If you’re thinking about joining Contena, and are wondering if it’s a good place to find freelance work, you’re in the right place.
In this review I’ll be going over everything you need to know about Contena, and answering the question “is Contena a scam?”
Contena Review
Product: Contena
Creator: Kevin Fleming
Website: www.contena.co
Price: $100/month
Is Contena A Scam? No!
Is Contena Recommended? Depends
CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT MY TOP RANKED PROGRAM!
What Is Contena About?
Contena is basically a membership website that freelance writers can join to help find work.
It’s essentially a hub that allows you to search through their archives and find job opportunities.
If you are serious about becoming a freelance writer Contena may be a good place for you to find work.
However there are several things that I’ll be pointing out in this review that you should know before making the decision to join.
The Pros And Cons
It always seems to be helpful for my readers when I list out both the good and bad things about a program in the same place.
Pros:
- $100 Monthly Fee
- Great Training Course
- Mediation
- Customer Support
Cons:
- $100 Monthly Fee
- Relatively New
Now I’ll take some time to go over what I mean with each of these points.
The $100 Monthly Fee
Depending on who you are, and your situation this can either be considered a pro or a con.
What do I mean?
Well there are other websites out there that offer similar services without a monthly fee.
However these websites will charge you a percentage of every job that they set you up with.
For example, you could get a job that pays you $200 but they’ll get $40, of that because you used their service.
So the $100 monthly fee might seem like a lot for someone who’s only making a few hundred bucks a month writing.
However someone who is making $2,000 a month writing would benefit from paying just 100 bucks instead of a 20% charge.
Contena Academy
At first glance I was going to recommend Contena only to experienced writers who know what they are doing.
Mainly because those are the people who would benefit from simply paying a monthly fee.
However, I realized that they have a training program that will teach beginners the ins and outs of being a freelance writer.
Contena Academy is included with your monthly fee, and will teach you about writing, getting gigs, creating portfolios and many other things you need to know.
As of right now they have 7 modules that include training videos, written lessons, and other downloadable materials.
Personally I think this is great, and will make the $100 worth it for many beginners out there!
Mediation
This is something that just might come in handy at some point in your freelance endeavors.
There are times when a job might not go so well and you’ll need someone to help you figure it out.
For example, if there is a disagreement or misunderstanding and the client doesn’t want to pay you, Contena will help solve the problem.
This never happens if you make money online like I do!
Any other time, if whoever hired you isn’t happy, they can simple not pay you and disappear.
To prevent that from happening they require job posters to put money into an escrow account before the job.
So if they don’t want to pay you, Contena can then help resolve the issue without you automatically losing your time and money!
Customer Support
This is once again another thing that many newbies will find helpful within the Contena Community.
There is always a customer support associate available for you to ask questions to 24/7.
They are there to help ensure that you are able to find work, and help you with anything you might need help with.
Who I Recommend Contena To
If I was asked if I recommend Contena or not, I would simply have to answer “it depends.”
That’s because Contena is good for certain people, and not so good for others.
If you are just starting out, and don’t plan on dedicating much time to freelance writing, then you won’t want to pay the $100 monthly fee.
However if you are an experienced writer who plans on dedicating a lot of time to this, you’ll benefit from the simple $100 fee.
Another person who might benefit from Contena is a newbie who wants to learn, and is dedicated to spending a good amount of time doing that.
If you’re just starting out, and want to learn the ropes, then Contena Academy might just be for you!
Is Contena A Scam? – Conclusion
Hopefully by this point you have realized that Contena is definitely not a scam.
The only people who might call it that are the ones who think the $100 monthly fee makes it a rip off.
However that is something that’s up to you to decide.
Hopefully I’ve given you enough information about it to help you decide whether it is for you or not!
What I Recommend!
I actually make my living online as a writer, however I’m not a freelance writer. I write for myself.
I like to think that most freelance writers out there would love to simply make a living writing for themselves, and about whatever they want.
Well that’s what I do, and that’s what you could be doing too.
Most people seem to think that it’s impossible to start a blog and actually make money from it, but that’s simple false.
