I have been reading this forum for a little while now and have yet to comment. I read it as more entertainment then as an educational tool or opportunity for learning, because most of you who reply to new shoppers have the maturity of a 13 year old and a first grade education. However, I decided to comment because this forum has become like an episode of Jerry Springer.

I wish the successful mystery shoppers would step up and comment instead of leaving it to snarky, selfish, low-life's, who hang out on the board just waiting to be rude to new shoppers who ask questions. I think the reason you don't want to share your opinion about the "Best Companies" or anything related to that type of question is because you are all too scared someone else will push you out of your territory. I assume mystery shopping is your "Career" because you are too disordered to work a real job. This forum's own guidelines:

Posting Guidelines: Be honest. Add a positive contribution to the community. You are responsible for all the content of your post. Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies. We're in this together. And most importantly: Have fun!

I wish whomever runs this forum would step up and put a stop to this unnecessary rudeness. The rudeness is not positive and helpful. And well, if the person who runs this forum is one of them, I say start a new forum with polite people who want to share and teach people what you have learned.

sandyf Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Edited after writing below as i just realized that
> after reading pages and pages of this thread over
> time I lost complete track of who the op was....so
> I shop 4 you I apologize to you if I am not
> representing your sentiment correctly since you
> were not the original poster. But still, to
> whoever (or whomever) it is that my comment
> applies (those of you who support telling all and
> feeling you can earn tons of money in this field)
> I am eagerly awaiting the list of companies where
> I can sock away all that money in a relatively
> short period of time. I will take the list even
> from someone on the forum I earlier disagreed
> with. Just make sure they are legit companies.
>
>
> Ishop4you904
> >
> > LOL thanks for your response. You know I don't
> > blame anyone for not wanting to post their list
> > either. I think I've said that, and just stated
> > that if you didn't want to you shouldn't of
> posted
> > in this thread. That's what the conversation
> topic
> > was about. That's all I was saying.
> >
> I shop for you...I shortened your response to make
> room. I was happy to read your explanation that is
> referenced above. What I cannot fathom is why you
> are choosing mystery shopping as a way to get to
> your goal of saving $100 million before you are
> 40. I really think this is the completely wrong
> field for coming even close to doing that unless
> you are planning to spin off mystery shopping
> yourself into some other business and if so then I
> think being truthful about what you are searching
> out would help you a lot. If you are just doing
> research for an article it would be ethical to
> tell us that. If you are doing your own research
> to start your own mystery shopping company then
> tell us that too. Perhaps some of us would help
> with information we feel comfortable sharing on
> the basis of a truthful question and the reason
> for it. I doubt there are many mystery shoppers
> who end the year with any savings at all unless
> they are living off some other source of income.
> Most are happy to just pay off their monthly
> bills. If you find the mystery shopping company
> that pays you well enough and is legit to come out
> that far ahead that you can bank 100 mil excess
> profit beyond living expenses in 15 years or so in
> this business I am assuming you will come back
> and tell us all about it soon. We are eagerly
> awaiting this new and profitable information.


I do think you've misunderstood what I was saying about the 100 million. I feel if I set a huge goal and try for that goal even if I come up short I should in theory do pretty well for myself.

I do not think Mystery shopping can net you 100$ million. Not by itself. My shorter term goal is to take 0$ and turn it into 1 million. Meaning I have no money to invest. The point of this is to show people who are broke or in poverty that anything is possible. Also to show people that if you have a job you hate that it's possible to do literally anything you love as a career.

Mystery shopping is going to be part of what I do. Mostly because I can do it on my own time, I can travel to where other business ventures are and look for shops in the area I'll be attending. Eliminating as many expenses as possible is key to getting to the 1 million as fast as possible.

I've had many request for blogs. I never really was sure what I should blog about. I've figured out what it is I want to do. I want to travel the world and video blog everything. Since I'm not rich or close to it this plan will help me travel and either eliminate expenses completely or take a chunk of them out.

I'm a serial entrepreneur. I'd like to start a business where I invest in other people. I believe people have great ideas. I also believe you can only be great at one thing. Being great at selling your idea to investors is a hard skill. So say you're great at painting. It's not going to be easy for you to be a great painter and a great businessman. So my goal is seek out the people who love the work. I will not love mystery shopping. It will be a job and I'm already overwhelmed trying to learn everything I need to put this plan together.

