u/Reasonable_Height_11

Looking for personal observations that anyone wouldn't mind sharing.

Not looking for the lead generating jargon like "Empowering your audience and leveraging mediums with real intent will always separate the real from the fake..."

For example... has anyone seen a big decrease in the performance of their niche blog?

Is Youtube now the best for earning affiliate commissions, tiktok, instagram? What's your experience been.

Can we still get it done with a website and some social media presence (instagram, tiktok) in 2026?

Well someone warned me lol. They said I have to live in Bangladesh for Project HH to be worth it. I didn't understand at the time, but now I do... oh boy.

I did 1-hour of work on July 1st and got paid $3 for it.

I then came back to this reddit looking at older posts and tried to learn more about why this is happening. Found a some about "productivity".

So, I got curious and did another 30 minutes but this time I made sure to close the tab for MM after each submission and constantly moving the cursor and clicking around. I got paid about $6.50 for that.

Then today I did another hour again (I count 22 submissions), and i followed the previous pattern and I still got another $3. Absolutely soul crushing...

You only get paid for up to 6 minutes for TTI, and anything beyond that you're not paid, but still you only get a fraction of the pay. So 2.5 hours for $12.50.

I really don't care about this platform anymore. Time to move on. But I really wish I could meet the person who decided this is OK.

If you got on HAI before March 2026, you likely had a good experience and a lot of positive things to say about HAI.

Before March 2026:

-High autonomy

-No gated tasks

-Pay by the hour (literally)

HH people! Do you remember when they had the "Other" option for selecting tasks on MM?

...

After:

- Little autonomy - no trust - like hiring a cleaning lady to come over, but following the person around your house because you don't trust them. They don't want to do it themselves, but also don't trust the people they brought in.

- highly gated, often mismatching tasks.

- Pay per task [F]elix (the cat) was $65 per hour, then it was $0 per hour.

- Accusations of time theft from people who make $100,000 - $300,000 USD per year.

As they always, learn to appreciate these opportunities, because they go sour quick. Often regardless of whether you did a good or bad job. You're judged as a collective group.

Anyone else's power out? A storm hit around 4:30pm, power went out near 5pm, it's almost 10pm now and still no power. Feels like the infrastructure in this area is really flimsy. Even worse, for how nice the area is, it's a shame the issue usually takes more than a day to fix...

TL;DR - What has changed over time in terms of what works for you vs what worked in the past but doesn't anymore?

I started affiliate marketing back in 2015 when I moved to Thailand. I had a website called the bestsoccercleats dot com. I was a passionate soccer player in Thailand (maybe the USA national team will notice me lol), making little money as a 2nd-division pro, and I really liked writing about soccer cleats at the time.

I bought the domain, joined ShareASale, and found some soccer affiliates.

This is what I had - Wordpress - https://web.archive.org/web/20160327153249/http://www.thebestsoccercleats.com/

I was getting around 100 visitors per day, and the numbers kept increasing almost every day. I wasn't getting conversions though. My conversion rate was horrible. So once the site had made about $200 in a month (after like 6 months - again I didn't understand how SEO and search engines worked either), I decided to sell. Mind you, I was again very naive and didn't do any research on website valuation. I listed the site on flippa, and immediately this person hit me up and said they would buy it. I knew something was wrong because they were rushing me so hard. I listed it for ...drumroll please $200 lol. Again, didn't do any research, felt like I was selling a trap, so I didn't want to ask for too much and didn't understand patience.

This person bought it, and the only thing they changed was the links from shareASale to Amazon links. The site started making thousands per month, he relisted it like 3 months later, and resold it for a number that still makes me sick to this day. Now it's just a parked domain, but that was a tough lesson. With that, though, I knew at that point that I had the sauce. It was a sour validation, but I now had a different more resolved approach.

I went to build out 4 other affiliate marketing websites in niches where I felt I had expertise, and I lived off that for a while as a digital nomad, but I wanted more. Some months I could make $4k, other months, I might only get $900. It was too inconsistent, and I felt I was at the mercy of affiliate managers to approve or cap my commissions.

