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Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
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Small Business
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You Can Own
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For many years, like many people, when I read in a newspaper some reference to the results of an opinion survey I would wonder idly who was asked the questions. But for some reason I never wondered who did the asking. Then six or seven years ago in the public library I happened to read an article by Dorothy E. Minck, "I Get Paid To Ask Questions," which had appeared in the January, 1948, issue of Profitable Hobbies.

At the end of the article was a source for a list of firms using interviewers. Since my youngest son was only two, I obtained the list and filed it away until the time when he was in nursery school. Then I typed off a letter of application to each of the companies, and was more than amazed to receive from each a pleasant letter and application blank by return mail. Somehow, in this day and age, you do not expect such a happening!

Most application blanks are essentially the same. Some require a recent photo, resume of your education, availability of a car or public transportation, what hours you can work, any work references you may have, and personal references.

When all the companies hired me, that was another pleasant surprise. When you have been out of the active working market for some years raising a family, and then find the mails taking the place of an office, it does not seem believable.

The advertising and research companies explain to you that your locality may not always be used in a survey or it may be used very frequently. Assignments therefore are frequent or rare, or you may be hired one week out of each month as I was by two companies.

IT WAS with some misgiving that I opened the first package of survey material early in January, 1949. The explanation of the work was very complete, the time limit was adequate, the pay rate and travel and study allowance was set. This was my very first introduction to a "quota sheet," a method most companies use to assure that a representative cross-section is covered in each city or rural area. A tally sheet, listing the number of men, number of women you must talk to also includes specific age groups and income groups as well. As a general rule, there are fewer very wealthy and very poor in most quotas.

Now to my very first survey. It was a "street corner" beer survey. No homes, no taverns, no eating places, but you could catch your person to be interviewed anywhere else. Not being a drinker myself, and having a very large quota of men, I was almost ready to give up the whole idea but I plugged through that initial survey. Later I learned that it was all right to refuse a survey if I did not relish the idea of asking about the subject or product in question.

It was several weeks later that a large publishing firm asked me to do a monthly and bi-monthly comparative readership survey in Buffalo, New York, which is near my home in Youngstown, New York. One week after that an advertising firm hired me for a buying of heavy appliance survey to be conducted every three months. So I was really in business. The lovely part of the whole thing was that I could do the work on my own hours, and adjust to the needs of my family. Also that I was not selling anything.

The first six months, as I look back over six years of work, were certainly learning the job ones. When I rang a doorbell in the course of the readership survey and asked if they read any of my magazines and would be refused an answer I would be so disappointed I'd get in the car and drive blocks away before I'd have courage to start again. Then I changed my approach to telling the people that I was not selling anything, but just wanted to know what they thought. In addition, one company supplied a large button stating, "Interviewer", and it was an open sesame.

FROM ABOUT 9:45 o'clock in the morning to 2:45 in the afternoon is the best time to talk with busy housewives who can take a few minutes break. From 6 o'clock to 9:30 in the evening or on Saturdays when they have been left to mind the children is best for men. I learned too that you pick the door that looks as if it is used most, rather than always walking up to the front door. And since most women are in the kitchen during the hours when I interview them, the back door is almost a must. But mainly I have learned that people are really nice. In six years, I have had no more than five nasty individuals answer my knock, and I think that that is really a tribute to Americans of all ages, sizes, and groups.

Each company you work for has a different approach, and each a different method. Since they are in the greatest competition, most of them ask you as an employee to sign a pledge of secrecy regarding their methods and results. In addition, some hire a person as an independent contractor so that you pay your own Social Security taxes. Others hire you as a regular employee, and deduct your tax. Some also cover you with insurance in case you fall down stairs and break a leg, or get bitten by a dog. Fortunately, I have never had to use it, but it is nice to know that you are protected. If you enjoy meeting people there are so many interesting assignments. Once I had the task of asking school children from the age of eight through fifteen their ten favorite comics. The children were annoyed that I wouldn't let them list all their favorites—ten was too few.

