Well, so far, I have completed 4 shops, a gamer/comic shop, 1 grocery, USPS, and a hardware store. On my first two I got a 10 and an 8 respectively. The feedback I got was really good and I will do better on the grocery store next time!!

Being in a rural small town, I am trying to plan my 50+ mile round trips with 4 or more shops. Sunday I have two fast food and two grocery shops, 2 in my town and 2 in the town 30 miles down the road. I'm finding it a real challenge to get shops from different companies on the same days. I'm having to go to each website and spend HOURS looking for the town on one certain day. The Jobslinger website is of limited help. Is there a better way to do this?

Do I just schedule schedule every shop in the target area, then pick and choose what I can do? The target area is a 50 mile radius around Franklin, NC. To go further than my 25 mile limit, I would have to have a couple REALLY high paying shops, say in Asheville.

I am also doing shops in SC and GA, and will not rule out TN for the right money.

Tips? Advice?

Tracey

You can contact the schedulers and let them know what you are doing. Many will be flexible with you and change the due dates. I do it all the time.

Hi Tracey. Do not schedule anything unless you plan to complete it. Dependability is one of the most important traits the Mystery Shopping Companies are looking for. I haven't been shopping long enough to help with the rest of your questions.

Congratulations on a great first week!!

Hi Tracey,

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, scheduling is a difficult part of the business, especially at first. There are a few things you can do to become more efficient.

1) Sign up with more companies. This will get you more opportunities. Yes, you will have to check more job boards. But you can get more efficient at this with some tips.

2) Learn when to check the job boards. Some companies offer shops at predictable times of the month. Figure this out and create a job-board calender for yourself then be sure to check the companies on those days. If you can't figure it out, ask the scheduler. Tell them you want to do more of their shops, but need to know when to check.

3) Check the job boards that are most relevant to you first. Those are the ones that have shops in your area that you want to do. For a tip, see #4.

4) Use the 'open all in tabs' feature in Firefox, combined with bookmark folders. For me, I create bookmark folders based on my preferences for companies. For example, the folder in my bookmark toolbar called 'MS-1' has all my best companies. These are companies that have lots of shops in my area that I like to do. "MS-2" has some more companies that are not quite as preferred. "MS-3" has the next tier and so on. When I want to check job boards, I go the the 'MS-1' folder and click 'open all in tabs.' Firefox opens all the bookmarks and I can go to each quickly after they load. Saving passwords in the browser speeds things along. When I am done with this group, I can stop or go to 'MS-2' and do the same.

Good luck and have fun!

Hi Tracy,

Talk to the schedulers like Mike T said. I have done that many times and ended up with more shops. I will also email schedulers I work with a few times and tell them I am heading to a certain area on a certain day and ask if they have anything. I have ended up with a couple shops that way too.

Just keep a positive out look and you will figure out how to work this best for your self.

Heidi