So, I moved into e-commerce, and that's where I actually saw the immediate difference between affiliate marketing and e-commerce. Much more control, much more transparency, but much more risk. There is little downside to affiliate marketing except for the time invested and, in most cases, single-digit monthly hosting fees if you have a website. I did e-commerce as a high-ticket dropshipper, and after 3 failed stores, I got it right by not trying to be anything and everything store, and instead choosing a niche-focused store. This website was ProFitnessDeals dot com - https://web.archive.org/web/20220812224200/https://profitnessdeals.com/

Would you believe me if I said this website went on to make $2.2million over 5 years? But during Covid, our suppliers suddenly dropped us and rightfully so, too, because the demand was just simply insane. I think we marked up our prices about 90% just because the supplier's inventory was so low, and customers were still just cleaning up. Even an NBA legend ordered from us during lockdown (What Harry Potter does).

I then transitioned into programming because it was about 2018 now, and I wanted a personal profit/loss app for my store, because Shopify was ok, but I needed more granular details to include. I had 2 VAs on a monthly salary, other 3rd party platform fees, as well as ad spend and other stuff. I tried to hire a developer from India because despite everyone and their grandma warning me against it, I thought I was different lol. At that time I was quoted at $20k for this app by US devs. But the devs in India said $3.5k. Long story short, I took the cheaper option and got fucking burned bad. I then made it my mission to never ever do that again and just learn to code. And I've been doing that ever since.

I want to bring it full circle. Software Engineering and Coding is a joke now, and the writing is on the wall. I just wanted to share my story so you could have better context to why I am asking this question.

What has changed over time in terms of what works for you vs what worked in the past but doesn't anymore?

I've been out of the game since 2018 essentially. My last affiliate blog was centered around Teaching English in Thailand and TEFL courses.

I used to just focus on SEO and being myself. I imagine blogs are dead now, so do you just create YouTube videos? Do you show your face? I want to get back into affiliate marketing because, out of all the other paths I've taken, it was literally the least stressful.

I have a chicken-and-egg problem. I built a marketplace for people who have ignored or abandoned apps they want to sell, but I literally can't find devs that want to even think about that. With that said, I am still getting sign-ups.

So far, I'm realizing that some people still have no desire ever to build or vibe-code an app, and would prefer just to buy it turn-key. I have been running ads targeting the USA and Canada on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and Google, and as of today, I have 194 users. Not much, but I don't have it in me mentally or spiritually to shamelessly spam forums or post-jack users on Reddit. Running ads is the best way I know how to reach new people fast.

I got an email today asking me when the site will have more options. Of course, I half-lied and said soon. But aside from the 2 apps I personally listed, only one other user has posted something for sale.

I had 4 ideas:

1. Mutual Partnership - Try to build a small team of devs. Instead of asking them to sign-up. Ask them to join me as a partner. List your app(s), and as an early adopter, pay only the processing fee (Stripe 2.9% + $0.30) on all sales. It would be a small group of people, but we would still help create initial social proof. Lifetime offer as long as I'm alive. - Feels desperate.

2. Cash incentive milestones - What about if I offered $X milestones? Like 1. get $X when you complete onboarding and list your first app for sale. 2. Get $X when you sell your first app. 3. Get $X when you recommend a friend who completes step 1. - Could invite bad actors to abuse this deal.

3 . Self-Builder - The worst, but at the moment, flirting with the option, is to just build them out myself. Host an EC2 instance and just build multiple app ideas until I get to like 20 or 30. I can do it, but I just feel like that's more time spent in the fun and safe bubble of development. I need to get out, get punched in the face and stomach a few times with hate and criticism. Also, this will definitely lead to a lack of creativity and diversity in the selection.

4. Pay people - Just put up the money. They build it, I own it, and list it. Until something organic starts to build. This way, I won't be stuck trying to be a developer and a business owner and can just focus on distribution and relationship building. The most expensive likely.

E-commerce in general relies heavily on social proof. If you went to a fitness store and saw only one treadmill, you'd be like "WTF?". I know there is money to be made, but it feels like the mentality of the people I interact with is, "I'd rather lose and see you lose than help you win and win myself."

