Seth is the owner/founder of TheSurveyPlug. A Harlem native and 9-5er, Seth has participated in paid market research for more than 15 years. He was first exposed to paid market research by his mother. She had been participating in paid research studies, such as surveys and focus groups as a way to earn a little extra income. One of the studies she came across was a mother-son study to watch a movie. She took Seth along and he made $50 from paid market research. After that first taste of extra money, he continued to participate in paid surveys throughout college. As a college student, it was a quick way to make some extra money and we all know college students need extra cash. It was such an easy side hustle that he continued even after graduating from college.

In 2021, Seth was forced to start tracking his income from paid market research once he received a friendly letter from Uncle Sam (sb: You make over $600 with one research company, Uncle Sam may send you a friendly 1099 * sad face *). Once he started tracking his income, he realized he made $2,300 in just 3 months of that year. He continued to document his earnings and in 2022, he made an additional $6,500 in 45 HOURS FROM PAID SURVEYS! (that’s $122 an hour. * insert nail emoji* )

In the summer of 2022, a long term absence from work forced him to find a creative way to make additional income and he put more of his time and energy into finding paid market research opportunities. During his time home, he thought about what his passions were and how he could build upon the things he enjoyed doing. With inflation on the rise, layoffs happening and Joe not forgiving those student loans yet, he knew surveys were an easy way for people to earn income, especially those that weren’t familiar with paid market research.

One day while on Twitter, he wrote “Wondering if I can teach people how to do this.” His business coach Anthony, founder of The Hartrimony saw this tweet and reached out to Seth. He encouraged him to pursue the idea, especially since it was something they had discussed almost 2 years prior. Seth took his coach’s advice and set up a virtual meeting via zoom for friends and family interested in paid surveys. Unexpectedly, that meeting garnered 40 attendees; a solid number considering there was no website and only promotion was word of mouth for this initial meeting. His first meeting cut off mid-presentation because it went over time while using the free zoom application (You know how start-up life can be!). He moved quickly and sent out apology emails to all attendees. It was not an ideal situation for a new business, but that initial meeting and his follow up email lead to him securing his first 3 students.

On November 1st, 2022, TheSurveyPlug was launched. Fast forward to February 2023 and 50+ students later, TheSurveyPlug’s students have made over $20,000 with one student making $2,100 in 3 months. Seth’s long term absence from work led to the creation of The Survey Plug. He knew that he wasn’t the only one experiencing hardships and he wanted to create something that would be an easy side hustle for anyone with a computer and a phone. Knowing that not everyone has the desire to start a business or jump on the content creator train, Seth wanted to put together a program for those that have an interest in making additional money.