If you enjoy shopping and interacting with others, then mystery shopping may be for you. It could provide you extra income doing what you do anyway – shopping for groceries, going to banks or department stores.

What is Mystery Shopping? For mystery shopping or ‘doing a shop’ as it called, you visit an establishment like a normal customer, buy an item or make inquiries about products or services. But while doing these usual customer activities, you are noting the behavior of the staff, the quality of service and product, cleanliness of the establishment, the time it takes for the staff to attend to you. In short you are sizing up the establishment.

You have to do all this without letting the staff of the establishment that you are there to check up on them. This is why it is called mystery shopping.

After finishing your shop, you report your findings to the company which hired you. For doing this, you are paid for your time and for the items that you purchased while doing the shop.

Who Gives Mystery Shopping Assignments Mystery shopping assignments are given out by establishments which depend upon retail customers for their business. They could be departmental stores, auto dealers, banks, hotels, fast-food outlets, gasoline stations, sit-down restaurants, drug stores, computer stores, warehouse clubs, wireless telephone providers, bookstores, etc.

Why Mystery Shopping? Businesses want to know the impression the customers are getting when they visit their outlets. Are the premises kept clean and neat? Is the staff courteous and helpful? Is the customer kept waiting unnecessarily? Do they greet the customers with a smile and say ‘Thank you’ when the customer pays for the purchase? How is the customer treated when s/he wants to return the purchased items?

Answers to such questions help the establishments to improve their profits and popularity. From this on-the-spot audit, they learn what changes need to be made to make their establishments more customer-friendly so that a first-time customer becomes a repeat customer and also spreads a good word about it to friends and relatives.

The changes that may result from such shops could be anything from a strategic placement of items for reduced service time, improvement in the staff hiring, training and rewards program to stocking of better quality of goods which attract a lower rate of returns from customers.

Is there money in mystery shopping? Yes, there is but not as much as some hyped ads may lead you to believe.

Mystery shoppers are generally paid about $10 to $40 per shop plus the cost of the items they have to buy during their assignment. Some companies let the mystery shoppers keep the items they purchased during their shop.

When you are doing a shop in a food outlet, the food you eat is a freebie in addition to what you get for the assignment. But sometimes you may get only a free night’s stay when you are evaluating a hotel.

All this means is that you don’t get rich by doing shops. But if you treat this as a paying hobby you will certainly get extra income while doing something you enjoy.

You can build steady income if you can get regular jobs every month. For this you have to build up a relationship of reliability with the hiring companies. If you are available to do a job at a short notice and don’t let them down after taking an assignment, they would be more likely to call you before other shoppers when a job becomes available.

Another thing that would count in your favor is writing your reports with clarity. You need not be a PhD in English for this but you must be able to express what you mean to say. Needless to say you should be observant and remember to evaluate all the points that you have been asked to by the hiring company.

Where to find shopping jobs? The internet is the obvious choice when looking for mystery jobs. Look at the ads that you find. Look at various sites to get the feel of the work availability. The sites that you should go for are those that have searchable databases of available jobs. As you can work as a mystery shopper where you live, search the database by your location. Then apply for as many openings as you can comfortably handle as this is a way to get a fair number of assignments every month.

A word of warning: No legitimate shopping opportunity site asks you to pay a fee or buy a training kit. In fact genuine sites provide you detailed information and instructions to carry out an assignment.

So be careful when you are asked to pay to join a mystery shopping site or which promises training to become a mystery shopper for a fee. Beware of such sites. In a word, don’t pay to work. You don’t have to.

About the author:

Nissar Jagani runs a website Online Income Resources where, among other resources, he features a Do-it-Yours elf Guide to find your best opportunity yourself without relying on others

Written by: Nissar Jagani

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If you are bringing young ones on your visit to San Francisco, you’ve probably wracked your brain trying to find activities and events that will not only be fun for them but also provide much needed mental stimuli as well. Well, look no further. I have five museums that are guaranteed to be completely kid friendly and fun for the entire family.

Gone are the days of stuffy museums that are cold and unfeeling. These museums of old have been replaced with modern day museums that offer areas that encourage hands on activities and promote learning and education through activities that are well disguised as fun. Your children will have no idea what just happened and you will be able to rest comfortable in the knowledge that this event that they considered so much fun will remain with them for a long time to come. Knowledge is a great gift to pass on to your children, especially when they don’t realize what it is that you are giving them.

