Hi. I'm freaking out because I only have to shop scheduled this week for about $100. I normally make about $250 a week to supplement my income as an attorney. I do have two free oil changes on top of the two other shops that are paying $50 apiece. What do you other Shoppers do when you have a slow week period I really need the money. Please don't tell me to enjoy myself with some time off. I will just worry that I will have a short week coming for pay. Thanks for your help!

Where are you located?

Let's see, I think I had 6 shops scheduled this week, maybe more.

I did two apartment shops, a cable company inquiry shop, two grocery shops, an ice cream shop, a P&R, three banks, two phones, a restaurant bar audit and a museum.

Okay, so more than 6 yet I'm only going to make a little over $200 profit. The grocery shops payment is just enough to cover my groceries. The museum is reimbursement only so I don't count that as earned money. I went over the reimbursement for the bar, so the payment covers my tip and the spillage from the food.

When my weeks are slow, I either work on my business, I do consulting work or I work my part time gig. I'm also a brand ambassador. I work for this great marketing company that focuses on all natural and organic companies. This week, I did a demo at a grocery store and shopped that grocery store too. I try to make my time work best for me if I'm not earning enough from my shops for the week. Mysteryshopping is my third source of income. If you are aggressively trying to make it a secondary, you'd probably have find more companies to register with or do shops that offers higher payout. Apartment shops and banks have been the most lucrative for me. Account opening shops usually pay a min. of $100. If you speak a foreign language you can earn more, I got $150 once.

If you're in a major metropolitan city, there's always uber and lyft.

@Lawladyshopper wrote:

Hi. I'm freaking out because I only have to shop scheduled this week for about $100. I normally make about $250 a week to supplement my income as an attorney. I do have two free oil changes on top of the two other shops that are paying $50 apiece. What do you other Shoppers do when you have a slow week period I really need the money. Please don't tell me to enjoy myself with some time off. I will just worry that I will have a short week coming for pay. Thanks for your help!

How many companies are you signed up with? Use your slow week to apply to as many more companies as possible.

My week is slow too but last week was definitely huge....so this week I will keep an eye out for opportunities but we have a big wedding we are planning so I am going to switch over to that.

Liz

My rule is that if there is a day that I want to shops but I have nothing lined up I sign up with 5 more MSCs. Now that I am signed up with well above 150 of them, the "default" is to spend at least one hour opening the job boards of every MSC on my list.

This is one of the reasons why I book my shops/audits so far in advance. My March was booked up by the end of the first week in February. My April is pretty much done; just a few slots open. May is filling up quickly. I have already scheduled a few shops into June but I will be traveling that month. I rarely work on my vacays.

While averaging $250 a week is doable, having it evenly distributed throughout the month is unusual. I tend to pick up more immediate shops the first and last weeks. The first week is leftover shops from the previous month and the fourth with current bonuses. In between I schedule my ongoing work since it is usually not due until around the 22nd. Because of the flexibility, it is also when I try to schedule targeted and/or narrative heavy shops.

Wow, nice to see I'm in good company as an MS with attorneys. I'm sure student loans take up most of your salary? Apply, apply, apply. I'm sure more shops are out there for the taking, especially if you are willing to take on those that others may find less than desirable.

Kansas City Metro

Kansas City Metropolitan (Kansas and Missouri shops)

No student loans. I have been out of school 28 years. I have 3 sons in college.

Will do! Thanks

Try something new. I'm sure you have your favorite types of shops to do. Try shops you are not comfortable with. I keep telling myself I'll do apartment shops once I need to fill some gaps. Also, have you reached out to schedulers directly? Two weeks ago I was slow so I emailed a scheduler that I helped out a couple of months ago. Next thing you know, I have four high end retail shops worth close to $200. Those shops never hit the boards.

Great idea about being proactive. Think about what other business owners do when they have a lull. Spend time building your business and courting new customers.

I'm always happy to have a slow week so that I can work on my secondary source of income, painting or distressing old pieces of furniture that i found or picked up cheap. Then I resell them. I love the sanding and painting. i love the finished product.

Yikes, I hate the sanding and the painting is just okay. The finished product does make worthwhile

Sometime in this area there are only two shops here in a month. Other times it's 15 or 16 in a week. Depending on location it can be feast or famine.

I'm pretty well booked or the month, though I WOULD like one more hotel. Don't think it's going to happen though. Jan and Feb were almost nothing (with the exception of one day that constitutes 1/3 of my quarterly pay).

@Lawladyshopper wrote:

No student loans. I have been out of school 28 years. I have 3 sons in college.

Wow, what an awesome mom! My own didn't give me a dime towards college let alone anything else. I like to think it helped me to learn independence. But I think I would have turned out just fine had she helped me out even a small amount. Now that I have my own three, I'm not quite sure what the "right way" to raise them will be when it comes to financial assistance.

I would love to find a good hotel shop. The two that I came across were from different msc already scheduled. I didn't even know those companies had hotel shops.

@Hoju wrote:

I'm pretty well booked or the month, though I WOULD like one more hotel. Don't think it's going to happen though. Jan and Feb were almost nothing (with the exception of one day that constitutes 1/3 of my quarterly pay).

How many companies have you signed up with? Since I added gas stations and banks into my repertoire, I've managed to get an extra $100-$300 a month in shops I thought weren't worth my time. Turns out, once you get the hang of it, you can cruise through the gas stations, and the bank personas get easier and easier too.

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

@Lawladyshopper wrote:

No student loans. I have been out of school 28 years. I have 3 sons in college.

Wow, what an awesome mom! My own didn't give me a dime towards college let alone anything else. I like to think it helped me to learn independence. But I think I would have turned out just fine had she helped me out even a small amount. Now that I have my own three, I'm not quite sure what the "right way" to raise them will be when it comes to financial assistance.

Probably a little bit of both. Help them some, but also try to teach the value in hard work and earning something.

Would you consider doing some new car dealership shops? Some pay $20 to $60, depending on the area/ brand of vehicle and if bonus were offered. Just try one to see if you like them.

It's spring break here, so perhaps shops were picked up quicker because students have more time? I have 3 wireless, a grocery and a phone shop for tomorrow, but nothing for the rest of the week. And I just did a big restaurant shop last night. Happy to have some down time.

Agree on banks. I do many of those. Gas stations I only do if hit $18 for special run or $12 if on my way to another. I think most gas shops are easy except for one audit for a particular company.

Thanks! I try the best I can. My parents paid all 7 of my years-4 undergrad and 3 law so I was extremely fortunate. I'm trying to do for my kids what my parents did for me.

My main source of income is auto shops and apartments shops. Although the paperwork is more arduous, I find they pay the best.

You might try Presto Insta-shops, [insta.prestomobilesurveys.com]. This site shows shops for many companies on a map, so people can maximize/group their jobs. Unfortunately, right now many in my area compliance shops for 18-25 year olds or bank accounts in Spanish seem to be all that is available.

I totally love the map idea, and I wish ALL mystery shopping sites would use a map format. It is so frustrating and time consuming for me to cut and paste addresses into Google Maps to determine the location of jobs. I live in Houston, a gigantic metropolitan city. It can easily be 40-60 miles one way to some jobs. No way Jose!

I have 13 from Monday - Friday and plan on taking weekend off.