Set Up Is Key

When you think of an event what is the first thing that comes to mind? The people, sounds, activities, and sights. What gets overlooked is the work to make an event successful. Whether the event is a backyard cookout with friends, a stage show or even a festival, planning is key.
Success or failure can be determined by factors beyond your control. Weather, timing, economic factors, current fads, and even location all impact outcomes. You might represent an excellent company making the finest ice cubes, in Alaska you'll have trouble trying to make the same sales you would in Arizona. You might sell heavy cloaks like hotcakes in the North only to find folks down South have little use for them. You could be a talented juggling unicycle rider vying with five other juggling unicycle riders on the same street. Perhaps you make lovely hand woven baskets, but at the event you paid to sell your wares at, there's an importer with ridiculously low prices with a better booth location. You spend your day watching shoddy imported baskets go by, listening to patrons tell you your pieces are expensive.
Don't take it personal. Look at what you can do to succeed despite the weather, location, timing and economy. Connect with the people who have open minds or an eye for quality. Educate others when you can, perhaps you'll help them learn the right questions.
If an event isn't supportive of the businesses and people who make it happen, look for one that is. If it's a life situation, same goes. Assess. Don't fall in the trap of overgeneralization. All patrons aren't cheap or rude. All events aren't poorly organized. Find the good ones. You have the power to make choices, the best choice you can make for success is in your set up. Do your research. Figure out what you need. Don't accept a glowing assurance, ask for detail-what makes that assurance more than a platitude? It's up to you to represent yourself wisely or you'll get taken advantage of. Over and over.
Set yourself up for success. Climb the tree, get the proverbial coconuts.

Life Is What You Make of it

Yesterday was a national holiday. Many people sported red, white and blue. Events and fireworks were advertised across the country. What to do?

We decided to go to the events in Nederland Colorado. They started with a parade and listed a variety of fun activities and music throughout the day. The sky was full of fluffy, light gray clouds. We took water, chairs, blankets and rain gear. Colorado weather changes quickly, given a few minutes you could have freezing rain and sweltering heat competing to see how extreme they can be.

Nederland is not a large metropolitan area, it's a small mountain community accented with pine trees, Espresso shops, and friendly locals.

We arrived, suprised by low attendance. There was a variety of great summer activities available to try. Life sized connect four, a giant inflatable to climb around on, life sized Jenga, and human foos ball. People had ramps for radio controlled cars to play on. A master wood carver worked to detail a sculpture of two eagles.

There were around forty people. The clouds might have looked an innocent gray but they rumbled like an aggressive dog. Icy rain and hail pelted us. We dodged under shelter. I realized why attendance was sparse. I feared it would dwindle with repeated bouts of cold, rude rain and jagged stabbing bolts of lightening.

I was delighted when few left. Everyone there was having fun and smiling. We all raced out, milking each rain free moment to play games. Human foos ball was excellent! It was comedic to play and break and play and break. Like playing red light green light with the weather calling the shots.

The power went out throughout the town. Nederland determination turned up a generator, the music played on. No one complained about the weather, we all ignored it together. In a drizzle I played jenga with two amazing kids. Brayden and Kayisha, whose names I've probably mispelled, wore smiles and went from game to game in high spirits.

The fireworks came with smoke, bright explosions above Barker Reservoir and large crowds that seemed to come from nowhere. The display was great, not the largest I've seen but among my favorites because of the whole day. The spirit of the locals, the smiles and positive attitudes. Few people I saw were chained to a smartphone inches from their faces, most danced, talked, played games, enjoyed the food or watched family and friends play games.

Seriously, if you ever get the chance to get out of the big crowd, to go somewhere like Nederland and enjoy a holiday- DO IT! The musicians were great and played despite the weather. The kids and adults made great memories that will last a lifetime- that's worth more than just going to a high budget huge display. I just wish I could have gotten there early enough to cheer on the folks in the pie eating contest.

Life is What you make of it. Yesterday forty plus people chose to make their holiday a great one, they chose not to use unpleasant weather as an excuse to be miserable. They didn't choose to stay home. I was among them and we had a marvelous time. Next time you find yourself glooming, instead consider what you can do to spin things around and bloom. Folks in Nederland Colorado do!

So You Want To Be a Secret Shopper and the Connections You Will Need

In a tight year where I spend a lot of time trying to stretch every twenty dollar bill to cover groceries, bills, and gas money. If you're thinking its an impossible task you may be right. Especially if you have spent your time searching and finding that everyone charges you money to GIVE you ACCESS to the companies that do secret shopping.

What is Secret Shopping? 

