Focus Groups: A high payout alternate source of income

While I'm a strong advocate of survey sites and other methods of earning income on the side, I've got to give it up to the focus groups as one of the best hourly rates available for just giving your opinion. Many of these panels pay from $50-$100/hour just for sitting around a table with others, listening to a presentation, and then giving your feedback. They typically last from 30 minutes to 2 hours and you are paid upon completion. Not a bad gig huh?

The only big downside to these panels is that they aren't offered anywhere near as often as many other money-making opportunities (I've noticed an average of 1-3 per month in the metro DC area), but other than that it's something not to overlook. Many people don't know about these panels, so your odds of being accepted are pretty good.

So how do you find out about these panels?

Well, I'm only hip to what my friend told me about so far, and that's by checking on Craigslist.org for your local area. If you click on the "Gigs" section on the bottom right of the page, you can then search for open focus groups that are listed. Some phrases I use to find them are "focus group" and "panel", they seem to catch everyone that is currently available.

As an example, you can see what "focus group" brings up in the search results for the DC metropolitan area here.

They're usually held over the weekend, but you won't know until you get in contact with the group hosting them. So give it a shot, nothing beats walking out of a room on a lazy Saturday after an hour with $100 in hand.