Great Advice for New Mystery Shoppers

We have some great advice for new mystery shoppers from Alice on Mystery Shop Forum.com. If you haven’t been there yet, it is full of great discussions about how to become a successful mystery shopper. Here’s Alice’s advice:

Hello everyone!

I am a mystery shopper from the Volunteer State (Tennessee.) I have had good and bad experiences also.

A little over a year ago I found myself 57 years old and very unemployed. I applied for and got my disability. Anyway, I started mystery shopping with my search for companies. I happened upon a ‘shadow shopper’ site and signed up for their newsletter. Whoopie! I got about a months worth (I am slow) of these are for silver and gold members only. I emailed them like I owned Microsoft or something. I told them they were a sorry piece of trash, enticing people, then wanting their $39.99 or some amount. It got me some action! They emailed a deal for $9.95 for a week, pffft! Not me, $10. bought groceries for a week here, we are poor.

They emailed back with a ‘we are desperate’ reply….. I took the $9.95 for 30 days, I signed up for as many as I could during that 30 day period. I cut n pasted every name of every company on their site, and in 30 days I had well over 25 companies under my belt. I did only 4 shops during that time, just enough to get it in my blood!

I started slow, didn’t do anymore shops for awhile. Then the offers started pouring in, more than I could handle, I had to refuse them. I now do between 10 to 15 a month, Heck, some even call me on the phone when they are at the end of their month with shops left. Some bonuses are well over the original amount! If it’s enough money, not too far from me, (gas is 2.99 here today) I take it/them. Then I check out 3 or 4 different companies and sign up for 2 of each. Then compile my list, set my times, get my paperwork together.

I do not want to give the impression I am making a killing, I am not. I hear or should I say read the comments about the pay scale, frequency of payments. Stop and think people! If you go to your job two days a week, then take two weeks off…………. you won’t have a paycheck for two weeks.

Jacob’s newsletter was a great find, if you are here, did you not sign up for it? It’s free and chocked full of great info! He gave me great tips, great site to visit, he is the best.

Summary:

1. Get the companies lined up, sign up for email offers, I do not have to accept any I don’t want. Get those offers coming in daily. Man,I got 50, (I would not lie to you) in one day.

2. Use an email that has a large storage. Lots of people have trouble with Yahoo, I use MSN (best) because it’s free, but they have a paid email access. Uh, they companies do not know if you are paying or not right? Hotmail is good with a large capacity box also. I use my ISP because I check it several times a day, keep it cleaned out. (another free tip)

3. Sign up, take offers, do the shops. They will beg you after awhile!

4. Remember 10 or 15 shops this month will generate income next month, 10 or 15 next month….. Do you get my drift?
I have very little to no extra money left ( I mean too much month at the end of the money) But, the money I make is only invested back into my work! You cannot go out, do a shop, come home and go out to eat on that, then say gosh, I need more money, I need a shop to do. It’s like any other business, you have to put time, effort, and money into it. But, it’s Your EARNED money, not extra money out of the cookie jar!

5. Always keep up with your money, earnings. You are an independent contractor. After $600 a year you have to pay taxes. I don’t mind paying, but that will eat into my profits, which ain’t a whole lot after I buy gas (which you aren’t reimbursed for!)
I keep all that separate, then I know what I have or don’t. I hope this has helped answer some of the questions you may have.

TIP:

I signed up for Corporate Research International, Shopnchek, Sassie, CheckMark. The first three had a few bugs, CheckMark I did one job months ago, checked their site a week ago, there were two, one here in my town, one in a town 3 miles away. I made $17. in about 30 minutes. Gas? Wasn’t much. I entered my report, went on a trip, Saturday nite I got email from them about 6 or 8 shops for Sunday. I applied for 4, waited for confirmation, printed out my paperwork. Got up at 11 Sunday, left and did one shop in 15 minutes, the other 3 were 25 miles down the road, but all within a short distance of each other. Went and got my bread and milk, came home. I added it up, $66.00 for 2 days. Not bad.
Hey, I love this forum, more than that I LOVE JACOB! No, I will not share my profits with you! But, if I get rich I will send you enough to go to Krystal, all expenses paid!:-))
I hope this helped some/any one.
Later,
Alice