How I Made $150 In Less Than An Hour & You Can Too!
I already know what you’re thinking when you read that title, ‘Here comes another one of those get rich quick scams.’ I don’t blame you. Most titles that begin the way tend to lead to some ebook or sales page. But what I’m about to reveal to you is totally legitimate and involves nothing more than speaking your mind. No I haven’t lost mine! Just be patient.
As consumers we’re inundated with products. Some are more useful than others. The ones that are useful come about because the business did something smart and actually asked its customers what they wanted! Wow what a freaking novel idea? But I digress.
As much as I like helping people I’m not all that motivated to help big companies. After-all they have zillions of dollars that they ain’t sharing with me. Or are they? I recently made $150 by talking to a nice woman about a survey she was preparing for a huge financial company. I was sworn to secrecy so I can’t provide the company’s name. But I’ll say this, it’s one of those fortune 100 companies that have more money than you and I can ever imagine in this lifetime. This huge company was planning to survey its customers about various topics related to its service. But before sending out that survey, they wanted to ensure that it would be easy to complete. I guess they figured, " if we’re going to spend all this money creating and sending this survey, we better make sure that people will be inclined to fill it out." I don’t know about you, but this makes total sense to me.
So how did they go about getting feedback about the survey from their customers before actually sending it out? Naturally they decided that they would only ask a small number of them first which luckily for me lead to $150 in my pocket. And I promise if you keep reading, it may lead to the same for you.
So let’s examine how a small business gets feedback about its services verses a big business that has money to burn for fun.
With a small mom and pop shop, the owners may approach the situation like this:
Small Business Store Owner: "Hey Jim, Would you like a cup of coffee with your donut today?
Jim: "Sure Tom, I could use a quick bite."
Small Business Store Owner: "Here you go Jim. Hey do you have 5 minutes? I wanted to ask your quick opinion about a new item we’re adding to the menu?"
Jim: "Come on Tom, you know I always have some free time for ya!"
Now here’s how a big business with a zillion dollars approaches a similar situation:
Big Business With A "Zillion" Dollars: "Hey research department, I need the feedback of 100 of my customers on a survey we’ve just created. I needed this information yesterday so make it snappy!"
Research Department: "Do you need a specific group of people?"
Big Business With A "Zillion" Dollars: "Yes, I need men and women, age 30-50 that have purchased from us in the last month."
Research Department: "No problem. "How much should we pay them?"
Big Business With A "Zillion" Dollars: "Just give them our loose pocket change. $150 per person is fine. But I need them to stay for at least an hour or so."
Research Department: "No problem boss!"
Big Business With A "Zillion" Dollars: "Report your findings to me as soon as you can. I’ll be in my pool of $100 dollar bills practicing my breast stroke."
Research Department: "Will do!"
Okay, I know I oversimplified the process and hopefully made it entertaining for you. But this scenario I laid out happens with many big companies. Good companies want to make great products and services that their customers will buy. They don’t do this by looking into a crystal ball or calling Ms Cleo’s psychic line to figure this out. They go straight to the source, you the customer.
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Fortunately for us, they are willing to pay for this feedback because it is extremely valuable to them in the long run. If a company conducts a focus group and learns that most of its customers like red phones. Guess what’s going to happen in a few weeks or months? They’re going to start selling red phones. If their research proves to be correct, then many others should want to buy red phones. Thus the company should make a "zillion" more dollars on a research investment that cost them a mere few hundred thousand. Sweet deal for them but more importantly for you that gets paid to tell them what they should be doing! How empowering is that?
This whole process basically sums up market research or better known as focus groups. It’s similar to paid online surveys but you get paid way more with focus groups. Focus groups also tend to be in person and usually involve sharing your views with other people. However I’ve done a few from the comfort of my home or in a one and one basis like the focus group I did today. Although the money is great, these things are tons of fun. I’ve done some really cool focus groups where where I got paid to eat cake, drink beer and watch TV. But again money has always been a factor for me. The best I’ve done is when I got paid close to $1000 just to monitor how I used my credit card and keeping a journal for a week. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it right now. 
So How Do I Find Focus Groups & Get Paid?
Well as usual, I’ve done all the work for you and we list them for FREE at our parent site www.WorkAtHomeCareers.com/focusgroups, we also provide you with some tips on how to make some consistent money with them. So if you have an opinion and I know you do! Or if you’re tired of paid online surveys that ONLY pay you pennies for your thoughts. Then move up to the big boys and get in a focus group! They’re totally free and they pay in hard cash, my favorite currency!
Speaking of opinions, what did you think of this article? Please leave your feedback below. I ain’t rich so I’m not paying you for it. But I’ll send you a thank you note and continue to deliver more tips on making money at home!
