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Mystery Shopping – An Excellent Way To Make Extra Money

Mystery shopping (sometimes called secret shopping) is an excellent way to make extra money. It is very easy to do, you need no previous experience, no special knowledge and no expensive equipment. Mystery shopping can be performed by anyone who is able to go shopping. The mystery shopping companies employ men and women of all ages and descriptions as secret shoppers in order to obtain feedback from a wide range of different people on a wide range of services. Some mystery shopping assignments have to be undertaken by people who are accompanied by children in order to report back on specific facilities in places such as theme parks or family restaurants. (If you don’t have children of your own in the right age group, dont worry: you are allowed to borrow them from relatives or friends.) If you enjoy shopping, mystery shopping will be a fun way for you to make extra money.

Mystery shopping consists of getting paid to go into a business (eg a shop or restaurant), without the employees knowing that you are anything other than an ordinary shopper, and reporting back to the mystery shopping company. A focus group is when you get paid to sit down with other people who are also getting paid and discuss new products or services, many focus groups are actually held online, so you don’t even have to leave home for carry out the assignment.

The reason mystery shopping companies and survey companies exist is to provide companies with impartial feedback on their employees, products and services. That way they can see where there might be problems and make the necessary changes to improve things.

Mystery shopping companies will pay you to shop, eat at restaurants, have a drink at a bar, visit the cinema, take a trip and take part in focus groups. If you are sent out to do mystery shopping, you might be required to visit a particular shop and just make enquiries about an article to test the staff’s customer service level but, if you are instructed to make a purchase, you are allowed to keep the articles and will be reimbursed for the cost. If you are sent to do mystery shopping at a restaurant or bar, you will be given a budget figure to spend on your food and drink and that money will be reimbursed to you by the mystery shopping company on top of your fee for the assignment. You might be asked to sample new products and these items will be sent to you free of charge. As part of your mystery shopping, you might find yourself receiving free samples to test of anything from detergent to chocolate. (This can also happen if you join survey companies.)

Mystery shopping jobs are obviously easier to find if you live in or near a fair sized town where there are a large number of shops, restaurants etc but, if you live in a rural area, you can still earn money taking part in online focus groups which can be found through online paid survey companies.

After you do a mystery shopping assignment you answer some questions on a form provided by the mystery shopping company and file your report with them. These reports are usually set up as a series of questions with a box for you to add any relevant details the company might request. The reports can usually be completed very quickly and it is best to complete your report straight after you finish your mystery shopping so that you don’t forget any detail. Some mystery shopping companies require you to report to them by phone immediately after you have completed the mystery shopping assignment but, generally, the companies expect you to submit a written report by post or email.

The way to approach mystery shopping is to remember that basically you are like a reporter. You must never add your feelings or recommendations to a mystery shopping report. Your job is to just answer the questions, report the facts and describe what actually happened during your mystery shopping expedition.

If you accept a mystery shopping assignment but then are unable to complete it, make sure you immediately notify the mystery shopping company so that they can make alternative arrangements to avoid letting down their client.

When you start doing mystery shopping, make sure you accept all suitable assignments including last minute jobs and any less than glamorous assignments you might be offered. The top class assignments will be offered to reliable mystery shoppers so you will need to prove yourself and build up a good reputation by making a good job of the lower quality assignments and getting your report in on time. At the start, you might find yourself being asked to do mystery shopping a the local fast food outlet or department store. Once you build up a reputation as a reliable mystery shopper, you can look forward to assignments where you are paid to visit expensive restaurants and designer shops. You might even be lucky enough to get a free trip and hotel accommodation as a mystery shopper.

Always keep in mind that, although mystery shopping is a fun and easy way for your to make extra money, it is a business and you need to behave in a businesslike manner when carrying out your mystery shopping assignments and reporting the results to the mystery shopping company. Your mystery shopping reports will be helping to shape the future of the businesses you visit and you have the chance to make a positive impact on decisions relating to improvements to services and facilities which will be of benefit to you.

Make Money In Stocks – How the Day Traders Do It

No doubt you’ve heard of ‘day traders’ and how they sit at home making big money without having any boss or customers or have any need to interact with anybody. So how do they do it? Well they use a number of techniques but in this article we’re going to explore one (and probably the most used), ‘Technical Analysis’.

Before we start clarification must be made that the author is not a financial consultant and this article is not intended to direct or advise you in your investment strategies. This article is merely to describe some of the author’s observations whether real or imagined.

People, especially concerning publicly available information, tend to respond at least to some degree as they percieve others to respond. For example: if people continue to buy stock until it reaches a certain price and then stop (for whatever reason) once, when the stock turns around (after the dive) and goes back up, people will be more wary of keeping the stock after it goes over that price again. This is known as a ‘resistance’ line. Of course resistance lines are broken all the time but patterns do seem to exist within stock pricing histories.

