Whereas I do not agree with the attitude of secrecy with my MSC list, I have worked hard to hone in on what works for ME. These same companies may not do shops that you like or are qualified to do. Most reliable would be North Fork, Alta360, IPSOS...Out of town, I have had luck with Confero and A Closer Look.
My skills from my extensive business resume are used within all of my shops. I understand the clients' needs and reasons WHY they are requesting specific shops. (makes me a better shopper.) But I have learned new skills and keep up with different industries through MS'ing. For example I pay more attention to getting my monies worth now because MS'ing has told me what I SHOULD be getting when visiting their locations. I often take MShops for things that I am going to be doing anyways. For example; I need new carpeting so I do the carpet purchasing shop from iMyst, I grocery shop so I like to thoroughly know what the sales are which is covered by those shops with North Fork Research, I needed a new screen door so I took a handyman shop to get some information about doing this.
We should all be looking to expand our knowledge base, everyday, in all that we do otherwise you become stagnant in life - NO growth. What if I only understood now what I knew at 18 (when I thought that I knew it all!) compared to what I really know at 50?
I always believed that you had to have a business license/FEIN to be considered a small business. Even though I do a lot of the same things in my MS'ing business that I've done in my other small businesses. One example is business credit. You don't build credit in MS'ing. You are not tracked by BBB for your performance. Usually, you don't use a FEIN other than to report income and mileage. There is no schedule of depreciation on your equipment or property for MS'ing. I understand that there are services being done and monies being paid but there is no inventory, payables, expenses such as electric or cell phone being paid only by this "business". Just as examples. I do understand that the IRS considers us a small business for taxing purposes but an IC doesn't carry the liabilities or insurances that are a necessary part of a business. These are just a few thoughts and not based on any "legal" code or anything of the sort.