Rogue Analyst

Wow. Just had to share this, since it ties in so nicely to what I've been posting below. I just received a call from a marketing survey/research group, and they offered me the opportunity to participate in an all-day consumer focus group. If I had qualified, it would have paid $150 for the day (I believe it was a 6 hour day), anyway I failed to qualify as I had not flown in the past 6 months. I also did not qualify for a beer survey because I drink imports and microbrewery products by preference and not Mich Lite. However, we (the original caller is an old high school friend of my son's) were able to finally find a marketing research project that would want my information - an unnamed firm - on the topic consumer electronics, which pays $75 for an evening session.

So, if we had an active information mutual market, and I had an account, presumably these companies could have trolled the information mutual fund, found out if I was in their target demographic groups, and contacted me via the fund. And, saved themselves some costs. I do not know how much money this marketing group charges to find the appropriate and willing people, but that middleman charge could have been avoided, or split between reduced costs to the company and an increased payment to my account. In which case, the fund takes let's say 5% for administrative overhead, and I personally would earn some of what the marketing firm is charging, plus the $75, minus the 5%. I would presumably (have no idea what the marketing firm is charging) come out better under such a scenario.