Part of my plan will be to invest in an RV/Tour Bus. I'd like to find a few people who are younger maybe in college or right out. Who want to travel the world and have some fun. I'll provide the money for all expenses and take care of everything. In return they do the shops I tell them and we split the profits 50/50. If I can find 4 people willing to do this I'm now doubling the money I could make by myself. While my RV is parked in an area and my shoppers are shopping. I'll be out doing what it is I need to be doing in the area. Mostly advertising. I plan on doing meet and greets with blog readers. Maybe little partys. I'm not quite sure yet. I do have a lot of support.

Part of my idea is that once I have the million. I split it. I give 25% to the main forum I'm working with. 25% to everyone who pitched in ideas or helped me along my journey. It will just be a giant list and I get to put who qualifies. Then I get the other 50%. At the same time I'm making money I'm helping others do things they otherwise wouldn't of been able to do. I want to help people who come from poverty and aren't strong enough to overcome the adversity that they face.

I can start out doing mystery shopping for free. Literally just doing phone calls.

You want to know a secret? I'll share this secret with you and I'll tell you all the biggest leak I see in majority of the advice given here.

Stop thinking about your hourly rate. Start thinking about your yearly rate. If you make this your full time job. You dedicate 60-80 hours a week. Maybe even more. And no you are not an employee a 40 hour work week for a business owner is a for sure sign of an unsuccessful/mediocre business. You're in a huge competition and if others are willing to work harder and put more time into this than you are, well I'm very sorry you will not win this competition.

If you have 5 days and only take the 200$ shops and there's only 5 of them a week you can do. You're hourly rate is great. However if you take all those 200's then you do all the shops you possibly can. So you make the most money in the day. Rather thats a 10 minute phone call for 2$ or a fast food shop for 5$. Ignore your hourly rate.

Now if you made 40k doing your method. You have 30k in expenses such as bills and such. That leaves you with 10k for investing. Take every bit of profit you make from mystery shopping and put it into more shops. Do shops until you are broke and can't do any more. When that happens get on the phone. Start doing the free shops until those paydays start coming in. Be ready and monitor all of the shops on as many sites as you can. Make as many friends as you can with schedulers/owners/editors. If you see them offering a bonus on shops tell them you'll do them if they will help give you shops to make the deal more profitable.

Now if you do this and do as many shops as possible. I'm talking 12 hour work days. You will most likely see a pretty significant increase in your revenue. Makes sense right? More you work the more you make? Sure your hourly is going to take a drastic hit. But which tax bracket your in doesn't matter what your hourly wage is. Most people work on salary anyways.

This is a power quote that explains how I believe everyone should focus on work.

"“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.”
- Warren G. Tracy’s student

Don't judge your hourly rate in the short term. Think of something you want to do to invest money. Come up with a number. Do whatever you can, seize any opportunity that will bring you to that number quicker. Then in 10 years after you've invested calculate your hourly rate. After all if you now have 20k to invest compared to 10k you will get there much faster. How much did you make off that money now? Now let's figure out your hourly rate over the last 10 years. Besides what else are you going to do? Sit at home and watch movies? If you aren't spending your time being productive thats ok. As long as you understand why you struggle financially, and that it's a choice you make. That you could have more. You're just too lazy to do the work required to have it.

When I ask people questions, it is never to imitate them. I ask a questions and evaluate why they answered that way. That's how I learn. If I mimic you how could I ever expect to make more than you? It's not realistic and not a goal. You may think "Why help my competition?" Well for me personally if you help me I'm willing to help you. So if I make it there's a good chance you will as well. There's also a good chance we do more together and do it faster working as a team than being greedy.

I'm not the OP. I'm not sure why they posted asking for this question. I'm interested in the answers because I'm interested in seeing how season shoppers think alike/differently.

Hi there, mkc. I understand what you're saying about there being rude posters on the forum. Isn't that what you get into with any internet forum? If you make a post that the forum is rude, is that not rude in itself? I let all the unpleasantness and rudeness run off the edges of my shoulders and I enjoy the tips and good times we have. FYI the owner of the forum (Jacob) hardly ever posts anything and then it usually relates to the Mystery Shopper Magazine or some instructions on how to use the forum. The forum is very loosely monitored on purpose.

Are you in the DFW Metroplex? That's where I am and you're welcome to whatever you can take of the work that's here. I work mostly with Maritz, just sign up with Maritz and jump on it. Plenty for both of us and also for those other shoppers out there trying to make this work. You're not going to have a long romance with the jobs I do. I take most of them at the base rate and I do a lot of them. If I'm not careful I end up every week with more than I can get done, so please, please take a chunk of these in my area.

