Mystery Shopping: Getting Paid to Do What I Love Best

Getting started is half the battle, but like any new job or position once you do your research and get some training you will become quite comfortable in your new venture. I have been shopping for almost one full month so in all fairness I am still a newbie, however during that time I have made close to $800 and completed approximately 35 jobs.

Now if you are a numbers person like me then you have figured out that it is close to $23 per job. Not bad for a beginner considering that some jobs took 15 minutes and other jobs took one hour.

I would like to share with you how I got started and what has proved thus far to be most effective for me. I stumbled upon Mystery Shopping while surfing the internet and one of the first sites I came across was http://www.shadowshopper.com/.

They offer a Bronze Membership that is free and in my opinion one of the best things I did because by signing up at their site it opened the door to several companies that in fact hired me. You can create a personalized profile and they give you some great tips at Shopper University which include; advice on how to write a winning report and what companies are looking for.

My suggestion to you when writing your profile is to insert any experience you have in retail, customer service, merchandising and demonstrating. I have been in Direct Sales for 10 years and I believe that has caught the attention of some schedulers.

If your experience isn't extensive then let them know if you are detail oriented, dependable, have great organizational skills or a keen eye for details. These are all qualities that schedulers are looking for when giving an assignment. Create a power statement that will catch their attention as there are hundreds of applicants daily to these Mystery Shopping sites.

Once you have signed up with Shadow Shopper you will start to receive daily emails about job openings in your area. I would suggest when putting in the amount of miles you will travel insert at least 50 or your search will be very refined. Thus allowing you to view a lot more jobs and you can make the decision if you want to take advantage of them or not.

Shadow Shopper basically sends you a copy of a classified so to speak, and most of them require you to go directly to the Scheduling Company's website and join and then you can apply for the job. I have yet to come across one where you have to pay to join that has come from Shadow Shopper.

The scheduler's usually have very explicit instructions to follow and this is important if you want them to consider your application. Pay close attention to what they ask you to put in the subject line of your email, this is their way of identifying which job you are applying for. I always close my emails with "Thank you in advance for your consideration." Just something I learned long ago when sending out resumes and it sounds professional and courteous.

It took me approximately 10 days before I received any responses to the jobs I applied for. I started to get worried but knew I needed to give it time. After the 10 day point I started to receive offers left and right and this was only using Shadow Shopper. I am now signed up with about 15 different companies and have worked for 8-10 of them.

With most companies payment is not immediate, the majority utilizes Pay Pal or will mail you a check, and a few companies do offer direct deposit. Typically all jobs completed in one month are paid the following month. So if your circumstances allow you to wait then you could have a nice paycheck all at one time.

Once a Scheduler has you in their system you will start to receive offers from them as they become available and you don't need to utilize Shadow Shopper as often. However, after my Bronze Membership expired I did renew for $19.99 but I felt it worth it as Shadow Shopper gave me my start and there are some jobs that I would not know about if I hadn't been notified by them. This of course is your personal choice and should be based on the results you get from the initial membership.

Another great place for viewing job openings is http://www.jobslinger.com/js/exec/vec/profile/new. This is fairly new to the Mystery Shopping world but is an awesome tool that can save you the time from having to visit each site independently. They list jobs by category and when you click on the link it takes you directly to the site.

Mystery Shopping can also lead into Merchandising, Demonstrating, Installation and Reset jobs, which make up a very large market that I was unaware of. I will be completing my first Merchandising Job in October through Home Depot, decorating Christmas trees for a nice $150 profit.

What I like best about Mystery Shopping is that it is flexible and you can pick your schedule. It offers a huge variety of scenarios and has opened my eyes to businesses that I didn't frequent but now will based on their customer service. So as you can see there really isn't a mystery to be solved with Mystery Shopping, it just takes common sense, professional courtesy and a little time to get your name out there. But if you can create a great power statement and build a rapport with your scheduler you will be chosen over the other applicants.

I wish you the best of luck in your new venture should you decide to try it and most of all have fun shopping!