Side-hustle “gurus” strike again.
Money-making stories do incredibly well on Medium.
It’s the thing that I dislike the most about this platform.
No, it’s not because I frown upon posts that convey financial advice in an easy to grasp and catchy manner. The reason is this practice allows scammers to thrive and almost make any virtual place their own.
There’s a somewhat new trend that gains popularity here with every passing day, as more and more individuals discover the recipe and start flooding Medium with obnoxiously similar results.
It’s the “If I don’t have a good/new story about making money, then I‘ll’ just steal it from someone else” method.
“How She Made $19K in a Week With this Side-Hustle”.
“How much this YouTuber made in a Year”.
“So-and-so’s Morning Routine Allows Him to Write 10 Stories a Day”.
It’s stupidly simple when you think of it.
These “top writers” — and yes, their posts are popular because they piggyback on someone/everyone else’s success — repurpose another content creator’s pieces — more often than not, YouTube videos —, and pass them as their own creation.
- They retell a story.
- They make the reader think they’re an established voice in the financial/money-making niche.
- They sometimes mislead the reader purposefully by not even hinting in the title at the fact that they’re going to present someone else’s journey and results. — “$19K in a week from this side-hustle”.
- They’re scammers.
- It’s a method that allows them to produce tons of content, quickly.
- They rank high because the only thing they need to do is carefully tailor an SEO-friendly headline.
- It’s a lie.
“Side-hustle gurus” are manipulative online predators, most of the time.
Publishing platforms would be a better place without them.
It’s up to readers to sanction these behaviors.
Don’t click.
Thank you for reading.
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This article was originally published on an external platform on April 12, 2022.