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January 13th, 2008 at 10:19 pm |
January 13th, 2008 at 10:49 pm |
January 15th, 2008 at 6:19 pm |
January 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm |
Thanks for your comments. Always happy to share different ways to help people make money at home. I’m glad you appreciate it.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm |
January 15th, 2008 at 8:52 pm |
I emailed you some information. However in terms of your comments about surveys, I think you’ve probably run into companies that have charged you to get a survey list. We list them for free here: http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/12/13/top-5-paid-online-survey-websites/ They do work and I have been paid many times by the ones listed there.
They may not pay a lot but they do work. Focus groups on the other hand pay way more. So I wouldn’t jump into any conclusions quite yet.
Thanks.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:27 am |
January 16th, 2008 at 11:49 am |
Thanks for your comments. First and foremost congratulations on actually landing a work at home job. That should be an inspiration to many others on this website.
Have you considered medical transcription instead of regular typing? There are tons of medical transcription jobs available. You just need to get some training though.
We commented about this in another post. But here’s the info again: “you can find tons of transcription jobs on your own after you’ve been trained at www.WorkAtHomeCareers.com/workathomejobs. Just do a search for medical transcription. We list those jobs nearly every day because there are so many of them unlike regular typing and data entry jobs.
In terms of training you can find some free information at:
www.meditec.com/free-training.html”
In terms of filling out forms I did fusion cash for a while. I made some good money with it I did a mixture of free and paid forms. http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/08/27/is-fusion-cash-fusioncashcom-a-scam/
I hope this helps.
Eddy
January 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pm |
January 21st, 2008 at 8:27 pm |
Thanks for the compliments and your comments. I hope to see you back on the site a lot!
Medical Transcription is definitely the way to go considering your background.
By the way you can find legitimate companies hiring work at home seekers listed on the following page:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/work-from-home-companies/
I hope this helps.
Eddy
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm |
In a world containing a lot of people trying to make a quick buck, it is so appreciating to see a handful of people trying to help others with no personal gain, I pray that God will bless and increase you for this.
I am also in the process of looking for a business I can settle at home, I am a Christian minister, recent business graduate, love computers, love to talk about Jesus, good at customer relations, fairly good at typing, love food, cars, spend a lot of time online…
I looking into doing something on my own, so I can spend more time doing outreaches and helping others.
Please feel free to advice and comment.
JR
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 am |
Thanks for your kind words and comments. It means a lot to me coming from a minister. My efforts are truly inspired by my faith as cheesy as that may sound. I think it’s very important for everyone to help each other out whatever your faith or creed may be. And that’s what we try to do here on this blog and my other sites.
Now in terms of your question. First and foremost let me applaud you on the fact you’re open to a work at home business. Too often people are limiting themselves to work at home jobs which are so competitive. So applaud your direction.
Honestly I think the best business is to run your own website. I’ve tried so many different ways to make money at home and running my sites has proven to be the best and fullfilling.
You need to find something you’re very passionate about and start a website around it. It’s easy to do using blogger.com, wordpress.com or googlepages.com
Honestly my passion was work at home and making money from home so I started two websites about that. And as you can see all I’m doing is sharing my points of view, giving tips and providing resources I feel can help folks out.
I monetize my site with advertisers and that’s how I earn a living. For some it may be a matter of selling something. So that’s my suggestion start a site on something you love and write like crazy.
Then include links to your site in your emails, blog comments like this one, forums, message boards, etc. As you make some money then invest in some advertising.
So that’s my high level suggestion. I know this can work because I’ve consulted friends, co-workers and clients to do the same. All of them have earned money doing what I’m suggesting. Not everyone has been fortunate enough to earn a full living with it yet! But they’re all making some income.
And they all have no marketing background. So trust me it can be done.
I hope this provides you with some ideas.
Eddy
January 27th, 2008 at 4:01 pm |
January 27th, 2008 at 8:12 pm |
No thank you just for stopping by and leaving that comment. It really makes us feel good when we hear our efforts are not in vain.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:13 am |
January 28th, 2008 at 3:25 pm |
Thanks for sharing this information with us. Very helpful indeed, and I was particularly amused at the way you presented the big business scenario, of getting a survey done.
Though I have never really participated in surveys and have not tried it yet, I work at home as well.. by providing services online like traffic generation, optimization, etc. But I have not yet made $150 in less than an hour though and that got me thinking, maybe I’m in the wrong gig.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:34 pm |
Thanks for your comments. I’m glad you found the article amusing but more importantly it got you thinking of some alternate ways of making money.
I’m also in the business of helping people get traffic via Search engine optimization and providing website monetization strategies. But as you can tell I also make it a point to find other fun ways to make money on the side. Focus groups has definitely been one of them!
So hopefully you’ll experience them as well.
Hope to see you back on the site real soon.
Eddy
January 28th, 2008 at 8:00 pm |
Just want to say how wonderful your blogs are. I enjoy them very much. Keep them coming. I love all of the focus groups that you have listed and I have signed up already. A big thank you for your hard work.
Charlene
January 28th, 2008 at 8:08 pm |
Always a pleasure to hear from you. Thanks again for the kind words! I can’t wait to hear back from you on your first focus group. You’re going to love it!
