With Mystery Shopping Expert Melanie Jordan
Author of
The Perfect Work-At-Home Job: Mystery Shopping
How To Finally Make Money As A Mystery Shopper
The Quick And Easy Guide To Making Money
As A Merchandiser
Award-Winning Publisher of
Perfect Work-At-Home Job Update E-zine
Getting Started In Mystery Shopping
(The Right Way)
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One of the most common questions I get from people who are looking to get started in mystery shopping is "how do I get started?" If you intend to make mystery shopping a real career rather than just getting "paid to shop" it's important to get started off on the right foot. Mystery shopping can either be the road to overworked and underpaid, or if you do it correctly, it can be quite lucrative for a legitimate, work-at-home, flexible job.
Unfortunately, the most common error newbie mystery shoppers make is that they go berserk applying to mystery shopping company web sites left and right. Signing up with any and all companies is the last thing you want to do when you are just starting out--unless you want to be a new mystery shopper with sore fingers saying "I applied to 100 companies but I didn't hear anything". Going directly to companies, especially if you don't have any, or have very little mystery shopping experience, is a waste of time in my opinion. Most companies are inundated with requests from newbies wanting to become mystery shoppers; what they want are experienced shoppers they can count on. Think of a "real world" job search. If you just apply to companies all over the place without any experience, or knowing if they even have any job openings, it's going to be a fruitless effort.
Another big reason why applying to company web sites is a waste of time is that the largest and best companies outsource their assignments to independent schedulers--the middlemen of the industry. So companies don't always bother going through their own databases. And even when companies do handle their own assignments in-house via their own schedulers, it's better to apply in response to actual job leads they post in one of many places on the internet. The one time it does make sense to apply directly to companies from day one, is when a mystery shopping company site has the special characteristics that make it what I refer to as a "secret site" (CLICK HERE for more about this topic).
The real way to get started in mystery shopping is to get connected to independent and company-specific schedulers in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd and gets assignments coming to you. Okay, you ask, how do I get connected to schedulers? I go over the many ways to do this in great detail, along with lots of other great tips and techniques in my book The Perfect Work-At-Home Job: Mystery Shopping. But here's one way:
Go to MS Openings, a great Topica mailing list for mystery shopping leads from lots of independent and company schedulers. (If you are not already a member of Topica, you can sign up for free immediately). When you see a job posting in your area, simply follow the instructions and apply. There's a lot more to being a professional, top-earning mystery shopper than just this, but it's a way for you to dabble and get a feel for what is possible.
Summary: Despite what others may say, the biggest mistake you can make as a newbie shopper is wasting your time applying directly to hundreds of mystery shopping companies. You wouldn't look for a job in the "real world" this way, and the "mystery shopping world" is no different. Learn to work with schedulers and you'll have started your mystery shopping career the right way.
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