Not Worth Your Time - Writer Ultius Employee Review

I wrote for Ultius for years because I didn't know any better. I eventually got burned out and had to stop writing for them altogether. I was in a bad situation because Ultius sucked all my energy and because I was so involved with writing for them that I didn't have an alternative. So I put an ad on Craigslist offering my services to students directly to see what would happen. My ad was a huge success and showed me that writing for Ultius was an absolute waste of time. I just posted one ad during finals season and gained $2000 worth of work in just one week. All I had to do was charge my customers high and stand firm on my price. I was surprised how quickly people directed their friends to me, giving me even more work and repeat customers semester after semester. This work will always be seasonal and inconsistent at times, but at least when I make more, I have a cushion to get me through the downtimes. I think it is funny when other writers brag about their ability to float to the top by getting their hands on any order possible and working like slaves. It just doesn't have to be that way. Today, I finished a 1-page discussion post that I'm charging $40 for. It took me thirty minutes to complete. This same project at Ultius would get me $8 or $9, and I would have to invest even more time fighting their other writers to get my hands on more orders to supplement my income. The best part about going solo is that I get paid immediately because I just send invoices directly through PayPal. Also, while Ultius customers are really frustrating, all of mine are very easy going and flexible. They email me when they have work and are very patient in giving me time to respond and finish their work. Based on my comparison between writing for Ultius and writing for myself, I can not see why anyone would write for Ultius. It seems that their only game plan is to scale up so they have thousands of writers working as cheaply as possible while pulling all the real wealth up to the CEO and the managers. Even if it possible to write like a samurai to churn out a bunch of $9 orders, why do this when you could make several times that for far less effort? Heck, if things are so bad that you think that your only other options are Starbucks or McDonald's, get some career counseling, network like crazy, or learn a skill that is more marketable than writing. Anything is better than getting trapped into a business that is going to tank your personal finances for years.