I have a chicken-and-egg problem. I built a marketplace for people who have ignored or abandoned apps they want to sell, but I literally can't find devs that want to even think about that. With that said, I am still getting sign-ups.

So far, I'm realizing that some people still have no desire ever to build or vibe-code an app, and would prefer just to buy it turn-key. I have been running ads targeting the USA and Canada on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and Google, and as of today, I have 194 users. Not much, but I don't have it in me mentally or spiritually to shamelessly spam forums or post-jack users on Reddit. Running ads is the best way I know how to reach new people fast.

I got an email today asking me when the site will have more options. Of course, I half-lied and said soon. But aside from the 2 apps I personally listed, only one other user has posted something for sale.

I had 4 ideas:

1. Mutual Partnership - Try to build a small team of devs. Instead of asking them to sign-up. Ask them to join me as a partner. List your app(s), and as an early adopter, pay only the processing fee (Stripe 2.9% + $0.30) on all sales. It would be a small group of people, but we would still help create initial social proof. Lifetime offer as long as I'm alive. - Feels desperate.

2. Cash incentive milestones - What about if I offered $X milestones? Like 1. get $X when you complete onboarding and list your first app for sale. 2. Get $X when you sell your first app. 3. Get $X when you recommend a friend who completes step 1. - Could invite bad actors to abuse this deal.

3 . Self-Builder - The worst, but at the moment, flirting with the option, is to just build them out myself. Host an EC2 instance and just build multiple app ideas until I get to like 20 or 30. I can do it, but I just feel like that's more time spent in the fun and safe bubble of development. I need to get out, get punched in the face and stomach a few times with hate and criticism. Also, this will definitely lead to a lack of creativity and diversity in the selection.

4. Pay people - Just put up the money. They build it, I own it, and list it. Until something organic starts to build. This way, I won't be stuck trying to be a developer and a business owner and can just focus on distribution and relationship building. The most expensive likely.

E-commerce in general relies heavily on social proof. If you went to a fitness store and saw only one treadmill, you'd be like "WTF?". I know there is money to be made, but it feels like the mentality of the people I interact with is, "I'd rather lose and see you lose than help you win and win myself."

Does anyone who works for HAI actually feel safe to say they do in public? Not on Reddit. Not behind a computer screen. I'm talking to the real public. Do you keep it a secret and just tell people you work for a startup? Close friends and family don't count.

Say, for instance, you were just touching grass one day, saw a stranger who looked friendly, and they struck up a conversation with you. They say, "I do construction... and some side gig work online... what about you?" Would you respond, "I work at HAI"?

I think the same thing for people who work at similar companies like misAligner, micro pp, and OutLiar.

I hope you guys can stay safe out there to survive long enough before AI replaces you too.

If someone wants a 20s video for their app. How much should I charge per hour for each video? Flat rate?

Thanks in advance.

I was shadow banned by the mods -> like I can see my posts, but no one else can.

----

The Desktop app recording task is cool but I intentionally hold back because asking for genuine raw creativity for a pay of like $20 is crazy -> 1hr to go through the complete design process from low > mid to > high and they encourage you to use multiple technologies.

A complete design process. Let that sink in guys. They transitioned from select image A or image B to... "build a complete design process in 1 hour..." and god forbid that dickhead from the Slack channel accuses you of "time theft".

Shitty management is expected man. It's children running this company.

It was fun while it lasted. Hai for me seemed so solid. Haven't been booted yet, but the pattern is all too familiar. Increased instances of ppl being removed, dodgy explanations from the team, poor syncing between platform and mm.

Took an assessment, passed it. still not showing up in approved list. I go to slack, and the gist was that if you take an assessment, pass it and its not on mm, then just sit tight...ok?

Hai team should also recommend us to their favorite restaurants where each item on the menu is recommended by the staff but knowingly unavailable, and when you try to order, they respond with, "Oh so sorry, we don't have this one today...maybe check back another day?".

When did the en-shittification start? In my experience, de-shittification is only a concept in theory and has yet to be achieved by any major platform or company.

Never keep all your eggs in one basket!