Make $75 Quick and Easy

Tonight I am going to be a part of a focus group here at the Holiday Inn in lovely Terre Haute. I will be paid $75 for giving my views for a couple of hours on whatever or whoever is paying Herron Associates for market research. To me, I love to share my opinions and would probably do it for free. This is a great gig. A coworker at the school where I used to work put me in contact with this research company. In the past 5 years, I have probably made $750. Periodically they call me up to see if a qualify for their study and sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. All it costs me is time. You can sign up to become part of their potential pool of panelists. Herron Associates is located in Indianapolis and I believe you would have more of an opportunity if you lived there.

My first time, I was part of a "pretend jury". The unknown company's lawyers argued their case and wanted to know our opinions based on the information presented. It was fascinating to me as they were quizzing us down to the detail of what terminology to use. About eight months later, I read in the newspaper about a trial involving Allstate Insurance and the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer parts in automobile repairs. Allstate lost and it cost them plenty (BIG BUCKS).

Another time, a group of three individuals drove over from Ohio to go with me on a tour of my local grocery (Kroger) store's coffee aisle. Then we spent 45 minutes at my favorite local coffee house (Java Haute). Finally we ended back at my house where they took photos of my coffee pot and videotaped my response to various print ads and online commercials. The whole thing took about 3 hours and I got $175. Come to find out, the company was Folger's and I was very disparaging about the black plastic lids on the then new plastic cans for holding coffee. I told them they looked dirty and dusty sitting on the shelves even though they were brand new. I think I am responsible for them changing the color of the lids to a gold color.

One of the print ads also made me laugh so hard. I KNOW I will never see it in a magazine. The ad depicted a woman early in the morning, bathed in sunshine, perched precariously on a stack of rocks next to a deep ravine. I believe I was suppose to think "I'm the Queen of the World" like the image on the bow of the Titanic but that is not what I saw. Along with the print copy, I immediately thought "She is going to jump and commit suicide because drinking Folger's coffee in the morning has given her the courage." This was not the response they were hoping to invoke.

So being a part of the focus group tonight is especially important to me as we are working on usability testing for the Mooresville Public Library. I am going to concentrate on thinking about the what and the why they are asking certain questions in addition to answering them. Should be good research for me with the great added side benefit of getting paid. Life is good.



The government has a fantastic website guide about creating a usable and useful websites. The above flowchart is from there. I think my group is in the "Test and Refine" section.