Desperate for additional income; medical info internet idea

[julie09]

I am a working mother and desperately need additional income. I currently love my day job working as a supervisor in a research laboratory, even though the pay could be better. I really want to start up an internet business that would provide medical information to those who 1) do not know where to go to find such info, 2) have questions but, for whatever reason, have not or cannot ask their physicians, 3) need help interpreting laboratory results, etc. Since my education, skills and even personal interests revolve around medicine, providing such a service appeals to me. Any thoughts on if this idea would fly? If you think this is not such a good idea, any advice on an internet business that would really make money and is not a gimmick or a scam?

[TheBigIdea]

hi julie! i was thinking pretty hard on how to implement a business out of this. I think you need to be a little more specific on your services.

you're into providing medical info. why would an average person want to seek out your services and not visit WebMD? I think a lot of people would rather turn to WebMD if they're looking for medical answers. Plus, you're one person, and WebMD has so many experts writing articles, you can never beat them.

you could, for eg set up an expert website that caters personally to your members. (membership based site). Best way to pass your advice to them is through voice calls or videocasts( i'm not really sure article writing would be wise here).

But you have to be prepared to invest a little cash on marketing your services , bcos you're facing a lot of competition in the information business. Try googling for "medical advice" and you will see all the big guns there.

I personally think that reaching out to your local community would be best - let the ppl in the neighbourhood know that you can help with their med questions. Much easier to market when you're familiar with the area.

what do u think?

[gge513]

I am currently in the life science sales industry and am always looking for a way to make some money via a business venture. I had my own ticket reselling business in college but eventually purchasing tickets became too hard due to crackdowns by new ownership. I have a degree in Toxicology and would be interested in thinking of ideas to create an online business in the life science research community. The big thing at the last couple of large conventions I have attended has been social networking sites for scientists but I don't see much hope for that. Any ideas as to where to start would be great. What type of lab do you supervise?