My short answers to your questions are:
Internet
8 years
No, and yes
I remember it vividly, even though I was still weak and under the influence of radiation.
Here is my story which is not so short:
I had my last radiation treatment for cancer in September 2008. Going back to my old job as a dealer in a cigarette smoke-infested casino was out of the question, and the economic depression eliminated my chance to return to real estate investing and bird dogging. My age and lack of ability to function for more than a couple hours at a time due to weakness from cancer and radiation, curtailed my options for finding employment.
I combined my writing abilities, knowledge of grammar, ability to observe and remember details that I had learned from my years at the casino pits, knowledge of computers and web design and operating my own businesses, knowledge I had gained from experiences of being alive for 58 years, and the refusal to stand at the intersection and beg motorists for their hard earned money; and I began searching the internet for ways to sell my writing. I worked doing surveys and and occasional focus group while still undergoing cancer treatment, but in November of 2008 I stumbled on mystery shopping while I was searching the internet for places to write for money and searching for survey opportunities.
I was not skeptical, because I researched and quickly learned that there were only 4 companies licensed to mystery shop in my state and mystery shopping was regulated here. Since there were only 4 legal companies, I was able to meet in person with my "boss" after an email, doing a test shop and sending a report, and filling out legal forms.
I remember my very first shop, and dove right in working as many shops as I could physically perform. My health quickly improved, and I managed 48 shops a couple months later in January, 2009. I averaged 63 shops per month that year, so I was basically full-time from inception. I signed up with a second company 2 years later and increased my workload a few months later when my bankruptcy was finalized. I am still full-time mystery shopping and averaged 85 shops per month last year, but my $$ per shop had doubled from what it was my first year. I plan to work full-time shopping until I am 70 and then cut down to part-time and hopefully enjoy Social Security repayment checks from Uncle Sam and doing only the shops that I really like and have time for; no more staying up past midnight writing long reports.
I completed my first shop November 20, 2008. There were no smartphones in those days, so all guidelines and instructions had to be printed and/or remembered. My first shop required me to go to a certified garage of my choice and pay them to set up a car per the instructions that the client specified. The setup included such things as removing some air pressure in one tire, lower the windshield washer fluid level, and other specified non-critical modifications. Then I was to take the car to have the oil changed at the client business location. Then I took the car back to the first mechanic to restore all the modifications that the oil change company did not catch. I had to write reports on both locations. My first job paid well (more than 6 times what the average shop pay was for that company in 2008) and I got a free oil change, but as I look back I think that shop was quite a mouthful for a brand new shopper's first shop. I am thankful that my scheduler allowed me to choose the shop and that she actually had the confidence to assign it to me. I did an identical shop at a different location about a week later.