Scott Denne

Do you wear a size 11 shoe? If so Cambridge Focus might pay you $20 to come in and try on prototypes for Converse. That’s what Dave Schwab, 25, does once a week.

“I spend five minutes trying on shoes and then tell them how they fit,” says Schwab.

Finally, corporate America is giving something back to the community. In Boston, opportunities are plentiful to make extra money from market research, mystery shopping, and medical testing.

“Working without work, it’s the American dream,” says Schwab.

These forms of eclectic employment may not be enough to keep you from having to get a “real” job, but they can help you avoid working 40 hours a week.

Focus groups vary in pay, but most offer around $75 to $100, says Schwab. Although the pay is good for the amount of time you put into it, they are rarely fun.

“You sit there really awkward, with random, nerdy, poor guys and talk about weird things like body spray or how this bottle makes you feel when you look at it,” says Schwab.

Schwab’s main resource for focus groups and market research opportunities is Craigslist, which he searches “top to bottom” especially the etc. category.

You can also go online and find market research companies in your area and enter yourself into their database, says Anthony Carpinelli, 43, who will be giving a seminar at Brookline High School on April 6, entitled “How to Turn Your Spare Time into Cash.” Carpinelli has been teaching such seminars for the last 13 years and finding eclectic employment for even longer.

The best part of these jobs is that they are looking for everyone and no one in particular. Their ads don’t use dirty words like “3-5 years experience”. Every one is eligible for some focus group.

“There’s so much of this research going on that eventually you fit their parameters,” says Carpinelli.

Beware: Eventually the work will dry up if you use it too much.

“If they start to know you, you’re finished. These companies want a random sample not professional focus groupers,” says Schwab, who has “worn out his welcome” in the focus group circuit in Boston, but has already begun checking Craigslist in Chicago, where he will soon be moving. “There are even more focus groups there.”

If you would like a more consistent form of work, you could try being a mystery shopper. Unlike focus groups, excessive participation is rewarded rather than punished.

“The more lucrative shops are usually reserved for the most experienced people,” says Carpinelli.

A good place to look for these jobs is at the Mystery Shopping Providers Association website or at www.volition.com, which is a great resource for odd jobs in general.

But mystery shopping may not be what you think it is.

“It’s really a growing field with lots of misconceptions. People have these visions of walking out of Copley Place with bags full of merchandise,” says Carpinelli, “but lots of times you have to return what you bought. Your pay is a certain amount of compensation plus free meals and services.”

The most appealing part of mystery shopping, says Carpinelli, is that you are not obligated to take all the jobs offered.

“If you find a gig that is more lucrative you can do less of them and pick it up again when you have more time,” he says.

For those who are willing to go that extra mile to make a buck there is the option of participating in medical research. The downside to this is that the highest paying tests tend to be the most invasive, says Carpinelli.

“Medical studies that pay decently usually involve blood work or taking medications, which I am not willing to do,” says Schwab.

Recently Schwab participated in a study at Harvard. “They made me watch ‘My Name is Earl’ and some other crappy show,” says Schwab.“They had me wear this vest directly on my skin. They wanted to measure something about attention, I think.” The study paid only $25 for about an hour of his time.

But not all medical testing is about financial gain. Many are linked to particular conditions, so you can get paid and treated. “A win-win situation,” says Carpinelli.

Then there is the holy grail of medical research: food studies.

They pay well because it is time consuming to go pick up your food from them. You also don’t have to buy food while you are participating in the study, says Carpinelli, who has never been in one but has friends who have.

Medical studies are regularly posted on fliers around town and on Craigslist, but you can also find them on RSVP for health, a website from Partners Health Care System, which includes Mass General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals.

Unfortunately your father was right, and there is no such thing as a free ride. These jobs themselves may not be much work, but finding them can be. You have to know where to look and a certain amount of consistent effort is necessary to find them.

“You’ve got to be diligent if you want the cheddar,” says Schwab.

Scott Denne can be reached at sdenne@theoysteronline.com

04/05/2006   |   Permalink