From About.com
Understand What You're Getting Into
Ready to make freelance writing your full time job? Don't make this transition blindfolded! Doing your research now will save you a lot of heartache later.
Market Yourself As a Freelance Writer
The next step to making freelance writing your full time job is to start marketing your skills to potential employers. Jobs can either come to you, for example through a writers website, or you can go to the source of jobs and stary applying. On the other hand, if you're aiming to make full time money from magazine article or trade publication writing, you'll need to start pitching your ideas and articles to editors right away.
Manage Your Freelance Writing Income
Once you secure clients and gigs, you'll need to carefully manage the three main elements of your freelance writing income: invoicing, banking and taxes. You will submit your invoice, usually via email, after the project is complete. However, those in the magazine/trade publications markets may get to forego this step due to internal processes. After you receive your payment (hopefully on time and in full!), you'll need to carefully track these expenses in anticipation of tax time. Once tax time hits, you'll be able to provide your tax preparer with all of the documents and numbers needed.
Achieve Freelance Writing Success
Once things get rolling, you have to keep them rolling. Things such as getting along with your editors and networking with other writers will keep your writing in business. Keep in mind that editors are the gatekeepers of work. Keeping this relationship productive and positive will keep the work flowing.
Another area to explore is writer's communities. No where can you learn about your new job better than from those who have been there. Seek out veterans and reach out to others who are just starting out, and you will soon find yourself well-supported and well known.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Mystery shopping - Part Two
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mystery shopping or Mystery Consumer is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services. Mystery shoppers posing as normal customers perform specific tasks—such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way – and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences.
Mystery shopping began in the 1940s as a way to measure employee integrity. Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires to complete audio and video recordings. Many mystery shopping companies are completely administered through the Internet, allowing potential mystery shoppers to use the Internet to register for participation, find mystery shopping jobs and receive payment.
The most common venues where mystery shopping is used are retail stores, movie theaters, restaurants, fast food chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments and health clubs, as well as health care facilities. In the UK, mystery shopping is increasingly used to provide feedback on customer services provided by local authorities and other non-profit organizations, such as housing associations and churches.
Methodology
When a client company comes on board with a company providing Mystery Shopping services, a survey model will be drawn up and agreed to which defines what information and improvement factors the client company wishes to measure as part of the mystery shopping process. These are then drawn up into survey instruments and assignments that are allocated to shoppers registered with the mystery shopping company in question.
Some of the common details and information points shoppers:
* the date and time of the pre-visit phone call
* the name of the store on each side of the store visited
* number of employees in the store on entering
* how long it takes before the mystery shopper is greeted
* the name of the employee(s)
* whether or not the greeting is friendly
* the questions asked by the shopper to find a suitable product
* the types of products shown
* if or how the employee attempted to close the sale
* whether the employee invited the shopper to come back to the store
* cleanliness of store and store associates
* speed of service
* compliance with company standards relating to service, store appearance, and grooming/presentation
Shoppers are often given instructions or procedures to make the transaction atypical to make the test of the knowledge and service skills of the employees more stringent or specific to a particular service issue (known as scenarios). For instance, mystery shoppers at a restaurant may pretend they are lactose-intolerant, or a clothing store mystery shopper could inquire about gift-wrapping services. Not all mystery shopping scenarios include a purchase.
From there, the shopper will then submit the data collected to the Mystery shopping company in question. The data is then reviewed and analyzed before quantitative and qualitative statistical [analysis] reports on the data are then returned to the client company that enables measurement against the previously defined criteria.
Statistics
The mystery shopping industry had an estimated value of nearly $600 million in the United States in 2004, according to a 2005 report commissioned by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA). Companies that participated in the report experienced an average growth of 11.1 percent from 2003 to 2004, compared to an average growth of 12.2 percent. The report estimates more than 8.1 million mystery shops were conducted in 2004. The report represents the first industry association attempt to quantify the size of the mystery shopping industry. Similar surveys are available for European regions where mystery shopping is becoming more embedded into company procedures.
