Everything slows down on the blogging front as Christmas approaches

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I'm starting to put my blogs to bed now until the New Year. The fact that many io the areas I blog about slow down dramatically at this time of year only adds to the fact that people's attention is drawn away to other places and things. Christmas is on the way and all of my blogs drop significantly in readership from early December until the start of January. Subsequently I'm starting to switch the blogs off-

Estate agency

This really is a quiet time for estate agents as the market starts to shut down for Christmas. People who have sales going through now want to be in their new home before Christmas. Most solicitors close completely for over a week and everything goes really quiet.

And likewise with my How to sell your home blog - there aren't many people starting to look at selling their home at this time of year.

Retail

Retailers are the opposite of estate agents at this time of year - they are too busy to do much reading. My blogs would bypass many of my potential readers because they are all busy at this time of year.

Mystery shopping

This is another area that goes really quiet at this time. In the same way that retailers want to concentrate on sales right now, they don't want their busiest season to be interrupted by a major mystery shopping programme. And because of this, the mystery shop companies cut back their activity to almost zero until the new year.

You'll see less of me during the next month or so on all of my blogs.

See why every second counts - any how to make the most of them

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I feel like every second counts both at (employed) work and at home currently. Having taken on full-time work at the same time as my freelance work has started to take off is a bit of a challenge. A "normal" day is-

• Up at 5.45am
• Update my website
• Leave the house at 7am
• Write a blog post on the bus
• Start work at 7.30am
• Lunch hour at 11.30am
• Write another blog post
• Finish work at 4pm
• Write a blog post on the way home
• Home at 4.30pm
• Get half an hour of promotion work done
• Dinner at 5pm
• A couple of hours with the kids
• Start writing, promoting, tweeting and investigating at 8pm
• Finish and go to bed around 11pm

It all adds to quite a tiring day, and I'm at work tomorrow, pretty much the same routine but I'll leave the 8pm activity, and catch any of that up on Sunday.

I'm really enjoying it all, work is a promotion as well as a change to full-time so I'm managing a team, coaching and training. These are things I'm good at and well practised in. The frustration is the amount of new team members and the fact that business is heavy at this time of year in retail. It doesn't give me a lot of time to develop and train the team into the group of people I want them to be.

The freelance work is fitting in around all of the other bits that I'm doing. I've mentioned before that I sometimes write pieces on my iPhone on the Park and Ride bus on the way to and from work. I find that this gives me the opportunity to switch off from work, and I've also found time in my breaks to do the same. I can put together a large part of what I need and then re-read and edit it down when I get back onto a PC at home.

It's really good to be busy all the time and the fact that most mystery shopping companies stop the amount of mystery shops available in December (see here) means that this is a good time to be doing more at my employed, paid work.

Watch this space!

A bit of everything has been happening all at once this week

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A bit of everything has been happening all at once this week. It's one of those occasions where I don't really know which way to turn so I've turned all ways at once! Let me explain-

Work

I've been offered the chance to  step up to the next level until after Christmas. It means going full-time for a few months and this impacting on the available time I have to do other things. But I've  accepted the offer in the basis that many of the other things I do at this time of year will start to tail off.

Fiverr

I came home to 4,500 words of fiverr writing on Friday night. It's mice to get regular sales on fiverr and it means that my gig explanations are hitting the right notes. I'm relatively new to fiverr and I'm finding out that Friday afternoon seems to be the time for buyers to instruct you. About 60% of my gigs have been commissioned on a Friday afternoon. I set aside two hours on Saturday morning to complete the gigs and I've had the first drafts sent off for approval.

