Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Retail Manager Built a 10K Monthly Side Hustle in Mystery Shopping
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've ever walked into a hotel lobby or a retail store and immediately clocked something off — a crooked sign, a slow greeter, a dirty restroom — there is actually a market for that instinct. Luna: You're talking about mystery shopping, right? The people who get paid to pose as customers and write up reports? Lucas: Exactly. And today's guest is someone who turned that curiosity into a serious side hustle. Her name is Jenna — she was a retail store manager for about seven years, mostly at department stores. She started mystery shopping on the side three years ago, and now she clears around $10,000 a month from it. Luna: Wait — $10,000 a month being a secret shopper? I always thought those gigs paid like 15 bucks a visit. Lucas: That's the baseline, and that's where she started. Her first assignment was a fast-food audit that paid $15 and a free burger. But she figured out pretty quickly that the real money is in the premium end of the market — luxury hotels, high-end retailers, car dealerships. Those assignments pay anywhere from $75 to $500 per visit, sometimes more if you're doing a detailed narrative report. Luna: So she's not working for the typical mystery shopping aggregator sites then? Lucas: She does use them occasionally, but her real breakthrough came when she started pitching directly to regional managers and district supervisors. She'd finish a standard audit and then send a polite email saying, 'If you ever need a more detailed evaluation, here's what I can offer.' Within six months, she had a direct contract with a mid-sized hotel group that wanted monthly reports on all their properties in three states. Luna: That's smart. She's essentially selling her expertise as a former retail manager — she knows what to look for. But $10,000 a month implies a lot of visits. Roughly how many assignments is that? Lucas: She told me she averages about 30 assignments per month. But the mix matters. About a third of those are high-ticket luxury hotel stays where she's actually paid to book a room, evaluate the check-in experience, the housekeeping, the concierge, and then submit a 10- to 15-page report. Those pay around $400 each. The rest are quicker retail audits — maybe $75 to $150 per visit. And she's also started doing what she calls 'mystery calls' — phone audits where she evaluates how a reservation desk handles inquiries. Those are lower pay but she can do three in an hour. Luna: So the hotel stays — does she actually have to spend the night? That seems like it would eat into profits. Lucas: In most cases, the client reimburses the room cost or provides a comped stay. So the $400 fee is pure profit on top of a free night at a nice hotel. She's stayed at Ritz-Carltons, W Hotels, Marriott properties — and essentially gets paid to be a guest. But she's very clear that it's not a vacation. She's working the whole time, timing how long it takes the front desk to greet her, checking if the room temperature is set properly, taking photos of any issues. Luna: I imagine there's a psychological component too. If you're naturally detail-oriented and maybe a little critical, this could feel like a dream gig. But if you're the type of person who feels guilty complaining, it might be tough. Lucas: Jenna said that was her biggest adjustment. She had to learn to separate objective observation from personal judgment. She says she'll write, 'The bathroom sink had a visible water stain on the faucet,' not 'The bathroom was gross.' And she reminds herself that the client is paying for honest feedback so they can improve. If she sugarcoats, they can't fix it. But she admits, there have been moments where she felt bad filing a negative report about a front desk agent who was just having a rough day. Luna: I can see that. And that's part of why businesses hire outsiders — they want someone who doesn't have the social pressure of working there. So the objectivity is the whole value. Lucas: Right. And the market for this is actually growing. According to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the industry has been expanding at about 5 to 7 percent per year, driven largely by hospitality and luxury retail. Post-pandemic, companies are obsessed with customer experience because they know it's a differentiator. Jenna says some of her clients told her they started their programs specifically because they saw reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp mentioning inconsistent service and they wanted to catch issues before they became public. Luna: Speaking of the value of honest feedback — if today's episode gave you a practical idea or a new way to think about your own skills, the reason we can keep doing these deep dives without a ton of ads is listener support. If you found this useful, you can help keep the show going at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just if you want to. Lucas: Yeah, that's exactly right. It's a small gesture that makes a big difference for us. Anyway — back to Jenna's story. One thing I found really smart was how she structured her pricing. Luna: What do you mean? Lucas: She doesn't charge per visit across the board. She offers tiered packages. A basic retail audit might be $100, but she also sells a 'premium hospitality package' which includes a full overnight stay, a meal evaluation, a pool or gym check, and a detailed written report with photos — that's $750. She also offers a retainer model for clients who want monthly reports: $2,000 a month for four visits, which gives her predictable income and gives them a dedicated evaluator who knows their brand standards. Luna: That retainer model is smart because it shifts her from gig worker to consultant. It also means she's not constantly hunting for new assignments. Lucas: Exactly. She has seven retainer clients right