Yaneek Page | Earning hard currency for your opinion

QUESTION: I am an aspiring entrepreneur, but financially and mentally, I am not ready to start a business yet. I have followed your column for a while now, and I learned from what you said when you wrote that being an entrepreneur takes great mental fortitude. I’ve seen relatives and friends have near mental breakdowns from the stress of running a business in this pandemic, so it’s a no from me for now.

But I am struggling monetary-wise in my current employment, so I need some kind of easy and fast side hustle where I can earn US dollars until I am ready to launch on my own. I remember once you shared some sites where people can get paid for completing surveys. I have been looking for your post about it but can’t find it. I just want to know if this is still a real thing and if you could please share any information on being successful or shortcuts to making money.

– Shawna

BUSINESSWISE: I was happy to receive your question because it gave me an opportunity to explore in greater depth these websites that promise to pay you to complete surveys.

You are correct. Previously, I had come across these opportunities and shared with the public on my social media pages, which is likely where you saw the post. However, before now, I had never tested any of these sites for myself. You would be happy to know that for this article, I invested eight weeks in hands-on research by signing up on various websites that promised to pay not only for me to complete surveys, but also for my opinion. I also asked several colleagues to join me in the testing by also signing up so you and my other readers could enjoy the benefit of wider perspectives.

At the end of the eight weeks, considering my experience and those of my colleagues, I have mixed feelings about the apps and websites that promise to pay for your opinions and for you to complete various studies. There is an opportunity to earn US dollars, however, there are many factors that negate the amount, consistency, and frequency, which are critical considerations for evaluating opportunities worth your time.

My experience began with a bang as within days of signing up, I was shocked to earn €4 in less than two minutes, simply by indicating my preference among four logo options presented. If we take the big picture here, that is an hourly rate of US$142 or $22,000 in Jamaican currency. At that rate, the daily earnings would be an impressive $176,000 or nearly a million dollars a week to do nothing more than open my phone and offer an opinion.

There were no right or wrong answers, no preparation, no reporting, no work hours, no travel, no emails, no meetings or targets or key performance indicators. I would not be evaluated or assessed. There were no co-workers to interact with or customers or managers to engage. It was simply leveraging my opinions and feelings at that point.

Then it got better. I delved deeper and discovered that I could also earn from simply referring others to sign up. On one site I earned US$5 for every person who signed up using my link, and every person who signed up also received US$5. At this point, they really had my attention because the apps became a passive income source. It really seemed too good to be true. However, within a matter of days, I would learn it was.

For the entire period, I earned under US$300 and mainly from my affiliate referral link rather than surveys themselves. My colleagues and I all started off the first week with several opportunities to complete surveys, ranging in value from US$5 to US$100. We would get an email or an app notification advising us of a new opportunity and requiring us to answer a few questions to see if we are eligible. I liked that the notification included the estimated time and total amount payable.

The next step would be to click the link and answer three to four questions. Since these surveys are being used by marketing companies to understand consumer opinions preferences and attitudes, the questions assessed demography and consumer behaviours such as age, gender, income, and whether you use certain technology or social media. Unfortunately, each week thereafter the opportunities sharply declined. It would appear that the companies ‘hook’ you initially with handsome opportunities that dwindle afterwards.

My colleagues also shared that they experienced underestimation of time for several surveys. For example, a survey that should take five minutes ended up taking 10 minutes although this was not my experience. Instead, I found that it took less time than estimated. This could,therefore, be a matter of individual speed and comfort with apps and technology. Another downside for some is that a few opportunities required a laptop and not a phone.

My conclusion is that of the hundreds of websites and apps that pay USD or euros for your opinions, most aren’t available in our region once you register as a Jamaican. Note that dual citizens may explore sign-up using their alternate country credentials. Many websites don’t pay cash but instead issue gift cards. Some websites and apps require that you earn a minimum amount before you can withdraw your money.

One tip or shortcut is that you may find the affiliate programmes more lucrative than the actual surveys themselves. However, this would require constant posts and a wide network. I made money from this, however, although I have a large network I didn’t post often.

My final tip if you intend to explore this is that you need to respond quickly because if you wait even an hour after they send an email or notification about an opportunity, the spaces fill up and close. Some websites you can explore are Swagbucks, Yoursurveys, Survey Junkey, Testing Time, OpinionWorld, Global Test Market, Survey Jury, and Survey Momma.

As I noted before, there are hundreds of websites and apps, and I only tested a handful, so perhaps the best takeaway is that if you have time, there is a huge ocean of opportunity to explore in the pay-for-opinion space.

One love!

- Yaneek Page is the programme lead for Market Entry USA, a certified trainer in entrepreneurship, and creator and executive producer of The Innovators and Let’s Make Peace TV series. yaneek.page@gmail.com