Actually my wife is at one right now. But it’s only paying $120.
Boo hooo for her. lol
Eddy
January 30th, 2008 at 1:11 am |
I am a sahm hoping to find a typing only type WAH job.. I have a 2 year old and talking on the phone does not work… unless they would allow HIM to talk… I might make quiet a few sales that way LOL.
Anyways. Thank you so much again!! While I have you… do you know of any Free or basically free training sites? I dont have a degree in anything and would love to have something positive to put on my resume…. Any info would be appreciated!!
Ty again!
January 30th, 2008 at 1:37 am |
January 30th, 2008 at 1:45 am |
Thanks for your wonderful comments. I’m glad you’re actually saving the information and are going to apply it. Taking action is the best thing in trying to secure work at home.
Free training is tough. It depends on what you what training on?
But training is like college and most of the time you have to pay for it. But it may be a tax write off at the end of the year for you in which case it’s like getting the money back. But you should talk to your cpa about that.
Hope to see you on the site again.
Eddy
January 30th, 2008 at 10:28 am |
I really want to work from home, but free, as earlier I had paid the fees, I get a CD which is not very simple to understand and then they ask for more fees.
So, if you can still help and guide me and I am really able to work from home and earn real money,
it will be really great. GOD BLESS U!
Kamini
January 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am |
Thanks for your comments. I think what’s happening is when you visit the pages I send you’re clicking on the ads and not reading the articles fully. In the articles I write I make it very clear what I personally recommend and it’s usually free. So I encourage you to visit the links I sent you again without clicking on any links until reading the whole article completely which will then make it clear where I’m sending you.
Since you live in India, here are some places you should visit first: www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/12/21/international-work-at-home-jobs/
www.workathomecareers.com/international
I hope this clarifies everything for you.
Eddy
March 4th, 2008 at 2:20 pm |
March 4th, 2008 at 4:08 pm |
I would say 1. try the opportunity you just read about which is focus groups. No brainer there. It’s easy money and usually takes place in the evening.
2. Visit our articles page we list a lot of opportunities there that you should go and do if you’re serious about working at home part time.
www.workathomecareers.com/articles
In terms of your actual skill set. There isn’t anything I can think of which could be applied to working at home. However I would probably suggest freelancing on craigslist.com and offering your services there on the weekends or evenings. I’m sure you would get a lot of calls. Lord knows I’ve been looking for an electrician to add a light fixture to two of my bedrooms here in White Plains, NY and have yet to find one. Home Depot and Lowes were useless in that regard.
Freelancing is not exactly working at home but you could make some extra money on the side using your skills.
I hope that helps somewhat.
Eddy
March 8th, 2008 at 12:27 pm |
March 18th, 2008 at 10:10 am |
I just finished your blog about focus groups. I’m signing up.
My experience with surveys hasn’t worked out too well. I have registered with a lot of them and answered tons of the surveys and so far not a single red cent. Grrrr! I think I will give up on them.
On a lighter note, your are giving many people ideas to check out that we can get closer to a home job.
Keep up the good work.
Ginny
March 18th, 2008 at 6:43 pm |
Great to hear from you again! I knew you were not a big fan of surveys when I read your comment about my video on mysurvey. lol
Focus groups are way better than surveys since they pay a lot more. But you’ll have to leave the comfort of your home for an hour or two. But it will be worth it when you have that cold hard cash in your hand after an hour of just giving your two cents.
I am curios what survey companies have you joined? Mysurvey and pineconeresearch have always made me cash. Stay away from sites like erewards and crap like that. They don’t pay cash. So it may be the companies you’re using.
But honestly paid online surveys don’t make you huge amounts of money unless you do what I’ve suggested in my survey video:
www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/03/10/if-you-dont-work-for-this-company-youll-kick-yourself-later/
In any event, thanks for the acknowledgment about my efforts to help you guys work at home. I really am trying to give you all your options. There are plenty of sites like ours that offer work at home jobs. But I think it’s really important that you all are aware that there are other options that are less traveled and discussed.
So thanks for being open to them.
Eddy
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am |
April 30th, 2008 at 11:25 am |
April 30th, 2008 at 6:48 pm |
Welcome to our little hole in the wall. I’m happy you’re enjoying our site. We’re just trying to do our part to help people make money and avoid scams. So I’m happy you appreciate the effort being put forth.
In any event I hope you become a member of our family:
www.workathomenoscams.com/subscribe
By the way if you really want to get a good feel of our blog, be sure to check out the articles section:
www.workathomenoscams.com/articles
You’ll learn a lot there.
Don’t be stranger! =)
Eddy
(Fellow NY’er, Former Manhattan Commuter)
May 5th, 2008 at 8:44 am |
May 5th, 2008 at 4:07 pm |
We’re trying our best to help more people like yourself work at home. So I’m happy you appreciate the effort.
Eddy