So, I'm getting paid $50 to talk about cosmetics next week...

[eyesroll]

I'm registered with a local market-research company, and occasionally I do focus groups. (Hey, other people have my demographic info in their databases for free -- I get paid for this one.)
This coming Tuesday ... hoo boy this one's going to be fascinating.

I'm going to be talking about make-up. I have to bring everything I use regularly on my face (which is almost nothing) and chat with a group of "girs 21 - 28" (her words) about make-up, and try samples. This will take about an hour and a half.

I do not give a rat's behind about cosmetics. I wear them when I have to -- weddings, conventions, my editor photo. (Apparently, having purchased one or more packages of pressed or loose powder in the last 6 months qualifies me.) I will likely be the oldest "girl" in the group (I'm 28, right at the top of their cutoff).

This should be interesting.

[flamingyouth]

1. I do focus groups too

Just last week I got $150 and some free software (none of which interested me, so I gave it away) from Microsoft to talk about some stupid small-business software that I'd never use. I would love to be paid to talk about and try makeup, personally! :)

[Lou_C]

2. I love doing focus groups

Have you ever been put on the list as and extra person just in case someone doesn't show up and they pay you for just coming in?

I once went to a 2 hour focus group on Computers and they paid me $175.00 dollars and it was so boring that I nodded off a few times.
They also fed us at that focus group and it was good food.

[mike_c]

3. just how does one go about getting a gig like that...?

?????

[dolo amber]

4. Yeah, no kidding!

Hook a sista up! :D

[Lou_C]

5. Look up Marketing and Research Companies in your area

Call them and ask them to put you in their data base for surveys.

[eyesroll]

6. The next time the people with the clipboards interrupt you at the mall...

Ask them if they do focus groups, too. If they do, they will be more than happy to put you on the list.

My mom used to work for a market-research firm, so I wasn't able to do many surveys until she retired (they usually disqualify you if an immediate family member works in advertising, market research or in the field they're trying to survey).But since then, I've done some of the quick surveys, and gotten $10 to eat candy; $15 to recite all of the brands of booze I could. (That one was amusing -- when she got to tequila I was able to recite a whole bunch of them, and the lady couldn't keep up -- her sheet only had Cuervo and the like on it. At the end, she asked the standard demographic questions -- age, race, income -- and also asked about sexual orientation, which is never, ever asked unless that's actually why they did the survey. I did get it out of her -- they were figuring out whether gay men and lesbians recognize different brands from heterosexual people so they could target their marketing.)

The most lucrative one I've done was $80 for two hours talking about current events for what turned out to be an environmental issues group. And we got food, too.

But the absolute best ones (money-wise) are the ones that involve more intimate things -- my mom's company once paid $200 to women who were willing to get measured (for a clothing company), and $150 to women to spend an hour discussing tampons. Since there is almost nothing that embarrasses me in front of strangers, I would have been happy to do it, but I got disqualified because of my mom.

There also are longer-term ones that pay well because they require a time investment beyond the hour or two for the group -- use a cleaning product in your house for two weeks, or try out a salad dressing at a dinner, for instance. (I disqualify myself from all of the cleaning surveys because of my job, even though the survey people generally don't consider me to have a conflict of interest.)