Secret Shoppers are contracted through companies that do secret shopping by various merchant businesses for various reasons including: professionalism, appearance, pricing, quality of interactions and equipment, as well as to verify that employees are not using illegal or unethical practices. Companies may contract secret shoppers as an independent review of their company to enhance the quality rating and certifications they have. Companies may contract secret shoppers if they have received complaints and want more of an idea on how their employees are interacting with customers.

Keys to Secret Shopping Successfully: 

1. Utilize the training information provided by the companies you are working for. Different companies have differing preferences on what and how to report.

2. Read the directions on secret shops as well as the survey you will need to complete afterwards.

3. When you do a shop you NEVER tell anyone you are doing the shop, you go alone and you follow directions provided. NEVER "Make it up as you go along." Directions are specific. You can tell your family or friends, so long as they aren't the sort to walk in as a joke and blow your cover.

4. Sometimes you can take pictures without drawing attention, sometimes you need to take pictures as part of completing the shop. Pictures may be of store fronts, sales displays, receipts.

5. Keep copies of receipts and documentation. Date everything and catch the name and a physical description of the people who you meet during the shop as well as what and how they say it.

example: As Diana was seating us the manager, Joe, came and introduced himself and welcomed us with a friendly smile. Neither seemed rushed and both seemed attentive to our needs and interests. Diana was caucasian, about 5'5" with long black hair held back in a ponytail; she was wearing her uniform shirt, name badge and plain black pants. Joe was about 6'0." Joe was african american, with his uniform shirt, name badge and plain black pants on.

6. Grammar is important. No LOL No shortcuts No see answer above. Be clear in your writing.

7. Be Timely. Shops HAVE to be done WHEN they are ASSIGNED TO be done. You have to wait until you are approved.

8. There is a national certification you can take, it isn't necessary yet and each company has different guidelines so it is best to go through and do the training exercises they offer and get the training they request if they request any.

What kinds of secret shops are out there? 

You name it! Restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, banks, real estate, airport and airline, hotels, colleges and services.

You can make money doing shops. They take time and accuracy to complete. Different shops pay different rates for different types of shops. I have done retail shops that did not require me to purchase anything, were short, and paid $13 each. I have seen shops that offer $30-$60 payment with reimbursement for purchases up to $15 for bowling alley shops. Shops can take a few minutes to a few hours. There are shops in urban and rural areas. There are shops that are in person at a location as well as phone survey shops. Some shops require you to do hidden video or audio recordings. Medical secret shops may pay up to three hundred dollars and reimbursement without any medical procedure being done.

The Gem you have been waiting for: 

This is a starter list, avoid paying someone to hand you this list. Please share my blog and share the list freely. If you want to do a favor for me in gratitude after you do a few shops then share the links to my ebooks, the link to my blog, buy one of my ebooks or some of the jewelry I make and sell at Painted Lady Creations on Etsy. Pay it forward! If they ask if you were referred by anyone you are welcome to say Angela Hunt referred me or not; doesn't really matter. I just want this information out there free.

If you have more companies you want me to add, please add them in comments or message me and I will look them up and add them. Good hunting!

For more companies or to add to this list, search for scheduling companies, promotions and marketing as well. If you look up secret shopping you will likely get mostly hits on engines like Shadowshopper that will charge you to give you access to connecting with secret shop companies or blogs that are using paying advertisers to get paid for you sharing information. I am just handing it to you as I took the time to pay and gain access to the information and I feel it should be freely shared. Companies are always looking for good shoppers.  Use these company names to find and create an account to secret shop for these companies! When I say retail it's a generalization that includes restaurants, grocery, phone companies, fast food, gas stations, clothing stores etc.

Beyond Hello- various retail shops and app for your smartphone to find them!

Bestmark - in my experience they offer a lot of oil change shops.

Insula Research- Retail

Baird Group: Bairdgroup.clientsmart.com - medical in person and phone shops, with excellent training modules

KSS International/ Kern Scheduling- retail

Mystery Researchers- retail, overarching company that Beyond Hello, Insula and mystery researchers are a part of

Goodwin Hospitality- I like their shops. Bowling alleys, retail

Strategic Reflections- retail

National Shopper Service- various

Ellis Partners in Management Solutions/ EPMS online - in person, phone shops many are real estate shops

isecretshop mystery shopper services

Informa Services - various retail

Stay Connected- promotions, demos, and secret shops

Fusion Marketing and Promotion- promotions, special events, secret shops


I wish you good fortune in stretching those twenty dollar bills with me as we earn side income occasionally helping companies review their practices, presentation, and quality of merchandise or services.

Doing retail shops could mean getting a product free or being reimbursed for purchases. 

