Mystery Shopping Made Simple: How to REALLY Make Money with Mystery Shopping as a Home-Based Business

There's a lot of information about Mystery Shopper work. The only problem is that most of it is from companies that are trying to scam you into paying for information that you can get for FREE! Even worse, some companies will take your money and give you out-dated information or tell you things that aren't even close to being accurate. The following step-by-step instructions will help you finally become a Mystery Shopper.  You will learn how find legitimate mystery shopping companies, how to easily get assigned to jobs and how to CONSISTENTLY make HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS PER MONTH!

Step 1
Decide how many hours you are going to devote each day to your Mystery Shopper work. It is great, extremely flexible and often fun work to do but you MUST recognize that it is a JOB. In order to really make money at it, you must do it consistently. The more hours you work, of course, the more money you make.

Step 2
Sign up with as many Mystery Shopping providers as possible - the more you sign up with, the more opportunities you'll have for getting assigned to shops. There are literally hundreds of legitimate companies that regularly hire people to secret shop. A couple of good places to start are www.volition.com and www.mysteryshop.org (The Mystery Shopping Providers Association). At either site you will find helpful information on how to get started as well as lists of reputable mystery shopping companies.

Step 3
Once you decide how many hours you want to work each day, separate the hours into

a)      Signing up for shops

b)      Reviewing the shop paperwork

c)      Performing the shops and

d)      Submitting the shop reports. Keep in mind that for each shop you complete, you can spend anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes filling out the shop report.

And remember, you MUST set a consistent schedule for signing up for shops so that you can be sure you'll have regular work - and paychecks!

Step 4
Make a bookmark folder on your computer for 'self-assign' mystery shopping companies.

Step 5
When signing up for shops, first check your email inbox for shop offers. Apply for as many shops as you want to do and delete the ones you don't want to do. Once you've gone through your emails, go to the job boards for the self-assign mystery shopping companies and assign yourself to as many jobs as possible to fill up your schedule for the week. If you still have open time slots available to do shops that week, keep applying for shops with the rest of the mystery shopping companies that you're signed up with.

Step 6
Get organized! Make files for your daily shop logs, shop paperwork and pay stubs. As a Mystery Shopper, you are an independent contractor and therefore, essentially in business for yourself. You need to keep careful track of your earnings for tax purposes as well as a record of your shops in case the companies you work for ever have any questions about a job you did.

Some Tools of the Trade
Here are some things you need to have before you get started - some that are necessities in order to perform a mystery shopping job correctly and some that will simply make your secret shop experience easier and save you lots of time:

• Computer with Internet Connection
• Email Address (separate from your main email)
• PayPal Account
• Cell Phone
• RoboForm (or other online form-filler)
• Reliable Transportation
• A digital camera

Some Things to Keep in Mind
Just like at any other job, being aware of and following some basic rules can be the difference between success and failure:

1. Always be aware of Secret Shop deadlines and be sure to submit your reports on time!
2. Be friendly with the schedulers and show them that you are reliable. This will help to get you more work and sometimes even higher pay.
3. Beware of websites that ask you to pay a fee to get a list of mystery shopping providers. You should NEVER pay anyone to get mystery shopping work!

Also, an important thing to be aware of when you start working is that most Mystery Shopping companies will take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to process payment for your shops.  Frustrating, yes, but this is the industry standard.  Some companies will pay within a couple of weeks but the average is about 30 days.  That being said, once you've built up to a regular steady schedule of weekly shops, you will have regular weekly checks or Paypal deposits coming in.  But it's important to know up front that you will spend the first month without seeing any money.  Be patient, though, because as long as you've signed up with the legitimate companies listed at Volition.com or the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (www.mysteryshop.org), you shouldn't have any problem with getting paid on time.

So there you have it!  Mystery Shopping can be a fun, extremely flexible way to add extra money to the family budget or an easy way to save for a special purchase.  The key is to remember to treat it like a real job and to be consistent with all of the steps above.  It is not a way to "get rich quick" or "make thousands of dollars a day" as the scam ads will tell you.  However, if you put in the time and do the work, you WILL make money.  The amount of money you can make depends solely on how many hours you have to devote to shopping each day, where you live and how many companies you sign up with. 

I hope this article helps shed some light on the "Mystery" of Secret Shopping and keeps people from falling for the far too prevalent scams out there.  Just take your time, do some research - then go out there and make some money!