I'm wondering from your vantage point how you can tell who is successful, and how you define successful. I also wonder how much guidance and instruction you expect to receive here, and exactly how you have been disappointed. I note this is your first post so obviously you haven't asked any questions that gave us an opportunity to help you. As far as I know, none of us are dedicated to educating the masses of new shoppers that appear on here. While many of us are willing to answer specific questions, we are not willing to sacrifice the time to continually train each new person who shows up. We often refer new people to the New Mystery Shoppers section and to the search function.

Another thing you can do is click on the name of any poster you like; that will take you to a link to read all their posts since they joined the forum. I've found that very helpful, especially when I first started out years ago. I did not expect anyone to carry me and I dug hard for the information I wanted. When I asked a specific question, I got an answer. That's all I expected.

It's easy to see you don't like the tone of the forum, so perhaps this is not the forum for you. The Volition forum is much more highly controlled, but it's my opinion you can't learn as much there as you can here. Volition has some good features but there is much more back and forth among shoppers here and this is where you'll pick up the best tips and get the quickest response to your questions.

I'm hoping you can overlook our shortcomings and take advantage of what we have to offer. Your statement that many of us act like 13 year olds with a first grade education was somewhat harsh, but we are all entitled to our opinions. It's true that many of us are not well educated, but it doesn't take much education to do a lot of the monkey see, monkey do, monkey tell a story type of shops that we do. Recently I learned a new word from another poster who was somewhat challenged at the point in time he/she posted, and that new word was "rock science". Yes, mkc, this is not rock science and we have enough education to get by. How old are you? I'm 76 and I have a wonderful time with the back and forth and give and take on this forum. I did myself a favor a long time ago and loosened up. It's been great. I'm glad to have you and everyone else. If I can help you, let me know. I haven't turned anybody down yet.

Shelly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I really read the post as saying they are starting
> off with nothing at the moment and the money made
> from MSing will be the seed money for whatever the
> next thing is. There is a bigger and grander plan
> than just MSing. This is from combining info from
> a couple of different posts.


There's not an actual step by step plan. The plan is to weight risk/reward and any options. If I have 20k I will blog about it, seeking readers to help suggest ways for me to invest or convert that 20k into more. Up until the point it reach's 1 million. That's not what I'm doing here as I have to start this off by myself to get readers. Mystery shopping is a front runner and I can see me doing mystery shopping for 12 hours a day until I'm able to do something else, that's when the shopping will start to decline.

The goal now is to figure out what is possible. What are my options? I want to know every option available then after I'll pick the best one for me. 10k people means there's 10k options as I don't think anyone is alike. I'd like to get an idea of what my peers are thinking so I can make better decisions. I ask a question to get opinions then I build off that starting discussion. That's how I learn. Blindly reading without interaction does not retain in my brain. Sorry I'm not that kind of learner! Glad there's people out there who are willing to help me, and would enjoy having these types of conversations.

One of these days I'll be as mature as a 13 year old. :/

I don't see how telling people that they should behave better and then following it up with -I assume mystery shopping is your career because you are too disordered to work a real job- is helpful in any way.

I hold a Master's degree in Special Education with an emphasis in autism and have worked that as my primary career for the last 16 years. I mystery shop because due to things that have happened in my state politically in the last few years that has left my take home pay dramatically slashed. When you factor in the significantly increased deductibles my family has as part of those changes and the fact that my hubby also works in the public school setting, the income we have is down about $15,000 a year from what we made in 2008.

I mystery shop to help offset those differences in available funds. We are currently helping two kids get through college. I am in a rural area and quite honestly snap up most of what comes up in a 20 mile radius. Those pickings are mighty slim. During the summer or on weekends with the right bonus, I will take longer routes and go further. Reality is I can't afford the competition. This isn't being rude this is self preservation.

I have not posted on this thread prior to this because by the time I saw it, it had already deteriorated so much that I did not want to participate. However, the hypocrisy of calling out people for being rude by insulting the entire forum really bugged me.

mkc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been reading this forum for a little while
> now and have yet to comment. I read it as more
> entertainment then as an educational tool or
> opportunity for learning, because most of you who
> reply to new shoppers have the maturity of a 13
> year old and a first grade education. However, I
> decided to comment because this forum has become
> like an episode of Jerry Springer.
>
> I wish the successful mystery shoppers would step
> up and comment instead of leaving it to snarky,
> selfish, low-life's, who hang out on the board
> just waiting to be rude to new shoppers who ask
> questions. I think the reason you don't want to
> share your opinion about the "Best Companies" or
> anything related to that type of question is
> because you are all too scared someone else will
> push you out of your territory. I assume mystery
> shopping is your "Career" because you are too
> disordered to work a real job. This forum's own
> guidelines:
>
> Posting Guidelines: Be honest. Add a positive
> contribution to the community. You are responsible
> for all the content of your post. Do not reveal
> the clients of mystery shopping companies. We're
> in this together. And most importantly: Have fun!
>
> I wish whomever runs this forum would step up and
> put a stop to this unnecessary rudeness. The
> rudeness is not positive and helpful. And well, if
> the person who runs this forum is one of them, I
> say start a new forum with polite people who want
> to share and teach people what you have learned.


