[HELP] What to do ? Freelancing dilemma

[Sweetrevenge]

So, yesterday I was contacted by someone on LinkedIn about a new project.
Then later that same day, that client reached out to me via Skype and we even talk an hour long about his project.

Here is what he suggested to me (keep in mind that I come from a third world country):
—Search for a winning ad on Facebook using some keywords (the ad must match some criteria)
—Go to the website of the product which is advertised on Facebook
—Go to Aliexpress to see if the product meet some criteria too
—Replicate the aforementioned website = Meaning I have to create a new website like it with all the plugins, legal pages, and everything installed
—Rewrite the description on that page for the product and set everything up
—Do 1 or 2 websites like this everyday
—And he will advertise each product on social media to see what will earn money and what will not.

He asked if I can do that for ONLY €500 (aproximatively 550 $) per month, earning like $25 per day. If I can do 1 per day, it’s like he is going to pay me just $25 for each website.

Now, I know that earning that amount of money is already way above the average salary here, but most of the freelancers here earn that just by creating 1 or 2 websites per month on Wordpress and they don’t even have to do all this research work.

And in addition to all this, he can’t pay me even $20 upfront nor even once per week as I always ask with all my new clients. He told me to see if I can wait for 10 days just to see if the project is OK to start to pay me.

So, my question is, should I go for it or what?
How to turn him down politely?

He told me I was different from the other people that he talked too and he likes how I’m so enthusiastic when I talk. So, I may have given him some false hope about his project.

Thanks for reading all this and I hope I gave some of you another method to try.

 

[PrayingMantis]

So, yesterday I was contacted by someone on LinkedIn about a new project.
Then later that same day, that client reached out to me via Skype and we even talk an hour long about his project.

Here is what he suggested to me (keep in mind that I come from a third world country):
—Search for a winning ad on Facebook using some keywords (the ad must match some criteria)
—Go to the website of the product which is advertised on Facebook
—Go to Aliexpress to see if the product meet some criteria too
—Replicate the aforementioned website = Meaning I have to create a new website like it with all the plugins, legal pages, and everything installed
—Rewrite the description on that page for the product and set everything up
—Do 1 or 2 websites like this everyday
—And he will advertise each product on social media to see what will earn money and what will not.

He asked if I can do that for ONLY €500 (aproximatively 550 $) per month, earning like $25 per day. If I can do 1 per day, it’s like he is going to pay me just $25 for each website.

Now, I know that earning that amount of money is already way above the average salary here, but most of the freelancers here earn that just by creating 1 or 2 websites per month on Wordpress and they don’t even have to do all this research work.

And in addition to all this, he can’t pay me even $20 upfront nor even once per week as I always ask with all my new clients. He told me to see if I can wait for 10 days just to see if the project is OK to start to pay me.

So, my question is, should I go for it or what?
How to turn him down politely?

He told me I was different from the other people that he talked too and he likes how I’m so enthusiastic when I talk. So, I may have given him some false hope about his project.

Thanks for reading all this and I hope I gave some of you another method to try.

To be honest it is a lot of work. Why not do this yourself? Send me a PM.

 

[FUTUR TIM]

He told me to see if I can wait for 10 days just to see if the project is OK to start to pay me.

This suggests that he's hoping to make money on the sites you make and then pay you from the profits he generates which is not a given of course. It's a pass from me.

 

[onlywin]

I'd pass on this client, it sounds like he is manipulating you with the intention to scam you.

1. Him being unwilling to meet you half way with a small payment upfront seems fishy to me... if he REALLY values what you can bring to his business he wouldn't be bothered about paying you a fractional 20 dollars upfront.

2. He want's you to work for way less than the normal rate (basically he doesn't have any money to pay you)

3. He want's you to work on a 10 day trial to SEE if you fit (SCAM)

Don't bother. It's 99.9% a scam.

 

[zimba]

This suggests that he's hoping to make money on the sites you make and then pay you from the profits he generates which is not a given of course. It's a pass from me.

I agree with the above, trying to make money first and then pay you which is not a good option especially that you will do all the work upfront. If you want to accept it i suggest that you tell him you want to get paid from the first website you will create.

 

[Aulig]

If I was in your position I would decide depending on how much other work you have and how much that pays you currently (and how much you need the money righr now).

Also yea it's definitely a red flag that he is not even willing to pay 20 bucks in advance.

 

[zebestof230]

Go away, that’s a good business model he has but he has no money ? And why does he needs one website per product ... ? And, he didn’t count ad price and hosting ...

And yes, the guy who posted just here is right. It depends how much you earn already, but you could just do some website but never give full access, after a week tell him you want the double or he can just go away, plus paid in advance and if he doesn’t want to, tell him you give him 2 days to reconsider since you have a client to buy one website already

Not fair but heck, he looks like a scam so...

 

[Sweetrevenge]

To be honest it is a lot of work. Why not do this yourself? Send me a PM.

