Full time challenge!

February 14, 2016 06:03PM

Hi Everyone,

I am a photographer from Pennsylvania. Winter months are a very slow time for me and I've decided to try to make a living wage from Mystery shopping!

So a few weeks ago I signed up for a handful of shop companies. I've also signed up to field agent and easy shift. Now to my goal..

Over the course of the next few months I plan on making a full time income from this. I have done a handful of tasks this past week and I've earned $200. Now this was my first full week that I've put any effort into this!

Follow along and let's see how much I can make until May!!

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February 14, 2016 06:07PM

Interesting way to put the spurs to yourself.

Welcome to the forum!

February 14, 2016 06:09PM

Thanks! I am very determined

February 14, 2016 08:04PM

Welcome to the form. there are shoppers who make a full time living at this. They, and most serious shoppers, sign up with 150-200 MSCs.

In addition, once you have done several regular shops of the sort that are also available for much higher fees when done with video (apartments, new homes, auto sales, senior living, among others) you will want to move into video shopping by getting specialized training.

Enjoy and good luck

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

February 15, 2016 03:37PM

Thanks for the tips! I'm currently signed up to 12 MSC and I will be applying to 15 more today

February 15, 2016 03:43PM

I currently have IC pro status on job slinger and I have all of my shops connected thru them. Is this a good thing?

February 15, 2016 03:51PM

If it works for you it is a good thing. If it not helping, try something else. Each of us is our own 'small business' and each of us will find different things that are appropriate and work. I personally work with so few SASSIE companies any more that it wouldn't handle what companies are most important to me. This is not a commentary on IC Pro but rather on how my 'small business' works. I do tend to avoid any 'service' that will cost me because I am in this business to make money, not to find ways to spend it.

February 15, 2016 03:59PM

Thanks for the response! I do log all of my miles driven with mile IQ and I take shops very seriously. For just starting out it seems that job slinger is easy and is just a way of "getting my foot in the door". I plan on doing this full time and I am very determined. I have an entrepreneur mindset and that will never change

February 15, 2016 04:13PM

vivid,
You may find roads in your area in bad condition (ice and snow) today and tomorrow. That means it is a good time to invest in signing up with lots and lots of MSCs. Any day that you are prevented from doing as many shops as you have targeted as your goal is a day to sign up with 10-15 more MSCs.

Also, I highly recommend creating a signature line that you can automatically add to every email that you exchange with a scheduler or editor. In the digital world you sig line is you business card. So, include some thing like "Located in Dogpatch and shopping from West Boondock to East Peoria and beyond. I love last minute shops!"
Then full name and email and phone number. Many MSC staff will ignore this, BUT the ones who remember you because of it are like gold!

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

February 15, 2016 04:22PM

Thanks for that advice! Funny you said to that today is a good day to sign up

They are calling for bad weather and that was my idea. If I can't be out there then I might as well be doing all I can from home!

February 15, 2016 04:24PM

I don't know mile IQ and assume it is a cell phone ap. I would only encourage you when doing something that needs to be part of your permanent business records to save copies frequently and printouts from time to time. Reconstructing information about shops because a computer dies, an application no longer works, or the internet ate it is just not much fun at all. There are several file formats that are 'universal' and we can expect to always have software to open. They are '.doc' for text, '.xls' for spreadsheets, 'pdf', 'jpg'. If your materials are saved in these formats there will still be a way to open them 20 years from now. Other proprietary formats may not be available to you if the provider goes belly up or stops using the format.

February 16, 2016 08:13PM

Well between yesterday and today I signed up for 10 more MSC, bringing my total to 20. One question I have is. After I apply for a shop I rarely hear back. I apply through job slinger platform and then I never get any email responses. So no new shops in the last 3 days

February 16, 2016 09:09PM

What I've found when using JobSlinger is that it helps me know which companies have jobs in my area so that I can sign up with those companies. But most of the jobs on JobSlinger are gone before you can apply for them - mystery shoppers who are already signed up with those MSCs have already taken them. I would say check the job boards of the companies you are signed up with and apply directly with the companies.

February 16, 2016 09:37PM

AM is correct. Job Slinger is just an indicator of which Sassie MSCs may have clients in your area. It is not a substitute for checking each MSC's job board once you have signed up with them.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

February 16, 2016 10:54PM

Thanks for the replies! I have signed up to most of the MSC's that host jobs in my area. I guess I will go directly to them on a daily basis instead of through job slinger. I just applied for a savings account job that pays really well

February 17, 2016 02:59AM

vivid,
You may have only signed up with most of the MSCs that us the Sassie reporting platform and have jobs in your area! You have gotten the low hanging fruit by doing so. But there are scores of other MSCs that do not use the Sassie platform, so are never going to show up on Job slinger.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

February 17, 2016 02:04PM

Wales is absolutely right. What you are seeing is just the MSCs on the platform who have also had assignments posted in the last few weeks or so. You need to get on MSJobBoard.com to add in companies using the Shopmetrics platform. Even with those two you are still missing the companies using Prophet and those with their own platforms. Most of us have found we end up signing up for a lot of companies that may not have work in our area for a long time only to have them get a fantastic project down the line. Registering with new companies is the sweat equity we put into a business that otherwise has a relatively low start up cost.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

February 17, 2016 03:31PM

Thanks again for all the help! I am applying to every possible company that I can find. I know this isn't a get rich quick kind of thing. I am just hoping that all of this work I have been putting in, will eventually pay off for me. I have actually made most of my money from apps like easy shift and field agent. They pay $8-$15 dollars and are such a breeze.