 You could secret shop a grocery store and end up getting part of your groceries paid for as well as getting about $15-$20 to review the store. You could get reimbursed up to a certain value on purchases at other stores or service providers. Oil changes reimbursed with an added $15 paid to you for doing the shop. Restaurants with reimbursement and pay or just reimbursement which still adds up to a free dinner. Bowling alleys paying you for doing a round of bowling and having a snack and a drink as well as paying you to do the shop. Medical providers paying up to $300 for you to present and do shops on how staff deals with you and what they say in relation to the information you are providing.

Most secret shop companies pay monthly or at completion of the shop. Review the specifics for each on their websites! 

Secret shoppers should be neutral, follow directions and hopefully get to see people do their jobs well and see companies well represented. In the unfortunate situation when they are not, it is the shopper's responsibility to turn in the information requested by the company so the company can evaluate and make a course of action to improve their business. It is wonderful when you get to turn in a report or survey about how amazing someone did and how fast or professional the company was represented. However it goes, it is a tool that helps companies get non-biased information on how they are doing.

The Technology Handicap or the Socially Awkward Social Media Apps Are They Better than Old Fashioned Posters?

I used to write murder mysteries, I had a talented group of entertainers who worked with me. We printed posters, we submitted press releases. We entertained.

Fifteen years later, the world has changed. No calling friends or hanging posters. Posters? When was the last time you read a poster you walked by? Think about the faded words just begging for a reader to notice them. Never speaking, never able to say "THIS INFORMATION IS HERE FOR YOU and IT'S WORTH READING!" Not all of it is, but some of it warrants a look or a browse. There are fewer posters. Fewer concrete communications of events.

Everything flows from data, seeded through social media applications. Maybe you match an eye catching photo to the information or perhaps a short video; you pay for an ad to tantalize online, you use tags to catch random internet surfers. Tweet. Pin. Tumblr. Blog. YouTube. Angie's List. Craigslist, Facebook, Etsy, Ebay. Do you have all the apps you need yet to communicate?

Part of my mind sees a cartoon of each application as a different type of communication. Say Craigslist is like a blind date.It  could be a prank or sales pitch but you won't necessarily know until you give it time and focus. It could be a great evening... You never know.

Etsy, handmade unless it is "vintage," think of one of those craft circle groups that gets together weekly and the people you meet there spread the word about products hopefully the same way that old women gossip.

Facebook is like the child who constantly talks too loud and has to be looked at for no meaningful reason. You talk at them, wondering if they ever hear a word you say or if they're tuning you out to stare at a mind numbing game about candy.

Twitter is like the party down the hall. Whoever's drunk and shouting has the lines you hear loudest whether you want to or not.

Pinterest is a hobbyist, so passionate that they constantly tell you all about their favorite topics. Probably seven million different times and ways, to the point where you either have it memorized or you've tuned out.

Youtube is like that person who always has the video running. You tell them to stop, saying not funny or not entertaining. They post it anyways. Sometimes it is interesting, other times it is painful to watch.

With all of these characters in mind, which ones would you want promoting your events or interests? It used to be as simple as printing or writing posters and taking a walk. It used to be face to face invites or postal mailings. It used to be personal. Now it is the choice "share" and which engine do you want to use?

I keep thinking I want a communication tool that doesn't have quirks like socially awkward people sharing an elevator.

I keep sharing on the different engines, listening to their cacophany and wondering what will come next? They have apps designed so that if you want to shout over the proverbial hurricane of internet chatter you have to pay for advertising, to raise and promote the rank of your chosen jewel you want shared or you have to hope that you choose a good enough hook- whether it is a picture or a video or even a catchy phrase that gets everyone sharing and commenting on your post. Probably why the most shared posts are controversial political and religious posts.

Perhaps we could retrain the system. Use it as a tool rather than let it sweep us under. We could tune in and tune out. We could comment on shared posts on small businesses, local businesses, events- even if it's just a "great work" we can also share each other's events and items to encourage others to share as well- to increase awareness and promotion of each other.

Remember, we each can make the choice to promote each other; to give artisans a livelihood by buying the art they love to make. We can watch live shows, we can share pictures and videos to show our friends and beyond why we loved the shows. Since we're stuck with the awkward communication club of applications, why not begin to use them rather than have them continue to use us?

How many apps do you adjust your schedule for? Do you just have to get on at a certain time to access another level in a game or to do another silly survey?

Sitting here wondering if this coming Monday night's Storytelling and Magic at Cup O Karma will have a larger crowd. They are promoting the event. I am promoting the event. It will be an excellent evening, and a correlational study of the impact of social media apps on small venue attendance. My new phone shines in a silver metal sheath, waiting to send out word on what comes next.