I'm glad people are standing up and commenting on here. As I do like the forum overall and have learned quite a good bit. I guess the biggest question I have. There is some pretty great info on this forum. How do most of you determine what is too good to share and what is useful enough to share but not to the point it won't hurt your bottom line?

Like those spread sheets Flash gives. That's great and a very useful tool. Even if you alter it that's a perfect spreadsheet and easily adjusted.

I found most of the people to be very rude as well. The only difference between me and the OP is I didn't back down. When they didn't answer my questions I told them to nicely GTFO. That we could talk in another topic/discussion at another time but to please not use my intro post to tell me how to intro myself. They didn't like that very much and I got ousted. Many members came to the aid and decided to poke fun at me. Which is fine and I can take a joke. I wasn't really in a joking mood so I tried to just stay on topic without return flame.

After a week I came back on the forum to find even more provoking. Ok I was in a joking mood. This is what happened when I decide to lighten up. To MsDavis I seen your response. A lot of the regulars here did not take that approach with me. I was called names and then I returned fire to defend myself and I've been punished.

Yes you guys have gotten your way. I'm on some type of BS suspension. A mod has to approve my comments. Which means there will be little feedback from me. I didn't break any rules. Other members actually did yet I was blamed because enough people cried.

I have a feeling one of the mods was someone I lashed out at and has decided to abuse power. I've emailed Jacob with no response yet. Hopefully I'll get an answer sooner or later. I've been littered with PM's and I appreciate them all. I'm so glad people took a stand and have brought this to the attention of the owners.

The last point I want to make Davis. With your response you make it seem like you must respond to questions ask. When posters ask questions they are to no one in particular. Telling someone they are being rude is not rude. If a bully is being a bully are you rude to stop him? I'm not sure I understand your logic. It's a bit blunt and maybe that's rude, however if someone is rude to me I will happily return the favor. I try to treat everyone with respect. I don't care who you are, if you're nice to me I'm nice to you.

The mystery shopping forum says it is specifically for asking questions, so the ones not answering are really breaking the rules. Telling someone a list won't help isn't answering the question. It's fine to advise but the OP said that wasn't what they were looking for. They didn't listen and proceeded to bully. As far as I'm concerned I hope those members are pushed out of their comfort zone. I will do everything in my power to try and help new shoppers take their shops specifically.

mkc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been reading this forum for a little while
> now and have yet to comment. I read it as more
> entertainment then as an educational tool or
> opportunity for learning, because most of you who
> reply to new shoppers have the maturity of a 13
> year old and a first grade education. However, I
> decided to comment because this forum has become
> like an episode of Jerry Springer.
>
> I wish the successful mystery shoppers would step
> up and comment instead of leaving it to snarky,
> selfish, low-life's, who hang out on the board
> just waiting to be rude to new shoppers who ask
> questions. I think the reason you don't want to
> share your opinion about the "Best Companies" or
> anything related to that type of question is
> because you are all too scared someone else will
> push you out of your territory. I assume mystery
> shopping is your "Career" because you are too
> disordered to work a real job. This forum's own
> guidelines:
>
> Posting Guidelines: Be honest. Add a positive
> contribution to the community. You are responsible
> for all the content of your post. Do not reveal
> the clients of mystery shopping companies. We're
> in this together. And most importantly: Have fun!
>
> I wish whomever runs this forum would step up and
> put a stop to this unnecessary rudeness. The
> rudeness is not positive and helpful. And well, if
> the person who runs this forum is one of them, I
> say start a new forum with polite people who want
> to share and teach people what you have learned.


You mean like this blather of unnecessary rudeness? Holy crap. Pot, meet kettle. :/

I STILL don't understand how telling the truth, and explaining why it's true, is rude. And all this crap about tone is ridiculous, for the most part. Would it help if the truth was encased in smiling emoticons and little hearts & flowers? Too many are too easily offended these days. Anyway, the truthful answers are the epitome of helpful, and it's positive in that it's steering the questioner to more productive topics to think about. Of which there are plenty.

