Welcome to the forum!
The best first thing to do would be to go to the New Mystery Shoppers area here and ready the first batch of threads that are all labeled "sticky." That's so they will "stick" to the top of the list there. That will answer a lot of questions.
Second is to sign up with lots and lots of MS Companies (MSCs). Shopper who want to stay busy and have a steady stream of income are signed up with 100-150 MSCs. To find the MSCs that are large enough to almost certainly have shops in your area, start with the ones that have the most posts here on the forums. After that, just go through the list of MSCs from the link in blue at the foot of this page.
Third, just becasue an MSC has nothing in your area now does not mean that next month they won't have a new client, or next quarter have quarterly shops from a client whose shops for this quarter are already assigned.
Most of all, enjoy!
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.