I just finished my first mystery shopping assignment and it was accepted on my first try! Very exciting.

I am so new to all of this. What kind of tips would you give someone just starting out?

I shop, therefore I am!

Congratulations! The first is the worst :^) You feel like you stand out like a sore thumb, are terribly obviously a shopper and that there are one or more things you probably did wrong. Getting it accepted is a great start!

Most of what you need for getting started you will find in the New Mystery Shopper area of the forum.

Read!
Read!
Read!
Read!
Read!
And when you have a little extra time.....read some more. ;)

And start a notebook or excel form of the companies you work for...
with notes for YOUR eyes only....
And another notebook of who shops whom...
you would be surprised how much you will refer to it for various things....
For instance you might not want a shoe shop right now but next summer you will think wonder who does shoes.... look in your notebook and then make sure your are checking those job boards....

A variant of the 'who shops whom' list I started last summer recognizes that from time to time I go out of area on a special shop to communities A, B and C. When I get called upon to go to community C, I check the companies I have noted have additional shops there that I normally don't do. I can quickly limit the number of job boards to check for additional work to do and make a route of it.

I started a different kind of notebook tonight. I realized how much cash I've laid out in advance in February and started trying to track it back to shops. Some of my MSCs just don't have anywhere to see Jobs Completed. There is no history function in some of the MSC's websites. So I started a notebook that will list each company and what shop I did and how much cash I laid out and how much reimbursement/shop fees total to. I want to keep close tabs on who pays and who doesn't. Does anyone have a good way to track your shops where payment is due? I need a system to track income from each company. Also, does anyone know what counts toward the "$600 creates a 1099" rule? Is it just shop fees or is it shop fees plus reimbursements. I need to get the financial spread sheet set up so I can know where I'm heading cash wise and tax wise.
And for the meantime, I'm going to keep my head into the shops that don't involve a cash layout.

Thanks.

Can we put these kind of responses somewhere else other than introductions? mY fear is that they will not be seen by those who most need them.

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“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.”
~Weston Agor

You bring back memories...nowhere to go but up...congrats!!

Thank you everyone! I have taken your suggestions and started logging everything in an Excel spreadsheet. It is nice to have all that information at your fingertips.

I shop, therefore I am!