Mystery shopping

This does really start to tail away at this time of the year when retailers really want to concentrate on serving customers and making money.

http://mysteryshopperblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/its-time-to-start-mystery-shopping-now.html

There have been a couple of mystery shops and a gambling success but few and far between-

http://mysteryshopperblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/see-how-quick-mystery-shopping-trip.html

Book sales

I've been using my blogs to promote my books more and more recently, especially-

The Mystery Shop Blog - http://mysteryshopperblog.blogspot.co.uk/

How to Sell Your Home - http://how-to-sell-a-home.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm finding that books sales are steady and that interest in the blogs is increasing well at the moment. From here I hope to produce a solid regular income for when the business opens.

homeestates

Fiverr

Seller

I am a writer - I write all the time. I have several blogs, have written three books (so far) and I just love writing. I will write positive reviews or articles or mention you in my blogs in clear English. I'm new to Fiverr but I'm incredibly passionate about what it can empower.

See the different marketing ideas I'm using to sell my books

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I've been looking at ways to expand the sales of my mystery shopping book. It's had some initial interest and I want to capitalise on that interest and turn it into book sales. There have also been a couple of positive reviews already. It's one of those things that every time you talk about it, other people are really interested in what you have to say. It's a topic that everyone has some interest in, either what you do or becoming a mystery shopper themselves. To assist with the book I've started a blog that mixes hints and tips from the book with my daily experiences as a mystery shopper. Each blog entry prompts the reader to take a look at the book. The blog can be found here.

I have also set up a basic promotional YouTube video to help with the book sales. The idea behind these two things is to get people to like the look of what is going on and then go on to buy and read the book. But the next questions I have are-

• How are people going to find the blog or the YouTube video?
• Who is my target market?
• How will I reach them?

The people who I think will be mainly interested in mystery shopping are university students and the mothers of children that are at school. I live quite close to a university city so I thought that the below poster could get me a bit of traction. I'm going to put it up in a few places around the city that I know students frequent. I hope that more readers of the blog might mean more book sales. Finding the mothers might take a little bit more doing. I'm thinking that the forums mothers frequent such as mumsnet might be somewhere to look. I know from sites like Money Saving Expert  don't allow people to advertise their own products on their forums so mumsnet may be the same. Aside from these two areas, it's a case of searching and thinking more about potential readers and how I can reach them.

The poster looks like this-

Wish me luck!

See the free easy tool that's helped to promote my blogs and books

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It's been quite an eventful week in the small world of Amazon Kindle book selling with my book "The Secrets of Mystery Shopping: How to Become a Mystery Shopper" receiving quite a lot of interest and a lot of questions. Amazon don't really give you a great idea of sales figures, as I always find their reports sketchy until the month is over and the money is in my account. This is largely because of Amazon Prime, which gives people the chance to read some or all pages for free and then you, as an author, are given a percentage of the Amazon Prime fund. This is based on the proportion of reads your book got from everything available on Prime.

The immediate, personal feedback has been good, though and I know of a growing number of people that have told me they've bought the book. Friends, family, work colleagues and then their contacts (reached via Facebook) have been buying and I hope it to be my biggest seller yet.

To go alongside the book, I've started a blog. The purpose of this blog is threefold-

1- To promote the book

2- To give people an insight into what a mystery shopper does

3- To give people an idea of the good things that you can get out of mystery shopping

I've seen more interest in this book then any of the others that I have published so I hope that it continues to create a few waves. And I hope that it helps people who are interested in mystery shopping to get a start in the industry. As with all my books, if just one person gets something out if it then I think it will all be worthwhile.

I also used some spare time this week (precious commodity that it is) to produce short animated promo videos for two of my books. I used a website called www.RawShorts.com to produce the videos and many of their templates are free. The videos are as follows-

THE SECRETS OF MYSTERY SHOPPING

HOW TO SELL YOUR HOME

If you don't think that you can use a site like RawShorts, then an alternative would be somewhere like www.fiverr.com where someone will be able to produce you a promo video for as little as $5.

The idea is that they give me a little more exposure for the books and offer a different way for people to find my blog, my books and me.

