Make Money Online & Screw The Middleman
June 30, 2008
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Would you like to make money online and save people from scammers at the same time? When I say scammers, I’m talking about middlemen. More often than not, they’ll charge you an absolute fortune, for doing very little, just because they have a little bit of knowledge that you don’t have. The good news is, not only can you get hold of that information and save a fortune, you can also profit from it.
I recently saved thousands by doing a bit of legwork myself and cutting out the middleman. And this was in a personal matter, not a business one. Of course I was warned that “many things could go wrong”, “it involved a lot of work” and it was “too complicated” for the average person to understand. What a load of tosh - few things are that complicated. I needed to do very little work myself and when the process was over, I discovered that I could have been paying a huge heap of cash to some con artist for simply passing the bulk of the work on to someone else.
Well, I figured that if I could save a fortune doing this, others could benefit too, so I’m putting together a simple information package, which will enable people with the same problems to do it themselves. And instead of paying thousands to some ambulance chasing middleman - it will cost them less than $50.
And you can do this too. Think about the times you’ve spent a lot of money on a service that simply wasn’t worth it. Or maybe you’ve done as I did and saved yourself a fortune by doing your own research instead of paying for costly services.
Doing your own research and putting together an easy to follow package is fairly straightforward. So don’t be put off by the middleman’s claims that it’s too complicated for the average person to do themselves. Or that things could go drastically wrong if you don’t engage their specialist help.
Now, I’m not going to share the info product that I’m bringing out before it’s even completed. And you don’t need me to. There’s plenty of niches you could fill if you brainstorm a little.
Think about the areas the middlemen hang out in. They usually target people who desperately need help and those who really can’t afford to squander a fortune. They’ll also go after people who are in desperate need to do something important and try to convince them that they can’t do it without them.
I bet there’s at least one problem out there that you can provide a solution to and you could save a lot of people from being scammed at the same time.
If you’ve got some great ideas but you’re not sure how to put it all together and reach the right people, check out the following resources:
Write Your Own Ebook In 7 Days
The Dirty Little Secrets of An Informer
Dirty Little Secrets 2 - The Investigation
Dirty Little Secrets 3 - The Rule
27 Ways To Fuel Your Imagination & Come Up With Great Ideas
* This post has caused quite a bit of debate. When I refer to the term middleman - I mean someone who offers a service which involves little skill, or work and charges an astronomical figure for doing so - usually, someone else is doing the bulk of the work at a fraction of the price.
This is not to be confused with a project manager who would charge a mark-up for organising subcontractors, or a business who subcontracts some of the work to other providers and adds a mark up.
The middleman would usually charge thousands for something that would take very little time and they would make sales by taking advantage of customers who are desperate, or vulnerable.
The project manager or subcontractor would be providing a good service to the customer - eg. organising and managing the whole project on their behalf, for maybe 10 - 25%. That could still be a large sum, if it is a big project - but if it is done properly - it is well deserved.
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25 Responses to “Make Money Online & Screw The Middleman”
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Wow, this is one post that I seriously disagree with. The concept you’re putting forth is that it’s better to hack away at a project when you lack the skills, knowledge and expertise, which is a complete waste of time and money. I disagree strongly.
Learning a new skill is great, make no mistake. We often put forth that people *should* learn and take the time to invest in self-improvement. Yes. Absolutely.
But when you attempt to do that with an integral aspect of your life where you lack the ability to pull off a project with expertise, going the DIY route is a seriously bad idea.
We see it all the time. Crappy websites that damage a business reputation or that even harm the person’s ability to earn more money. Terrible content that drives people away and that makes the person look foolish or incompetent.
No, people. This is not the way to go.
When you want to create a credible image and a solid reputation, you do what you do best - and you leave the rest to an expert.
I take offense at your claims that people with skills and knowledge use that as a way to inflate prices and scam others. This is a completely false perception, and putting that idea into people’s heads is not a smart way to maintain your own credibility. It also slanders others and makes it even harder for all the web workers out there - not just people like us - to tear down the faulty perceptions of skills.
What you *should* be saying is that people should take the time to find experts who truly are experts. There is a mass of amateurs out there, so take the time to investigate who you’re working with.
DIY route? That just turns you into an amateur yourself.
Sometimes the middleman is just a convenient way to delegate or outsource, which is something I know that Cath advocates (see here)
Some tasks you can handle in-house. Others are complex enough to outsource. Some tasks require more hours and research than are worth it. Yeah, I could spend several months taking graphics design courses at the local community college, but I’d rather hire someone to do design instead, so that I can worry about my writing.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..The Dangers of Success
Hi James - sorry if I have offended you. I obviously didn’t explain myself properly. The people I refer to are not people with skills and knowledge doing the type of work you do. There is no way I could or would teach others to do what you do. And if I need the same work doing again for another project I will be asking you to do it.