The first of these museums is the Cartoon Art Museum. You may wonder what your children can possibly learn from a museum such as this, but as with all art, comics often imitate life and this museum shows how comics have evolved and morphed over time. In addition to that, anything that will encourage your children to read is a good thing in my opinion, even if it is comics that they are reading.

Next, there is the Bay Area Discovery Museum. This museum offers hands on entertainment for children of all ages. While most exhibits are designed with children ages 1-10 in mind, there are plenty of activities and exhibits that will appeal to older children as well as those entertaining the notion of a second childhood. This museum offers many activities and adventures both indoors and out that will appeal to your children while teaching them about other creatures, cultures, technology, and the world at large around them. This is definitely worth having a look. Be sure to check and see if there are any events being offered while you are visiting.

If the Bay Area Discovery Museum isn’t enough to get your little one’s creative juices flowing and put you all into the supreme spirit of learning, then perhaps you should check out Zeum. Zeum is a multimedia arts and technology museum. By allowing visitors to hands on use of their equipment they are fostering imagination and igniting curiosity in the young minds of their guests. This is definitely unique enough for a closer look. I hope it spikes your inner techno guru as completely as it reached mine.

There are many more places than this that you can visit in San Francisco that offer an equal spark for the minds and imaginations of your little ones. But the fact remains that you know your child’s interests and talents better than anyone else. Find those things that will appeal to each child’s personality and that above anything else will make this trip special for him or her.

I also believe that it is important to allow your children an opinion on what to do and see while on vacation. You may be surprised to find the things that will appeal to them as well as the fact that they really do on occasion think about what you as a parent want for them. By giving choices and a voice you are teaching your children that they are important to you and that their opinion matters.

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Check Out This Week’s Computer OffersFree Spyware Software: Use it for the good

The term spyware software always creates a nasty image. When computer users hear of this word, they would always get the fearful sensations tickling their nerves. Why not? Spyware softwares are after revealed to be on the negative side! Someone who installs a spyware software into any unit of computer is branded to be a hacker. True indeed. Spyware software applications are used for hacking, tracking, detecting, stealing of identification details, credit account numbers, passwords, and many other heinous deeds.

But let us also give the spyware software some benefit of the doubt. There are actually some states in America that tolerate the use of spyware software programs because the administrators believe that there is goodness in its usage. For one, the spyware softwares are used always for spouse monitoring, child monitoring, and the detection of the activities of the employees of big firms. Child monitoring through the use of spyware software programs aim at detecting the websites which the child often visits and the people that he or she often chats with. Spouse monitoring is geared towards tracking the chat conversations done by either of the couple. In the business industry, it is a must that the big bosses of the company are aware of the productivity rate of their employees. So they rather prefer to monitor the computer activities of their subordinates. Through the spyware software, the employees refuse to go idle. But then some states in America condemn the sale of spyware software and they even hold it up as one serious crime.

Generally, the spyware software comes in various names such as keylogger, PC monitoring, PC surveillance, and many others. But whatever the name used is, there is only one aim that surfaces when we talk of spyware softwarethe recording of the computer users activities. This includes the recording of the passwords, visited websites, chat conversations, and every little act done in the computer. It is like having a movie director who watches the acting of the computer user. The spy then gets to read with you as you browse through your mails and as you open any account of yours. It is like sharing your personal details with another party. Talk about hackers! The only thing about the spyware software is that it does not have to go through several procedures of opening or using your account since every little key that you type in is recorded.

Because of the bad image that gets stuck in the reputation of the spyware software, most people are having negative impressions of it. It is then upon the user of the spyware software to use it for the good. But then if the goal would be to pose destruction on other people, it will not be a really good idea to avail of a spyware software. But then if you think you are on the right side, you can get a free spyware software from the leading sources that reside in the internet portals. Several manufacturers and providers of the free spyware software programs are fraud. They only lure you into the heinous deed. Hence, you should exude extra care when dealing with free spyware software programs. But of course you will not experience severe difficulty with finding free spyware software applications as they can be all over the net. The real thing isyou simply have to be on the good side.
Check Out This Week’s Computer Offers