The job of a technical analyist is to be able to spot situations where the odds are in there favor that a particular stock will go up or down. Technical analysts watch for certain patterns and buy and sell stock based on predictions made as a result of spotting those patterns. Of course no one can acurately predict what stock prices will do 100% of the time but day traders generally try to keep the odds in their favor and that’s how they make money.

If you have reason (even just a little) to believe that a particular stock is going to go up you might buy some. You recognize that it might go down a bit first so you determine how far to let it drop before you sell. If within that margin it turns and goes up you can ride it all the way up to the point where *you expect it* to start to fall (a resistance line). If you keep doing this (lose a little or gain a lot) over and over and you make money just 50% of the time, you’ll profit from your overall investments. The trick is to be consistent. Get out every time it drops too far and never ride it above where you expect it to turn or you might get caught in an inverted spike and lose a whole lot real fast.

To study patterns you need to get a stock analyis software package or go to a Website where you can study stock trends. We like to go to http://www.bigcharts.com. OK, so what are the patterns that Technical Analysists look for?

To ’short’ a stock is to ’sell’ it at a specific price (not having bought it) and then ‘buy it back’ after it drops below that price. Brokers let you do this and you don’t actually end up with the stock in the end. Basically you ’sort of’ buy stock expecting it to go down instead of up.

Here are a few of the most common ones:

Head & Shoulders: The stock goes up and comes back down. It goes back up but farther (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 higher) and drops back to the same line. It goes back up again but the the same point as the first time and drops again. This pattern looks vaguely like a head and shoulders. When the price drops below the ‘neckline’ it is expected to continue to drop. The investor would short the stock in this case. This pattern is also seen frequently in an inverted pattern. In that case a long (buy the stock) would be indicated.

Cup & Handle: The stock goes down and then back up to form a pattern that vaguely looks like a cup. Then it goes back down just a little and back up to form what vaguely looks like the cup’s handle (around 50% of the cup bottom). Now there are 2 points on a line where the stock reached and then went back down and it’s right back at the top of the cup. The time of execution is when the stock reaches that point for the 3rd time. The stock is expected to shoot up to the next higher resistance point (above the cup’s top).

Triangle or Wedge: The stock goes up and back down then back up then back down where the top and/or bottom price lessen consistently so that the distance between the top and bottom is less each time. If you drew a line by connecting the points of the top price and then another line connecting the points of the bottom price you would draw a triangle. When the price ‘breaks out’ of the triangle it is expected to continue in the direction that it’s going. Very similar patterns to this are called the Flag and the Pennant.

Double Top: The stock goes up then back down to a point and then back up. When it hits the price that it turned at the last time it turns again. The pattern looks like an M but all the lines are diagonal. If it breaks below the point at which it bottomed out (in the middle of the M) it is expected to continue down. A short is indicated. An inverted version of this pattern (a W) would indicate a long (buy).

Many more patterns are recognized and the art of reading them is complex. This article is not intended to teach how to buy and sell stocks using Technical Analysis. It is intended only to introduce the subject and perhaps inspire further learning.

You can gain a great deal of information about studying stock patterns using Technical Analysis. Do a search in the search engines on the Internet for ’stocks “Technical Analysis” patterns’ and you will find many Websites that explain it.

This author recommends two books on the subject: ‘Technical Analysis Explained’ by Martin J. Pring and ‘The Master Swing Trader’ by Alan S. Farley. You can also visit Alan Farley’s Website and get free stock picks by him and his associates at: http://www.hardrightedge.com.

How great can it be to sit around at home, your favorite coffee shop, or even out in the middle of a park and be able to work? This is something that is possible and with only an internet connection and a laptop can be done easily by anyone! Some of the top 5 ways to make money online are so simple that they are often overlooked.

First, you can search around for a place to sell your skills. If you are great at typing this is perfect because there are literally thousands of data entry jobs that are available. The problem that you need to over come to make money today is to look for legitimate offers that actually pay. This means that most likely you will need to apply with a company. However, this does not mean paying a fee to get jobs.

Second, there are places where you can upload video reviews of products. These are great, you get paid for the review itself, plus you can make money today from the page views that each video receives. This is definitely worth a mention because in just a few minutes a day you can make a lot of money by the end of the month. This is definitely worth of being on our 5 ways to make money online list.

Third, if you enjoy talking or writing look into blogging. While this is not something that will allow everyone to strike it rich there are several bloggers all around the world who make comfortable six figure incomes just from the advertising they receive by blogging! This is an incredible field of money if you are talented and manage to find a hot topic and can write well.

Fourth, writing can be submitted to various places online. There are some great websites that accept content written by people where you can make some great money. Some places pay for only page views, while others pay for pieces upfront. This means that if you are able to be paid from page views your income is practically unlimited! Search around, there are numerous companies around online that will allow you to make money today.

Fifth, the last stop on our 5 ways to make money online list is being a virtual assistant. Think a secretary that works online! This is something that is great for people with good research and people skills. Your time is spent answering e-mails, doing research, compiling reports and assisting your boss with anything they need all from your home. Some bosses require phones; most just require project management software and a computer with internet connection.