creator already sent me an email that may lead to a interesting business prospect. We’ll see..

What say you? Have you tried Prizes.org before, or is this the first time you are learning about it? Is this something that you think may interest you?

DiTesco

DiTesco is a Business and Inbound Marketing Consultant, and founder of iBlogzone.com. iBlogzone's main objective is to help startups and small business owners achieve success in their online ventures. | More About Me and my Digital Marketing Services in SP Brazil.

17 thoughts on “How Being Creative And Helpful Can Get You Paid

  • Cool prize site.I will spend the whole day there now 😉

  • Hi,

    You mentioned each and every thing very nicely which all will prove good for us. All points are good but i like most last one which you mentioned like that “”Secrets To Winning The Contest?”” these words are so true we should give our 100% to that work where we are see our destination.

  • Congrats on your victory. I am always suspicious about anything that involves votes to decide on, as people normally form groups and start garnering votes for each other. But if the person who started the contest would pick the winner, it should be fine though. Will give it a try.

  • This is something interesting, I might give this a try sometime this week. Who knows 😀 I might won like you 😀 THanks for sharing Sir

    • I have been quiet active at the site lately, I think the site is a good venue to get everyone’s opinion for something 😀 Whatever topic you want for your contest, rest assured that everyone contributes 😀

  • I am really surprised by the amount of money offered as prizes, after your good experience I think I will give this a look. Thanks for the info.

  • Bit tricky I am feeling my head spinning but I will must take it as an exercise or probably as a challenge for flourishing my skills

  • hey Ditesco, that sounds really great. I will have to run on over and give it a try some time. You never know what you might win 🙂 maybe a new CAR….

    okay, not likely, but these contests can get your name out there, so even if you don’t win, it could lead to other business transactions just through the exposure.

  • Count me in!!! I love stuff like that! Signing up NOW!

  • I am new to this industry and I believe that there are scams and legitimate sites out there. Thanks for sharing this site. As the saying goes “if you can do something special, don’t do it for free”.

  • In my views, being creative only helps you to get paid. Nice post.

  • I’d never heard of this type of contest before, but with the kind of prize money on offer it’s got to be worth a try seeing as I have experience of domain names, Photoshop and other skills that are needed. Normally I would worry about how legitimate these kinds of things are, but the fact that you’ve won and been paid $400 puts me at ease.

  • Hi Francisco,
    I have been a silent follower of your blog and loves interesting content coming from your post. Recently, I was looking at some ways to earn money online with the hope of creating a small but steady income from sidelines. This post is very interesting since I am inclined on consulting for strategies in cost protection for companies and can be a valuable tool (as I see it) if I can put my services or advice online. Just want to thank you for giving me an idea!

  • this website prizes.org looks interesting. Any way, the information provided here will encourage a laymen who is trying to make money through online.

  • Hi Francisco, I have already join a contest, it’s really a great concept, you really always find the very best that internet has to offer, thanks for sharing.
    Really Amazing…

  • I’ve been to Prizes for nearly a month already. The community is fun and exciting. Even though I still haven’t had a winning spot on the contests I’ve joined, it is still great being part of that community. It makes my brain working LOL !

  • Hi Ditesco.Can creativity be of any monetary value? Well above the obvious; a good mate of mine told me that his pops had had once said to him: ‘show me a nation and their precepts, and I’ll show you their Artists.’ Everything is built upon perception.

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