As a measure of its importance, customer/patient satisfaction is being incorporated more frequently into executive pay. A study by a U.S. firm found more than 55% of hospital chief executive officers surveyed in 2005 had "some compensation at risk," based on patient satisfaction, up from only 8% to 20% a dozen years ago."
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ran a segment on this topic during a January 2001 episode of the news magazine program "Marketplace".
Fraud
There exists a scam that uses mystery shopping as a premise for fraud, where a person is sent a bad check with a request to deposit it into their bank account, wire a portion of the money through a wire transfer company such as Western Union and keep the remainder as a mystery shopping fee, and informed to mail the money immediately as the test is evaluating response time. People who wire the "remainder" discover the check is bad and lose the money they transfer and the wire transfer service fee in addition to the total amount of the check, often leaving them in debt to their banks.[6] One scam involved fraudulent websites using a misspelled URL to advertise online and in newspapers under a legitimate company's name.
Valid mystery shopping companies will never send their clients a cheque to cash prior to work being completed, and their advertisements will usually include a contact person and phone number. Cheques received from mystery shopping companies should only be in payment for work performed, and can always be taken to a bank to be verified. Most fraudulent cheques sent out by scam artists can be easily spotted and identified by a financial professional.
Mystery shopping or Mystery Consumer is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services. Mystery shoppers posing as normal customers perform specific tasks—such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way – and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences.
Mystery shopping began in the 1940s as a way to measure employee integrity. Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires to complete audio and video recordings. Many mystery shopping companies are completely administered through the Internet, allowing potential mystery shoppers to use the Internet to register for participation, find mystery shopping jobs and receive payment.
The most common venues where mystery shopping is used are retail stores, movie theaters, restaurants, fast food chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments and health clubs, as well as health care facilities. In the UK, mystery shopping is increasingly used to provide feedback on customer services provided by local authorities and other non-profit organizations, such as housing associations and churches.
Methodology
When a client company comes on board with a company providing Mystery Shopping services, a survey model will be drawn up and agreed to which defines what information and improvement factors the client company wishes to measure as part of the mystery shopping process. These are then drawn up into survey instruments and assignments that are allocated to shoppers registered with the mystery shopping company in question.
Some of the common details and information points shoppers:
* the date and time of the pre-visit phone call
* the name of the store on each side of the store visited
* number of employees in the store on entering
* how long it takes before the mystery shopper is greeted
* the name of the employee(s)
* whether or not the greeting is friendly
* the questions asked by the shopper to find a suitable product
* the types of products shown
* if or how the employee attempted to close the sale
* whether the employee invited the shopper to come back to the store
* cleanliness of store and store associates
* speed of service
* compliance with company standards relating to service, store appearance, and grooming/presentation
Shoppers are often given instructions or procedures to make the transaction atypical to make the test of the knowledge and service skills of the employees more stringent or specific to a particular service issue (known as scenarios). For instance, mystery shoppers at a restaurant may pretend they are lactose-intolerant, or a clothing store mystery shopper could inquire about gift-wrapping services. Not all mystery shopping scenarios include a purchase.
From there, the shopper will then submit the data collected to the Mystery shopping company in question. The data is then reviewed and analyzed before quantitative and qualitative statistical [analysis] reports on the data are then returned to the client company that enables measurement against the previously defined criteria.
Statistics
The mystery shopping industry had an estimated value of nearly $600 million in the United States in 2004, according to a 2005 report commissioned by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA). Companies that participated in the report experienced an average growth of 11.1 percent from 2003 to 2004, compared to an average growth of 12.2 percent. The report estimates more than 8.1 million mystery shops were conducted in 2004. The report represents the first industry association attempt to quantify the size of the mystery shopping industry. Similar surveys are available for European regions where mystery shopping is becoming more embedded into company procedures.
As a measure of its importance, customer/patient satisfaction is being incorporated more frequently into executive pay. A study by a U.S. firm found more than 55% of hospital chief executive officers surveyed in 2005 had "some compensation at risk," based on patient satisfaction, up from only 8% to 20% a dozen years ago."
