Amazon Mechanical Turk - Secrets Out



Many out there are feeling the weight of the recession pressing firmly down on their pocket books.  Personally, not so much.  I am however, feeling the weight of my parents pressing down firmly on my nerves.  (that subject needs a blog of its own)  So, the time has now come for me and my daughter to move out, and find a place of our own.  This of course is guna cost money.  Money that I don't exactly have...


I have a nest egg set aside that may be enough, but I hate to exhaust my entire savings to move out.  I go to school during the day, and currently work only Friday and Saturday night.  I can't pick up more shifts at the restaurant because that would inconvenience my parents; only making things worse.  Babysitters are hard to come by during the school year, so after much pondering, I've decided to look outside the box.


I was introduced to Amazon's Mechanical Turk by a professor of mine and decided to give it a try. 



Amazon Mechanical Turk is an online market place for work.  Businesses and developers post jobs for workers to do and pay them anywhere from one cent to a couple of bucks for completed work.  In this case the sellers are the business people, with the money to give away, and the buyers are the workers (like me) who are more than happy to trade their spare time, in exchange for money.  I signed up and started making money right away!  Not much, but something is better than nothing. 


I have made $9.48 in three days!  Not so bad if you ask me.  On average, there are 30 days in a month, say $10 every 3 days, that's what...$100 a month, 12 months out of the year, that's an extra $1200 a year!


After fiddling around with the different jobs.  This is, in my opinion, the best way to maximize your $ with the least amount of effort...

• Look for jobs with a large amount of HIT's Available, like 500+.  I found that those jobs didn't pay much (20 cents or less), but they were EASY and only took like 20 seconds or so to complete.  Put in about 2 hrs of nonstop work, and you'll be surprised (as was I) to see the money add up.
• Look for jobs with only 1 HIT with payouts of 25 cents or more that take less than 5 minutes to complete.  There are not many of these out there, but once you are able to spot them, the more time you'll save yourself.  Try the college Psych surveys.  They are short and pay well. 

The key to making money with the Mechanical Turk is being able to spot the good ones, and quickly move on from the duds.  This will take some trial and error, which is fine, but don't waste your time just looking around and picking whatever looks good. 


If you pick a HIT that is too difficult or time consuming, close out and try another one! The main criteria for earning an EASY extra income is to make money with the least amount of effort possible.   


It is free to sign up at Amazon's Mechanical Turk.  It has been a success for me. Personally I use my Mechanical Turk earnings to Pay for Text Books. 


Try it out and tell me what you think? 
Have any questions I could help you with?  Please Ask! 
Used Mechanical Turk before?  Tell me about your experience. 


Good Luck
Emily