Mystery Shopping Success Story

Hello Jacob,

Thanks for popping in! Thanks for all of your wonderful e-mails which taught me a lot about Mystery Shopping. This is a whole new stimulating world for me.

The key to this whole mystery shopping thing is being teachable, flexible, following directions, and submitting shops accurately and on time. A person will only get out of it what they put into it. I am now registered with about 75 companies and have to check my e-mail a couple of times a day.

Some days I may get 40-50 postings. Of course, some of them are duplicated. Initially I did not check my e-mail unitl the evening. By that time most of the shops were closed, so I had to bite the bullet and check in earlier in the day if I wanted to be assigned to shops. I was concerned about the phone bill, and boy was it high. A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for a DSL line and that will make a big difference.

My first Mystery Shop was at the end of March and by the end of this week, hopefully, I will have completed 100 shops. I have done shops at banks, for wireless, cell phones, Id-Fraud, Storage, Pet Care, Apartment, Restaurants, and others. I have shops scheduled into August. I know that soon I will have to step it up and get some equipment that will enable me to apply for more shops.

I don’t have a digital camera and some shops have passed me buy because I can’t do them. I would also like to be able to scan. Some shops pay more than others. I consider the jobs that don’t pay a lot to be practice. As I said earlier, I just started Mystery Shopping at the end of March, so who am I to question the amount. Some companies were not too pleased with me and I know that it was my fault. My keyboard had the “Stickies” and I failed to properly edit the survey before it was submitted. It is also key to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. The companies I am registered with have expectations that I will present a survey that is worthy of being submitted to the client. It really doesn’t matter what they pay. They are paying for a service and it is my job to do my very best to not cause more work for them. I am still waiting for the fun part. Maybe I need to give it a few more months. The is hard work.

By the end of this month, I think I will have passed the $1,700 mark. That to me is about an extra $400 per month since I have been on this roller coaster ride. I love screaming as it goes down and feel the rush of anticipation as it goes up. I would never shop for a company, if I have to pay to shop for them. Shadow Shopper keeps bugging me to Gold Certify. Why should I when I have already done close to 100 shops without paying a plug nickel. This may seem long, but I just wanted to give you back something for all you have shared with me.

Thanks again, Jacob.

Theresa