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Information gathering is a growing business. What you do is find information by surfing the Internet, searching through databases and other sources to find what your client is looking for. Businesses come to you to find information on their competition, on individuals, products, laws, etc.

You can provide information services to organizations of all sizes and types.

Some information companies are even paid to analyze the information and provide their client with reports explaining their findings, including graphs, statistics, demographics, etc. Often, clients need this information in order to make important business decisions and the right information is crucial to their success.

Information professionals can help meet the needs of larger corporation who want to utilize more outsourcing in order to improve their bottom line.

Often, by turning to an Information Professional these companies can gain access to databases, specialized software, and technology. Smaller companies simply lack these resources and can't afford an in-house research department.

And in any business, research and information is very important to success. People don't have the time or the knowledge to find industry statistics, customer information and other (often) elusive information that’s necessary to obtain.

Valuable Skills/Requirements

You will want to understand where to turn for industry specific information. That means understanding full text databases and other free or pay-per use sources.

Being able to communicate your findings in well-documented reports is a skill you will learn as you grow into this business.

How much you can make as an information researcher

Some Information Research Professionals charge $200 per hour. The key is getting some good contacts and putting together some proven marketing and promotional campaigns targeted towards top executives. Let people know where to turn when they need real information that will help them with their business.

This is also a business that you can build part time around a job you already have or even another small business. Information gathering can be done at any time of the day (or night!) and it makes it one of the better options for a stay-at-home businesses.