Thu 26th Jun 2008 01:03AM
Photography and traveling were two things that Ava loved to do. She had worked for many years to finally be able to make a profession of photography. She loved to take her camera and a lunch and just drive all over the countryside, through small towns and back roads where she could find hidden treasures of pictures just asking to be taken. When she did begin doing it professionally, she found that the reality of it was a bit different than she had thought. She had imagined it being a romantic life where she made millions by snapping ingenious pictures that she just happened to come across in her day to day life. This was not true to life at all, however. She found that it was hard work and she found that traveling, though fun, got old very fast. She was weary at the end of every day, and she had to begin doing weddings and graduations on the side for extra money.
Ava was not going to give up on her dream, though. But she knew that she needed a job in the meantime that would allow her freedom to travel, and that would work flexibly around her schedule. How in the world would she find such a job, she wondered?
When talking with a friend one day, she heard her say that she had been a secret shopper a few years ago. Ava had never heard of a secret shopper before, so she asked her friend about it. Ava found that the job name was basically also the job description. You merely pretend to be an ordinary paying customer and shop at a store or business somewhere locally or otherwise. After observing certain outlined criteria given to you beforehand and making note of it, you return home to fill out a simple report and send it to the company you work for. Ava could not believe her ears. A secret shopper ! It had been there all along and she had not even known it. What was the best part was that she would still be able to travel whenever she needed to for her own purposes, and a secret shopper position would work around her schedule, not the other way around.
Ava immediately applied to be a secret shopper , and after filling out some information and being interviewed, she was hired. She found that she could choose personally from a list of places to do jobs. It was basically a first come first serve basis. The woman who hired her told her that she could choose only local jobs if that is what she wanted, but it was not required. She could travel as far as she felt comfortable doing. From then on Ava took jobs that served her purpose for photography. If she would be out of town for photography that day, she chose a job shopping in a town nearby to it. If she would not be doing photography that day or if she would be doing it locally, Ava chose a shopping job locally as well. She could not believe how convenient this job was, and that she had never known it existed at all! What was more, the extra income allowed her to invest more time and money into her photography business. She could not have asked for a better solution.
The original article is located at: Secret Shopping Can Fit Into Your Hobbies