@Texans wrote:
As a mystery shopper, I am self employed and it is up to me to make a living at it. If you owned a bakery and someone dropped in and told you that they were opening a bakery on the next block, would you welcome them? Would you explain to them everything they needed to know to run their new business? Would you give them a list of the companies that purchase pies and cakes from you and tell them how much these companies are paying you for your bakery items?
I'm about halfway here. I view this forum as a professional organization. I interact with other shoppers and exchange information. Even competitors can help each other. I welcome newbies and I'm willing to answer their "how to" questions. I was "trained" by reading the posts of some of the wonderful, very experienced mystery shoppers who contribute on this forum. Sadly, many of them have ceased posting. I think a newbie who comes here and reads and studies the informational posts and uses the "search" feature to research companies, questions, and ideas, can be highly successful. Any newbie who plays 20 Questions rather than read and use the "search" will probably not be successful anyway. Most newbies who come here won't stick around long, just as most people who try mystery shopping will not last longer than a couple of months, or even a couple of mystery shops.
When I joined the forum, I did not post for my first few years because I did not feel I was knowledgeable enough to add anything of value. I read and learned A LOT. I spent a lot of time signing up with a lot of companies, researching them before I accepted assignments with them, and building my client list. I invested my time in my business. My client list is very valuable to me and not something I would share. I draw the line at answering "short cut" questions: who shops a particular client, who shops a particular client describing the client without saying its name, who are the best companies for Dogpatch USA,. who are your favorite companies (which is completely irrelevant and gives no real assistance to the asker), or other questions asked to limit the amount of time the poster will need to spend on their business start-up and jumpstart the money coming in. I think it's good to welcome newbies and answer their how-to questions, but I also think we do them a favor by telling them to invest their time in building their business rather than pandering to the short-cut questions. By pointing them to the new shopper area, explaining the use of the "search" function, and explaining that a new shopper will benefit from investing time into his business, I think we provide a lot more value and encourage success.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2017 01:48PM by roflwofl.