Mystery Shopping – Great Home-Based Business Opportunity Raises Your Income If You Know How!
Date posted: 2006-09-18
by Elaine Todd
The home-based industry has been on the rise for the past 20 years. Offline mystery shopping has become a legitimate and regulated market research activity. Today, the Internet has sped up the pace with which shoppers find assignments and mystery shopper recruiters post their offers. Mystery shopping can be a fun way to earn extra income, and add an enticing job to your mainstream career, as long as you know how to make the most of it.
Mystery Shopping and …
Many online databases now offer various categories of home-based opportunities for earning extra cash. Mystery shopping is only one of the many alternatives to full-time office work. Reading paid email, completing paid surveys, reading advertisements and many more are now available, and you can combine any of these with mystery shopping assignments to maximize your earnings. If you decide to do so, you will benefit from the fact that most online databases that offer telecommuting and homeshoring jobs will most certainly have a mystery shopping category, too.
Become an Expert Mystery Shopper
Mystery shopping, or secret shopping, is a great way to earn extra money, and if you are dedicated enough, you will be more than simply enjoying it. You may grow proficient in finding the best mystery shopping assignments, and even specialize in certain types – for instance, DVD shopping, or restaurant service evaluation. As you gradually gain more experience, you’ll be able to sift the available jobs through certain criteria. While it may be ok to accept low-pay mystery shopping assignments as a newbie, once you become a seasoned mystery shopper you’ll be on the watch for assignments then at pay $50-$100 or more. Experienced mystery shoppers also watch out for shopping locations in proximity with their homes or on their usual daily route, in order to eliminate the extra gas expenses.
How to Choose Your Mystery Shopping Jobs
Once you have a record of successfully completed mystery shops, you will have figured out that different assignments require a different amount of written reporting. A 20-dollar assignment may require a three-page detailed narrative, while a $50-dollar one may ask a filled-in questionnaire with yes/no entries. It’s definitely the second one that you would like to sign up for, but still you have to weigh the other facts to make up your mind – is the shop location near; what’s the report deadline (usually within 12-24 hours from assignment completion, or maybe shorter); what extra benefits may come along completing the particular assignment (meeting interesting people, or bonus items to keep), etc.
Experienced mystery shoppers are smart enough to dig out and sign up for double-shopping. That is, finding out more than one mystery shopping assignment that are in mutually near-by locations, so that you need to drive to the area only once, and thus save transportation expenses. In this way, you can combine a lower-pay assignment with a higher-pay one, but still profit from the fact that you will drive up to the location once, and then complete both assignments independently. You save both petrol and time.
Of course, that is the dream job of every mystery shopper – completing tasks in the comfort of your home. You incur no extra costs – you are simply maximizing the benefits from your Internet connection. Moreover, it’s much easier to combine online mystery shopping with other web-based money-making activities, i.e. completing paid surveys, reading paid email, or participating in online focus groups. These options can increase your earnings. I have always highly recommended diversifying your participation in paid online programs, because you learn more quickly, expand your earning potential, and capture more bonuses and promotions. Good luck!
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