My name is “Evaluator X.”

For the past five years I have been doing side hustle work that is truly the most challenging, fun, diverse, exciting, and unbelievable way I’ve ever made money.  Hardly a day goes by when I don’t think, “I can’t believe somebody is paying me to do this.”  

I am a 61 year old Undercover Customer Evaluator.  I refer to myself as “Evaluator X” because to blow my anonymity would make me uh-hirable in the mystery shopping space.

If you’re reading this in a restaurant, hotel, airport, on a plane, ferry or bus, if you’re at the mall, in a coffee shop, getting a massage, grocery shopping, at the hairdresser, or getting your oil changed, I might be right next to you. The only difference between the two of us is I’m getting paid to eat, drink, travel, shop, get massaged, get coiffed, and maintain my car but you’re not… yet…

As an independent Undercover Customer Evaluator I get hired to complete “Undercover Boss” types of assignments, where I pose as a customer, observe the operation, partake of the products and services, and report my findings back to the hiring businesses.

In the five years I’ve been doing these Undercover Customer Evaluator side hustle gigs, I’ve literally been paid to take airplane flights and stay in 5-star hotels; drink coffee, do breakfast, brunch, lunch, Happy Hour and dinner; purchase makeup, clothes, kitchen gadgets, and shoes; get massages, haircuts, and brow waxings.  

I’ve gotten paid to take photos of menus, grocery store shelves, marketing signage and sidewalk cracks.  I’ve been paid to tour apartments, test drive cars, and order takeout.

When I have banking to do, somebody pays me to do it.  When I have a package to ship, somebody pays me to ship it.  I’ve also gotten paid to go to movies, aquariums, sporting events, and I’ve even gotten paid to tan an Uber home at the end of my undercover assignment of the day.  .   

You might be familiar with “mystery shopping,” but today’s Undercover Customer Evaluations are more comprehensive in scope because the assignments include brand image reviews, compliance audits, website and app testing, as well as COVID-related health and safety evaluation. Some of these expanded auditor assignments are undercover, but some of them are revealed.

I stumbled upon this independent contractor work when I was looking for a source of income that had the flexibility I needed to travel internationally six months each year  (which is related to a different side hustle which is another article for another day).  

To get started it took a lot of research to find the companies that were willing to pay me to do this kind of undercover work. Additionally, it took a lot of time to make sure the work would be legit and I would actually get paid.  One of the reasons for writing the “Spy and Grow Rich” book was to eliminate this time-consuming research task for other people who think it would be fun to get paid to dine out, go to the mall, play bingo, and get their car washed.

The “Spy and Grow Rich” book also gives tips for successfully completing the “undercover” part of the Customer Evaluation gigs. This requires Research, Role-Playing, and Rehearsal, (a/k/a lying on the fly with proficiency). Being unprepared and getting un-covered in your undercover assignment is the worst sin you can commit. The step-by-step expert instruction in Spy and Grow Rich will help you avoid being hustled out of your Undercover Customer Evaluator side hustle because you weren’t able to fool the right people to get the job done.

Reporting your findings is also a key to the success of every Undercover Customer Evaluator. Spy and Grow Rich provides invaluable guidance about how to complete your reports in the quirky ways that each company prefers so that you get paid and get repeat assignments.

Is Being an Undercover Customer Evaluator right for you?

If picking and choosing work assignments based on how much fun you think they are is something that appeals to you, then Undercover Customer Evaluation work might be the right side hustle for you.  Personally I love when I’m on a massage table, munching popcorn in a movie theater, or having a Happy Hour glass of wine and thinking, “It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.”  It happens almost every single day for me.

If total flexibility is something you want or need, then Undercover Customer Evaluation is definitely something you want to seriously consider doing.  I love that every day I create my days to be exactly how I want them to be by fitting all the best undercover assignments together with my other non work life activities like a 4-D jigsaw puzzle.

As an Undercover Customer Evaluator, I am a self-employed independent contractor. Which means there are no obligations or expectations about when or how much I will work.  After I’ve been traveling for six months, I can immediately start doing assignments again (even on the planes and in the airports on the way home).