now, which accounts for about 60 percent of her income. The rest is one-off and overflow work. She says the retainer clients are also the ones who give her the most freedom — they trust her judgment, they rarely question her reports, and they often refer her to other properties in their network. Luna: Is she doing this entirely on her own, or has she started subcontracting? Lucas: She's still solo, but she's considering it. She says the bottleneck is that clients want consistency — they want the same evaluator every time so they can track changes. But she could potentially train a few other former retail or hospitality workers to use her reporting template and then take a cut. That would be the next step to scale beyond $10,000 a month. Luna: What about the barrier to entry? Can anyone start doing this tomorrow? Lucas: Pretty much. Jenna's advice is to start with a free profile on a site like Market Force or IntelliShop to get a few assignments under your belt and build a sample report. Then use that sample to pitch local hotels or retail stores directly. She recommends targeting independent boutiques or regional hotel chains first because they're more likely to say yes to an individual than a corporate giant. Her first direct client was a three-hotel group in Ohio. She sent them a two-page sample report based on a visit she made on her own dime, and they hired her for a trial month. Luna: So there's an upfront investment — time and possibly some money for that sample visit. Lucas: Right. She spent about $40 on a coffee and a pastry at the hotel café to do her sample. But that $40 investment led to a $2,000 retainer. So the ROI is there if you're strategic. Luna: One thing I'm curious about: how does she handle the administrative side? Taxes, invoicing, tracking mileage? Lucas: She uses a simple spreadsheet for tracking income and expenses, and she sets aside 30 percent for taxes. She also keeps a log of mileage — because she drives to some locations — and saves all receipts. She files as a sole proprietor. She says the bookkeeping takes about two hours a month. Nothing fancy. Luna: I think a lot of people assume side hustles like this require a website, a brand, a social media presence. But it sounds like she built everything through direct outreach and referrals. Lucas: She does have a LinkedIn profile where she lists 'Customer Experience Evaluator' as a title, but she doesn't have a website. All her client communication is through email. And she says that actually works in her favor because it keeps the relationship personal. Clients feel like they're working with a specific person, not an agency. Luna: That's a good lesson for anyone starting a service-based side hustle. You don't need a polished brand. You need a reliable process and a way to demonstrate value. Lucas: Exactly. And Jenna's process is surprisingly disciplined. She has a checklist for every type of assignment — hotel, retail, restaurant. She times each interaction. She takes notes in a small notebook immediately after leaving. And she always submits her report within 24 hours. That reliability is why her retainer clients stay. Luna: What's the biggest mistake she sees people make when they try to get into mystery shopping? Lucas: She says the number one mistake is signing up for the aggregator sites that promise huge payouts but are actually scams. There are sites that ask you to pay a registration fee or buy a 'certification' — those are almost always scams. Legitimate mystery shopping companies never charge you to sign up. Her advice: start with the free listings on the Mystery Shopping Providers Association website, and never pay for a job. Luna: Good advice. The other mistake might be trying to do too many different types of shops at once. She seems to have focused on hospitality and retail — her zone of expertise. Lucas: That's exactly what she recommends. She says pick one or two industries you already understand — maybe it's quick-service restaurants, maybe it's car dealerships — and become the go-to person for that niche. It's harder to be good at everything. But if you know what a clean hotel room looks like because you used to work housekeeping, or you know how a sales floor should be staffed because you were a retail manager, you have an edge. Luna: And that expertise translates into higher pay, because you can offer insights a generalist can't. Lucas: Right. And some of her clients have started asking her to do competitive benchmarking — visiting competitors and comparing their service levels. That's a whole other revenue stream she's just beginning to tap. She did a project for a hotel group where she stayed at three of their competitors in the same city and wrote a comparative report. They paid her $2,500 for that project. Luna: That's smart. It turns a single visit into a strategic consulting engagement. Lucas: Exactly. So for anyone listening who's worked in retail, hospitality, or any customer-facing role — you already have the observational muscles. The question is whether you can formalize that into a service people will pay for. Jenna's story suggests the answer is yes, and the ceiling might be higher than you think. Luna: I'd love to see what happens when she starts training other evaluators. That could double her income without doubling her hours. Lucas: That's the next chapter. I'll try to get her back on the show when she does. For now, I think the takeaway is: look at the skills you already use at work — attention to detail, pattern recognition, clear writing — and ask yourself if there's a market for those skills outside your day job. There probably is. Luna: If you want to check out Jenna's free checklist for starting mystery shopping, we'll link it in the show notes. And if today's episode sparked an idea, we'd love to hear about it. Lucas: Next time, we're talking to a former teacher who turned her lesson planning skills into a six-figure curriculum design business. See you then.