AND... any other question under the sun ~ BESIDES the ridiculous 'Best Companies' type question ~ is happily answered, explained, and discussed. THOSE are the productive questions.

PLEASE people, let's shorten all the quoting. If you are responding right away to a post that is right above, I don't think it is necessary to quote that post. If you feel the need to quote a previous poster, just quote the relevant part. There is no need to quote the entire post. Especially with some of the more long-winded posters that have been cropping up lately.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2014 11:48PM by Shop2LiveinFL.

Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PLEASE people, let's shorten all the quoting. If
> you are responding right away to a post that is
> right above, I don't think it is necessary to
> quote that post. If you feel the need to quote a
> previous poster, just quote the relative part.
> There is no need to quote the entire post.
> Especially with some of the more long-winded
> posters that have been cropping up lately.


QFT!

StormCloud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> You mean like this blather of unnecessary
> rudeness? Holy crap. Pot, meet kettle. :/

I agree with StormCloud.

See, a short and sweet quoted post.

Shelly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't see how telling people that they should
> behave better and then following it up with -I
> assume mystery shopping is your career because you
> are too disordered to work a real job- is helpful
> in any way.
>
> I hold a Master's degree in Special Education with
> an emphasis in autism and have worked that as my
> primary career for the last 16 years. I mystery
> shop because due to things that have happened in
> my state politically in the last few years that
> has left my take home pay dramatically slashed.
> When you factor in the significantly increased
> deductibles my family has as part of those changes
> and the fact that my hubby also works in the
> public school setting, the income we have is down
> about $15,000 a year from what we made in 2008.
>
> I mystery shop to help offset those differences in
> available funds. We are currently helping two
> kids get through college. I am in a rural area
> and quite honestly snap up most of what comes up
> in a 20 mile radius. Those pickings are mighty
> slim. During the summer or on weekends with the
> right bonus, I will take longer routes and go
> further. Reality is I can't afford the
> competition. This isn't being rude this is self
> preservation.
>
> I have not posted on this thread prior to this
> because by the time I saw it, it had already
> deteriorated so much that I did not want to
> participate. However, the hypocrisy of calling
> out people for being rude by insulting the entire
> forum really bugged me.


You know I may be wrong but I really don't think his intent was to bash you personally in any way. I think he was talking about the specific few. Unfortunately when those who post regularly post most often that's what people see. So they assume that's how the entire forum is. He also said he doesn't post because of those types of people in the forum. I think people take offence to postings due to poor wording. If you don't post often or haven't said anything negative to him I can't see him talking about you or anyone else who hasn't participated or been rude in this thread. I could be wrong, I don't know the person personally, it just wouldn't make a lot of sense if he did.

As far as the competition. If you live in a rural area you most likely won't have anything to worry about. Also listing your company doesn't mention where you live. If you gave your top 10 list the odds of anyone actually signing up and living in your area is slim. I really don't see how that info will change what's going to happen in the slightest. Maybe your company isn't on any of the list on this forum or others. If they are they already have the exposure that will for sure bring more shoppers to your area eventually. You saying you like Maritz has no outcome of the people who will inevitably join there because others have already mentioned it.

On that note maybe you disagree. Could you provide scientific data that shows how your post specifically will effect the outcome of shoppers in your area? If so I think you're in the wrong feild and would be greater assistance to these marketing firms. That is if your word will produce a flock of shoppers to a certain website to do a specific job. That's some pretty powerful typing powers you have there. I know this may sound rude but I've said it nicely and no one understands what I'm saying. I can't really say it any nicer. This isn't to you personally Shelly. I think your response was very respectful and well said. I disagree with a few of your points, but that doesn't mean I'm right.

Hope this helps you understand the other sides perspective. I can't speak for the posters directly. I just feel like it makes more sense from my perspective. Just because a mass majority believes one thing doesn't mean numbers are right. I'm sure no one will be able to present data to suggest them providing a list would change anything. It's bottom feeder logic. There's how many members here? How many come here a day? There's how many people in the world? The odds of someone on this forum living within 20 miles of you is slim. IF you don't say where you live then we have incomplete data.

Every action has pros and cons. You've listed the cons for making list. What are the pros? What if the people who do read and sign up live in other area's. That boost your MSC's revenue giving them resources to find more clients to get you more shops in your area.

If you go to your neighbor and tell them exactly what you do. That's a completely different story. That's cutting your own throat.

I usually agree whole-heartedly about snipping quotes when replying... and I do so quite often... it's just with this last one, I couldn't decide which part of the post I really wanted to reply to most. It was all so... oddly doing exactly what it was @#$%& about.

