You’ve heard of Nielsen before. They’re the globally-known market research powerhouses who have been researching entertainment trends for decades. Listen to the news or read a magazine, and you’re sure to see a poll or study by Nielsen, telling us what television shows are the most popular. Most people don’t know, though, that the folks at Nielsen also study consumer trends.

Nielsen studies television viewing by asking households across the country to keep viewing diaries or to attach data-collecting boxes to their family televisions. They study consumers in the same way. Nielsen supplies some families across the country with home scanners — hand-held devices that allow the study participants to scan the bar codes of the items they buy (everything from generic canned peas to plasma televisions).

What does Nielsen do with the data they collect from Homescan studies? They report back to manufacturers, and the data ultimately influences what products are made and sold.

They can’t do this alone, however.  Nielsen needs participants for this program. Registration is completely free. What’s in it for you? Well, Nielsen doesn’t pay in the form of cash. BUT if you are an active participant in the program, Nielsen will reward you with points that you can redeem for electronics, jewelry, household items, toys, and a lot more. In my opinion, that’s just as good as cash, because you can earn free things that you can give away as gifts (which takes that burden off of your wallet). Influence the products made and sold.  Join Nielsen’s Homescan Consumer Panel. Click Here to learn more!!

Here’s another program to file under ‘other money makers.”  While this isn’t a traditional job, I’ve gotten emails from a lot of momportunity.com readers, telling me they’re seeing great success with this.  One mom who wrote to me this morning told me she is a free member, and has made over $1,000 by just referring others to the site.

PPD helps you earn two ways: Become a full member and earn $200-$2,000 per month (you have 2 options: complete an offer OR pay $34.95 for your membership) OR you can become a FREE member and make money by just referring other members to check out the system. (You earn $1.50 for each member you refer, whether they choose to register with a free or full membership.)

Payments are sent out each Friday. You’ll need a PayPal account to receive payments. Click here to set up your PayPal account. To start earning with PPD, click here.

BlueZebra –formerly known as B2B– has been in business for 20 years, as a professional business appointment setting company.  They’re currently a “virtual” company, which means that they hire employees to work from home.

The appointment setting job involves cold-calling, and setting qualified appointments for Blue Zebra clients.  Starting pay is between $15 and $25 per hour, with a pay increase within 60 days.  For more information about this job, and to apply, click here.

The job of the virtual administrative assistant is to support Blue Zebra’s sales and marketing teams. The job requires the candidate to work a minimum of 20 hours per week.  They don’t list a pay rate on their site.  For more information, and to apply, click here.

I recently attended a wedding, and on every single table, there were chocolate kisses and miniature candy bars. Each of the candies were wrapped with personalized messages with the bride and groom’s names and the wedding date.  Such a simple idea, with such huge possibilities. I came home and did some quick research and found out that the candy wrapper business is booming, because not many people are in the business, and so many people find the products irresistible. But the candy wrapper business isn’t limited to just weddings. I’ve seen them used on full-size candy bars announcing the birth of a new child, for children’s birthday parties, graduation parties, and as business promotions. The possibilities are endless.

Here is an ebook about starting your own candy wrapper business that not only gives you tips and suggestions for starting your own candy wrapper business… it gives you one-of-a-kind, privately-created software with templates for various sized candies and candy bars. Also includes many, many images and fonts that will help you create exactly what your clients are looking for.

In order to start this business, you’ll need basic business supplies. Other possibilities for your candy wrapper business:

• Graduation parties (with images of the school mascot and grad year)
• Children’s parties
• Gifts for children to pass out to friends at Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, & Easter
• Make slightly larger labels and affix them to boxes of crayons, for party favors and school gifts
• Business promotions for businesses to give to customers or employees

If you are ready to move beyond your neighborhood and town, and want to take the online plunge and create a website in order to sell your baskets online, read about the candy wrapper business for information about how to get started.

The NFO My Survey company is actively seeking new members to participate in online surveys and focus groups. They are specifically in need of participants in the United States. This company is 100% free and 100% legitimate (they’ve been around since the 1950s). They pay participants to complete online surveys and focus groups (sometimes over $100). They also send out full-sized samples of products for you to try and evaluate. I have personally used the site for over 10 years, and have nothing but positive things to say about them.