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ran a segment on this topic during a January 2001 episode of the news magazine program "Marketplace".
Fraud
There exists a scam that uses mystery shopping as a premise for fraud, where a person is sent a bad check with a request to deposit it into their bank account, wire a portion of the money through a wire transfer company such as Western Union and keep the remainder as a mystery shopping fee, and informed to mail the money immediately as the test is evaluating response time. People who wire the "remainder" discover the check is bad and lose the money they transfer and the wire transfer service fee in addition to the total amount of the check, often leaving them in debt to their banks.[6] One scam involved fraudulent websites using a misspelled URL to advertise online and in newspapers under a legitimate company's name.
Valid mystery shopping companies will never send their clients a cheque to cash prior to work being completed, and their advertisements will usually include a contact person and phone number. Cheques received from mystery shopping companies should only be in payment for work performed, and can always be taken to a bank to be verified. Most fraudulent cheques sent out by scam artists can be easily spotted and identified by a financial professional.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Mystery Shopping
Ever fancied going out to dinner or shopping and getting paid for it? Then you might consider becoming a mystery shopper.
What is mystery shopping?
A vast amount of companies are interested in knowing what their customers/clients think of their services and/or products in order to right what may be wrong and help them to improve customer service and productivity. To obtain this crucial data from a non biased viewpoint they hire Mystery Shopping agencies, who are trained market researchers, to gather the information on their behalf. This is where you come in. As a Mystery Shopper you will pose as a regular customer but will actually be collecting essential data set by the client and briefed to you via a questionnaire. Mystery Shopping companies are always on the lookout for trustworthy and reliable people to carry out assignments for them. Assignments vary from restaurants to shops, banks to fitness centres, the list is endless.
Sounds like fun? It is but it's no joke, your reports are vital material, so you've got to be commited and be able to complete each job as specified on your worksheet by your agency.
What qualifications or skills do I need?
You don't need any particular qualifications to become a mystery shopper, basically anyone can do it, any age, any background. However, you must be reliable, observant, have a good memory and be able to give an accurate, unbiased view of your findings. The job also requires discretion as in effect you are akin to an undercover reporter, therefore at no time must you reveal that you are a mystery shopper during an assignment.
How much money can I earn?
Mystery shopping companies pay between £4.00 - £20.00 per job, averaging at around £7.00. Some jobs pay more, some a little less. Costs incurred during a visit, i.e. buying food, drink or shopping will be reimbursed and some companies pay traveling expenses too. You won't get rich from mystery shopping but you will earn some extra cash and a host of freebies in the process including food, cold drinks, hot drinks, sandwiches, groceries, magazines, petrol, hotel accommodation, fitness lessons, small electrical items, software,cd's, dvd's and much, much more! Payment is made either monthly or fortnightly via bank transfer.
What is involved in a mystery shopping job?
The first step is to register with some agencies. Once accepted you will be given an assessor number that you must quote in order to enter the shopper page on an agents website, or quote via e-mail or telephone if need be. All agencies have their own system of distributing assignments but most of them offer jobs via their website. Assignments are on an ad/hoc basis and although some agencies notify you by e-mail when jobs become available, it is strongly advisable to check in on a regular basis to ensure you don't miss out on all the best assignments. Once released jobs disappear quickly! You will be notified if you have been accepted to carry out an assignment and will receive a brief detailing what is required of you together with a questionnaire - everything is explained in detail including times, dates, job description and what you need to look out for. Jobs usually take about an hour to an hour and a half to complete including travelling. If for any reason you accept a job then find that you can not complete it then you must notify the agency as soon as possible in order to give them sufficient time to reallocate it to someone else. It is best not to accept an assignment if you are unsure about whether or not you will be able to complete it. Once you build a good rapport with an agency and prove that you are a reliable assessor you will be offered more evaluations.
What to do after an assignment is completed?
