I've made well over $250,000 for doing absolutely nothing. A well-known secret in corporate America: Most companies are willing to pay a lot of money for looking "cool", "forefront", and "innovative" to their shareholders. They don't know what that means and how to get there, so they throw money at the problem. About a year ago, I signed a $60,000 project where my job was to "innovate" for a company. I had no specific tasks to complete, and the company wasn't expecting any particular results. They only wanted one thing: To tell everyone during their next board meeting that they were investing in new technologies. I took the money, and over the next four months, spoke with several employees, attended a few meetings, developed a couple of proof-of-concepts, and wrote a report. Nobody ever cared. This was just one example. I've participated in a couple of dozen of these projects. There are companies that literally give you money so they can justify getting the same amount as part of next year's budget. They don't know how to spend it and don't want to lose it, so they give it away for little in return. The best part: You know all of these companies.