An Interview with AC Content Producer Tori

Tori is well-known at AC for her great articles about how to work from home, earning money in creative ways. She has a real eye for finding the best opportunities, being a work-at-home mom of two beautiful children herself. Originally working as a bartender, Tori turned to online opportunities as a way to stay at home with her children. We are lucky that Tori shares the secrets of her success with us! Now Tori sits down for an interview to share how she began writing with AC, how she's gotten a Clout of 9, things about her you may not know, and her favorite topic - earning money while working from home!

What is your name?

TT: Tori Thompson

What is your hometown?

TT: Detroit, MI

How did you hear about Associated Content?

TT: I heard about AC through several bloggers at a site I used to write for called Bloggerparty.

Why did you decide to write for Associated Content?

TT: Many people on Bloggerparty had mentioned that it seemed like a way to generate real income online quickly.

What are your favorite topics to write about for AC?

TT: I loooove to write about ways to make money from home as well as scam companies that should be avoided. When I first began working online this information simply wasn't available. So I spent literally thousands of hours signing up with bogus "work from home companies" and making nothing. I like telling people the truth about ways to really earn a full time income online with NO INVESTMENT! There really ARE companies out there, like AC, that will pay you to work online.

Are there any topics that you haven't written about -- but you would like to?

TT: Oh goodness, there's so many things I would love to write about. Every day I see things or hear things and I always think to myself, "Wow! that would make a great article!", I just don't get around to it! (laugh)

What inspires you to write articles?

TT: When I actually began to profit from the internet I thought to myself, "I NEED to tell people about this!" because I know there's a million people just like me that seriously want to earn from home but just don't know how. So they get stuck in all the same traps as I did - paid to read emails, paid to click links, etc.

You know, it's funny - when I first started working online I was making next to nothing. My husband would laugh at how excited I would be for earning $5 in a day. He told me to give it up and he said, "If it were *that* easy, everybody would be doing it!"

...Well, now, about a year and a half later, I work online approximately 25 hours a week and make $500+, every single week!

Now hubby says, "I'm so glad you work online! What a great job! Everybody should do this!"

Do you write for any other publications or websites?

TT: I own the site Paid Opportunities - http://paidopps.blogspot.com This is an awesome site that is 100% free of charge. It has all of my work from home with no investment information on it. There's hundreds of different articles about working online - how to do it, who to work for and who to avoid. There's a wealth of amazing info that really can't be found elsewhere, like did you know you really can get paid to drive your car? Paid to receive US Mail? Paid to use a free cell phone? Participate in Google focus groups for $75/hr?

There's a million ways to make big bucks using the net, you just have to know where to look! So I took the time to put all of my knowledge into one place for anybody to access.

Ironically, by writing for AC I was able to get a pretty unique opportunity. Last week, I received a call from The Star Tribune Newspaper in Minneapolis. They had come across one of my AC articles and wanted to interview me and publish it! I will be appearing in the November 28th paper! Cool!

Do you have a blog?

TT: Paid Opportunities - http://paidopps.blogspot.com

Which AC content producers or article topics do you like to read?

TT: There's lots of Content Producers with awesome articles. I don't really have a favorite per say, but I like reading controversial stuff - debates, political opinions - stuff like that. Plus there's tons of awesome tips that are really useful. I love learning about ways to save money on groceries, bills, etc.

Have you read any good books or seen a good movie that you would recommend?

TT: Gosh, you know, this sounds so terrible coming from an author but I don't read much! Although I like reading, I just don't have time for a good book. But I do read online a lot - if that counts!

Movies...hmmm...

Do you ever get "writer's block"? If so, what do you do to combat it?

TT: I actually do have ways to combat writers block! On days that I have writers block I spend time surfing the net and bookmarking sites that contain information that I think may be interesting to research. I also take a lot of notes whenever I come across a point of interest so on my writers block days I can just reference them. It really helps a lot. Plus, whenever I get an idea I'll just start typing and see what comes of it. Many times these articles end up being some of my favorite pieces!

Your clout level is a 9, that's very high. Do you have any suggestions or tips for other AC content producers on how to reach a high clout level?

TT: I have found it best to really promote your work and there's super easy ways to do this.

1. Join a paid-to-chat forum. There's three that I recommend on my site. By joining a forum like this you can get yourself involved with people who are actively seeking the information you have. You can then respond to discussions and post links to your work. You'd be amazed at how appreciative people are of you sharing this information! And anybody with any type of material can take advantage of this too. Whether you're articles are about work from home opportunities, recipes or anything in between, just join a paid to chat forum and search for topic related to the content you want visited. PLUS, you get paid to post! So it's truly a win-win situation! Here's my AC article about it:

2. Answer Yahoo Questions. A lot of people don't know about Yahoo Questions. It's actually pretty cool. Basically how it works is similar to the paid-to-chat forums. People from all around the world ask questions on any topic and you can post answers to them Of course your answers will also contain links to your work! It's completely free to join and this will get you lots of traffic every day just from a single answer!

Also there's other ways that you may not have thought of, like:

3. Making a Squidoo Lens. A Squidoo Lens is simply a fancy name chosen by this company that really mean

Every page you have can contain as many links as you want or even an entire RSS Feed if you chose.

4. Get "YourSpace" on Myspace. I know, you've probably heard a zillion terrible things about myspace, that's how I felt too. The truth is that myspace is the most used website in the entire world. They have over 100,000,000 users! This means that by creating a page your odds of getting lots of traffic are much higher than trying to self promote any other way. Your page doesn't have to contain any personal information or even photos if you chose. Just use it to link to your blogs, articles or website. It's shocking how many people will find your page and use it to view your work.

5. Anything that will drive traffic to your work every day. Responding to posts in paid to chat forums, creating WebPages, etc is great because once you create it you're done. Those things will always be online. Think of it as your own personal "billboard" - and "Billboards never sleep" - meaning that people world wide will get to access your WebPages, responses and postings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. More views = more $! So think of any idea you can that will produce long term results with little effort. Many companies such as 50 megs.com also offer free web pages.

Do you have a favorite motto or saying?

TT: "Tomorrow is a new day" - my mother always used to tell me that when I was having a bad day and it always really helped!

Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

TT: Well, I have several hobbies. I'm an artist, I love to airbrush! I even appeared on television with Congresswoman Rivers for a piece of my artwork.

I'm also a dedicated martial artist and I'm into muscle cars. I've done modeling for years. I love sports.

I have a 16 month old son named Luke and a newborn son named Leyland.

"web page". Why they call it a "Squidoo Lens", I have not the slightest clue. But basically you can get even more traffic by creating your own web page through Squidoo. It is a little time consuming but it will pay off if done right. The whole thing is a pre-designed template that you just "fill in the blanks" on.

*The best part of Squidoo is that you can earn money from your page and have as many pages as you want.