Building My Empire

Today I signed up for a couple of mystery shopping companies. I was reading over at Money Saving Mom, that a few of the girls that have been doing this for a while make pretty decent money. Especially for going out and doing things that we normally do anyway. I had actually done a couple of shops long time ago, when we first moved here to Texas. I got away from it because it was just one of those "gig" type deals and I felt that I needed a "real" job to pay some bills. I can't remember which company it was that I was signed up with but, I remember that I was new to the company and my first shop was at Bennigan's. I LOVE Benningan's! Of course, I was more than happy to take the shop. After my hubby and I had a wonderful meal together. I had like a one page report to do and that was it. The questions were simple enough for me, they were things that I look for in a resturant anyway. They asked about cleanliness, customer service, that waiter or waitresses name, did the manager come by during the meal, etc. I actually enjoyed it. The best part was that I received a check in the mail a few weeks later, for a dinner that I ate and enjoyed! It was great! Anyway, I was trying to get a feel for which company's are good about paying the reimbursements back. I'd heard that some of the company's are not so good about paying sometimes. If you want to read about it go here, you'll have to scroll down a ways to get to the mystery shoppers section but I recommend that you read the comments of the other ladies (and some men) that have been shoppers before. The two company's that I applied for are Trend Source and National Shopping Service. The application process for Trend Source was long and tedious. They even make you write a paragraph about a good or bad experience that you may have had with a healthcare provider. I guess I had to do that because I checked "yes" when I was asked would I like to do healthcare shops. If you've had a different experience with them, please let me know. Then they sent me a confirmation email stating that I'm not technically a Trend Source field agent just yet. They said that won't happen until a shop comes up in my area, then I will be activated. The process for NSS was short and sweet, the way I like it. I'd heard a long time ago that some company has mystery shops for cruises and amusement parks. Those are the ones I'm interested in. I'll keep you posted on how it goes with these mystery shops and I would love to hear about anybody else's experience.