Mystery shopping is often considered to be one of the most enjoyable ways to earn a living. Professional mystery shoppers largely love their job for a variety of reasons. This is a job that enables you to work in a variety of different settings each day, to interact with different people throughout the day and to control your work load and the assignments you work on. As amazing as mystery shopping it, the bottom line is that it is still work. Nobody wants to work more than they have to, even at a great job like mystery shopping. There are a few key steps you can take to get more assignments done in less time. By doing this, you can earn the money you need while enjoying more free time away from work.
Complete Site Visits With One Trip
Your time on the road as a mystery shopper isn’t completely worthless. After all, you can deduct your miles traveled as a business expense. However, time spent on the road is time spent working. One of the best ways you can reduce the amount of time you work each day is to get your assignments’ site visits completed with a single trip out of the house each day. Take a few hours to complete all of your assignments at once so you do not have to drive back and forth from the house several times.
Choose Assignments Based on Location
Another way to reduce the amount of time spent driving around town is to select and complete your assignments based on their location. You may already rule out some assignments immediately because they are just too far from home. However, even assignments closer to home can result in a time drain. Consider, for example, if your assignments were located within a ten mile radius of your home but were scattered in all directions. You may spend time traveling ten miles north of your house to complete one assignment, then head to another assignment ten miles east of your home. Afterward, you may cross over to an assignment ten miles west of your home before hitting another location ten miles south of your home. This is a considerable amount of driving even though all of the locations are located fairly close to home. Many assignments allow you to complete them within a period of time that spans across several days. When given the opportunity, get all assignments in one specific part of town done at once before traveling to a new location.
Complete Your Reports at the End of the Day
Some mystery shoppers like to run home and complete their report immediately after doing an assignment. If you only have one assignment to do that day, this may work well. However, if you have three, four or more assignments to complete, this can really waste a lot of time. You will save time by completing all of your reports after all site visits have been completed for the day. Consider taking numerous notes about the site visits if necessary to keep the details of the assignments straight.
These tips can help you to reduce your work hours so you can enjoy more time relaxing with friends and family.