I was referring more to the middleman types - the brokers, the ambulance chasers - those who charge people thousands but pass the bulk of the work onto someone else while doing very little. Those who prey on people in distress, or folks who are having a hard time.
I can’t mention the type of business, I’m referring to in particular, because a) there’s quite a few of them and b) I don’t want to let the world know about the project I’m working on right now - but the people I’m talking about would basically have charged thousands for having you fill in a couple of forms then pass them onto someone else. That requires no skill - they just want others to think it does.
Hi Bob - I still do advocate outsourcing if you need some work doing that requires skills you don’t have and it would take you a long time to learn it. Especially with things like graphic design, as you mentioned.
But if someone is going to charge you thousands of dollars per hour for something you can suss out and do yourself in a few hours - I would go the DIY way. In many of these cases you’ve got to do all the form filling yourselves anyway - these middlemen aren’t psychic. So, often it pays to find out what forms you need, what the rules are and where to send them to.
Not been around in yonks Cath. I actually thought you’d stopped blogging because I kept dropping by after the whole SU thing kicked off and there was nothing new for some while and then I saw you respond to a JEMi post. So welcome back, if indeed you ever went anywhere.
Anyway, Sorry to not post for ages and then take the time to disagree, but I see it how James does, although somewhat less virulently
Experts with my design SEO, blog, copy writing and hopefully soon to come, laying out of my new e-book, have helped me tremendously. To date every penny has been well spent and saved me hundreds of hours and time is very important to me.
Good experts are intrinsic to the success of any business especially (cliche alert) if you want to work on your business and not end up working in it. Without experts I’d be out of work because anybody can read up on what I do and save themselves some money, in fact, anybody can read up on pretty much anything these days.
I’ve just been diagnosed with the potentially life threatening condition of hemochromatosis. If dealt with well it can be managed and a normal life lead. If not, it can lead to liver and pancreatic cancer, stroke and heart attack. I want an EXPERT and have no intention of treating myself. A silly example I know.
BTW, let me ask you this, if you’re writing a book to help people avoid middlemen, doesn’t that make YOU a middleman between the person and their goal.
Having said all that, I am glad to see things have settled down for you and your posting regularly again.
Just read your follow up explanation Cath.
Can you name any examples because I’m struggling to understand what you mean.
Tim Brownson’s last blog post..Oh Crap!
As an online entrepreneur now for over a decade, and a well–known contributor in many niches/industries as well, I agree with all three.
Cath, in that there are tons of “make money with our secrets” that turn out to be, ’submit your request here and jump thru out hoop there’ etc. Folks pay bunches of money for tips/”secrets” they could find online.
James, in that building designs (be it writing, copy, websites, etc.) which work as intended is truly an art and one that generally takes years to master.
Bob, in that paying money to save time by hiring the true professionals can be a good thing.
Some things people CAN learn, even if they’re afeared to do so (ie, hack one’s Wordpress template to add in an affiliate link, ie, http://tinyurl.com/6axwqu ). If you make a backup and have the time to learn, more power to you!
Other things people can learn but it makes far more sense to pay for the professionals due to time constraints, quality, etc.
And still other things one shouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole (ie, sole systems administration if you’ve just learned where the “any” key resides).
As with everything, your mileage may certainly vary. You know yourself, your skills and your abilities best; you need to make the educated choice.
Data points,
Barbara
Barbara Ling’s last blog post..Making Money and Profiting from the Diet and Weight Loss Industry
Hi Tim - sorry to hear you’ve been ill. It sounds pretty serious but I know you’re smart enough to take the proper precautions and do as the experts tell you.
I did stop blogging for a little while due to illness but all is fine now thanks.
I can see I’ve explained this really badly. The types of middlemen business that I refer to don’t require any skill - just a little knowledge, which anyone can pick up in a few hours. And I did consider what you said - am I just being a middleman too - selling them the info in book form.
The truth is, many people have already approached me for this info and I’ve given them it free. That takes up a lot of my time, just searching for the files I need on computer and writing an email to explain it etc etc. So, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with charging less than $50 for something they would pay thousands for and get the same results.
Hi Tim - basic examples would be where you were selling something fairly popular and easy to sell, but some middleman would come along and tell you that if they don’t do it for you, things could go drastically wrong.
Or maybe you’re in financial trouble - and some middleman would tell you they can save you - for a few grand and give you the same advice you could get elsewhere for free.
