Paid Clinical Studies How To Guide

One of the reasons I haven’t written much this past week is because I was participating in a paid clinical study. This is the first paid medical trial I have done this year although I do participate in a couple of medical studies last year. Whenever I write about doing these paid studies people want to know how they can do paid medical studies as well. It is pretty simple and I’ll break down the process to make it easy for others to find and participate in paid research studies themselves.

The process of doing this medical study started last Wednesday. First, I called a clinical research facility I had done a study with before to find out if they were offering any current studies. To find a clinical research facility in your area look at websites such as GPGP.net(guinea pig get paid) or JALR.org (just another lab rat)which have lists of facilities. If you live near a major metropolitan area there is probably a clinic research facility near you. These facilities use advertise in the local media as well.

Once you find a clinical research study you call them and see what studies are available that you qualify for. The studies qualifications are usually based on age, gender, BMI, or some combination of these. My over 30 BMI disqualifies me from many studies and the fact that I don’t have a gall bladder disqualifies me from many studies too. There are usually still some studies I can qualify for though.

Once you have qualified for a study the recruiter will set up a screening appointment for you. These appointment usually last for 2-3 hours. During the appointment you usually will have blood drawn, give a urine sample, have your vital signs taken, and ECG taken, complete a medical history, have your height and weight recorded, and receive a physical from a doctor. Depending on the study you may have some more medical procedures. If everything is ok the facility will contact you and let you know when to report for the study.

The time frame between screening for a study and starting a study varies but it is usually a week or two. In my case I called last Wednesday, had my screening on Thursday and started on Friday. The process is normally more spread out then that but the facility was having trouble finding enough volunteers for this somewhat large medical trial and I just happened to have the good timing to take advantage of their shortage.

If you don’t qualify for the study then you have wasted some time because you don’t get paid for screening only for participating in the actual study. Depending on what disqualified you it is possible to set up a screening for another study.

Before you report for the study the facility will give you instructions on what you need to do before starting. This is usually stuff like avoiding caffeine, strenuous exercise, and prescription and non-prescription medicine for a certain period of time before entering the study. They should also give you information on the house rules and what you need to bring.

Once you arrive at the study you should get a schedule of what you are going to do. In my most recent study I arrived on a Friday afternoon and there were no procedures that day just a couple of meals. On Saturday I had to get up at 3am to start the medical testing. They took vital signs and a baseline blood draw. A couple of hours later I was dosed with the study drug and had blood drawn every two hours for the next 30 hours. I wasn’t wild about this since it made it difficult to sleep but it wasn’t too bad. Every study is different but generally there will be lots of blood draws.

This study allowed everyone to leave the facility 36 hours after dosing with the drug although I did have to be back for a follow up visit 12 hours after leaving the facility. The duration of your visit will vary but usually the longer you are required to stay the more money you will make.

Upon completing the study you will receive a check to compensate you for participating in the medical study. Depending on the facility the check will either be given to you at the facility or mailed to you at a later date.

The facility I just was at does clinical trials of generic versions of already approved prescription medicines which seems pretty safe to me. I usually don’t feel any effects at all from taking the medication and there has only been one study where I experienced unpleasant side effects.

Doing a paid medical study is pretty easy. Basically all you have to do is call to set up a screening appointment and then show up. I consider it fairly easy money although others would disagree with me. If you are interested in doing a paid medical study all you need to get started is find a facility near you and give them a call. This post is getting long so I’m going to wrap it up. If you want to do a medical study his is enough information to get you started, all you need to do is actually take action.

If you have any questions about participating in a medical trail leave me a comment and I’ll answer as best I can.

Ehow Two Years Later

It was in November 2008 that I started writing for eHow.  Inspired by Pat’s eHow experiment at SmartPassiveIncome.com I planned to write a 100 articles in a month.  Like many of my plans that didn’t happen but I eventually wrote six articles for them but two of them were later deleted so I only have four articles there now.

So far I have earned $74.71.  I also earned about that much in affiliate income but I don’t have any links now.  That might not sound too impressive but considering I spent maybe three hours writing the articles it is a pretty good hourly rate.  I’m on pace to make slightly more than $35 from them this year and that should continue in the future.  It is now a steady passive income source.

Ehow has changed the way their site works so I can’t submit any more articles and make passive income.  There are other similar sites out there but I’m not sure if any of them are worth writing for.  I wish I would have wrote more articles for eHow but I won’t complain about making $35 this year for doing nothing.

Top Blogs with Online Income Reports

I noticed the other day that I was getting some referral traffic from a German website. I visited the site and while I couldn’t read the post (I should have done that semester abroad at Bucerius) I was able to get the general idea. It was a list of 17 sites that share their online income. I was pleased to see that I came in seventh in the list.

Here are the 6 that earned more than me.

SmartPassiveIncome.com –  $20,683.09.

This is one of my favorite blogs and the only one on the list I was familiar with. I have been following this blog since it was new. I can remember when he had a goal of 100 subscribers and now he has over 10,000. This is a great site for learning about making online. I need to start implementing more of what I have learned.

Helloko.com- $7400

Shoutmeloud.com – $3880

Blogtotravel.com –  $3227

Deneilmerret.com – $1942

Passiveonlineincomeblog.com – $1159.38

Looking at the earnings reports of all the sites above me was informative.  All of them but one made a significant portion of their income from selling a product or service.  The one that didn’t made most of its money from affiliate sales.  That might be an indication that relying on advertising for most of my income isn’t the best way to go.  I’m going to work on developing a product and increasing my affiliate income before the end of the year.

Making More Money Mystery Shopping

In August I decided to cut back on mystery shopping since I had a job. I did end up doing fewer shops in August than usual but it ended up being one of more my profitable months mystery shopping. This is because the mystery shopping companies contacted me and offered me high-paying and/or heavily bonused shops. I had previously been contacted for these shops once in a while but not as often as in August. It seems like my persistence is finally paying off.

I think that getting the workers at the mystery shopping companies on your side is one of the keys to making decent money mystery shopping. When you first start out the companies are unlikely to call you for any assignments. When they do call try to do the shop they are requesting if at all possible. If you can’t do the shop make sure to let them know that although you can’t do that shop you are interested in doing last minute shops if they come up in the future. I suppose it is somewhat like being nice to the dispatcher when you are a taxi driver. They have lots of power to affect your income so you better be nice to them.

That is my mystery shopping tip for today. Hope that all of you that are mystery shopping are able to use it.

How to Make Money from Blogging, Medical Trials, and Mystery Shopping

People often ask me how to make money doing one of these things after I post my monthly income report. I have written posts before about all of these things before although I suppose none of the posts would qualify as a definitive guide. Since there are probably more readers out there who are interested in making money from one or more of these ways I am sharing some resources for more information.

For medical trials try the websites JALR.org (Just Another Lab Rat) and GPGP.net (Guinea Pig, Get Paid). These should provide you with all the information you need to get started and of course you can search this site for my previous posts on the subject as well.

For mystery shopping check out Volition.com. They have a ton of information about mystery shopping although it isn’t always easy to find exactly the information you need. You might also check out MyFrugalMiser.com. This isn’t a “how-to” site but he is successfully making a living as a mystery shopper and you can pick up a few tips.

For blogging there are a ton of resources. I really like the “How to Make Money with a Blog” post at Christian Personal Finance. It provides a nice overview of what is involved in making money with a blog and provides additional resources as well.

If anybody has more resources covering the money making areas above please feel free to share them in the comments.