Hello all,
First off I want to state that I am incredibly sorry for the confusion that my job offer has caused. Many people were upset and started calling me a scammer when that is not the truth at all.
I had a real job opportunity available that paid real money for real work. The idea behind the job was to have people create links and traffic for my various products.
This is very common for Internet businesses to hire virtual assistants to drive traffic. I have no desire to harvest email addresses. It’s simply the way I stay in contact with people and track their work.
The sad thing is that none of this negativity would have happened if I had just stated that the job pays per task instead of per hour. I was trying to explain the pay in a way easy for people to understand but I should have just said, “This task pays X dollars and will take you approx. X hours to complete but will vary based on response rates.”
This is my fault and I am not going to sugarcoat it. I messed up. I was trying to do a decent thing and just worded it all wrong.
I have dozens of tasks that I have people that work for me to perform. The only one that has caused all the issues is the Craigslist job posting task. You don’t see any other threads from people that got past that task and complaining about the tasks after that.
That is also my fault and I accept responsibility. I have removed that task completely from my system and I am now only hiring people through more traditional means.
I have taken down my hiring site, removed the job description video from my blog, and emailed all the people I could and told them to stop placing ads.
I am now in the process of attempting to verify all the people that did work for me and didn’t get paid because of the response rates message.
I have created a special email address for people to contact me to get paid. Please email matttrainerpayme AT gmail DOT com.
I know all the contact info of every person that applied to work for me and I know who entered email addresses as part of the hiring task. If you haven’t heard from me already, please email the above address and I will get you paid.
As far as my hiring system goes, I have taken it down completely and am revamping it so problems like this won’t happen again. I will have legitimate jobs available but I want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
As part of that commitment, I am not including a hiring task in the job ever again. I will hire on my own and not ask people that work for me to do it.
I will have a new video up soon on my blog detailing (in the way I should have originally) the jobs I will have available. The jobs will pay by task and by quality of work and not by the hour.
Think and say of me what you want. I did try to do a good thing and provide some jobs. I just mucked up the explanation for the job which setup expectations that were not fulfilled for several people.
I’m sure that no matter what I do, some of you won’t believe that I am sorry and that I am trying to make amends. All I can say is that this is very far from the truth.
I am trying to fix this if you will allow me to. Please forgive me for the pain and frustration I have caused.
Thanks for reading.
Matt
P.S. Most people were paid and have legitimately tried to defend me. Thanks to all of you that tried to defend me and were spit upon for doing so. Please accept my apologies.
.
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
I just applied today just before you took the system down. I listened to the video and do not think that you are a scam. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I am still interested in doing some data entry work for you. I am sorry that people think that way. I wanted you to know that I am not one of them.
You are true man, Matt.
I tried to stand up for you and was shot down, but I don’t care. I believe in you and your business regardless.
Temporary defeat is not permanent failure.
Thanks for everything, bro!
-Jason Smith
Matt,
you da man! I got paid.
can’t wait to do more work for you!
Justin
Hey man don’t sweat it, live and learn.
Your a good dude, it takes a man to admit
he f*&^ked up, and I know you will make it right.
The reason that I am here IS because of YOU Matt.
The websites you create are the coolist sites I
have ever seen, and your knowledge of Adwords blows
me away. I want to get as close to you as I can
to learn what you know and do.
Keep up the great work
ED
I just received my payment from Matt so I really don’t know why anyone would call him a scammer.
I’ve been scammed before and I assure you this is not the case.
For the people who are complaining just don’t do the work, Just more money for the rest of us.
Matt is a good guy – I signed up but haven’t actually done any work yet – I will Matt I promise!
But from al my other dealings with him he is a fair, trustworthy and genuine guy.
We all make mistakes, just on the internet they are a lot more public than most we make.
Keep it up Matt – I’ll be churning out work for you soon!
Matt,
If you want real help, please stay in contact. I am all for helping out with the right people and opportunities KEEP ME ON PAYROLL you won’t be disappointed. Let me know what you need accomplished.
hear from you soon!
Hi,
I had not yet viewed the video (it was on my to do list for the afternoon that you pulled the program) but I think that if people had carefully read your introduction, they would have know that was how the system would work.
That being said, I would still like to work with you.
Judy
Ya know Matt, it takes a true professional to admit a mistake was made and that it will be rectified. It’s called “Growth” and I admire it.
Thanks for your honesty and remember I’m here to help you build your business.
Catherine
I just want you to know that I know you’re not a scam! I don’t know why those people think that way but it’s their loss.
I am very happy that I found your business and started working for you and I will do work for you for as long as you need me to.