So sorry 'bout that.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of these days I'll be as mature as a 13 year
> old. :/


Are you sure? Promises, promises . . .

Ishop4you904 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Part of my plan will be to invest in an RV/Tour
> Bus. I'd like to find a few people who are younger
> maybe in college or right out. Who want to travel
> the world and have some fun. I'll provide the
> money for all expenses and take care of
> everything. In return they do the shops I tell
> them and we split the profits 50/50. If I can find
> 4 people willing to do this I'm now doubling the
> money I could make by myself.

I swore I wasn't going to reply to this guy and yet...here I am again. Just to give you an example of why your plan won't work.

1. MSC's require us to do our own work, with the one exception of age compliance shops requiring someone under 18. So 4 people will not do your work for you and cannot.

2. Why would someone do work for you and split the money? There's no incentive for them. Even with you paying their expenses they could make more money keeping all of it and paying all of their expenses.

3. Who in their right mind would do the shops someone else tells them to and not the ones they want to do?

> Stop thinking about your hourly rate. Start
> thinking about your yearly rate.

Here's the flaw. You only have so many hours a day you can work. If you work 15 hours a day and I work 15 hours day, the person with the higher hourly rate makes more money. Or "wins" as you put it, but really, this isn't a competition. You absolutely do have to worry about your hourly rate, otherwise you'll fill up your hours of the day with jobs that are too cheap and you won't make enough money to live.

> leaves you with 10k for investing. Take every bit
> of profit you make from mystery shopping and put
> it into more shops. Do shops until you are broke
> and can't do any more.

If you have 10k to invest in shops, and you invest that 10k until you're broke, you're not doing it right. It'd be PRETTY hard to lose 10k at this unless you're just realllllllllly crappy at it.

> your revenue. Makes sense right?

Nope, not at all.

> When I ask people questions, it is never to
> imitate them. I ask a questions and evaluate why
> they answered that way. That's how I learn. If I
> mimic you how could I ever expect to make more
> than you?

I don't understand this concept? Why do you care if you make more or less than someone else does? Shouldn't you only care about YOUR goal? And if you are using other people as your yardstick, you live a sad life.

> well. There's also a good chance we do more
> together and do it faster working as a team than
> being greedy.

What you don't understand about mystery shopping (one of the MANY things), it's not a team activity. You do it alone, you don't work together, there's no helping each other get your work done. It's not the way the industry is created.

O.0

What an irritating thread this is but here is my answer.

No, I will not give you my top 10 because....

Yes, I am keeping them for myself and do not want anyone to take my favorite jobs....

and...

I am one of those that are "too disordered to get a real job" as mkc's first post to this forum has stated.

Irritating, rude and disrespectful...

Ishop4you904 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Shelly Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I don't see how telling people that they should
> > behave better and then following it up with -I
> > assume mystery shopping is your career because
> you
> > are too disordered to work a real job- is
> helpful
> > in any way.
> >
> >


>
> You know I may be wrong but I really don't think
> his intent was to bash you personally in any way.
> I think he was talking about the specific few.
> Unfortunately when those who post regularly post
> most often that's what people see. So they assume
> that's how the entire forum is. He also said he
> doesn't post because of those types of people in
> the forum. I think people take offence to postings
> due to poor wording. If you don't post often or
> haven't said anything negative to him I can't see
> him talking about you or anyone else who hasn't
> participated or been rude in this thread. I could
> be wrong, I don't know the person personally, it
> just wouldn't make a lot of sense if he did.
>
> As far as the competition. If you live in a rural
> area you most likely won't have anything to worry
> about. Also listing your company doesn't mention
> where you live. If you gave your top 10 list the
> odds of anyone actually signing up and living in
> your area is slim. I really don't see how that
> info will change what's going to happen in the
> slightest. Maybe your company isn't on any of the
> list on this forum or others. If they are they
> already have the exposure that will for sure bring
> more shoppers to your area eventually. You saying
> you like Maritz has no outcome of the people who
> will inevitably join there because others have
> already mentioned it.
>
>
.




First of all, I do have to say that you have impressed me more as your posts have gone on. It seems like both sides went into attack mode at the beginning of this thread. As you have continued posting and explained some of your thinking, I have been impressed with the amount of thought you have put into your plan. I may or may not agree with all the steps of your plan, but have to have respect for someone who sets a goal and action steps to work toward it.

I fully recognize the Poster was not directing the comments at me, but did seem to be taking the rudeness to a new level (or my tolerance level was down). I took it as an insult to the long term posters which I do consider myself to be a member of that group.

