I quit my 9 to 5 retail job and now make $2,845 a month – it’s all about a ‘group’ side hustle, now I teach others

AN entrepreneur made a lot of money by investing time in an easy and interactive side hustle, which he later turned into a business.

The focus group hustle earns him an extra $3,000 a month, and all you need to get started is a computer and an opinion.

Big brands conduct paid consumer studies, or focus groups, to gather information about opinions about their products, services or advertisements.

Filipe, a 30-year-old entrepreneur, began participating in online focus groups in 2020 after seeing a friend’s Instagram post about the need for research participants, for Business Insider.

“I had no idea what it was, but I clicked on the link and filled out the survey,” said Filipe.

Two days later, he received a call from a recruiter who confirmed his answers and shared more about the survey.

“It would be about social media, and I would get paid $175 for spending 90 minutes on a Zoom call,” he said, noting that he participated along with four other people and a moderator.

“The conversation flew by and honestly, it just felt like a normal social media-oriented chat.”

Two weeks later, Filipe received a check in the mail for $175.

“While it didn’t necessarily sound like a scam, I wondered how and why I would get paid to do something as fun as sharing my opinion on a specific topic,” he said.

MAKE IT RAIN

Filipe ended up leaving his job as a store manager in search of more flexibility and freedom.

He started looking for ways to make money through side hustles and returned to focus groups.

The entrepreneur shared that he also tried side hustles like e-commerce, DoorDash and Shipt, but “they didn’t think it was worth it.”

“I realized that I was consistently making $2,000 to $3,000 a month just from focus groups, so I ended up transitioning to just focusing on doing focus groups,” Filipe said.

He shared that individual and group interviews varied in length, from just 10 or 20 minutes to an entire day.

He noted that the average pay rate was $150 for 90 minutes.

“The benchmark I’ve set for deciding whether it’s worth participating in a focus group is generally at least $50 for 30 minutes to an hour,” he said.

Tips for Focus Groups

Felipe shared some tips on how to tackle focus groups as a side hustle:

1. Apply as many as possible – try at least 10 to 15 per day. The more you apply, the more you reserve.
2. Search terms like “focus groups near me” or “taste tests near me” on Google, Craigslist, and social media.
3. Be aware of scams. Make sure sites share the incentive amount and avoid those with an unusually high rate, like $750 per hour.
4. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t receive a response. Focus groups have specific criteria to meet and some may take weeks to get back to you.
5. Once you start making reservations, use a spreadsheet to keep track of study dates and when payment is due.

From November 2023 to April this year, Filipe earned an average of US$2,845 per month.

Participants can be paid in a variety of ways, including Visa virtual gift cards, direct deposits, personal checks, cash, PayPal, mailed checks, Zelle, and Amazon gift cards.

Filipe shared that he tracks his focus groups in a spreadsheet to help visualize how much he earns monthly and his budget.

He said one of the coolest focus groups he participated in was a four-part food study, the last part of which involved a fully paid trip to Chicago.

Filipe ended up turning his side hustle into a business, teaching other people how to profit from focus groups.

Others made a lot of money from easy activities.

A person makes $500 a day from a simple mailbox move – you only need $60, two small tools and your hands to get started.

Another earns $2,100 a week with a trash can side move — it only takes 20 minutes and all you need is a hose.