When I first became a contract worker back in 2003, I had a lot of time to research and find jobs I could do in between my jobs.  I spent a LOT of time in the myseterious world of mystery shopping.

My favorite site back then was Volition.com. It was so exciting to have a LONG list of mystery shopping companies in front of me. I methodically went down the list and applied to probably each and every one.  I even spent the $15 to become a certified mystery shopper!!! I had a lot of free time during the week, I was driving a car that got over 30 mpg, and no one was talking about how expensive gas was. I routinely set my shopping radius at 50 miles.

Getting jobs assigned to me became as addictive as eBay. You had the find the job, sign up for it, wait to hear if you got accepted, then ACCEPT the job! Then you’d often have to go through some training for that particular assignment. It proved quite challenging to find the time to devote to this process, especially if you were out all day, say, MYSTERY SHOPPING!

But I kept at it as much as I could.  I met people online who claimed it was their full-time gig and they paid the bills with it.  Maybe they were insomniacs who had the time to search all night and shop all day…then don’t forget reporting your findings all evening. Doing the shop itsself is the EASY third of the entire process!

This isn’t to say that mystery shopping is completely draining or not worth the time.  I once went a whole year getting free Oil Changes from my favorite oil change shop thanks to mystery shopping!  I still get the offers to do these shops in my email and if I’m checking my email enough during the day I can still get accepted to do them before other shoppers in my town swipe them first.

One company that seems especially in need of shoppers, at least here in the Cleveland, Ohio area, is Corporate Research International. They have a lot of pizza evaluation shops right now, so if you like pizza, check them out!

If you couldn’t guess by the title of my blog, I don’t put all of my eggs in one basket.  Mystery shopping can be fun, fruitful, challenging, and even satisfying! But I spend my time and energy evenly committing to various types of contract jobs. This avoids burn-out and setting myself up for disappointment. Approach it as a fun activity to do when you have the time. Don’t plan on getting rich on this one type of work - that’s really my running theme on all topics. Renaissance Lifers want work to be fun, not a chore. So find jobs that work with your life and schedule, not against it. I will help you!

My bookmarks are chock-full of mystery shopping companies.  Here are some that I’ve had success with:

Ann Michaels & Associates

BMA

INSITE

Palm Scheduling

Plenty more links where those came from! More to come.