There’s so many examples - I bet you could think of a few yourself - you come across these rip off services all the time.
The sad thing is - I’ve seen people blog about them and promote them - they think they’re wonderful because they don’t realise how little work and skill went into achieving the right results.
I saved around $6000 (about £3000) just by digging for a few facts and doing a bit of research. The middleman would have spent no more than an hour or so on this work.
Hi Barbara - great points and very true. Whether you outsource or not depends on the time taken to do the task. You’ve got to suss out how much your time is worth v how much you need to learn to do it yourself.
I just hate that someone will charge more than $1000 per hour and inflate the amount of work, skill and time that they have put in. And what sucks even more is the way they try to scare people into using their services. Most lawyers and accountants aren’t even that greedy and they do have specialist skills and knowledge.
This doesn’t just go on in the make money online niche though. The market I will be targeting has nothing to do with making money, or business.
Thanks for the post. I agree that it would be helpful to provide some of those specific examples here. I realize you are writing about a general concept, but real-life examples would help you build your case. Perhaps you don’t want to identify the middlemen you’re criticizing, but if you really think they are that bad, you should call them out.
Just an idea that would help those of us who see both sides of the argument and are on the fence between the two.
Chris Guillebeau’s last blog post..Next Stop, Baltics & Beyond
@ Cath - So basically, what you wanted to say was, “Watch out for scammers” and not “Middlemen suck.” That, I get. I get what you’re explaining here in the comment section. I don’t think that was the core message of what came across in your post, unfortunately, because my perception was, “Screw everyone. DIY, and it’ll be just as good.” That’s just my perception, of course.
I think you’ve also discovered something about blogging - you can’t blog openly and hide info, because people pick up on that like a dog with a nasty good bone. I’m not saying you were being malicious in any way - you did say it was to protect people - but it’s a tricky line to walk.
@ Barbara - Ha, I like the way you take the good of each reply and combine it together to make one solid answer. Well done.
@ Tim - You can think about it this way, too: Hiring skilled people to do the work saves you time and money so you can go off and learn what you want to without feeling crunched or rushed
Win-win, no?
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..Manners on the Internet: People Still Don’t Get It
Hi Chris - I gave some idea in an earlier comment. I won’t describe specific businesses for three reasons a) because I don’t want to reveal too much about a project I’m working on in a blog post and b) i really don’t want the hassle of calling people out - i get enough as it is and c) I try to design these posts to encourage people to think for themselves. What I don’t want is to mention a specific niche, or industry then have hundreds of people go out and try it. I would much rather people think of instances where they have been scammed and go on and do their own research from there.
Hi James - I totally agree - I could have explained this a whole heap better. And I suppose my definition of middlemen may be different to yours - I was meaning scammers.
I cut a lot out of this post when I edited and I seem to have cut it so much that I’ve taken away the meaning.
Anyway. You’ll get to find out about my project first. I’ll be promoting it on another site I have, but I’m thinking of having a seperate one set up too, specifically for the product, so I’ll give you a shout when I need a design done.
The broker, the middleman, the agent. These are pretty broad terms.
We generally hope that these folks have the time, experience, and contacts to get things done faster, better or cheaper than we could without them. Does this always happen, no.
As someone who works with entrepreneurs on a regular basis, I can assure you that there is a welcome mat rolled out and ready for folks that can get things done, even when work is sub-contracted. Whole industries work this way.
You may be entirely accurate in your post based on your experience, however, you may have fallen short in clearly relaying that experience to the readers, and possibly for very good reasons.
I don’t condone the taking advantage of others as a middleman or as a primary service provider either. It may be that your focus is on rip-off artists and this one happened to be a middleman.
What do you say?
And thanks for the thought provoking post.
@fairminder on Twitter
Jim Spencer’s last blog post..How Many File Downloads is Google Analytics Tracking For You?
I think I get where you’re at now, Cath.
Here’s a real-life example. There’s a guy on the infomercials (Middleman A) selling a book of sources for college scholarships for $30. Anyone with a couple of hours of spare time can find those scholarships on their own. In that case, it may be worth it for the person to pay the $30.
However, there’s a service on the web (Middleman B) that claims to gather the college scholarships that most fit your needs and qualifications. They charge $1,000 for their service. This is, essentially, the same information you could find in a couple of hours.
Middleman (not sure that’s the right word for what these guys do) A is probably not a scammer. Middleman B probably is.
What’s the lesson? I don’t think it’s “screw the middleman.” I think it’s caveat emptor - let the buyer beware. Know what you’re paying for. Take time to at least know what’s involved before you drop more than a few bucks on something.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..The Dangers of Success
Hi Jim - you’re right. As you and James both said - I didn’t explain this one properly - I should have used the phrase scammer or rip off artist.