I don't understand what you mean here.
You mean doing it myself by replicating the method but to monetize it for me ?

This suggests that he's hoping to make money on the sites you make and then pay you from the profits he generates which is not a given of course. It's a pass from me.

I'd pass on this client, it sounds like he is manipulating you with the intention to scam you.

1. Him being unwilling to meet you half way with a small payment upfront seems fishy to me... if he REALLY values what you can bring to his business he wouldn't be bothered about paying you a fractional 20 dollars upfront.

2. He want's you to work for way less than the normal rate (basically he doesn't have any money to pay you)

3. He want's you to work on a 10 day trial to SEE if you fit (SCAM)

Don't bother. It's 99.9% a scam.

Yes, I think I'll pass too.
I really needed someone else's insight on this as he was pretty convincing, but now I guess my instinct is telling me right.

I agree with the above, trying to make money first and then pay you which is not a good option especially that you will do all the work upfront. If you want to accept it i suggest that you tell him you want to get paid from the first website you will create.

I already tried to ask something like that, but he isn't really willing to pay me before I reach 10 days of work with at least 10 websites created.

If I was in your position I would decide depending on how much other work you have and how much that pays you currently (and how much you need the money righr now).

Also yea it's definitely a red flag that he is not even willing to pay 20 bucks in advance.

I'm not really in need, but what seduced me in his project was the fact that he is offering something for the long term because he is already talking about doing it for years to create thousands and thousands of websites.

Go away, that’s a good business model he has but he has no money ? And why does he needs one website per product ... ? And, he didn’t count ad price and hosting ...

And yes, the guy who posted just here is right. It depends how much you earn already, but you could just do some website but never give full access, after a week tell him you want the double or he can just go away, plus paid in advance and if he doesn’t want to, tell him you give him 2 days to reconsider since you have a client to buy one website already

Not fair but heck, he looks like a scam so...

Yes, I think you are all right. He is trying to scam me. He is asking for free websites with me doing all the work and he ryping the money after that.

 

[PrayingMantis]

I don't understand what you mean here.
You mean doing it myself by replicating the method but to monetize it for me ?

Yes that's what I mean.

 

[moneysenpai]

Don't even bother replying.

 

[Sweetrevenge]

Yes that's what I mean.

Oh, I see.
Yes, that may be a really good idea.
The only issue is that I don't have money to advertise the product, but I can surely drive some free traffic from social media.
Let me see how can I manage this and I'll open a journey here if I can do it.
Now, my problem is the money for domain names and hosting.
We'll see

 

[Sweetrevenge]

Don't even bother replying.

Oh, you'll 5 minutes late.
Already done !
I replied to him out of politeness and blocked him immediately on Skype.

 

[James2774]

And hed be in control of the websites?
Where was he from?
Paying $20 upfront is nothing for him likely, and a lot for you it sounds like, so thats a hard pass.

 

[Sweetrevenge]

And hed be in control of the websites?
Where was he from?
Paying $20 upfront is nothing for him likely, and a lot for you it sounds like, so thats a hard pass.

Yes, he'll be in control of all of them. He didn't even talk about revshare or something more juicy for me.
He's from France.

 

[James2774]

Yes, he'll be in control of all of them. He didn't even talk about revshare or something more juicy for me.
He's from France.

Yea hes big time going to scam you or just taking advantage good thing you passed

 

[ourfella]

Kind of strange he didn't just go to a freelancer website and post the job but instead contacted you directly.

That alone would make me suspicious unless I could tell that he was extremely technically illiterate from chatting with him.

 

[Sweetrevenge]

Kind of strange he didn't just go to a freelancer website and post the job but instead contacted you directly.

That alone would make me suspicious unless I could tell that he was extremely technically illiterate from chatting with him.

No, as I'm already well known in my field here, I have people contacting me directly like this all the time. I don't even use freelance plateforms or websites. That is the magic of Internet if you know how to make people talk about you. I've been doing that for 8 years now

 

[Kai Zack]

Do it and learn the skill while someone is paying you.
After that, you can leverage that skill to make more money. Just look for the long-term.

 

[BHSEONewb]

I agree with the others. When I've hired developers in the past, I've had to pay them a portion up front. As the others said, this seems like he either doesn't have the money or might be trying to scam you. I'm also not sure about the legality of doing an exact copy of the target site and only changing the product descriptions. Out here in the states, that could land you in some trouble.

 

[Sweetrevenge]

Do it and learn the skill while someone is paying you.
After that, you can leverage that skill to make more money. Just look for the long-term.

No need as I already know all the skills he wanted me to do.
And the pay is so little compared to how much this gig could bring to me with other clients.

I agree with the others. When I've hired developers in the past, I've had to pay them a portion up front. As the others said, this seems like he either doesn't have the money or might be trying to scam you. I'm also not sure about the legality of doing an exact copy of the target site and only changing the product descriptions. Out here in the states, that could land you in some trouble.

I ended up declining it.