I have completed 5 MSC related jobs in the past 10 days. I have yet to see any of these actually pay me yet. I know it takes time for everything to go through. I get spoiled with the apps that pay me within 24 hrs and it is such a painless process.

So my update this week is:
Gigwalk- $3 dollar job that took 3 minutes and 2 pictures.
Bestmark- 2, $3 dollar online car dealership jobs.
Text Broker- 5 written articles at $5 a piece, not really related. I will post all self made income!
CashCrate- $15 in surveys.
Applying to every MSC I can find- Priceless

lol

Total for this week as of today - $20, I plan on doubling my weekly amount every week until I can hit $1k a week. I know this might sound crazy but I KNOW I will accomplish this!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2016 03:35PM by vividdetails.

February 17, 2016 08:38PM

Picked up 8, $6 display checks at rite-aid for easy shift today and they gave me a $4 bonus for doing so many. That makes the total $72 so far this week

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2016 08:41PM by vividdetails.

February 19, 2016 04:05AM

8 more easy shift jobs today brining the week total to $120... Not bad for now until the I start getting the MSC jobs. I applied for 45 now and I will do 10 more tomorrow. Thanks a lot for the members that are helping me out!

I notice I have a lot of job opportunities at sams club and BJ's. I am not a member there. Would it be worth the $45 sams club yearly fee and the $50 BJ's fee to sign up and then have access to shops?

February 19, 2016 04:28AM

I never pay to get a job. I have never used Job Slinger also. What works for me is to sign up with as many MSCs as possible whether they are based in US or Canada. Some may not have jobs in your area but eventually, they may carry some clients you would be interested in. By signing up with as many MSCs as you can, you don't even have to go to their websites until they notify you by emails about available shops. And develop very good relationships with some of the schedulers. Sometimes it helps in getting a regular flow of good shops.
Edited for typo.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2016 04:30AM by risinghorizon.

February 19, 2016 04:40AM

I have yet to pay for anything. I am using the job slinger plus trial at the moment. I have been getting emails lately about shops and I apply to as many as I can.

February 19, 2016 04:56AM

2 casino shops opened up 1 mile from me!! $180 a piece...Let's hope I get them

I'm an experienced gambler as well!

February 19, 2016 04:58AM

actually 12 shops at the same casino... Can I apply for all of them!?.. It's with Bestmark

February 19, 2016 05:19AM

Wow! I personally think being an experienced gambler is a very good qualification to have to succeed as a mystery shopper. And a professional photographer? There are a lot of taking pictures involved in many shops. That would be just in your alley.
I don't have those qualifications and I am very picky about shops but $1000 a month is not hard to make.

I am not sure about Sam's Club and BJ's but I know if I had paid for a Costco membership, I would have added a lot of shops. But Costco is opening around my area sometime this year. So, I will definitely pay for it to be able to get into the action. So maybe if you are using Sam's and BJ's services anyway, why not?

Good luck and have fun! Welcome to the Forum.

February 19, 2016 07:48AM

Sign up for a Google Voice number if you haven't yet. You will want a number that you can give people as kind of a throwaway for follow ups you don't really want to answer.

One thing that's helped me make a teeny bit more money is learning the cycles of when bonuses start coming out and which jobs, in which locations, tend to be bonused. Some bank jobs I like to do will come out with a $2 bonus... then a $3 bonus... then a $5 bonus. So I have done several at whatever they paid at the time I was ready to do them, but this month when I saw the $2 bonus, I emailed the scheduler and asked him for the $5 bonus off the bat. It worked!

February 19, 2016 10:03AM

I think Work Market would be great for you!

February 19, 2016 01:16PM

Take a good look at those Bestmark shops. Usually they require evaluating a minimum of eight employees and are considered one shop, not eight. Base pay always was about $80 total.

February 19, 2016 01:18PM

They listed 12 individual casino shops. The cheapest payout being $80 and 4 of them are $180. Each shop says to evaluate 8 employees.

February 19, 2016 01:29PM

$180 for eight interactions makes much more sense. Bestmark hasn't had the casino shops here for years so I don't see notices anymore. Another company lists out each interaction as a separate shop so apparently I got them jumbled together.

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