Another job was checking rest rooms and service in filling stations. Rolling up as a regular customer to buy some gasoline, I checked the women's rest rooms and the male surveyor who accompanied me checked the men's rooms. We checked whether necessary equipment was there, and rated them as to cleanliness and attractiveness.

One of my employers offered a prize of $50 for the best work done in a big city. After several tries, I had the good fortune to win this. Several of the agencies have news sheets telling of interviewing results and activities. Some of them rate your work, and give a bonus of ten per cent for particularly good work. And Christmas time brings bonus checks from some, and very nice presents from the remainder.

FINANCIALLY, I have found making surveys to be very profitable. The pay is generally by the hour, ranging from $1.25 to $1.50 with seven or eight cents a mile for your car, or bus fare if you travel that way. You are also paid for study time and travel time. In addition, most companies write, telephone, or wire two weeks or a month ahead to find out if you are available to do the work, so that you too can plan ahead, and not run the risk of getting two big jobs at one time. Some assignments are for evenings only, and if you want to work you can carry on two simultaneously. Or, in reverse, if you have other plans, you can refuse, and know that you will be called on again.

As to the interview itself, the main thing is honesty and strict adherence to the instructions which have been given you. If you are making your own selection, you talk to any adult who comes to the door. The questions are short, to the point, and usually require an X in the box for Yes or No, or Don't Know, as a general rule. Most reputable companies require the person's name and mailing address at the end. They then send him a post card, or letter, or in some cases telephone, to see if he has really been interviewed. Since you as an interviewer are hired sight unseen, and since there is no one to verify your work, I think that this check-up is an absolute necessity for the success of the survey, and that people do not object when you tell them why their name is required.

When one of my employers asked if I knew a worker in a smaller New York state city, I suggested Niagara Falls, New York, and recommended my mother for the job. She was hired, and has been working on numerous assignments for the last four years. As a minister's wife until her husband's retirement two years ago, her work had been volunteer, social, religious, but all unpaid. So in another two years she will be eligible for Social Security as a result of her interviewing work, and have a monthly check of her own.

A DIRECT offshoot of this interviewing is another source of steady income. One of my employers asked us to send in information appearing in papers and going on in our communities for which they pay fifty cents each. Just before Christmas I had a surprise check for $80 and another for $47.50. I copy out the necessary information on forms they supply. When I have twenty or thirty I send them in and to tell the truth forget it since it takes only a few minutes work and a three-cent stamp. Then when the check comes it is almost unexpected but always welcome. Another source of income has been my compilation of about 200 companies which hire interviewers. I had the list printed and advertised it in Profitable Hobbies Magazine and several others to sell for $1. This has brought splendid results, and I hope that those who buy it get as much fun, work, and profit as I have.

Some of you probably wonder, as I did, how they get consumer testers for new products. It was only last fall, after many inquiries and much research without result, that I got the answer. One of the agencies wrote asking each worker to suggest families for their "Consumer Panel." They further explained that interviewers could not be included. This involves testing in actual household use new products, and giving opinions on new packaging.

MAYBE YOU are not equipped or do nor have the ability to make craft products for a hobby nor to sell them. Perhaps you, as I, have spent many years raising a family of four active sons and want to go back to some kind of paying work. Then try interviewing. The excitement of mail bringing a new job, or a telephone call from New York adds new interest to your life. Interviewing has been and is truly a profitable and pleasant hobby for me.

As an added word on how time flies, there is a company which does youth surveys and uses only young people to make them. My older sons are now fifteen, fourteen and thirteen, and are going to pick up their extra cash as soon as we find out what they can do among their friends. One of them already cuts in on my clippings by producing two or three dollars' worth each time I send in my list.

Here are a few organizations hiring interviewers:

Alan Russell, 152 East 71st Street, New York 21, New York.

Field Research Bureau, Crowell-Collier Publishing Co., 640 Fifth Ave., New York 19, New York.

Graf Research Organization, 321 Northampton St., Buffalo, New York.

Kemp Research Organization, 62 East Ave., Rochester 4, New York.