This mechanic earns $12,000 a month answering questions

Chris Pyle is an auto mechanic who used to work on transmissions at a Ford dealership. Now the 45-year-old from Tennessee answers automotive repair questions on JustAnswer and earns greater than he ever did as a mechanic. Pyle agreed to share the secrets of how this mechanic earns $12,000 a month with what was once a mere side hustle.

And, while you may not know anything about automotive repair, Pyle’s insights might help almost anyone earn a generous income from this unique online platform. Experts in every thing from tax to home repair can earn hundreds of dollars a month with JustAnswer. The location says that the typical pay for energetic experts in health and animal care is $3,000 – $4,000 per thirty days; in law, about $6,000; appraisals, $9,000. But success just isn’t guaranteed.

Here’s every thing you could know — what you’ll be able to do; how much you’ll be able to earn; and the way it really works; and the keys to success.

What’s JustAnswer?

JustAnswer is a web-based platform that connects freelance experts with individuals who need to unravel an issue, starting from fixing a leaky washer to understanding a house appraisal. Consumers enroll for the service, sometimes through a $5 promotion, and customarily are opted right into a monthly subscription.

Monthly subscription prices vary based on the variety of query you’re asking. Most questions are billed at a $55 monthly rate, but legal questions cost $79 per thirty days and tutoring costs $125. For that, you get a limiteless variety of answers and as much as two phone calls.

How it really works for experts

Experts like Pyle, enroll and supply details about their background and specific expertise. After you enroll, the location conducts a background check to make sure that you will have the right credentials to reply questions in your stated area of experience.

In other words, for those who say you’re a legal expert, the location expects you to be a practicing attorney. Assuming you pass that background check, the location will accept the applying and set you up on the location.

At that time, you’ll get access to questions in your stated specialty you could select to choose up and answer or ignore.

Pyle began working with Just Answer 18 years ago, while he was still working in automotive repair. And inside a couple of months, he was earning upwards of $1,500 a month. He dropped out of answering questions for a couple of years when he launched his own business. But he got here back in 2012 and commenced answering questions full-time.

Hours

JustAnswer is a global platform, so you’ll be able to sign on and ask — or answer — questions at any time of the day or night. Experts don’t must commit to particular hours. You just sign on while you want and determine whether there are any questions open while you’re working that you simply’re qualified and willing to reply.

Pyle breaks his work day into two sections. He works from noon until about 5 p.m. after which takes a break to hang around together with his family and do other projects at home. He signs back in at 11 p.m. and stays on until about 4 a.m. Why?

“The night shift is quiet. But I’m often the one automotive expert online at the moment,” he says. “I can take whatever questions I need to grab.”

How pay works

JustAnswer experts are paid by the reply, not the hour. The location is secretive concerning the pay-per-answer ranges, nonetheless, experts maintain most questions now pay at the least $7 and might pay as much as $24.

The quantity of pay you get for every answer relies on the subject and the expert’s “tier.” (See “Expert Tiers” below.) So, for instance’s sake, let’s say you answer general wellness questions and also you’re in the underside pay tier. You could make $7 per answer, while a top-tier expert in the identical category could make $16.

Clients also can tip their experts.

Experts are paid once a month.

Answering questions

Typical questions require anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes to reply. Questions that require greater than 10 minutes time get incrementally extra money, experts say.

Nevertheless, you will not be paid an extra amount for following as much as make sure that your client has resolved their problem. Pyle says you need to follow-up anyway for 4 reasons:

1. It’s the proper thing to do.
2. Your clients can be more satisfied, and prone to rate you highly, which might impact your “tier.”
3. It would result in a tip.
4. And, clients can request you for future answers, which creates an ongoing income.

By and huge, experts can answer whatever questions are available throughout the time that they’re working. That’s to make sure that clients get prompt answers to their questions.

The one exception is that if the client requests a solution from a selected expert. When that happens, the chosen expert has as much as 12 hours to reply. After that time, the query may very well be thrown to the opposite experts in that group.

Big, complex questions

What if an issue is just too big or complex to reply? There are a few options.

Experts can suggest that the client break the query into bite-sized pieces. Or they’ll suggest that the client pay for a premium service, which might include an online conference, document review, or phone call. If the experts suggest a premium service, half of the client’s payment will go to the expert. The opposite half is retained by JustAnswer.

Expert tiers

JustAnswer has five “tiers” for experts, starting from the highest tier — “platinum” to the underside tier, “tin.”

Recent experts generally start at the center tier and might work their way up (or down) based on their answers and the variety of questions that they accept. By providing good answers to the overwhelming majority of questions that you simply pick up, you rise tiers. Nevertheless, in case your answers deteriorate, or for those who pick up a bunch of questions that you simply don’t hassle to reply, you can even drop tiers.

Answers are judged based on a mix of rankings and artificial intelligence.

And each Monday, experts are advised about what tier they landed in as the results of their answers the previous week.

How this mechanic earns $12,000 a month

Pyle’s Recipe for achievement starts with working rather a lot. He typically works 10-hour days, broken into two five-hour shifts. And he works just about each day of the 12 months. Even when on vacation, he’ll sign on to the location and check in on whether any of his regular clients has popped in with a question, he says

This is significant, he says, because he has a variety of regular clients who request him. But, even when a client requests a selected expert, they only have 12 hours to reply. On any given day, Pyle says he could have 5 to fifteen questions waiting for him when he signs in.

“When my family desires to do something, I’ll change my work hours,” he says. “I still have a traditional life. I just don’t have a full 24 hours without working.”

On the intense side, he mostly works from a recliner in his lounge and never comes home covered in oil or transmission fluid from this job, he says. So, despite the long hours, he loves the working conditions.

Getting details

Considered one of the challenges of answering car-repair questions online is you’ll be able to’t physically see, hear or smell the automotive. So Pyle asks his clients to be his eyes, ears and nose. If the automotive is missing, he might ask the client to film and show the gauges while they’re driving. If it’s an odd sound, he might ask for an audio clip.

In other words, he asks a variety of questions before he answers an issue. That improves the standard of his answers.

“I all the time ask questions before I put a solution up,” he says. “You have got to be dedicated to listening.”

Checking back

The opposite thing Pyle says he does repeatedly is check back together with his past customers to ensure that they fixed their problem. This doesn’t necessarily generate any income for him. But it surely does generate a loyal customer base, who come back to him time after time.

“I even have a customer in Hawaii who buys used cars, fixes them up and rents them out,” Pyle says. “I believe I’ve answered 3,000 questions only for him. He asks possibly 20 questions a month.”

3/4/2024