I often try to avoid the whole list your top whatever company lists in general unless the question is posted as why people don't want to do it. Then I explain my reasons. I may be completely wrong in my thinking, but different opinions are what makes the world go round. I am not out to earn millions of dollars or make a major change in the world via mystery shopping.

I do want to make a change in the lives of the kids who enter my classroom. Seeing kids with learning disabilities suddenly realize they are readers and writers or students with autism able to navigate a tricky social situation are where my passions lie. My kids are from a very tiny, rural(20+ miles to the nearest traffic light), and high poverty school district.

For me the mystery shopping is just a side job to allow me to continue to do what I love and know I am good at. Right now, I am literally at a point of keeping up that income to allow me to continue teaching there, looking to move to a district which pays more, or leaving teaching altogether. I have seriously considered changing districts, but feel that the way their programs are set up, I would not be able to have the impact on all of the students in the district the way I do where I am. Moving to a larger district would take away of my other favorite things which is following kids for 3-4 years. I get to know them and learn how they learn best, so each new year we can hit the ground running and have an even greater impact than the year before.

You may absolutely be correct in your assumptions and I may be dead wrong, but for me right now the status quo is working and I don't wish to rock that boat too much.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2014 04:02AM by Shelly.

Quite simply, the OPs question is not valid. Different locations, different skill sets, different life situations make for different favorite companies. For example, I don't drink, I am a home-schooling mom with eight children (who love fast food), don't mind narratives, and I don't drive highways. My favorite companies are going to vastly different than someone who can devote time to travel, perhaps is doing this full-time, hates fast food, and despises writing an essay for each assignment. You need to read the posts here on the different MSCs and register, register, register. My favorites may not be relevant to you at all.

I am sure that the original poster never expected this firestorm in asking her/his question. Many of us did this in the beginning, not knowing the ropes. These questions can be answered kindly or not at all. Why not?

I thought things were being answered pretty well until a certain poster arrived and changed the whole tone. A little sarcasm here and there, but mostly valid reasoning and good explanations were provided as to why such a question wasn't productive.

My attention span is too short to read all the long erudite comments. I let the bully in my class copy all my answers, then 5 minutes before time was up I changed them all back to the correct answers. I found out later that I could run a 6 minute mile, go figure.

Freeman is tops on my list. Great 5 star hotels and beautiful music themed restaurants in the best areas of the cities you visit. Payment is prompt!!!!!! Crap, Cinco de MAyo, I thought it was April Fools

Ishop, my top 10 favorite companies are the ones that pay me well and pay me on time. Is that an answer that meets your approval? Why would somebody give out detailed information on what we ALL consider to be OUR income? I'll give you an opinion of a company if you ask for one. Will I tell you who their clients are? No. Will I tell you what they pay? No. That's YOUR job, not mine. I took the time to look up the companies, go through their qualifications and certifications and check out their jobs. Why should I do your work for you? If I can do it, so can you. I'm new to these forums and already I'm tired of the "gimme" posts. You seem to think that you aren't doing anything wrong when in reality you are! And I agree with a lot of the other posters that you evidently do not nor will not fit in on this forum. So with that being said, have a pleasant day and take care of yourself. Hope your life is filled with nothing but sunshine and lollipops and millions and millions of dollars.

I looked again at the original poster's record. I'm going to repeat and elaborate on what I've already said. He joined the forum at almost the same time that I did, but there's a big difference. When he joined the forum, to quote his own words, "I have done mystery shopping throughout my professional career." When I joined the forum, I had not yet done my first shop. Notice the title of his post. He wants information from seasoned shoppers. That leaves me out.

So, obviously, he has a wealth of information that he could offer to others. (That is, if he was telling the truth.) I'd love to hear some of it. And, obviously, he has no intention of helping anyone. Every post he made in these six months was a request, or demand, for help. (And, not the: 'Where do I buy fishhooks, and how do I get those pesky critters to bite?' type of help. It's more: "Gimme fish, and I want the best fish!" He sees information as a one way street. It comes from others; it goes to him. That's the natural law of things, as he sees it. In the fifteen years that I've been on Internet forums, I've seen that attitude a lot. The people who show it don't get much help. That's the natural law of things, as I see it.

The so-called unhelpful responses were actually the most helpful responses he could have gotten, because they were trying to teach him how to ask the right questions.

P.S. A long time ago, I developed a theory about the type of attitude that the OP showed. I think that people like that don't think that the people they deal with on the Internet are real. Intellectually, of course, they know that there are real people on the other end of those cables, but emotionally, they haven't internalized the concept. Emotionally, they think of them as little faucets. You turn the handle, and the information comes out. And, if it doesn't, there's SOMETHING WRONG!

