I have only been mystery shopping for four months, but I am already fairly burned out on it. I started out light, getting my feet wet, and then started doing 4-5 shops every day. It takes so much time to drive around and do these shops, (even scheduling them in the same part of town) and then come home and complete all the reports. I think my main issue is that I have two boys, ages 8 & 12, so I also have to throw dinner in there. Then there's the baseball games at least four nights a week. Sometimes I don't have time to get the reports done before the games and find myself up past midnight completing them.

I got laid off of my job of six years in January, and found myself very fortunate in the fact that I don't have to work, my husband does pretty well. I was just doing it to get out of the house and feel like I was contributing. Maybe when the kids go back to school and baseball ends it won't feel so overwhelming to complete all those reports everyday.

I have cut back to only 1-2 days a week. I have read posts from people on this forum stating they do 10-15 a day. I can't imagine how many hours a day that would equate to, but I'm curious how some of you can keep up that pace for years? Is there a trick I haven't figured out?

Yea it can destroy you. In the last 2 weeks I worked an avarage of 10 audits a day. I am pooped and I have another week in front of me at the same speed. In addition I work a full time job overnight.
It can be very tiring, above all mentally. In the past two weeks my daughter only heard my voice on the phone or watched my back at the computer. But it was a tough period because I had many jobs heavily bonused that I did not want to lose. I will take the end of June off.......but on the other hand I always say it and I always end up taking new assignments LOL.

Need to take the right mix of shops...

Little Narrative and high pay.

That's the goal, everytime.

Mystery shopping is not an easy job. It's flexible and you get wonderful experiences like $250 dinners for two, 4-star hotels, spas, massages. It is very easy to be stressed and burnt out after doing 8 shops and then faced another 5 hours of reports at night. Find a balance in the types of shop you do in a day.

My favorite line to family that knows what I do is, "I may only work 1 day a week, but in that one day I work 20 hours."

My brother just started, he now fully understands what I mean. And he has only done bank shops so far. I could work more days and take less shops a day but that would mean finding a sitter more than 1 day a week, missing Zumba more than 1 day a week, and missing out on my kids on full day more a week. No thanks. I will work my 20 hours, one day a week.

Techman has it right. Additionally you need to find the mix that works best for your situation...might be that grocery stores and gas stations would be best for you as they will contribute to your family needs. Whatever, you need to find the niche that works best for you. Also, you will figure out a rhythm...it just might take awhile longer.

Liz

Traveliz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Techman has it right. Additionally you need to
> find the mix that works best for your
> situation...might be that grocery stores and gas
> stations would be best for you as they will
> contribute to your family needs. Whatever, you
> need to find the niche that works best for you.
> Also, you will figure out a rhythm...it just might
> take awhile longer.
>
> Liz

The best shops are for people that fit into the age compliance category.
At least in the ny metro market there are many hundreds of shops
every month and they all pay at the minimum 15 and many 30+.
I got a few people into it and they make nice money for little work.

Too bad there is no compliance shops for us "older" people

Techman, unfortunately that is not the rule. In my state there are not that many jobs and they fees very seldom go above the $15. I'd say an avarage is $10. Sometimes the pay covers the job, but not really the time you spend at home doing the report. So if you see it as a whole, I might end up working for $5 a hour. In certain market you end up doing the same jobs every months or quarter because that's what there is. I don't know how many companies I am signed up with, but in the end, the companies that offer jobs in my area don't go above 10. You can reach 15/20 if you live in the capital city.

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Traveliz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Techman has it right. Additionally you need to
> > find the mix that works best for your
> > situation...might be that grocery stores and
> gas
> > stations would be best for you as they will
> > contribute to your family needs. Whatever, you
> > need to find the niche that works best for you.
>
> > Also, you will figure out a rhythm...it just
> might
> > take awhile longer.
> >
> > Liz
>
> The best shops are for people that fit into the
> age compliance category.
> At least in the ny metro market there are many
> hundreds of shops
> every month and they all pay at the minimum 15 and
> many 30+.
> I got a few people into it and they make nice
> money for little work.
>
> Too bad there is no compliance shops for us
> "older" people

Yep I got my niece into the compliance (she is only 20 so it's tobacco for her now) and she is making a lot of money. Next year when she adds alcohol it will be even better. They might list on the board for 10 but she is usually emailed by the schedulers within the first week of the month and offered 20-33 and sometimes gas money to commit to them.

Liz

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2013 02:55AM by Traveliz.

This isn't a viable option for all, but I LOVE my Ipad. I went to a graduation last month, picked up two quick shops along the way, and with the help of my portable scanner, and my ipad, the report was turned in by the time they called the final name. Then enjoyed a celebratory dinner, and went home to rest. You could probably find some time for reporting during the down time at the games.

Bearclaw, as you said you are fortunate you don't have to work as your husband does pretty well. But don't forget you are contributing by cooking dinner every night and taking the kids to baseball games and probably a million other things you are doing to like shopping for food and clothing.
If you don't need the money I would suggest just scheduling jobs while the kids are in school or at activities. Spend this time you have with them as quality time. Watch the game and see your kids hit the home runs and cheer with them. You will find in just a blink of the eye that your kids won't need you with them. For now I would just do what you feel comfortable with as far as mystery shopping goes and you can ramp up when the kids are gone in the fall.
If you want to contribute $$ to the family coffers perhaps figure out a target amount you think would be helpful or make goals of things you personally want to achieve such as a vacation maybe you could not have taken with only your husbands job now.



