Hi, everyone! I've been participating a bit here on the forum for a bit over a month but I realized that I never formally introduced myself.
I'm a recent empty nester in the Los Angeles area who mostly needed something to fill the time after the kids were gone. With 2 in college, we also needed the extra income, but I was not willing to go through trying re-enter the job market after 22 years as a SAHM. Besides, I really don't want to be tied down to a schedule every day and I need the flexibility to go visit my kids at their out of state schools whenever I want.
But, looking at the budget, there was no way around the fact that we needed to come up with some income, so I started perusing the "frugal living" sites and somewhere along the line came across people who were Mystery Shopping. I signed up with three of the companies one of them recommended, then eventually found my way here, where I discovered there is a whole WORLD of MSCs out there!
I've been steadily adding to my list of companies and am now up to 45, about 80% of which have shops in my area. I plan to add about 5 new companies each week and will re-evaluate at 100 companies to see if that's going to be enough.
In my first full month of doing this I did earn nearly $900, (most of which I haven't seen yet!) so I know it is a viable option for me. I just need to learn how to work a little smarter and plan my days better, but since I had the time and was willing to put in the time to learn, I felt that wasn't bad!
I am signed up to go to the IMSC conference in Las Vegas next month and take the Video Shopping class, which I hope will allow me to increase my earning potential. We'll see!
Anyway, I've enjoyed very much all the helpful information I've found here and hope to be a contributing member of the community as I learn more!
I'm a recent empty nester in the Los Angeles area who mostly needed something to fill the time after the kids were gone. With 2 in college, we also needed the extra income, but I was not willing to go through trying re-enter the job market after 22 years as a SAHM. Besides, I really don't want to be tied down to a schedule every day and I need the flexibility to go visit my kids at their out of state schools whenever I want.
But, looking at the budget, there was no way around the fact that we needed to come up with some income, so I started perusing the "frugal living" sites and somewhere along the line came across people who were Mystery Shopping. I signed up with three of the companies one of them recommended, then eventually found my way here, where I discovered there is a whole WORLD of MSCs out there!
I've been steadily adding to my list of companies and am now up to 45, about 80% of which have shops in my area. I plan to add about 5 new companies each week and will re-evaluate at 100 companies to see if that's going to be enough.
In my first full month of doing this I did earn nearly $900, (most of which I haven't seen yet!) so I know it is a viable option for me. I just need to learn how to work a little smarter and plan my days better, but since I had the time and was willing to put in the time to learn, I felt that wasn't bad!
I am signed up to go to the IMSC conference in Las Vegas next month and take the Video Shopping class, which I hope will allow me to increase my earning potential. We'll see!
Anyway, I've enjoyed very much all the helpful information I've found here and hope to be a contributing member of the community as I learn more!