The Difference Between an Amateur and Professional Mystery Shopper: Which One Are You?

Many mystery shoppers start in this business without much more than a general idea of what mystery shopping is and the goal in mind of earning extra money with their new job. Some mystery shoppers grow frustrated with their job, and they may feel as though they don’t have much guidance or support. Sometimes they feel as though the income potential is limited, and they would like to earn more money than what this job provides. Others, however, have found a way to make their job as a mystery shopper a true success. There is a point where an amateur mystery shopper transitions into a pro. So which one are you?

The Frustrations of an Amateur

In every job you may work on over the course of your life, you may experience frustrations, and you may have various grievances from time to time. This is normal for any job, but some frustrations and grievances associated with mystery shopping are largely associated with the relative inexperience that amateur mystery shoppers have. For example, some mystery shoppers feel that mystery shopping isn’t worth their time and effort. They are frustrated because they can’t find enough assignments to fill up their day, or they don’t seem to be able to get the assignments they really want. Some mystery shoppers will give up on the job at this stage. Others will persist and persevere despite their challenges and frustrations.

With Experience

With experience working on many different types of mystery shopping assignments, mystery shoppers learn how to overcome these challenges. They learn which providers to work with for maximum profits and greater variety in the assignments they can work on. They learn how to maximize profits, which expenses they can write off for maximum benefit and how to successfully ask providers for bonus pay and travel pay. Somewhere between the first few months of mystery shopping and this point, mystery shoppers can learn a great deal about the job that makes it a far more pleasant and enjoyable job to work on.

Which One Are You?

If you are like so many other mystery shoppers, you may relate to some of the frustrations of an amateur mystery shopper, but you may have already found a way to overcome some of your frustrations and grievances. You may be in a middle or gray area between an amateur and an pro. The fact is that with persistence and continued experience working on different assignments and with different providers, you can eventually overcome most challenges and frustrations you have with the job.

While real-life, on-the-job experience is one way that you can get the experience and knowledge necessary to overcome your challenges, another way to accomplish this is to get in touch with your fellow mystery shoppers and learn from their experiences. You can drastically reduce your own learning curve by visiting online forums and reading post after post. Why go through the frustrations and learn from your own experiences when you can learn from the experiences of others?