Bearclaw14 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have only been mystery shopping for four months,
> but I am already fairly burned out on it. I
> started out light, getting my feet wet, and then
> started doing 4-5 shops every day. It takes so
> much time to drive around and do these shops,
> (even scheduling them in the same part of town)
> and then come home and complete all the reports.
> I think my main issue is that I have two boys,
> ages 8 & 12, so I also have to throw dinner in
> there. Then there's the baseball games at least
> four nights a week. Sometimes I don't have time
> to get the reports done before the games and find
> myself up past midnight completing them.
>
> I got laid off of my job of six years in January,
> and found myself very fortunate in the fact that I
> don't have to work, my husband does pretty well.
> I was just doing it to get out of the house and
> feel like I was contributing. Maybe when the kids
> go back to school and baseball ends it won't feel
> so overwhelming to complete all those reports
> everyday.
>
> I have cut back to only 1-2 days a week. I have
> read posts from people on this forum stating they
> do 10-15 a day. I can't imagine how many hours a
> day that would equate to, but I'm curious how some
> of you can keep up that pace for years? Is there
> a trick I haven't figured out?

I concur with everyone saying just find out what works for you. I have four kids, aged 14, 14, almost 3 and 18 months and I work another job three days a week. I have only been mystery shopping for six months, but I feel like I have found my balance. When I started out I was trying to do too much and this was putting a stress on our family.

Here is what I do:

I rarely if ever take a shop on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. These are the three days that I work and I am already gone all day, I need to spend the evening with my family. On my four days off, I take jobs two days a week, generally Thursday and Saturday. I schedule no more than 4-5 shops on these days and make sure they are very close together, to avoid long driving times.

This leaves me two days completely off and five evenings off to spend with my husband and my kids. I also try not to take shops for under $15, to make it worth my time away from my family.

Honestly, even if you did one $15 shop a day, five days a week, it would be an extra $75 a week and $300 a month! This is how I think of it, anything I do is extra money that I did not have before. Sometimes you just have to let good shops go by to keep your sanity and find your own personal balance.

everybody has to find their "happy place" with mystery shopping....and i'm sure we ALL get burned out....speaking from experience!

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. Sandy, I think you hit the nail on the head. I do seem to minimize everything I do around the house (which I am certain would completely fall apart without me ) I keep very busy with the boys and the house and groceries, dinner and baseball. I also know they'll be out of the house before we know it, so I am enjoying all the extra time I have had with them lately.

I think for now I will stick to 1-2 days a week. That also allows me to be choosy with the shops and only accept shops that pay around $20. Not to mention we have a very busy schedule this summer. I'm going to Vegas for 5 days next week, then we are taking a 9 day family vacation to Florida in July. Looking forward to the time away!! (Plus, I'm sure I'm going to win millions in the World Series of Poker tournaments!)

Having been a true type A I worked up[ to 18 hours a day to support my kids. And a little bit of it was to stay away from my wife.

Being 72 with 3 daughters that hardly got to know their father let me tell you it is not worth it no matter how much you need money.

My girls are finally getting to know and like their father. At least 2 of them the other one will not even talk to me or allow me to see my grandson.

Well we all make mistakes but what you pay for some mistakes it isn't worth it. Do not forget what the kids lose as well.

ENJOY YOUR KIDS. They grow up and go away. Watch their sporting events and talk to them about it so they know you care.

4 years I did 106 jobs in a month and this is not a competition but just an idea how I worked when I was 40 (6 days a week and slept all day on the 7th.)

Do not look back from the future with regrets.

When I was shopping "full time" I added tools to the game as they became available that helped me get things done on the road so I didn't have tons of reports to do at night when I got home. A laptop or netbook can be used during a lunch shop at the right place with WiFi to complete a shop or two from the morning. A portable scanner or the camera on your phone can zap a picture of the receipt. You only have to stay at the arches for 15 minutes but nowhere does it say you can't stay for 1/2 hour or an hour while you do your reports and drink all the Diet Coke you want and watch the news at the same time. Scheduling on one side of town was invaluable. I could go have breakfast, go get my oil changed, shop for tires I didn't need and go to the bank and then have lunch and be finished with all my reports for five shops by the time I finished lunch.

Now I'm very sedentary after a major heart attack and being in an accident on a bus last year. This week I so far I did 43 phone shops and will go to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch with my daughter tomorrow. I include my grandkids with me on shops. My 9 year old granddaughter refers to them as "you know whats" because I had to keep her from mentioning the word "shops" while on a shop. lolol Pretty soon I won't need the money from shopping but will still keep doing some just because it gets me out of the house and keeps me busy.

Hope you can find that happy average and not go into burn out like so many. I still have fun doing the few I keep at.

My goal is also to have some type of "regular business hours." I treat this like a full-time job with up to seven or eight hours a day available during most weekdays. It really is amazing how much can be accomplished by devoting a certain number of hours and remaining focused. Naturally I don't always practice what I preach, or I wouldn't be responding to this right now

Lisa: i assume those 7-8 hours include the time for the reports.

Reports? Of course not, I don't submit reports.