Thanks Matt!
-Veronika
Hey Matt,
I was one of the people critical of the process, but I believe you handled it very well. In all of this I never thought you were trying to scam me, I did get paid for my first task, and I completed the second. I have no doubt about payment.
I have followed your work since the first video you did with Frank Kern and I trusted you, which is the reason I was willing to stick with it. For those who did not know who you are or didn’t already trust you, I can see how they may have felt taken advantage of, although not intentional.
I think you’re doing the right thing, and I hope those who were painting you as a scammer will give you a chance to prove your trust.
Keep up the great work and I will continue to work for you as I wish to learn all the behind the scenes stuff you do. BTW … that was one of the big key points that got me into this.
Thanks again and this will all work out … Scott
Hey we all make blunders on projects, including me.
You’re a cool lad with a lot to teach us about making money online Matt.
I wish to continue working with you Matt.
Peace Matt,
Mark
You come off as a man trying to make an hionest living, there’s nothing worng with that. No shame…no fear.
It takes a “real” man to admit his mistakes. As humans, we always forgive and forget when there is a sincere apology. Your unintentional mistake will be forgiven and your apology reveals your character. Bravo!
Joey Anthony
http://wwww.joeyanthony.com
Matt,
I have to say that despite the number of times I had to “tweet” you, and the extraordinary amount of time I spent sending you emails trying to explain that the work I was doing didn’t seem to be working right, I had faith in you. I just had a sense that you were sincere. Of course, the fact that you were responding to me helped!
I do want to say publicly here that I did get paid for the first task, it was the second task that seemed screwed up. I sent an email to your ‘secret’ email address just for us, and again, I trust your word.
If you want to hire me to help you get it straightened out, let me know!
Hey Matt,
When I saw what you did for Frank Kern, I knew I wanted to keep an eye on your projects.
I am not looking for a job, but was so excited to work for you in a way that I thought was “BREAKTHROUGH”. So I am trying to find time to work for you so I can learn cool innovative stuff and build my business.
I thought the whole process was really cool and I especially liked the part that says if you need to email me or ask me questions then this job is not for you. I did it for the learning rather than the money. I still want to work for you and have a BS and have already made over $1M in my lifetime.
Rock on dude!!!! You rock and your produuctions set the bar for others to reach for…
I am good at the customer experience so send stuff my way for a free evaluation.
your new bud,
Clay
Damn, I missed the whole thing. I have way too much email and am trying to wade through some of it today. It sounds like a big mis-communication to me. I have never understood why people so often jump the gun and freak out BEFORE they get all of the facts. Patience IS a virtue after all.
Aloha,
June
I applied and watched yourvideo and do not think you are a scam. I am still interested in working with you and look forward to hearing from you.
Bottom line. ANYONE who knows ANYTHING about online marketing KNOWS Matt is NOT a scammer and he IS the REAL DEAL!
For anyone who wants to whine and complain my advice is simple. Go crawl back in the hole from which you came from. You don’t belong in such fine company.
Though I have never met Matt, I do know a friend of his. And I happen to know that Matt is a stand up guy, and a brilliant internet marketer, and someone we can all learn from.
For those that want to learn, keep reading his posts and paying attention to what he is doing.
For the rest, well, your hole awaits!
And Matt, if you happen to read this, don’t pay attention to the complainers. You will never please everyone, and you will only drive yourself nuts trying.
You’re better off putting your focus on what you do best. Those of us that appreciate it will always FAR outnumber those that don’t.
Just keep bringing it! And know that we do appreciate it!
Thanks, Jay, I am gonna whine. I don’t live in a hole and I don’t give a flying whatever what you think. I’m new the internet thingy and I thought this would be a good introduction.
I’m disappointed. I didn’t complete the first task because the site was down so much. And so many of the people I tried to direct couldn’t apply. Okay. I just tried to keep them interested, and advised them to keep trying. I really didn’t know how to get a hold of Matt or if he cared. After all, he said in his video he wasn’t going to be in communication and the system was going to be automated.
Once I figured out that it was about emails, I was cool with that, but really struggled with the working of the system. So, Bravo, Matt for wanting to fix it.
I haven’t gotten paid. But, I figure Matt has an out because I didn’t complete the first task. I’m just gonna chalk this up to being a learning experience and get on with life.
There are a LOT of whiners online, so you just have to take it with a grain of salt. I would LIKE to apply, so feel free to send me all the info.
I must have signed up for this, but I can’t find the original email, but DID get this last one.
Have a great week-end, and fyi, it’s refreshing to see some honesty ‘out there’.
