If you are not yet doing a lot of bank shops, keep signing up with MSCs until you find 2-3 that consistantly have bank teller shops that you can do without having an account at that bank brand. Then, work your way up to doing bank platform shops (where you meet with a banker at a desk to discuss a loan or credit card.) You will find that banks are so thick on the ground that you can often do several shops in a day, with very short narratives for the teller shops and slightly longer narratives for the platform shops. Save Informa MSC for after you have gotten good marks for several platform shops. Their platform shops take more narrative, but pay much better than most. You can start making some good daily fees within 4-5 months by doing a lot of bank shops. You want to write such good narratives that the MSCs will start sending emails asking that you take particular shops and/or offering you a bonus for out-of-the-way locations.
Then, keep signing up with more MSCs and trying new kinds of shops. You will find other industry groups that you like to shops and which MSCs tend to serve them. Before you are ready to risk the outlay for higher end restaurant and hotel shops, be sure to try some small restaurant shops. As you find the MSCs (keep signing up!) that have cinnamon bun shops and yogurt shops and fast casual shops (order at the register, sit down and your meal will be delivered to you or your number will be called.) use those to get started at low ufront costs.
IF ACL has restaurant shops in your area, try a few, taking baby steps while you learn their narrative preferences and editing style. If they have yogurt shops near you, that's a good place to start, since the visits and the reports are short, and there is even a small fee in addition to reimbursement for lots of frozen yogurt for 2 people (but you can shop solo.) You will want to email your editor there to ask for specific recommendation to improve, since their comments are often pretty generic. Don't be discouraged; this is a stepping stone to higher end dining shops with other MSCs.
Above all, spend every free day that you do not have a shop scheduled, signing up with 5 more MSCs until you have exhausted the list of nearly 200 at the link at the bottom of this page.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.