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There are no fancy sign-up forms – just mention newsletter in the subject line of your email.
We've been sending out this PC Help Newsletter since 1994, and it contains no advertising of any kind – just useful computer tips.
Furthermore, your email address is safe with us – we don't share it with anyone under any conditions whatsoesver.
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Scams Claim You Can
"Make Tons of Money Posting Google Ads" I recently wrote about "get-rich-quick-by-posting-Google-ads" scams. To check out whether or not something was a scam I would normally do an online search using phrases like "google ad scam." Oddly enough, however, such a search nowadays often turns up more "testimonials" than complaints. Well, guess who's posting all these "testimonials" – right, the same people who perpetrate the scams. You see, anybody can set up a site and give it a name like, say, www.JoeAverageGuy.org and claim that he has made tons of money after signing up on one of these "Google Money Maker" sites. Or he could call his site something like www.HonestJohnsReviews.com and pretend to be a "consumer research company" who impartially tests products and services. Furthermore, multiple phony sites can be set up just as easily. How I've Earned Money with a Computer Regarding "how to make money using your personal computer," the following is brief history of how I've done so over the years. You may or may not find it interesting. It is definitely not required reading. Nor is it a "How To" tutorial – it's simply an overview of my own personal experiences.  When I bought my first computer in 1977 (the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I) my wife thought I was crazy – spending $600 on what appeared to be a silly toy. The only thing that came with it was a cassette tape bearing two games (backgammon and craps) along with an instruction manual on how to write some simple programs in something called "TRS-80 Basic." She was even less thrilled when I began buying add-ons for the device and eventually ended up spending over $2000 on it. The first printer I got for the computer was made by a friend from a Heath Kit and cost another $2000. My justification for all this expense was that we could use the computer in our silk screen printing business to make the enterprise more profitable. Furthermore, the computer expenses would then be tax write-offs. Desktop Computers in the '70s & '80s The trouble was that in the late 1970s businesses weren't yet using desktop computers, and very little business software had been written for the computers that did exist. If you didn't know how to write your own programs there was very little that a PC could do in an office. Beyond all that, there was no compatibility among the various PCs that were starting to pop up here and there. Nonetheless, within a couple of years my computer was being used in our office, and by the mid-1980s I had found other ways to earn money with a computer – and have been doing so ever since.  What happened was that other folks had begun to buy TRS-80s and had little or no clue as to how to use them. So I began tutoring people in their homes and offices. Before long the "IBM Personal Computer" came into being and Radio Shack came out with an IBM-compatible model (which I bought for a lot less than an actual IBM). Now I was able to tutor people who owned IBMs and IBM-compatibles. I also sold a couple of computer articles to a trade journal called Screen Printing Magazine. Another interesting part-time job I got was rewriting legal depositions for a lady lawyer in Fallbrook. My job was to take the statement of a witness and rewrite it in fewer words, while maintaining the overall meaning of the deposition. This was an interesting job that challenged me to hone whatever writing skills I may have had. Apple Corporation's Macintosh Along the way Apple had introduced the Macintosh, which became very popular with media and print publishers. In 1983 the Mac was light years ahead of the PC with its GUI (graphical user interface) that made it possible to easily combine text and graphics for magazines and newspapers. It wasn't until Windows 95 that the PC finally began to approach some of the Mac's capabilities. So I took a part-time job with the Penny Saver, where I got paid as I learned to use the Mac. Part-time High School Teacher Well, my Mac experience helped get me a job at Fallbrook High School, where I became an instructor in its Desktop Publishing lab. (Interesting story, by the way.) Writing Newspaper Articles I had also begun submitting computer-related articles to our local newspaper The Fallbrook Enterprise at no charge – just for the fun of sharing information about computers. However, when the paper got bought by a national chain, the new owners asked me to stay on – along with paying me for writing the articles. Fifteen years later this is still happening. When I created my own website in the late 1990s I maintained it at my own expense – again, just for the fun of it. Eventually, however, Google spotted the site and asked if I'd be interested in posting their ads on it for a small commission on each ad that might be clicked on. Well, this was an offer I couldn't refuse. So this is my unspectacular story of how I've been making money with computers (one way or another) for nearly 30 years. No, I haven't gotten rich, but I've been having lots of fun. And there's a lot to be said for doing work that you enjoy. And there's a lot to be said for doing work that you enjoy. |