We are individual shoppers that select over time, sometimes years, before we know which shops are the best. What is best for me may not be best for you. It is more important that you establish yourself with each individual company. Sometimes it is the scheduler that you like and helps you. Sometimes it is the company. Sometimes it is the shop. There are many assets that are involved. Be reliable, professional, and like what your doing. Start slow. I did not get certified until I was sure of what I was doing. Restaurants, banks, auto, mobile, stores, audits, audio, video, bars, hotels, low paying, high paying. It takes a while to know what you want and can do.

Most of us are not willing to give you the top 10 because we are all different and have different reasons for shopping.

Ishmael, what a thoughtful post. Whew! You are so good at thinking things through!

(heart)

@IShop4U904: Thanks for your response. I don't have the time right now to respond completely, but will come back to your post later. I just wanted to say right now that the reason I don't own a car is because it's insane to own a car in Manhattan (this where the my screen name "NYC"rocks comes from), unless you can afford upwards of $300 for monthly parking in a parking lot OR spending all your time driving around and around the same blocks hoping someone will leave their parking space that isn't metered or restricted by dates (we have alternate side of the street parking 3 days a week in residential areas). Also if you are driving your car out of the city early in the morning you could possibly find street or metered parking others weren't using because it's the wrong day of the week to leave their cars on the street. Street parking in Manhattan is 1000 times more competitive than mystery shopping! I have owned cars here and they were ALL either vandalized, stolen, ticketed or towed, often at great expense to me. It just isn't worth it. Renting a car to do shops won't pay either because there's no street parking when you get there, and the cost of parking in a lot for 1/2 hour would cost more than the shop fee pays. Renting a car in Manhattan is also much more expensive than probably anywhere else in the U.S. I would have to go to Newark Airport or somewhere else an hour away to get a decent rental rate. Again, not worth it for what mystery shopping pays. I'm on public transportation and foot doing MS. It's very tiring.

At first I missed having a car, but once I got past the feelings of loss, I realized how incredibly liberating not owning a car really is, for me. I haven't owned a car for 22 years now. I don't miss it or the expenses, especially the unpredictable repairs. Sometimes I wish I had a suburban life again but I know I'd be bored silly in a week. Of course, living in an area where public transportation is very extensive or your community is very self-contained is the only way to survive without a car. I literally don't need to travel more than a half mile to get anything I need where I live, and all necessities are within a 2 block radius of my apartment. I do drive occasionally, and have kept my driver's license, 'cause you never know when you might need it and you need a government ID anyway.

For everyone else, please pardon the digression ...

stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ishmael, what a thoughtful post. Whew! You are so
> good at thinking things through!

Just wanted to second that, Ishmael. You've asked and offered with humility and reason. Good having you around.

nycrocks - I don't know, nor do I care, what Ishop's response was to you but I am surprised that a sophosticated world traveler like Master I is not aware of the parking and car rental situation is in the City. And, in fact, that many travelers who fly into JFK or LaGuardia take a shuttle to Newark when they need to rent a car for any length of time.

Quick story - In a past career I had a line of all black very soft calf leather coaches shoes that was picked up by a specialty shop in Greenwich Village and started to spread throughout the City as a street leisure shoe. The parking from area to area was killing me, cabs were expensive and I wasn't familiar enough with the subway and bus routes. I had a moped and van at the time and solved my problem by driving to the Queens mall, taking the 59th Street bridge (which had a bike lane) across to the City and zipping around the streets faster than even the cabs. Only the bike couriers would beat me because they didn't stop for lights. If you could find a place to stow a moped overnight your transportation problem could be solved.

Ishmael - great post

Ishop4you904, you are wasting your fingertips !!! I have tried to give advice and they love to BBQ people that are "different thinkers" . This is my first post since advice was given by me at tax time!!! (Jan.) You are better off reading their posts and hitting yourself in the head with a brick !!! These people are always "self indulgent" to their thoughts and feelings.
My personal top Ten:
1. Stericycle
2. Maritz
3.Market Force
4.RSG Research
5.Ritter Associates
6.Bare international
7. Ath Power
8.Insula Research
9.In Touch
10.Pinnacle
This is based off area(MD., PA., NJ., DE. and VA. )shop's available and pay.
Whoops !!! I forgot, this is my 6th year and over 3,600 shops.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2014 12:42AM by claabe.

@ claabe ~ So why are you here then?