Several members have expressed interest in earning some extra pocket change by doing mystery shopping. I will be posting new mystery shopping companies regularly. Beyond Hello is the mystery shopping company I’ve decided to add today. They’ve been around for 17 years, and serve businesses in the US and Canada. To find out more about their requirements, and to apply to be a mystery shopper, please go to www.BeyondHello.com.

Please remember that all of the companies I post on momportunity.com have been researched and are legit. Beware of people or companies that want to charge you for a “job” doing “mystery shopping.” Legitimate mystery shopping companies do NOT charge their mystery shoppers.

Many, many of you have written to ask that I list more freelance writing opportunities.  I’ve found another company that accepts pieces from all registered members.  Bukisa is a newish site, accepting all sorts of creative work from creative people: they accept articles, slides, videos, and audio submissions.  If you desire to work at home, you might want to give Bukisa a look over.  As with most of these residual income sites, this is not get rich quick… but it will allow you to build a strong, passive income if you contribute regularly and stick with it.

I have lived in my house for 8 1/2 years. Every year, I add a few new plants to my home and yard, and keep them as healthy as I can. Imagine my surprise when I found out that some people make money at home doing exactly what I do: growing plants at home.

A family who lives near me grows plants at home, and use that side business for extra income each month. They bring in approximately $1000 per month with their plants. No, it’s probably not enough to support themselves with right now, but that extra $1,000 per month sure comes in handy for the “extra” things they like to treat themselves and their kids to. And considering that they only dedicate a few minutes per week working this side business, it’s a can’t-lose situation.

I did some research on the subject, and found that more and more families are starting plant businesses from their homes. There are very few things needed to start the business, and in some cases, some of the expenses are not recurring.

So what do you need to grow and sell plants from home?

• Potting mix (because it’s better for growing plants, and you don’t want to be digging up holes in your yard)
• Containers to grow your plants in. You don’t need to get fancy here. Anything that can hold dirt and let water flow out from the bottom can be used as a container for a plant
• Seeds or existing plants
• Sunlight (free!)
• Water

To sell them, just place signs around town or place ads in local papers advertising your plant sales. It’s just that simple.

Now, I”m not an expert gardener so I can’t go into the how-to’s of growing and caring for the plants that you grow. But I know that if you want to be successful at this, you can.

A found a couple who earn $1,000 per week growing and selling plants in the UK. If you’re interested in learning more (as well as learning exactly how to grow and care for the plants, and maximize your profits), you can read about them and the “grow and sell plants from home” ebook they wrote.  If you prefer a reading real books (instead of ebooks), check out “Plants for Profit,” which details several different ways to use your garden to make money from home. Good luck! And if you end up starting your own business growing and selling plants at home, drop me a line and let me know how it’s going for you!

If you are –or have ever wanted to be– a freelance writer, there are a thousands of websites that hire people to write articles for them. I found a site yesterday that is looking for talented writers to write about plastic surgery for them. Topics that interest them include:

• Celebrity plastic surgery
• Plastic surgery breakthroughs, procedures, new techniques
• Celebrity gossip about skin care, makeup and other beauty products used by stars
• Odd, strange, and funny stories related to plastic surgery

If you’re interested in writing for “the world’s largest website for all things plastic surgery, anti-aging, and beauty, with over a million members and over 400,000 monthly visitors,” click here to visit their writers’ guidelines page, and to apply to be a writer.

As I discussed in a previous post, eHow is a site where writers can write freelance articles for pay.  The pay is monthly residual pay. This means that an article you write today can earn you money this month, next month, and every single month for… well, forever.

Some of the big earners at eHow makes over $2,000 in residual income each month.  I’ve found an ebook detailing precisely how to turn writing articles for eHow into a profitable, lucrative at-home job.  It is full of absolutely everything there is to know about writing articles for eHow, and formatting them in such a way that you’ll reap rewards month after month.  The book is just $20.  The income you’ll earn by using the techniques you learn in this book, though, will more than cover the price of the book.   I can’t stress enough how beneficial this could be to help you achieve your work at home dream.   If you don’t have $20, tell a parent or other family member that you’ll gladly pay them back with your first month’s eHow earnings. Do what you can to get your hands on it.  Your future successful self will thank you.

To order your eHow ebook for just $20, click here.