

Ask HN: Feedback Please - Mz

I am in desperate need of assistance. I am homeless and was camped legally on the beach in Port Aransas doing freelance work. I had a computer problem and could not solve it locally. We left to resolve it and did not go back, for a long list of reasons. A minister has had me in a hotel the past couple of nights and promised me he would help me find solutions and not abandon me but now we are being cut loose. I am broke and have nothing lined up. My freelance work fell through.<p>I need an income and a place to live. I have an AA in Humanities and a Certificate in GIS. I am a few classes short of a Bachelor's in Environmental Resource Management. I run a few small websites. I have not figured out how to get traffic or monetize them. It seems pretty clear to me I have something of value to offer but I don't know how to monetize it. I am terrified and I appear to be all out of options. Please help me turn this situation around. I am deeply in debt from getting myself and my sons well. The amount I owe is a drop in the bucket compared to what conventional treatments cost. I cannot seem to get help from anywhere.<p>Thanks
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dholowiski
Some suggestions for some quick cash: <http://fiverr.com/>
<https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome> What kind of freelance work do you do?
If you do design or coding, there's elance, guru.com and many others. There's
day work if you're desperate for money and homeless shelters for food and a
roof. I don't know much about the US financial system but it seems like
bankruptcy might be an option? Regardless, I would suggest that your best bet
does not lie in trying to make money from some low traffic, low revenue (you
said it) web sites.

~~~
Mz
I was doing freelance writing under difficult circumstances which caused a lot
of typos. I did well over a hundred pieces before the site rated my articles
all at once, causing my rating to drop and putting me in a position where I
cannot earn enough that way, in part because there just isn't enough work at
the lower levels.

I have a form of cystic fibrosis and have gotten myself well relatively
cheaply when that is supposed to be impossible. About $3 billion gets spent on
medical care for CF patients annually in the US without getting them well and
a lot of what I do generalizes to other conditions. There has to be a way to
promote and monetize the information. I just do not know what it is. Being
good at getting myself well does not automatically translate to being good at
marketing.

I would like to declare bankruptcy but I currently do not know how I will
survive the week.

Thanks for replying.

~~~
dholowiski
I'm happy to reply - it's about the only way I can help right now. If you
don't think you can make the week, it seems like you should seek a homeless
shelter.

Monetizing a web site is an option I guess, but it's not easy and not
something you do in a matter of days. I would highly recommend
<http://www.warriorforum.com/> if you want to learn how to create and market
an 'information product' but beware of scams, and again this is not a get rich
quick kind of thing. It sounds like you need quick, immediate help, and every
community has local resources for that kind of thing.

~~~
Mz
Not every community has resources for that kind of thing. I am in a small town
in Texas and was delivered here by people in even smaller towns, towns too
small to have such services. That is just where I happened to be when things
suddenly fell apart.

I will check out the forum. Thanks.

~~~
dholowiski
No offence intended but you don't seem like you're in a desperate 'won't
survive the week' life threatening situation. Presumably you have a computer,
electricity, and some kind of internet connection right now. I'm not trying to
pry, but I'm trying to understand... are you so desperate that you might die
by the end of the week without help? Speak up if you are.

To be honest, and again I'm trying to help, not trying to offend or criticize
you, it sounds more like you are 'merely' in a desperate situation, trying to
find out how to market and sell your knowledge. Nothing wrong with that, it's
just miles away from 'i might die tomorrow'.

I hope others are reading this. I looked at your history and you seem to be a
long-time HN'er, with many comments/submissions over your 954 days of
membership.

~~~
dholowiski
Hm, I can't reply to your last comment, must have gone too deep in the thread.

I'll try to say this without sounding like a dick. You need to forget about
your web site for now and get to a bigger city where you can get some
assistance. I'm not sure where you went from Port Aransas, but Corpus Christi
seems to be the biggest city in that area, and I'm sure you can get there for
$100 on the greyhound.

~~~
Mz
The reply button tends to be delayed. It has nothing to do with depth of
replies. If you click on link for the post, you can sometimes get around that
delay.

I want long term solutions, not just survival for this week. I have two sons
with me. It is not just me. I am currently in Kerrville. The nearest big city
is San Antonio.

I get lots of encouragement concerning the information on my websites. I
believe that in the long run, somehow, that is where I have something of value
to offer. The last three years in a row people have donated enough money to
keep them online when I stated publically that they might be going away as I
couldn't pay the webhosting fee. I get very strong reactions from people who
find value in the info there. In fact, audience response is the only reason
they exist. They both started as emails on private discussion lists. I got so
many requests for some of the info or for permission to forward my emails I
decided to put it online. There is and always has been interest in what I
know. I was just too busy saving my life and getting well against all odds to
figure out how to develop and market it. Can you do anything to promote either
of my sites? Can you put links to them somewhere or something? Anything
practical. The adsense revenue is not bad for the amount of traffic. The
problem is the lack of traffic.

Thanks.

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vrikhter
Usertesting.com may be a quick way to make $10 per test.

~~~
Mz
Thanks. I will look at it.

As an update: I tentatively have a place to go temporarily if transportation
can be arranged. We are working on that end of it.

------
Mz
I appreciate the upvotes but I really need money, a job, feedback, something.
I am emailing everyone I can think of. Ideally, I would prefer to develop an
online income because I have a compromised immune system and I briefly had an
online income via some freelance work but it suddenly fell through and I am
seriously out of resources and options.

Thanks.

