There are few things more stressful for a mystery shopping than realizing in the midst of a site visit that your undercover identity is on the verge of being revealed. Your status as a mystery shopper may be close to being discovered by a customer or by an employee at the site, and either could spell disaster for you. Your first impulse may be for you to run out of…
Forgot an Assignment Requirement? Helpful Strategies For Saving Your Paycheck
Have you ever gotten home from completing a mystery shopping assignment’s site visit and realized that you forgot to complete one aspect of the requirements? Or perhaps your site visit was interrupted in some fashion, such as a noisy customer or a cunning employee who was about to discover your identity as a mystery shopper, and you had to run out of the location right away to save the assignment….
How To Get Started Mystery Shopping, Part V: Building Relationships With Providers
This is the last article in a five part series that explores everything you need to know to get off to a fast and lucrative start in the world of mystery shopping. The first four articles explored finding providers to work with and signing up to work with them, finding and requesting assignments, what to expect from your first assignment, and strategies for filling up your schedule with assignments. For…
How To Get Started Mystery Shopping, Part IV: How To Fill Up Your Work Schedule
Mystery shopping is an excellent way to earn money. Whether you want to work a few hours a week or forty hours or longer, mystery shopping provides you with the flexibility to work as much or as little as you want to or need to. With the ability to schedule your own assignments, you can set your own hours, do an assignment during your lunch break from your regular job,…
How To Get Started Mystery Shopping, Part III: What To Expect From Your First Assignment
Mystery shopping is a fantastic way to earn some money. With the flexibility the job offers plus no training or experience required, many people find that they can start earning money as a mystery shopper right away. This article is the third article in a five part series. The first two articles explored how to find mystery shopping providers to work with as well as what to expect during the…
How To Get Started Mystery Shopping, Part II: What You Need to Know About Signing Up With Providers
Working in the world of mystery shopping has many benefits, but it can also be confusing and frustrating to start earning paychecks. This article is the second in a five part series that explores everything you need to know about signing up with providers. The first article in the series, “How To Get Started Mystery Shopping, Part I: Finding Providers to Work With” explores the first step of getting started…
How To Get Started Mystery Shopping, Part I: Finding Providers to Work With
Mystery shopping presents a great opportunity for many people to earn money in a convenient and largely less stressful way than with other types of employment. The job allows people to enjoy a great deal of flexibility that other jobs don’t offer, including the ability to work as much or as little as you like, and you can even bring your kids along on many jobs. What’s more, there really…
Take Steps Now to Prevent a Mystery Shopping Tax Nightmare
For many mystery shoppers, mystery shopping is their first attempt at being an independent contractor or otherwise a self-employed worker. For people used to working in a salary or hourly position and getting regular paychecks, this can be a big adjustment. One of the biggest difference between these two types of jobs has to do with taxes. With a salary or hourly job, your employer will withhold your taxes so…
Save Money on Back To School Shopping With Your Mystery Shopping Gigs
It’s that time of year again when the summer displays at stores are replaced with back to school items like school supplies, backpacks, and fall clothing. Back to school is an expensive time for families, and especially so for those families with more than one child. When you think about the clothes, shoes, backpacks, and the ever-growing list of school supplies you need to buy before that first school bell…
The Importance of Keeping Tabs On Mystery Shopping Providers
Mystery shoppers just love to talk about their providers! Now, the mystery shopping agreements you have signed with each of your providers limits what exactly you are permitted to say, but that doesn’t keep you and other mystery shoppers from communicating on forums and such in code or riddles to convey the information you want to share and hear. The fact is that if you spend even just a little…