Surviving Mexico

May 10, 2018 · 12:00 pm

Failing at your own business–Product Reviews

Over the last couple of months, I have been trying to eliminate the affiliate ads on my site that didn’t generate any money and clutter up my page. However, there were some sites that I felt strongly enough to apply as a direct affiliate rather than through sites like Shareasale or FlexOffers. Therefore, I was delighted when one such company sent me an email asking if I would be interested in one of their products in exchange for a blog review.

I accepted and received additional instructions. Instead of buying the product directly from the company’s site, I should purchase it through Amazon Mexico in order to leave a product review there as well.

I wasn’t able to find the product listed on Amazon Mexico, so the company representative sent me a direct link. I ordered the product and sent the receipt for reimbursement. While I waited for that, the product itself arrived and I tried it out and wrote up my post. Then the company representative wrote to tell me that supplier that sent the product was not authorized by the company and that I should send the product back and get a refund from Amazon Mexico.

I was a little peeved at this. I had already used the product. While Amazon has customarily been good about refunds, the supplier that sent the product stipulated on their terms and conditions that the product must be returned in the same condition it was sent in order to receive a refund. Furthermore, Amazon Mexico said that the supplier had done nothing wrong by stealing the manufacturing company’s ads and photos and reselling the product on the Amazon Mexico site at double the original price. Doing a little investigating on my own, it appears this supplier orders things on the US side of the border, transports them south of the border and then ships the items throughout Mexico both on Amazon Mexico and Ebay Mexico. While this is something I would expect on eBay, I had previously believed (naively) that Amazon had more legit selling conditions.

Since the company representative had sent me the link himself, he agreed to the original terms of our agreement and reimbursed me the full purchase price of the product in exchange for the product review on my site and on the company site. Fortunately, I loved the product and was able to give an honest, positive review despite the hassle with Amazon Mexico.

I decided that reviewing products would not be my new side-gig after all. I also am more diligent about checking the suppliers on the Amazon Mexico site. I now only order items that are delivered directly from the Amazon warehouse in Mexico City. That way refunds are no problem with the guarantee that Amazon provides. It limits the already limited products available on the Amazon Mexico site, but I’m ok with that. It curbs my internet shopping spending somewhat.

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Tagged as failing at your own business, product reviews, working online

May 7, 2018 · 12:00 pm

A to Z Reflections 2018

So another April A to Z challenge has finished and here’s what I think about that. This year my blogging group and I did one challenge as a whole instead of 26 individual posts. That took a lot of the pressure off and I was able to dedicate more time to other things. Even with less accountability, I found that I didn’t have the time I needed to devote to the challenge this year. I felt like I only was able to visit a smattering of other blogs and comment on even fewer. I just had too much going on in April. Such is life I suppose.

Anyway, since this was an A to Z challenge, I thought I’d share the full alphabet our group wrote. There’s some great information in these posts so you should go ahead and check them out!

A–Playing Tourist– Los Amoles, GTO

B–The Many Aspects Of Beaches In Baja

C–Catavina, The Beauty Of Rocks & Cacti

D–Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

E–Why Expats Need Easter

F–Family, Blood From A Far And As We Create A New One Here In Mexico

G–Natural Healing–Guayaba Leaf Tea

H–Playing Tourist –Huandacareo, Michoacán

I–Indigenous of Northern Baja

J–Jungle Living at its Best

K–Kumeyaay (Kumiai) – More Detail Of A Local Indigenous Tribe

L–Loving the Land of Limon

M–Mama Sofia

N–Nispero Leaf Tea

O–Olive Oils, Oh My What To Do!

P–Playing Tourist–Puruándiro, Michoacan

Q–My Love Of Quesos

R–Real de Catorce

S–San Felipe, The Land Of Gringos

T–Tecate Pueblo Mágico

U–Playing Tourist–Uriangato, Guanajuato

V–Valle De Guadalupe, A Place Of Many Options

W–Wildflowers and Butterflies in Mexico

X–Xochimilco

Y–La Yacata Revolution

Z–Zoológico Parque del Niño Jersey

So until next year’s challenge—Hasta la vista Baby!

Failing at your own business–College Essay Reviewer

Internet connection being what it is in Mexico, I thought I’d try and expand my employment tentacles and applied for a job reviewing college essays. I had mixed feelings when I heard back from the company. While it would be great that I wouldn’t have to keep on eye on my signal bar or panic when the electricity flickered off like when I was teaching live classes, I didn’t really want to work more hours.

With a sigh, I reviewed the writing sample and sent copies of my diploma and university transcripts, demonstrating my more than adequate qualifications. I wasn’t surprised that I got the job.

Although the pay rate was $13 USD per hour, I could only request payment for 30-minute increments which meant I would need to review 2 papers per hour. Initially, I tried to note each and every error so each essay was taking me well over an hour, sometimes 2. I learned quickly to only accept essays 4 pages or less, which sped things up a bit. I could also preview the essay before accepting, allowing me to avoid the worst of the lot but I had the thought “you graduated from high school?” on more than one occasion while rolling my eyes at yet another misused word.

Most of the errors were in citations. It’s been more years than I care to admit since my last professional paper, so I had to do quite a bit of review of MLA and APA standards. This research was useful while I was converting my ebook A to Z Reasons Why La Yacata is the Best Place to Be in Any Disaster to paperback though.

I diligently cranked out at least one hour of work per day throughout the first weeks of December. Then suddenly, the well went dry. Christmas vacation you know–no essays due. I submitted my timesheet and found I had made $68.21 payable through PayPal. That was about what I had been making for 2 weeks at the elementary school.

In January, essays started piling up again, but I was done with all that. I toyed with the idea of doing live essay grading or Spanish tutoring on my days off from online teaching, but then I’d be back in the same boat worried about the internet. So while it’s good to know that I have another income option, I’ll just let it be for now.

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