See the book that will help you on your mystery shopping journey

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My Amazon Kindle book called The Secrets of Mystery Shopping : How to Become a Mystery Shopper was released yesterday. This is one of my books that I have published as I look to generate an income in the run up to opening my own business. The idea is that these books bring in a (modest) income as the estate agency starts next year and I go without an enlistment income for the first few months it takes to get properties on my books and through to sale completion.

The book was available to pre- order on Amazon but there was a little bit of a wrangle between me and them about the pre-order and edits to the book so the pre- order was cancelled and the book launched immediately.

When I uploaded the book file when setting up the book for ore-order, there was no mention of any issues in updating the content in the run up to launch. So when I went through the final edit of the book, checked and updated the contact details of all the mystery shop companies I was ready to upload the final file to the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing site. When I got there, this book was greyed out and I couldn't access it to update. I contacted the help desk and was told that for the 3 days before the release, the book was unavailable to edit - I'd missed the deadline by about an hour! Although I didn't know I'd missed a deadline because there wasn't enough information there to tell me.

I was gutted - the choice was to wait until after it was released and then change the book file -meaning that any pre-orders would be unable to access the updated file. Or to withdraw the pre-order title, republish as a ready to buy book and have my customers read the full experience. This meant that I would lose the ability to set books up to pre-order for a year. I went for the second option as I couldn't see the value in having someone pay for what wasn't a full book.

So, here we are, it's published and I've set up a blog (here) and a twitter feed @mysteryshopper74 to help with the exposure.

It's available on the Amazon Kindle store now, so take a look and see what you think.

Mystery shop feedback - small update!

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A short addition to the blog on my new mystery shopping experience from Friday.

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/07/new-experiences-bring-few-nerves.html

I've received the feedback and it states-

• Your report was a pleasure to read
• Excellent feedback

So I'm very happy with that!!

New experiences bring a few nerves

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It sounds really strange after over four years of mystery shopping for ten different companies that I an nervous about the mystery shop I'm due to complete tonight. I haven't kept an exact count that I can easily lay my hands right now but I estimate that I've completed around 1,000 mystery shops and this is the first one since the very early days that I've felt apprehensive and pressured to get things absolutely exact. That's not to say I'm usually imprecise but many of the mystery shop companies I use ask for general ideas -

*was the floor clean?

*were you served quickly?

*was the server well presented?

Now, of course, there is a degree of personal judgement in answering these questions.

The reason for today's apprehension is that I'm shopping for a new company. As part of the terms and conditions of any mystery shopping exercise, I can't publish details anywhere - including blogs and social media. So I won't go into much detail but I can say that I've signed up with this mystery shopping company and I'm undertaking a new assignment with a new client.

One of the main differences is that this new mystery shop company operates a different reporting system. Just about all of the reports I've filed need an online form completed and 90% of it is tick boxes - yes/no answers to questions along the lines of those I've stated above. This new company is looking for a narrative version of the visit. I'm not afraid of narrative itself, as it is along the lines of what I'm typing right now, but its a clear narrative of the visit stating only the facts that I need to create.

I find it helpful when I'm apprehensive about something, to talk or type it through and just the typing of today's blog has helped me a little. The unknown can be a little daunting but it's just a case of reading through the instructions thoroughly and being as prepared as I can. And there are lessons here for when I start the business. Conducting my first market appraisal for myself or agreeing my first sale on my own will be exciting and nervy experiences but being prepared will get me through it. I've always worked well from a script or structure and I'll make sure that I have this set up for when I start operating as an estate agent.

A feeling of refreshed positivity!

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I've worked up with an overwhelming feeling of positivity this morning. I'm really 100% sure why this is, but I'm liking it.

What's changed?

Well, in the two days since I was last on here, there have been a few changes but they all feel positive and can help me to look forward. One of the ways I've been making money and looking to continue making money when the business starts, is buying and selling books. I have an eBay account (who doesn't?) and an Amazon seller account t that I sell these through. The issue has been increasing my stock from 100 books to 1,000 books. Not unlike an issue with stock that I'll be facing when I'm an estate agent. Without giving away too much detail I've started to find areas where I can increase my stock by the hundreds without a massive expense.