A podcast is an easy way of distributing media files
over the internet, and this article will tell how to make a
podcast. The first thing necessary is a domain, and a
host on which to store the media files for the podcast.
Getting a domain is simple and easy, there are many
domain registrars that can register a domain for
someone for a small fee. Some of these domain
registrars are GoDaddy.com, Dotster, or Network
Solutions are some that provide domains. The domain
registrar will, for a small fee, enter the chosen domain,
provided it is not being used, into the computers that
form the backbone of the internet. These computers will
be told where the domain is located on the internet;
what host it is that holds the domain’s information. In
order to give them that information, the name servers
that are held by the host need to be associated with the
domain. Once the domain is in place, a good host
should be found. The host that is chosen should offer a
large amount of both disk space and a much larger
amount bandwidth. Disk space is neccessary because
the site which holds the podcast will be storing large
media files; audio or video files that take up a lot of
space and are difficult to compress. The large
bandwidth is necessary because transferring these large
files many times to many different people will use up
the quota quickly. A good amount of diskspace would
be several GigaBytes, bandwidth should be in the tens
or hundreds of Gigabytes. Once the host is set up, it
should offer you a couple of addresses called
nameservers. Inputting these server addresses into the
site where the domain was registered will complete the
domain setup and allow the site to be found on the
internet.

The next step for people who want to know how to
make a podcast is installing the software necessary to
maintain the podcast. A small piece of coding called
dircaster.php can be used to set up a basic level of
podcast. Dircaster.php can be found easily by searching
for it in any search engine. Once it is located, it should
be edited to reflect the particulars of the domain and
uploaded to the site. Dircaster.php will generate an RSS
file, or feed, that tells the subscriber about the new files
available for downloading. To begin podcasting, create
the audio files that should be podcast, fill in the
information about the file such as date, author, etc, and
upload them to the same directory that contains
dircaster.php. You now have a podcast, and all that is
needed is to publicise the address of the file
dircaster.php. To update the podcast with new
information, just upload the new files. Other things to
make the podcast better might be a site that contains
information about the podcast, but it isn’t necessary.

Are you planning on taking a family vacation this year or a business trip? If so, there is a good chance that you will be flying. Flying is a relatively safe, easy, and convenient way to travel. However, before you leave for the airport, you are advised to start preparing for your flight, well in advance. Unfortunately, many travelers do not realize that preparing for your flight does not just include packing your bags. Thanks to new air travel rules and the enforcement of them, preparation now includes more than you could ever imagine.

As previously mentioned, it best that you start preparing for your flight early. In fact, you should start preparing as soon as you buy your airline tickets, whether that be two weeks before you leave or two months. The first step that you will want take is to familiarize yourself with the airline that you are flying with and the airport which you will be flying out of. You can easily do this research online. You will want to determine how early you should leave for the airport and what items you will need to bring along with you, such as personal identification.

It is also a good idea to review the list of banned items. These are items that you are not allowed to have on the airplane or past certain points in most airports. The most commonly banned items include sharp objects and flammable items, but there other items included in these bans, items that you may have never even thought about before. That is why it is best that you learn what you can and cannot bring on your next family vacation or business trip. In the event that you try to bring along items that are prohibited, you may have them confiscated.

If you are planning on familiarizing yourself with banned items and other airline rules, it may be a good idea to print off a list of what you find. Printable lists of items that are banned in airports and on airplanes can be found online from a number of different websites. One of those websites includes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). A printable list is ideal, especially if you do not need to start packing for your trip right away.

After you have familiarized yourself with the air travel rules, including the ones that were recently implemented, you will need to start packing, whether you do so right away or not. When packing, you will want to remember everything that you learned, although, if you printed off a list, your packing will be much easier. In the event that you are not sure whether or not an item can be brought on an airplane, you are advised to leave it at home. Banned items can not only be confiscated, but they could cause you to miss your flight. That is why you are advised against taking any unnecessary chances.

Once your bags have been packed and all your travel plans are in order, you will need to head to the airport. It is advised that you arrive at the airport, at least, two hours in advance. It is important that you check with your airport, because some airports have different restrictions. Depending on the size of your airport or the number of flights going in and out, you may find that you need to arrive three or even four hours in advance. It is also important to make sure that you not only have your plane tickets with you, but the proper forms of identification.

Once at the airport, it is important that you remain calm at all times, even if you are approached by airport security. In todays world, it is not uncommon for you to be subject to a random bag check or search; therefore, you should not fret if you are asked. Instead, just remain calm and, in no time at all, you should be on your way to enjoying your vacation or your business trip.

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