After completing an assignment you are usually required to fill out an online questionnaire within a set timeframe, this is usually between 8 - 24 hours of job completion. The best thing to do is to enter your results onto the system as soon as you can while the details are still fresh in your mind. Some questionnaires are longer than others but should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete.
A Word Of Warning
You may come across some sites that ask you for money, either to join their agency or for a list of Mystery Shopping Companies. NEVER sign-up with a mystery shopping agency that asks you for money - becoming a shopper is always FREE. And please do not pay for a list of agencies, a comprehensive search on a major search engine will give you the same results. We will be adding new agencies on this site periodically. You can either join our Newsletter group or bookmark this site for updates.
What is mystery shopping?
A vast amount of companies are interested in knowing what their customers/clients think of their services and/or products in order to right what may be wrong and help them to improve customer service and productivity. To obtain this crucial data from a non biased viewpoint they hire Mystery Shopping agencies, who are trained market researchers, to gather the information on their behalf. This is where you come in. As a Mystery Shopper you will pose as a regular customer but will actually be collecting essential data set by the client and briefed to you via a questionnaire. Mystery Shopping companies are always on the lookout for trustworthy and reliable people to carry out assignments for them. Assignments vary from restaurants to shops, banks to fitness centres, the list is endless.
Sounds like fun? It is but it's no joke, your reports are vital material, so you've got to be commited and be able to complete each job as specified on your worksheet by your agency.
What qualifications or skills do I need?
You don't need any particular qualifications to become a mystery shopper, basically anyone can do it, any age, any background. However, you must be reliable, observant, have a good memory and be able to give an accurate, unbiased view of your findings. The job also requires discretion as in effect you are akin to an undercover reporter, therefore at no time must you reveal that you are a mystery shopper during an assignment.
How much money can I earn?
Mystery shopping companies pay between £4.00 - £20.00 per job, averaging at around £7.00. Some jobs pay more, some a little less. Costs incurred during a visit, i.e. buying food, drink or shopping will be reimbursed and some companies pay traveling expenses too. You won't get rich from mystery shopping but you will earn some extra cash and a host of freebies in the process including food, cold drinks, hot drinks, sandwiches, groceries, magazines, petrol, hotel accommodation, fitness lessons, small electrical items, software,cd's, dvd's and much, much more! Payment is made either monthly or fortnightly via bank transfer.
What is involved in a mystery shopping job?
The first step is to register with some agencies. Once accepted you will be given an assessor number that you must quote in order to enter the shopper page on an agents website, or quote via e-mail or telephone if need be. All agencies have their own system of distributing assignments but most of them offer jobs via their website. Assignments are on an ad/hoc basis and although some agencies notify you by e-mail when jobs become available, it is strongly advisable to check in on a regular basis to ensure you don't miss out on all the best assignments. Once released jobs disappear quickly! You will be notified if you have been accepted to carry out an assignment and will receive a brief detailing what is required of you together with a questionnaire - everything is explained in detail including times, dates, job description and what you need to look out for. Jobs usually take about an hour to an hour and a half to complete including travelling. If for any reason you accept a job then find that you can not complete it then you must notify the agency as soon as possible in order to give them sufficient time to reallocate it to someone else. It is best not to accept an assignment if you are unsure about whether or not you will be able to complete it. Once you build a good rapport with an agency and prove that you are a reliable assessor you will be offered more evaluations.
What to do after an assignment is completed?
After completing an assignment you are usually required to fill out an online questionnaire within a set timeframe, this is usually between 8 - 24 hours of job completion. The best thing to do is to enter your results onto the system as soon as you can while the details are still fresh in your mind. Some questionnaires are longer than others but should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete.
A Word Of Warning
You may come across some sites that ask you for money, either to join their agency or for a list of Mystery Shopping Companies. NEVER sign-up with a mystery shopping agency that asks you for money - becoming a shopper is always FREE. And please do not pay for a list of agencies, a comprehensive search on a major search engine will give you the same results. We will be adding new agencies on this site periodically. You can either join our Newsletter group or bookmark this site for updates.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