God bless!
Being familiar, I didn’t think this was a scam but it didn’t sit well with me after I realized that we were manipulating CraigsList which they obviously don’t appreciate.
I wrote a comprehensive “legitimate” ad which I could not “see” listed for some reaon. So I wrote a much leaner , simpler one stating the position for $8-$15 an hour. Within minutes I had about 15 seemingly desperate souls replying to this “job” offer.
Maybe I’m mistaken but I gathered their new “job” was to harvest another 114 emails using craiglist in some kind of pyramid, MLM like scheme. It didn’t take long for the ad to get removed.
That’s nothing but scammy work so I stopped. Glad to see you abandon that “gateway” to doing work for you.
BTW, need any copywriting done?
While I am not 100% on board with the explanation of what the email addresses are being used for, I am making a few (very few) dollars and that was my goal. Extra cash for groceries and gas is always welcome.
I agree you need to represent the job in a more honest and detailed manner, especially the pay. Perhaps the new video will do just that.
Yes, I have been getting paid but it is misleading to send out emails to look for possible bonus’ when there have been none. I have been working this on a steady basis via 20 ads on Kijiji and still only average 113 addresses every 2 day. As well as, get a lot of return emails from people complaining that this is a scam.
This is not meant to be overly critical, just some thoughts on what I have experienced thus far. I look forward to seeing what changes will be made and will continue to plug away in hopes that both the pay and process show improvements.
We all make mistakes but I commend you for recognizing them and making an effort to correct the process.
Hey Matt,
I really respect you for doing your best to clear things up for everyone.
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!
Take Care,
~Brett
http://FreeTrafficBigProfits.com
Here is my feeback,
The first mistake was taking me to a blank page asking for my info, that made it feel like you just shut the door and got me in. It had a scam feel.
Next, you posted an annonyous (sp?) project to do a borderline spamming on job sites. For eight hours.
that turned me off from going through with anything.
My advice is for you to guide peole through the entire process where they know it’s you. Then I would offer more skilled tasks as well as give people options on which to do.
For example, If you need feedback on a headline, a graphic made, more people working WITH you ( notice I didn’t say for you). You should post all of tose at the same time and see what you online FRIENDS are capable of.
With me being a copyeditor/copywriter and marketer ( from the Dan Kennedy crew) when you mentioned look over your copy that appealed to me because I do that anyway, but I didn’t want to wait to get there by spamming.
Also you ight want to adjust the language you use because you’re going to have a hard time finding good talent that want to work FOR you. Bad word in the freelance world.
Hey Matt,
I had just signed up before the change-over took place. I understand completely that companies go through transitions etc. I will do my part to let those who are still responding to me from my marketing efforts that the company is going through a resturcturing phase, and that I will contact them as soon as things are clear to me. So you still have a partner in me also. I look forward to continue doing work for you. We are Americans thats what we do.
Hi Matt well I just started to work for you on Thursday and I was still entering all the respondants when the system said it got removed, I belive you and I would very much like to continue helping you in your business,thanks.
Lorena
Hi Matt,
I also just started to work for you on 8/29 and though I was able to send you a few email addresses I was unable to send a bigger list of addies because when I tried I couldn’t access the page to do so……I am sorry to see you have experienced some poblems and until I just read what did happen, I thought it was a scam and immediately removed my post from Craig’s List because I was afraid they would ban me from posting on their sight ever again…..If you do have work coming up in the near future and you are looking for people who sincerely want to work for you, then I hope you will consider me for a position.
No hard feelings, Matt. Take care, good luck, and I hope to hear from you soon.
K. Jeffries
Matt is true to his word. He pays you for your work and he pays you fast. I have no problems working for him in the future and I am excited to hear back from him soon for my next task.
Regards,
Barton Murray
Hey Matt,
Yeah, I had issue with the system not remembering me. Honestly, I was too busy to send you mail and let you know. Glad that you got it figured out. I have several more people that replied to my ad and they are also looking for work. Let me know when you are back up and running.
Thanks for keeping us updated.
Hi Matt,
I have to admit that I had my doubts about you but am glad to see you are trying to make amends. I’m a newbie and always try to give people a chance. You seemed to be an honest guy and it appears as though that is the case. I’m hoping you’ll keep me on as I welcome the opportunity to do more work for you. I’m also trying to get the whole internet thing under my belt so I can quit my J.O.B.
By the way . . . Nobody F%4*S with the Jesus!!
