LIJake Wrote:
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> -----
> > 1K Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > I only have one goal.
> >
>
> Give more to Obama?

I thought the goal was to get a leather jacket


LIJake Wrote:
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> dixiewhiskey Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 1K Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > I only have one goal.
> >
>
> Give more to Obama?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2014 09:29PM by kimmiemae.

My word for the year (aka goal) is Organization. Twelve months from now I'd like my business to run more effectently, and my house to have much less 'stuff'.

Reading thru goals people have posted, I would like to make a suggestion. I have written goals every year but they have to be specific in order to be successful. For example, instead of saying "I want to sign up with more companies," change it to "I am going to sign up with 2 new companies per week" or something like that. "I want to increase my net income by 15%" rather than "I want to make more money." When I quantify my goals this way, I am much more likely to measure them and achieve them. The first goal on my list is "On January 1st, I will uninstall Candy Crush from every electronic device I own." I figure I have about 6 hours left to reach my first goal of 2015.

On that note, Happy New Year everyone!! May you have a prosperous and fortune-filled 2015.

pgl Wrote:
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> I am looking at retiring from my 6 am to 2 pm day
> job.


Having no idea what your 6 am to 2 pm day job is, I feel confident I can say that is a job I would never retire from. Because I wouldn't have the chance. Because I would have been long ago.

I want to sign up for at least five new companies each week. I would also like to try video shopping sometime during the 1st quarter of this year.

Hi all- Happy New Year from the GWN.. I hope to make a few bucks, enjoy the work and try to stay on the right side of the grass!

Great goals as well as great advice...

I realized from this forum I can live well from full time MS'ing by truly applying myself.
Thank you to all of you who are showing us how to do it. You are appreciated.

My 2015 goals.....

~To sign up with a minimum of 5 new shops a week.
~Going to bed early 4 nights a week (by 11PM everything shut down)
~Take/complete any exams/courses offered by the company
~A minimum of 30 minute walk every morning
~Start my video training
~Do hotel shops
~Plan my routes strategically to get the best benefits
~Develop relationships with the schedulers
~Send out Thank you cards
~Keep track of mileage much better
~When traveling on business/leisure, incorporate some shops (plan a route if possible)
~Keep track of every dollar spent
~Log all receipts monthly so I don't have to spend a full day getting my receipts together before I can add them up for my taxes.
~DO IT NOW...SELF!



Happy New Year!
May you all have a blessed year with good health and prosperity.

My goal, since I am now getting my retirement from the state of Mo. (teacher), is to only shop 5 days a week. I hope to make $40 to $60 per day or $800 to $1200 per month with the Mystery Shopping, as I also tutor 5 afternoon/evenings per week. This is my goal until I have caught up with all of my bills (due to family situation changing) which will take me awhile (a couple of years). After that I will continue Mystery Shopping to build up a savings to hopefully some day do some traveling and to work on a Social Work Degree. Yeah, I'm downsizing the amount of work I will be doing, but that is what retirement is for. I will also try to sign up with 2 to 5 more companies per month in order to get more higher paying jobs. I want to spent the 2 days a week not mystery shopping, so I can have some fun in retirement.

In the past 3 years, I have made around $1,800 or more per month (signed up with only 35 companies) from Mystery Shopping when my health allowed (multiple kidney stones and sciatica, the last three months have really eaten into that). This involved local shops in good old St. Louis/suburb areas and route shopping to several rural locations that have shops that are hard to fill so the pay is good.

Good luck with everyone's goals and happy shopping!

My 2015 may look a lot different than most shoppers on this forum but here goes - please take no offense as none is intended.

1. Average about 10 shops a month.

2. Only do shops that offer zero to low pay but plenty of reimbursement.

3. Do a hotel shop every quarter. Note to MSC: Please reimburse the hotel folio - don't reverse the charges! This means I am taking shops that most of the contributors to this site do not want. Long narratives and large out of pocket expenses that do not get reimbused for 45 days on average are just fine for me.

4. Do not be harassed into taking a fast food, bank, cell phone or grocery store shops. No car negotiation shops for next year either. I bought two new cars this year and will not be in the market for another two years.

5. Do not let that favorite scheduler beg me into doing that restaurant my husband got sick from last year. Of course he did not get sick until three hours after the report was submitted.