Definitely, when I’ve needed a few things doing in business, I prefer someone who can organise the whole thing - even if they charge a mark-up. I’ve done it myself - it’s far more convenient.
Hi Bob - That’s the kind of thing I meant - Middleman B is charging a fortune for easily accessible info. He makes the buyer think that a lot of work goes into his efforts when it doesn’t. As you say - guy A is providing a useful and reasonable service - but guy B is a scammer. Hey - you could’ve written this better than me.
Cathy: I think it’s important to walk into any situation with your eyes wide-open because what you describe here can happen in almost any area. For example, you can go to a car repair shop with a $50.00 problem and they convince you that your car has a $1,500.00 problem. You’re selling an e-book for $50.00 because you’re giving people value, but you know that what you’re selling is not worth $1,000.00 or whatever they were trying to charge you. I’m going to be checking back here because now I’m curious as to what that e-book is about!
Marelisa’s last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Hi Marelisa - exactly $50 would be good value and save people having to pay thousands to one of these greedy scammers. I would have happily paid $50 rather than have to do the research myself.
But the thing is, it would be doubtful if the information guide would be useful to most people who visit this blog. It’s targeted at quite a small niche. But hopefully, it might inspire some of you to come up with a useful and saleable info product yourselves.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..Make Money Online & Screw The Middleman
Wow Catherine,
You have me curious.
As Marelisa said, buyers (of any kind) need to be informed consumers, but…..many are not. Those are the ones who fall for the schemes and the con artists take advantage.
Granted some may say they’re making tons on money with online endeavors, but if you’re scamming people, what does that say for your integrity?
Although some DIY is a great way to save money (and learn), we do have to weigh the cost savings against our time. Too often people don’t put a value on their own time and say they did it “for free”. If a DIY project is taking you away from a job that pays you $XX.xx per hour, you’re not doing it for free. You may be better off working and let the experts do your project.
Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..I Can’t Read It, If I Can’t See It
Hi Catherine. I too wasn’t exactly sure who you were referring to as middlemen, but enjoyed reading the lively comments.
I didn’t come to James’ conclusion that you were talking about professional service providers, because that is not who I associate with middleman.
To me, middlemen are brokers. They’re the people in the middle that add a mark-up so a good or service costs more. You can save a lot of money going direct to the source and bypassing the middleman.
Well, now you have us all curious. Can’t wait to see what kind of project you have up your sleeves.
@ Sterling - No, I wasn’t only talking about professional service providers or sole freelancers. I was referring to professional providers working in a team environment.
There are many, many teams out there (probably more than you realize), and the person that manages those types of businesses is indeed a middleman.
Can you eliminate that middleman and go to the source? Sure. Is it smart? No, not always. Do you also harm many businesses by doing so? Of course. How would your local grocery store feel if you started buying your fruit from the truck driver? How do you think a team manager would react if you bypassed his authority to talk directly to a teammate? Probably not very well.
Does Catherine’s post damage the reputation of good middlemen who know how to save people time and money? Yes, yes it does.
She may not have intended that to happen, but the post is there, it will be read, and most people won’t see this comment section.
Hi Barbara - The people who make money from scamming people suck - I don’t know how they can look in the mirror in the mornings.
As you know - I totally agree on outsourcing things that are outside of your expertise - especially if they cost less than your time. But most people don’t earn thousands of dollars per hour.
Hi Sterling - that is the types I mean. Trouble is - many that fall into this category don’t just add a small mark up - it can often be 10 times or more what the actual work is costing.
Hi James - you and I seem to have a different idea on what a middleman is. Maybe it has a different meaning in the States. I would call the person you describe a manager. In fact - I actually encouraged people to do what you describe in another post. And I even referred to your line of work.
James - I would not even think of you as being what I call a middleman but as it is bothering you that much, I will amend this post.
@James - Your original comment was about DIY vs hiring skilled talent. That was why I commented on skilled professionals vs. middlemen.
I don’t consider a team manger a “middle man”, and find it interesting that you argue bypassing them hurts many businesses.
It also harms businesses if you only hire a manger of teams. For example not hiring freelance writers or designers and only hiring expensive ad agencies that manage teams of writers and designers hurts the small self-employed businesses. It goes both ways.
I assumed Catherine was referring to middleman scammers, not all middleman, because she mentioned a specific example that took little work and saved her thousands. But I can see how the the article looks like it implies all middlemen are scammers, and understand your concern with it.
It was nice of a Catherine to update her post with a clarification.
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