How to Pay Bills with a “Fake” Online Job
The look at the struggles of online freelancers in my country, dealing with skepticism, misunderstanding, and the challenges of working in the digital age
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Hello, dear readers and loyal followers!
Has it ever happened to you that you told someone — perhaps a friend or your parents — that you work online as a freelancer or in some other online capacity, only to get the response that it’s not a “real job”?
Has anyone ever told you that every online job is a “fake job” and that the internet is full of scammers just waiting to prey on people like you?
Unfortunately, this has happened to me multiple times — most often when I visit my parents, where I should expect the most support and trust. But instead, they believe that no online job is real.
Apparently, if I work online, it’s not considered a job because I’m “just surfing the internet and Googling stuff.” And no one in their right mind would pay you to do that!
My parents say, “You need to take real tools in your hands and get your hands dirty to earn money, not just type nonsense on the internet.” And mind you, they’re intellectuals, not uneducated or ignorant people.
“Who would pay you to write ‘crap’ on the internet? The whole internet is full of scammers, and it’s all one big scam,” they say.
Now, I must admit, when I see the number of scammers lurking on Medium and the internet in general, I sometimes think they’re not too far from the truth.
Unfortunately, my parents aren’t the only ones who think this way. When I meet up with acquaintances, I often encounter the same lack of understanding about online work and freelancing in general.
Even when I provide all the proof and thoroughly explain what it means to be a freelancer and how you can make money this way — showing them amounts deposited into my PayPal account — I still see the doubt in their eyes, as if they’re skeptical that everything I say is true.
The most common questions I hear are:
“But do you have a ‘real’ job apart from that?”
or,
“Surely your wife does some real work while you have fun on the internet?”
Excuse me?!
I explain that with my online work, I manage to cover a good portion of our household expenses, almost the entire food budget, yet they still nod with doubt in their eyes as if they’re not fully convinced.
It’s unbelievable!
Are people really so uninformed, close-minded, and distrusting of anything new and unknown?
Mind you, I’m writing this post after the whole COVID panic, isolation, and work-from-home revolution that COVID brought us. Now imagine what it was like before that.
“We were in the dark ages when it came to online work in my country!”
Sometimes, I think it might be better if I just made something up, like: “Oh, I just got promoted to a mid-level manager at an oil-drilling company in the Pacific Ocean,” and shut them up that way. But no, I refuse to lie.
I’m proud that my so-called “fake online job” contributes to the household budget and improves our family’s financial situation.
My “fake online job” recently paid for repairs on the fence around our house, the car registration, our groceries, pet food, and even a vacation.
But what I’m about to tell you is even more baffling, so keep reading.
Heaven forbid I ever mention to my parents that I was paid in cryptocurrency for some of the work I’ve done online!
https://cryptonftworlds.blogspot.com/2024/02/crypto-world-and-sex-industry.html
The questions start pouring in, Gestapo-style:
“How does crypto work? What is it? Can you exchange it for ‘real’ money? How much is it worth? Can you put it in a bank? Are you sure you weren’t scammed, son? Have you tried buying something with it? Did it work?”
In the end, they declare that it’s all just fake internet money that’s worthless and that I, their poor inexperienced son, was scammed by internet fraudsters, and I’ll never see a paycheck for my hard work!
https://cryptonftworlds.blogspot.com/2024/08/writers-beware-of-scammers-on-medium.html
Oh well, such is the life of a freelancer in Croatia. I don’t think things will change anytime soon, as people here are skeptical, backward, and behind the times. Only a small group of us innovators is trying to bring this country into the 21st century and the digital revolution.
We must keep fighting and educating all those who drag us back. Even though there are few of us, we do exist, and I’m confident that our efforts will eventually pay off.
All innovators throughout history were misunderstood, mocked, and even persecuted at first. But in the end, it was shown that they were right. I will continue to strive toward that same goal.
I’ll keep doing my “fake online job” and getting paid in “fake internet money,” but I won’t give up!
And now, goodbye — I’m off to write another “fake article” for a “made-up magazine” on the internet. Who knows, maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get paid in “imaginary internet money” again!
https://cryptonftworlds.blogspot.com/2024/06/how-i-made-money-on-amazon.html
If you want to support my work buy me a coffee for $1.
Greetings and until my next article!
Neo77
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