BusyB223 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great goals as well as great advice...
>
> I realized from this forum I can live well from
> full time MS'ing by truly applying myself.
> Thank you to all of you who are showing us how to
> do it. You are appreciated.
>
> My 2015 goals.....
>
> ~To sign up with a minimum of 5 new shops a week.
> ~Going to bed early 4 nights a week (by 11PM
> everything shut down)
> ~Take/complete any exams/courses offered by the
> company
> ~A minimum of 30 minute walk every morning
> ~Start my video training
> ~Do hotel shops
> ~Plan my routes strategically to get the best
> benefits
> ~Develop relationships with the schedulers
> ~Send out Thank you cards
> ~Keep track of mileage much better
> ~When traveling on business/leisure, incorporate
> some shops (plan a route if possible)
> ~Keep track of every dollar spent
> ~Log all receipts monthly so I don't have to spend
> a full day getting my receipts together before I
> can add them up for my taxes.
> ~DO IT NOW...SELF!
>
>
>
> Happy New Year!
> May you all have a blessed year with good health
> and prosperity.

Great list! I had to chuckle at your second goal about getting to bed early by 11 PM. If I make it to 11 PM, that's a late night for me.

I am fortunate to live in the Los Angeles area so I have lot's to do ... that being said, have you looked into doing telephone shops from home? Some pay $3 each some more. Some are recorded some are not. The point is that if you can get several to do in a given month then your driving expenses are 0 and it doesn't matter where you live. I found these shops by selecting "shops outside my area" or "shops over 100 miles from my address" on the MSC sites. It works for me!

I am fortunate to live in the Los Angeles area and not to have another job so there are a lot of shops available and I have the time to devote to it. I've just started getting my feet wet with video and I really enjoy it. I have only done one "route" that only included one overnight and I sort of fell into it. But I learned very quickly that video is the way to go if you want to make money.

So that being the case, my goals for 2015:
* Increase my MS income to $1800-2000 per month (Currently $1100-1300)
* Limit my shopping to an average of 5 days per week.
* Stop taking jobs for less than minimum wage!
* Only accept reimbursement only shops if its for a high end restaurant that I really want to visit for it's own sake.
* Learn how to ask for bonuses. I'm very shy about asking, even when they call me and beg me to help them. Gotta get over that!
* Learn how to plan long routes.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2015 06:28PM by tracyvp.

I want to thank whoever started this discussion board, it is very informative. I am totally new, have never shopped but would like to, am intimidated for now. Could you please tell me when I sign up for shops, will they send me jobs via email? When I have done a shop, and do my report, do I have to print it out? And do I email my report back? Anything else comes to mind, please bring it to my attention. I greatly appreciate your advice, believe me, I need it.

Thank you, again.
gercar3

I supose I need first to say hello and hope you find the New Year the beginning of something wonderful.
I have a full time job so I mystery shop evenings and weekends. I would like to find a way to consolidate my 16 hour days. I know there has to be a better way to debrief than what I am doing. The pictures are the worse to resize and upload.
So my goal is time consolidation for the 2015 year. I shop 1-5 shops a day. My normal paycheck is 300-500 monthTotal. Reimbursement and shop fee combined.
I live out in the sticks so most shops are minimum 30 mile round trip the farthest I go is 150 round trip.
I wish for more sleep in the New Year. LOL!

My goals for this year are simple:

First, I plan to reduce my costs by refilling my own ink cartridges. I print out a lot of maps when I do routes, and normally spend about $30 month in cartridges, so this could be a big savings. I already bought some refill kits online, and Ill see how it goes.

Second, I plan to monitor my inbox and create filters for every type of email in which I have no interest. I just bought my first smartphone, and want to minimize the usual clutter so that I can more easily manage my mail on a smaller screen. (I would call buying a smartphone a goal, but I have mixed feelings due to the added monthly costs.)

I accomplished my third goal yesterday by buying a car for mystery shopping. It's an older model, but it's good on gas and has low mileage. Hopefully this will save me money over the long run, as I drive several thousand miles each month. I had been renting a car by the month (and driving the heck out of it) until I could save up enough money to buy a car. (I'm going to miss that brand new car with its unlimited miles.)

@mystery2me wrote:

Second, I plan to monitor my inbox and create filters for every type of email in which I have no interest. I just bought my first smartphone, and want to minimize the usual clutter so that I can more easily manage my mail on a smaller screen. (I would call buying a smartphone a goal, but I have mixed feelings due to the added monthly costs.)

I have to say, IMO, a smartphone is a must for mystery shopping. I do EVERYTHING on my iPhone; check emails, apply for shops, download guidelines, submit reports, etc. Look at it as an investment; You'll be able to pick up shops that you otherwise might've missed out on by waiting until you got home to your computer, double check a requirement on guidelines while onsite, etc. So worth it

My ink expenses went to almost zero after getting a smart phone. No more printing maps.

I can't remember the last time I bought an ink cartridge hahaha. Getting a fast smartphone and tablet saved so much time for my shopping and photography businesses. I know some rag on technology but for this business I think a smartphone at minimum is a must have.