I Made Some Cash- Volume 4; Coffee Talk
Posted by michelle on Mar 15, 2012 in Making Money | 28 comments
Like Two Sticks Of Buttah
Lately, my husband and I have been really good at qualifying for paid surveys. In the past few months, Jeff and I made $30 plus diapers for a 5-minute phone call, $125 to video-tape our family eating breakfast, $75 for reviewing a few songs, $75 to give my opinion on paper products, $30 to taste margaritas, and most recently–$300 for talking about coffee. Yep, coffee.
The marketing researchers for the coffee study arrived at our home promptly at 7:00pm ready to ask us everything we know about coffee. They videotaped our responses and took notes as well. After an hour and a half of chatting about delicious, caffeinated beverages, they handed us an envelope with $300 inside. It was the easiest money either of us had ever made!
My good friend has also been trying to get into paid surveys, but has not had as much success in qualifying. She asked for some pointers. I gave her the names and email addresses of all the surveying companies with whom we’d had success. In doing so, it turned out that she had already signed up with most of the companies I listed, so I told her everything that we did to qualify for each survey.
1.) We had an answer for every question. Don’t say “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” even if it’s available. They’re paying you for your opinion, aren’t they? So, give it to them! Be assertive and don’t waffle in your opinions. Go with the first thing off the top of your head. Any answer is better than “I’m not sure.”
2.) Tell them everything you know about the product or service. If you know a lot about something, you’re more likely to get picked. You might know a lot about a product but be too shy to speak up. If you do, they might just assume you know very little and not pick you.
3.) Update your profile. On most paid survey sites, there’s an option to post/update a profile. The more they know about your life, the more studies you will qualify for. Update if you get a new pet or if your family gets a little bigger. There seem to be a lot of surveys about pets and babies!
4.) Be honest. In the coffee study, for example, I told them that I was still breastfeeding and therefore only drink one cup per day, and not even everyday! I think people can tell when you’re honest. Also, it just feels better to make a little money knowing you did so with a clean conscience. I would feel awful spending money that I earned by telling big, fat whoppers.
5.) Be persistent, but don’t get discouraged. You will not qualify for 95% of the surveys out there. They’re looking to meet a quota, be it a particular age group, gender, race, or other trait you have no control over. Also, you will occasionally qualify for a study, only to be called a few days later and told you are no longer needed. This happened to me for a $250 survey about baby products. I qualified, was told I would be in the study, and then was called a few days later to say that they had met their quota for 30-something females. Sure, it was disappointing, but that’s just how paid surveys go sometimes.
Happy Hunting!
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That is some IMPRESSIVE cash! Good for you guys!
It’s nice to see proven examples of people that can make some extra money when they need/want to!
Congrats on getting below 200k by the way!! Yippee!
Thanks, Jason! We have been lucky with the surveys lately, but also we’ve been trying a lot harder. I think all but one of the surveys I listed were completed in the past 2 months. That’s when we really started cracking down on this debt.
I REALLLLLLLY can’t wait until all of our debt is gone. It drives me bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
Sorry…that song gets stuck in my head sometimes and I just thought I’d share part of it with you. lol. Dumb, catchy thing.
That’s okay. I love me some bananas. And debt reduction.
Congratulations! So many of my friends have complained about how they tried, but didn’t qualify for paid surveys. In fact, I’ve applied for a few of them myself over the year, but with no success. Fortunately, I was able to do many mystery shops. Thank you for compiling such a complete list of things that you did to be successful. Maybe I’ll go back, and try again.
Anthony, you can put a lot of work into it. That’s for sure. Like I said, we only qualify for 5% of the surveys we try to get into. Yes, it looks like we get into a lot, but trust me–there were many that said no!
Mystery shopping is something I’ve been curious about, but never tried to do. Have you ever written about that? I’d love to hear about your experience!
Actually, I never have, but I just I should.
Wow good job! I’ve been doing surveys and it’s nice money and I love free stuff
Thanks, Michelle! Free money is the best kind!
I never tried answering surveys. Do you think its worth the time given you need to alwasy look for new surveys and apply quickly, so you need to be vigilent always, isn’t it?
I will spend maybe 20-30 minutes a week looking for and applying for paid surveys, so it has definitely been worth our time so far. I do think timeliness helps as they are looking to meet a quota of certain demographics. If you’re 30-something, make an average salary, own your home, are married with kids…like me!…you will want to be quick as that demographic is so broad and fills up faster than, say, someone who’s under 20, makes a boatload of money, etc.
You’ve inspired me to look into survey-taking options; keep up the great work!
My intent exactly! Anyone can be successful at this stuff. All you need is an opinion
Thanks so much for reading!
I recently made about $20 for a 30 minute phone interview. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t like I was busy doing anything else, so I thought why not.
*like!*
I did a survey once, took 5 minutes online, and the company mailed me a $10 bill, no strings attached. It was awesome! After reading your post, I’m definitely going to try to get back into the survey thing!! Good job on making so much!
Thanks! You should try….can’t hurt.
Now, this is what I call entrepreneurial spirit. We live in a great nation, and no one should ever complain about lack of opportunities. I applaud you for your persistence!
Thanks for the nice compliment, Shilpan. You are right about opportunities. You just have to be willing to put forth a little bit of effort.
The money you’re generating with these survey is very impressive! I’m a little apprehensive about the video though. Do you know how it’s being used? Do you have to give them permission to use it for anything?
We were told the videos weren’t going to be shared or posted on the internet or anything, and were only going to be used to show the clients (the manufacturers of the products we were talking about). I don’t have a problem with that at all, but I’m sure there are some people that would. For me, the video camera just meant I was going to ham it up even more
If that’s all it’s use for, I wouldn’t mind. Do they provide that guarantee in writing?
We did sign something saying that. I don’t have a copy of it, but I’m honestly not worried about it. I wonder if that’s why we get into some surveys, though. They ask if we care about being taped or photographed and we don’t. I bet a lot of people would.
$300 for a survey! That’s great! Great use of time! You two must also fit the “average joe” grade! I’ve done it one time – sat in a room to talk about cars. I think i got $20 for one hourl I feel ripped off!
Ha! You were definitely ripped off. You should have negotiated for a raise.
)
The coffee survey was $150 pp, but my husband and I did it together, as we both qualified.
Hey, awesome post. As I am beginning my blogging for money journey to have a full time living from it, I am always looking for ways to make extra money but didn’t think that the surveys actually paid anything because of bitter past experiences. I’m gonna try it out and probably make my own post on it later. Thanks for the advice and love your style of writing
Jeremiah Brown
http://financeyoga.com
Thanks, Jeremiah. Blogging full time for a living? I have to figure out how to do this! Thanks for the comment. I will definitely check out your blog as I love both finance And yoga!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your $300 experience. It is so inspiring. Updating of profile is indeed a crucial aspect to be successful on taking surveys. I learned that aside from major life events such as pregnancy, it is also the best time to do it after you buy a new significant or trendy product.. a car, a smartphone or 3D HDTV perhaps.