I started back in 2015, and I now make a living blogging.
Anyone can succeed at it, as long as they get access to the proper training, tools and support.
You can get started for free with all three of those things, in the same place I get them from.
If you are interested in learning more, you can…
I have found Contena to be badly run and a massive waste of money.
They offered a discount, then I had to chase them to honour it…twice! The site simply aggregates writing jobs already posted on the internet – and about 30% of the time– when you click the link, they’re no longer available.
I haven’t tried their course – so can’t comment on that.
In terms of the jobs they “gather” – there have been a few cool jobs, but many have been fairly average/low grade.
Perhaps not a bad place for entry writers – but this is absolutely not worth the pricey price tag. In my opinion, they’re offering you no value.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with them, however thank you for sharing it.
Hi Bridget,
It sounds like you may have been a member in the early days of Contena? In addition to our job board and Academy, which many of our members find valuable, we now offer a large database of companies that are constantly hiring new writers and you will be hard pressed to find the data we have anywhere else.
If there is anything we can help with just let us know!
Kevin
My experience with Contena has been pretty negative and I agree with your low score. I found the academy lukewarm at best and as an experienced freelancer, I was disappointed. However, I joined for the jobs. I went big and paid almost $1000. I gave it a really good go and applied to every job I could, but most of them required local US knowledge and I’m based in Europe. Many of the jobs are expired. As I say, I gave it a good go and eventually asked them if I could have a refund or partial refund. I’d missed the 30-day money-back guarantee (of which I’m skeptical) and I was told so in no uncertain terms. Nobody suggested that I could perhaps change my subscription to the six-month option. It dawned on me some time later that I could ask for that. I got some feeble excuse that it was already four months in, so no go. When I questioned that, I got no response. I’ve tried contacting Kevin himself on his email address and on a forum – nothing.
As I say: wishy-washy ‘academy’ (you’ll find that info free on various blogs), the feedback I got was not at all constructive and very thin, the jobs are mostly US-based (which works for some, but they’re also listed free elsewhere) if they’re still current. And the post-sale service is abominable. I doubt this company will last. I feel seriously scammed.
Hi Yule,
Sorry to hear that you are having issues, please email me directly – would love to see how we can make things right!
We do have a 30 day window for our guarantee and it sounds like you were outside that window by quite a bit. Many of our members absolutely love our materials and find the resources and Academy extremely valuable – https://www.contena.co/winning
Regards,
Kevin Fleming
Contena
I totally agree with Yule and Bridget. I had similar problems about them not honouring a discount (i too had to follow them up), and my experience has been that many of the jobs are actually expired.
This site simply aggregates existing jobs that are available on the internet. I also concur that their customer service isn’t great.
Overall, I find this service to be a waste of money and scammy. I work in marketing, and most subscriptions give you a money back guarantee… no questions asked. I think it’s dodgy that they will only give your money back if you complete the worksheets. I wasn’t interested in doing the course work… I have been working as a writer for years. And given the fact that you can’t actually see the job specs before joining… they should give you a chance to back out if you see the jobs are not up to par. i.e. are expired or aren’t actually remote jobs… which I discovered on many occasions.
I had a feeling that this was a case of “too good to be true” before joining… I should have listened to my gut!
we are in 2018 now and why is it that all the “good” stories about Contena are from previous years and not recently. i am from South Africa, and i do not see any testimonies from any of African countries and i thought this is global. An assurance will help just to calm one’s skepticism.
Thanks
I was a member of Contena for a while and never landed one job from the site. I’ve written for many years and have been able to obtain my own freelance writing gigs. I did get very quick responses from my coach and really liked how the job postings were easy to sift through but, I’ve also admittedly found free sites to be just as fruitful. I noticed in another review that someone mentioned the job postings on Contena to be 100% remote but I would not say this is true. I had a couple of prospects reject me because I did not live near their office locations. This is not a fault of Contena but, I thought it was worth a mention. I’m not suggesting that one should or should not join. I am merely sharing my own experiences so take it for what you will. I hope they succeed because I do feel they are onto something that could be very fruitful if approached in the right way.