Work, and How to Hack It

The world of TikTok get-rich-quick schemes reveals darker truths of society

You learn very quickly on TikTok how to get rich quick. Tips, tricks, and hacks abound. “Do you speak English? And do you want to make $450 for 45 minutes of work? Then you need to watch this,” one such video begins in typical fashion. The instructions, typically laid out in around 30 seconds, usually by dudes, are always (apparently) dead simple. In this case: Sign up at a website that hires freelance voice actors to record audiobooks.

There are alternatives, of course. You could troll the clearance aisles at Wal-Mart for products to sell on Amazon at an extreme markup (or, better yet, get into the apparently lucrative drop-shipping game). You could learn coding for free and charge people thousands to build their websites. You could become rich overnight by simply buying the same stocks as random millionaires and billionaires. Or how about earning a stack of cash for doing even less — maybe even nothing at all? It’s easy. You could create atmospheric audio videos for YouTube using licence-free audio recordings — for instance, of rain falling — and sit back while the ad revenues pour in. Or how about just uploading photos you’ve taken to a website and earning money every time someone simply clicks on one? Anything is possible!