~Mary
Ok, I’m glad I read this because I’ve never heard of Matt before but I just started working with (I do like that better than “for”) him yesterday. I got about 30 replies and I started entering the emails in, but a lot of my people kept saying that the link was bad or something. Then I tried to check and I got a totally new website. I haven’t gotten paid, but I do hope to and I hope this works out because I look forward to doing more work with Matt soon.
I have met Matt in person, and he is a very brilliant Flash Programmer, Internet Marketer, and upstanding Business Man. I’m positive that he was not trying to scam, or spam anyone. He’s just attempting to hire people to work with him, and help to build his company online.
Hey Matt:
I didn’t think you were scamming people either. I just wasn’t too sure about any other tasks because I couldn’t get enough responses to my ad on craigslist.com to meet the 113 I was supposed to get, and I was so close to getting there, finally after 3 weeks! LOL!
I’m still on board, I hope, and pulling for this thing to get off the ground, because I need to make some money too!
Thanks for letting me work for you.
Sharon
Matt,
I didn’t get to start the work before you sent the message to stop but I am certainly still interested in working for you. Send me the info when you have it!
Thanks!
Cerissa
Matt
We all make mistakes.Only the best however learn from them.
I am Proud of you!
Barry Plaskow
http://www.ContentDeskBonus.com
What can I say…..
..Matt you’re a Moron.
Morons make mistakes.
Is there a better way to learn? I don’t think so.
But then again what would I know?
I’m a moron too.
Keep getting off the bench,Matt. There’s no other way to play
Mat Istarted work on August 28th had posted 3 ad’s on craiglist had about 28th email reported in didnt delete my ad’s till today when I got your email hope you work out the glich’s I didnt beleive it was a scam and still dont. Iam very musch interested in working for you when you get it back up and running. Thank you Matt for being honest about the problem with the system. Will work for you anytime that you need me too. Best regards to you and your family. Mary McDaniel
I recently started working for Matt, and followed the instructions that was given. Craigslist scammed me, so I had to change the wording of the ad. The ad was up for 2days before I removed it, being relunctant about the whole thing. In 2days I recieved alot of response from people that is really looking for work.(alot) I am still triing to also getinto the site of payme with no success. Please Matt straighten this out so that you can achieve your dream to the fullest. Most people don’t want to admitted to an error that they made, but you are truly the Man.
Matt,plain and simple…Work out the tweaks and let’s get started! Everythings gonna be alright…gina
I joined right before the big crash. Met my quota on my first assignment, and even through all the chaos and transition, Matt still managed to get me paid. Thank you.
Can’t wait to get going again!! Good luck, boss.
I’m another one of those who -nearly- completed the first task just before the change-over.
Thank you Matt, for taking the time to personally explain to me what happened and for getting me paid even through all the mess!
When you need folks for your next bit of work, know that you have me on board. Anyone whining is likely crying for answers, and anyone naysaying you is giving you the opportunity to look at all sides of the spectrum.
Good luck getting things up and rolling, and please – don’t forget me!
I haven’t even started working for you yet and I don’t think you are a scam artist. I await assignment. I did try to complete one, but I’m not sure I followed the instructions carefully enough. I’ll try again when you get more work. Thanks.
I guess when I started putting the email addresses in and saw the count going – I put 2 and 2 together myself… I didn’t see any
“scam” behind it. I guess what I figured.. I spent a few hours posting ads… and the rest happened while I slept… or while I was out playing with the kids… come back in before bed – gather the info I needed from the “hard days work” LOL and plunk it in…. If someone really has a reason to complain about a work day like that… I don’t know that there are words for them.
Sometimes you’re just damned if you do, and damned if you don’t…
Keep us posted… you’ve definately got quite a few people who are more than willing to back you on what ever direction you wanna take this… Count me IN~
Hi Matt. I would still like to work for you. Your name came to me from a friend. i trust you!
dude, I wouldn’t so hard on yourself as to say you caused ‘pain and frustration’.
I have a theory that Internet Marketing Gurus are like drug pushers
… what do you think? check my post here on that:
are-frank-kern-eben-pagan-co-just-drug-pushers?
I just filled in the application form, but are you still accepting new members, who can work for you or do you have enough “employees” ?
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the payment. I look forward to working for you.
Best regards
No problem. Appreciate your honesty. I am back from vacation (burning man) and am looking for part time work.
I just applied for work with you and got a thank you for subscribing. The ads are still out there, a lot. I still need work and when you get it all straightened out I hope you will contact me.
Thanks for trying. I do wish Laurie Brackett who contacted me about work would actually answer her emails when people try to find out what is going on! It would have saved me from thinking you were a scammer, but I don’t now. Thanks for being a stand up guy.