It is not a pleasant thing to do but I could not live with myself if I didn't.

On this and other networks I had several encounters with newbies that were using the chat messenger or a message to ask my advice to earn money quick. Some even used the messenger to say 'Hi" followed by a links and 'please join'.

My response is normally that using the chat to send offers to people you do not know is not professional and that they will accomplish nothing.

If they have not switched me off by than I refer to the importance of branding your self and building connections with others and sometime I refer them to articles that might help them.

I some cases they told me personal things like they needed money desperately and fast for a sick family member, facing the fact they must sell their home, and other sad stories. Many of them said they were posting links all day and did not make any sales.

I really feel sorry for people in such desperate situations.

In those cases I tell them what they probably do not want to hear, that it takes 2-3 years of hard work to build a business for free from scratch and earn decent money from it.

My advice to them is: use your online time to find a regular job. And to use their spare time to start educating themselves in on-line marketing and to start building their network if they are really determent to earn a living on-line.