Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am an avid researcher. I enjoy looking for answers on the internet or in publication. Is there a business that I could model after this, if so please let me know! I dont have many consulting abilities and have looked into the paralegal field but cannot find a way to put these abilities in a business model.

Welcome aboard CS!

If you are looking for ideas you have certainly come to right place! the SUN forums are a hotbead of brainstorming, ideas, advice and resources: I am sure you will find the right fit in no time!

Have you checked out some of the exciting community collaboration projects going on right now?  There are some great things happening with  e-learning, tiger teams, and gluten-free products, ALL of which I am sure could be served by your strengths in research.

Is there something you LOVE to do? Something you are secretly passionate about? Something you`d like to know more about?

I hope you`ll keep us posted on your progress!

best of luck to you!

There actually is a job title as a "researcher." I`m not sure how you`d get started in it, but consider the many writers looking for answers. For instance, murder mysteries often require information on various diabolical tools of destruction.

In another example, I needed a serious disease that someone could easily live with until or unless they got pregnant. Then, the pregnancy would introduce a high probability of death during delivery. (This, for a novel I`m working on.) It happened I knew a librarian, and she did the research and found an excellent heart disease.

Aside from fiction writers, there are countless people also writing technical and instructional documents who need "fact checkers." Newspapers, which would translate to online e-zines, need those fact checkers. Maybe some online site editors might be helpful?

You might start with a freelance site like elance.com, and list yourself as a researcher. Another option would be to research the work-field of researching, and see what you come up with. I`ll bet there are some Web sites out there promoting other people doing the same thing.

You know it does sound kinda stupid that I would post this and say that I love to research......SOMEONE HELP ME FIND SOMETHING!

Thanks for the advice, I haven`t ever looked at it that way. Guess you could say I was stuck in a PARADIGM.

Wouldn`t happen to be:    

                                       Marfan Syndrome
The Marfan syndrome is an inherited disorder of connective tissue that can affect many parts of the body, including the heart. The degree of heart involvement varies in this condition. Many doctors feel that if you have the Marfan syndrome with a dilated aortic root, you should avoid pregnancy. The reason is that the aortic root could rupture during the stress of labor, posing a high risk to both you and your baby. Any woman with the Marfan syndrome who does become pregnant should be watched closely by her cardiologist

Thought I might be able to prove myself!

Checked out the Elance.com, wow what a GREAT site!

LOL!! Y`know...I can`t remember, and would have to look at my notes, but I`m pretty sure that`s what the disease is. One of the female leads is a physician, went into OB-GYN because she couldn`t have a child, and understands how to live a moderate life. Of course she falls in love and there`s huge pressure to have a child. She decides to take the risk for the good of the plot! :-)

Wow,

That`s pretty impressive. You could also research facts about search engines and what are the most effective ways to work an online business up.

Of course, there are all kinds of avenues for your skills. I think once you decide on your business, you will be awesome.

Dan

Another interesting area for a researcher would maybe involve determining what key phrases would apply, directly AND indirectly, to any given Web site topic.

SEO writing is hot these days, but it all rests on having the proper key phrases. Seems to me that a researcher`s mentality would have the sort of overview-with-a-purpose to find related terms. Particularly in the indirect area.

Then there are sites like The Smoking Gun, built entirely around research. Finding the truth about "stuff" is useful, if you can figure out about what it is people want to know the the truth! LOL!

Consider the disease example above. In the post I already stated it was a heart disease. But when I asked my librarian friend, I only knew it had to be a disease the character was aware of, could mitigate through lifestyle, wasn`t life-threatening UNLESS she got pregnant.

A researcher, like a detective, succeeds by starting with less information and producing more information. An "analyst" begins with more information, and summarizes it down to less.

What do you think or imagine would be related to the dynamic of "less to more?" In other words, what areas of interest in life work primarily on Inductive logic?

Any business essentially saves time for someone, solves a problem for someone, makes things easier for someone, or entertains someone. If you can join inductive reasoning to one of these four categories, that should also bring some inspiration.

Craig L said: A researcher, like a detective, succeeds by starting with less information and producing more information. An "analyst" begins with more information, and summarizes it down to less.

Although my background is military and police, I do a better job with more of an analyst type of work. I probly would have had a harder time finding the above post if I wouldn`t have had the information regarding it as a heart issue.

Also I looked at  Elance.com and the problem that I am faced is that my typing grammer is not good enough to write articles for websites and such. Tonite I plan on doing a search of SUN members who possibly are paralegals or even better own a business doing such work.

Hmm...if you`re more of an analyst, that would be a useful "clue" in this quest for a business idea, right? :-)

In this case, I`d maybe look again at fact-checking types of situations. Remember too, that typing and grammar aren`t absolutely a priority for someone who needs information. Spelling would count, for instance, if a writer needed the name of a poison or its antidote, but more likely you`d do some proof-reading before sending the results.

I remember an online friend in a group I was in, having a desperate search problem. It was a crisis, even! :-) They needed a recipe for something called "clothespin cookies," and simply couldn`t find one, "no matter how hard they looked."

I put "clothespin cookie recipe" into Google and found 30 recipes in about 10 seconds flat. So how come? Why did this person have an "impossible problem to solve," when I solved in so fast?

Two reasons. The first is simple laziness. The second is an inability to categorize information and queries. There`s your line of business, so it`s only a question of how to develop it into something that pays you money. :-) Don`t give up so easily about your research skills. They`re HARD to acquire. The typing and grammar you can always work on......from a beach in Hawaii, after your first successful project.