I've also signed up for another mystery shopping company this week. Things have slowed down with mystery shops (although I still wouldn't describe them as slow.) I felt as though another company on my books was a positive step and would give me the opportunity to learn how they operate, experience more companies and earn some more money.

And I think I've found the doors for my office! The doors I need are almost £250 on B&Q, so I've been looking for an alternative at a better price. I've found some on at a current bid of £30 and - although I'll have to rent a van - the savings are huge. This will complete the office in terms of structure and allow me to furnish and move in.

So onwards and upwards!

It's been a while, and will be a while again

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Well, it's been a while since I last blogged on here and it will probably be a while until I blog again.

What's happened since I last blogged?

Not a great deal, actually.

Nothing has progressed with the business since I last blogged. I've not finished my new book, I've only done a handful of mystery shops and I've made no real progress in the way of setting up the business.

The 245 days concept is out if the window, and I'm probably looking at opening the business a full year after I initially intended. The extra year will be spent in setting up areas that will bring me in an income to sustain my family and my living standards during the initial months of the start up when there is little or no income.

The upcoming hiatus will be brought about because I'm gong into hospital on Thursday for an operation. It's an op on my eye and is the latest (and hopefully the last) relating to a longstanding detached retina issue. It will mean that I'll be off work for about a fortnight and won't be able to use a computer or smartphone screen for about a week.

With the eye fixed, I'll be back stronger and I can concentrate on setting up the potential income earners that will give me more confidence in letting go of permanent employment and taking the plunge into self-employed!

That's it, I'm taking control!

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I've let events wash over me the last week or so. I've had so much going in that I've been stuck in a situation where I've not been able to focus in one thing and often ended up not doing anything much of significance. Don't get me wrong, I've been blogging, taking photos, mystery shopping and I've nearly got everything I wanted done around the house, but none of it feels like I've made massive progress or set the world alight-

My photography is moving along really well and I'm happier every week with the quality and consistency of the work I'm producing. My tutor is very pleased with my progress and I'm now 100% set on moving on to year 2 and level 2. My work is getting great feedback in class and on social media. I'm really in a very happy place with all this. In terms of the course, it's time to round up my folder tonight and then next week we are setting up our exhibition and then it's all finished until late September when level 2 begins.

I've been blogging apace and one of my blogs has just reached it's 100th edition-

http://eaboost.blogspot.com/2015/03/100-blog-entries-and-i-look-back-at-my.html

I've decided to commemorate this milestone by producing a week of blogs looking back at the highlights of the first 100. It's an interesting way to look back at all the words I've written and pulling together the themes that I've looked at in terms of estate agency.

Mystery shopping has been going steadily but not spectacularly. We're coming to the end if the quarter and traditionally this and Easter mean that things slow down dramatically. Having said this, I've managed to conduct 6 mystery shops over the last week and I've got 2 in the pipeline. With only one day off this week, I probably won't do much more than that but I'll be looking for  a single day next week where I can conduct 10 to 15 mystery ships and bring in a few hundred pounds.

Work around the house is continuing, but again without feeling that it's flying ahead. The main bedroom is curtain lining away from complete and I'll finish the bathroom on Wednesday. After that there's just outdoor things to complete as spring starts and the weather turns warmer.

Wednesday is also the day when I start my warm weather exercise regime - in starting running again. I'm losing weight slowly but I don't feel that I've for a very good fitness level at the moment. Since finishing the Great North Run half marathon in September last year, I've inly ran once. I generally stop over the winter and I've missed my place in the ballot for the 2015 run but it's time to get fit again.

It's caught me up and passed me by

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Just a week where I've felt that everything has caught me up and passed me by, and I've made little progress. I've conducted 4 mystery shops, done a couple of little chores around the house, but with a days overtime at work I've not really had the time to make much of an impact on anything and the what's next list feels like it hasn't changed since the start of the week.

