If you are like many other mystery shoppers, you stumbled upon this job while looking for part-time work or a job that you can do from home. Mystery shopping is a job that meets both of those criteria, and it does not require any experience or special skills. Many people find it to be a fun, enjoyable job, and if you are included in that group, you may be wondering how you can turn your part-time gig into a full-time job. For most mystery shoppers, this means finding a way to earn enough income as a mystery shopper to pay the bills. Here are a few tips to help you achieve our dream of mystery shopping on a full-time basis.
Reduce Your Expenses
Your budget is comprised of two parts – your income and your expenses. You can spin your wheels trying to work harder and pick up more assignments, or you can reduce your expenses and more easily cover your bills with fewer assignments. Therefore, as a first step, take a closer look at your budget, and identify areas where you can reduce spending. If you are serious about making a living as a full-time mystery shopper, you may be willing to forego luxuries like the premium cable package or extra texting minutes on your cell phone. In addition, consider that some of your expenses may be tax deductible. For example, a portion of your vehicle expenses, utilities and more may be counted as business expenses and may offset the amount of taxes you owe each year.
Maximize Your Expense Reimbursements
Second, take a closer look at the assignments that you have been selecting in recent months. In particular, focus on the expense reimbursement offered as well as the items that you have purchased with those reimbursements. Expense reimbursements can be used strategically to offset your real expenses. For example, you can regularly pick up a few gas station assignments and enjoy using reimbursements to fill up your tank. You can pick up grocery store assignments regularly to offset your food expense. If you have a history of spending your expense reimbursements on frivolous items, consider making a change.
Find More Assignments
The above steps can help you to reduce the amount of income that you need to earn from your mystery shopping assignments to make ends meet. However, you likely will also need to boost your income to fully cover all of your expenses. If you already work with a handful of providers, you may have access to plenty of assignments to keep you busy. You may simply need to find time in your day to complete the assignments. However, because your goal will be to complete several assignments each day, you may find it difficult to find a steady flow of assignments with just a few providers. If this is the case, simply sign up to work with a few different providers.
It can take a lot of time and effort to decrease your expenses, maximize your expense reimbursements and ramp up your pipeline of assignments. However, by following these steps, you may soon find yourself happily living on a full-time mystery shopper’s income!