More
than a year ago I wrote a post
on the “Beyond the miles” blog about how one can earn real money
by running / cycling / etc. I've been using Pact
(formerly GymPact), FitCrown,
and AchieveMint for
over two years now, and recently I've decided to check out the money
I've earned this time.
On
this occasion I thought, I'll summarize my experiences, so here they
are. If You don't know, how these applications work, I suggest You to
quickly scroll through my previous
post first.
$222.22 from Pact
Pact provides a pretty stable income if You meet
Your end of the bargain. The daily rewards for the gym pact are
slowly decreasing, but it is still a bit above 20 cents for a day. I
usually sign up for 5 or 6 day, so this basically means around $1
each week. Since I am a vegetarian, it was rather obvious to sign up
for the veggie pacts too. A decent photo of Your veggie snack amounts
to 5 to 9 cents in average. Having a pact for 15 photos a week (which
is doable in 3 days the worst case) can provide an additional 1-1.5
bucks for a week.
So, it is usually around 2-2.5 dollars I earned a
week with Pact. At one or two occasions I didn't meet my pacts due to
busy workweeks and so, which cost me $5 for each missed day and
photo. Altogether I think I've only lost $15, which I re-earned in a
month or two. The withdrawal itself was plain and simple, the money
arrived shortly to my Paypal account. The only downside is the
cumbersome authorization of Paypal / credit card, that I didn't find
quite consistent, and it immediately adds me a bonus week, that was
unnecessary. But, despite this minor issue, Pact is working fine, and
I have to mention and their friendly support.
$160 from FitCrown
FitCrown
is the smallest fish among these three, I'd say there are about 20-30
active users of the page, but they are rather enthusiastic. Jason
(the owner of the page) tried different configurations for the 28 day
challenges over the 1.5 years I've been there. Not so recently the
cumulative time and calorie challenges were also introduced and they
had a nice reception. The challenges
usually need a $20 deposit, which is guaranteed to get back in case
of meeting the goals, that usually happens for most of the
contestants, so having no additional reward is not so rare. But
anyhow, before my withdrawal my balance was $244.37
from which $80
is my initial deposit. So I still have around 80
bucks left, that is needed for enrolling in new challenges.
The
site works just fine, as it should, I had no problems with syncing or
anything over the years. People are friendly and supporting, so I
highly motivate everybody to go and participate. From the financial
point, however, be prepared, that the rewards are fluctuating a lot
compared to Pact, so maybe You won't win anything (above being
proud of success) for 2 months, and then have a $15 bonus suddenly.
Withdrawal is smooth and
fast, just as it is in the case of Pact, but
You have to pay the 80 cent transaction fee. In exchange You
get a friendly message from Jason as a bonus :-)
$100 from AchieveMint
Achievemint
differs a lot from the other two in its main philosophy: rewards are
supported by sponsors, not other (unlucky or lazy) users. There is
no fear of losing money, You just wait until You slowly accumulate
25000, 50000, or 100000 points. After the latter one, You can not
raise anymore, the site issues You a $100 bill, and thats it, end of
story. There is not much to write about Achievemint, the points are
slowly increasing in the background, and once You receive a nice
message of being victorious. Calculating
the points are somewhat still a mystery
for me, but I don't care that much, since there is no way to re-enter
for an other round, so being quicker does not mean a big difference.
For me, it took 1.5 years to get my hands on that $100. (I'm
still waiting for the money, but it is promised to come this month)
What should I use the money for?!
So the only question that remains is, what I should use the money
for?! I originally planned to buy a new pair of decent running shoes,
as my Asics has already a lot of kilometers in it, but I won a 300000
FUF voucher in may on a marathon, so I have a Mizuno Wave Resolute on
the way. Now I'm thinking on a Garmin Forerunner or a simple mountain
bike.
So, on what did You or would You spend those sweat-earned money? Let
me know in the comments!
And
as always: thanks for reading, +1s and shares are appreciated.