I'm almost at the end of my photography course with just three weeks left. One to pull the folder together to hand in, one to frame and hang my prints for the exhibition and the last one is the exhibition itself. That will kick start the creative writing side of things. I've also looked at starting a distance marketing course run by a local university that will lead to diploma status if I follow through the three years (you only sign up for a year at a time.) I'm desperate to have as many skills as finely honed as possible and I believe that having all these things in place will hugely help me in setting up and running an estate agency. And I'm really interested in marketing. Looking three years into the future and having diplomas in marketing and photography will put me well ahead of the competition in terms of qualifications and it will be a case of applying this to the business.

I've made no moves towards even finishing my office for the business, after having found a wii senn strut gnawed through and mouse dropping in the floor if the garage I am still converting. The mouse bait has gone down and the strut has been patched up, pending a full repair. I need paint to finish this and then look at the desk, the flooring and the doors. A long way to go with this, but I'm sure there are brighter days ahead on this front.

I am the answer, but I don't totally understand what the question is yet

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I am the answer, but I don't totally understand what the question is yet.

I don't mind admitting that I sometimes have doubts over this new business estate agency thing. I suppose it's natural to have thoughts about maintaining the status quo, especially when I enjoy my life as it is. I have a many irons in the fire at the moment that I find I'm not concentrating on any one enough -

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/01/too-many-balls-to-juggle-what-to-let-go.html

I have to compartmentalise areas if my life and the what's next method has started to pay dividends -

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-next-my-new-strategy.html

I've refined it a little and now I'm having weeks concentrated in certain areas to emphasise and maximise the amount in each area I get done. This week is stuff around the house week and has consisted today of-

Filling and sanding bathroom ceiling

Painting hall and landing walls

Buying a new kettle and milk pan

Buying sealant for the bathroom

Tomorrow will be sorting out-

Painting the bathroom ceiling

Buying curtains for my bedroom

Buying curtains for the landing

Buying a beanbag for the newly-configured lounge

Buying a lampshade for the lamp in my bedroom

Buying a rug for the lounge

All might seem fairly mundane things but all need to be sorted so I can concentrate my efforts all in one place.

The quote at the start about being the answer but not knowing the question really related to the doubts I have and what I want to do to give me a contingency income to allow me to carry in with the estate agency without constantly worrying about money. The blogs, the self-published books, the photography, etc are designed to give me financial security and a small monthly income no matter what the business is doing. If I can add that to income from investments and perhaps rental income from a property, then it allows me to go for it and take the risks that may be necessary to become a success.

A regular schedule is starting to emerge

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I'm now falling into a regular schedule in my new role at work. It's my second week in my new role, with my new hours and I've mainly got two days in the week off, starting this week. I've divided this up to one day earning money and the other for setting up the business.

This will start this weekend or next week with finishing off the garage conversion into my home office. It's probably the best first place to start movng towards having the business up and running. When it's decorated, made to look like an office and weather proof, I'll have a space to be able to sit away from the hustle and bustle of family life for periods of time to concentrate on getting stuff done. Plus insure I'll find more things in the garage to sell on eBay, to bring in a little more money.

Yesterday was a money-making day with mystery shopping at the following-

2 supermarkets

A specialist retailer

A toy retailer

A museum

An entertainment provider

A bookmakers

In all, the fees earnt were more than I would have earnt in a similar day at work, and it took me less time, got me some products and was more interesting.

Today has been a day for getting things done around the house. I've cleaned windows, painted a ceiling, touched up other paint, changed a photo frame and sorted out the porch. I want the house robe fully up to scratch with all maintenance issues before I start the business, as I won't have spare time to devote to this then.

I've also listed several items for sale in eBay and Amazon today - unused video games and books I've already read.

Time to look in the mystery shop websites to see if there are any available ships for my days off next week!