Keepin' track of it all...and my free gift to subscribers

Hello shoppers! Now this post is an important one for mystery shoppers everywhere. If you are not one of those people who are born organizationists, you need to come up with some type of system to keep yourself organized. I know that organizationist isn't a word, but it should be.

Some people are just born with the innate tendency towards being organized. These people are always on top of their game, so to speak. These people as teachers are awesome because they can keep track of everything. Believe me, I know because I am the exact opposite. Organizationists believe that there is a place for everything and that everything should be in its place. They can somehow put information together in ways that can be easily retrieved if necessary. Organizationists keep to do lists. There is so much more that organizationists do that differ from folks like myself. If I knew all of what they did then maybe I would be able to join their ranks.

Then there are the rest of us. I am like the least organized person that I know. I keep things to do in stacks on my desk. Of course I'm constantly looking for things because I do not have a specific place for anything. I have a general idea for where I've left things because I am a visual person I can usually picture where I last saw the item I'm looking for. But that's neither here nor there. The point that I'm trying to make is that organizationists have it goin' on. If you are not one of those people then I have a few ideas of ways you can keep yourself organized.

1. Keep a list of companies that you shop for. I will give you a template that you can use to keep up with your companies if you subscribe to this blog- as my gift to subscribers. What I have done for myself, because I realized that there is no way I would be able to keep up with every company, is to make a list of the companies that I shop for. That way I can go to one place to search for current openings instead of saving each individual site to ymy favorites. Also, you don't have to worry about remembering 30 passwords. This saves lots of headaches!

2. Keep a list of shops that you do. A checklist would be fine. It should list the company, the date you performed the shop, and the amount you should be paid. You may want to add other things, but you will want these things at the very minimum. This is essential in making sure you get all the money you are due. To me, this is especially important if you do a large quantity of short, quick shops.

3. Get a folder to keep track of receipts. Many companies ask that shoppers keep receipts for 30-60 days. I would definitely do that just in case something doesn't go through when you scan it. If you lose your receipt, you can be in a bit of trouble when it is time to get reimbursed.

Just some ideas. Use some of them or use them all. For sure you need to sign up for a subscription to get more useful shopper tips. I feel the need to explain the statement that I'm about to use in closing. One of my students ended her writing essay in this way a couple of years ago and it has stuck with me: Bow wow for now!

Telephone Shops

You're probably saying to yourself, "What?!?". I know that reading of telephone shops might confuse you a little bit but there are shops that you perform over the telephone. These are some of my favorite shops to be honest. Why? Well, for one reason, these shops take very little time to do. The forms to fill out are super short and you can get them done in no time. The pay isn't very much individually, but if you add them together, it does pay to do these shops. Plus, hello, you can actually do them in your pj's. If you do the maximum number of shops for Friday, Saturday and Sunday each month you can end up with about $80 extra per month. That's $20 dollars and hour to sit at home on your B-hind and make a few phone calls. That's $960 per year just for those shops. You really can't beat that!

It takes me seven to eight minutes per shop. I timed myself and that includes everything from printing and scanning the paperwork to entering the report. And, it only takes that long because my scanner is ancient. It slowly ekes across the paperwork that has to be scanned in. I refuse to buy another scanner until this one has a slow sputtering death and will no longer work at all, even though I'm costing myself time that I could be doing shops. I'm sure with a normal scanner (one purchased in the latter part of this decade) things go alot more smoothly. You can probably shave that time down to 5-6 minutes per shop once you get good at it. So by now I'm sure you're wondering where to go to get these shops. Click here to find out. You have to sign up with the blue portal in order to find these shops.

Have I piqued your curiosity as to how these shops actually work? Well, all you do is call a fast food pizza chain and pretend you are going to make an order for delivery. You evaluate their customer service anonymously and then you cancel the order at the end. Of course, if you decide to you can get the order.

These shops are the tops for me. It can't really get much easier. You can do them while watching t.v. in about 30 minutes a day. I've done several shops with this company also and they pay direct deposit so you don't have to wait for a check in the mail. If I were you I would jump on this opportunity now...