It’s often said, “any good worker is only as good as his tools” and in the world of Field Agent work, while it doesn’t take much to succeed other than a cell phone, you can definitely up your game with a solid tool kit. I use an actual toolbox to put all of my Field Agent related tools in. Most of them are merely to make the job easier, but you’ll that from time to time certain assignments might require specialized tools like for example a tire tread depth gauge. Since all of this stuff is relatively simple, it’s a pretty low cost to invest in them and they’ll likely last forever as their use cases, especially in this industry isn’t intensive.
USB Power Bank
One of the things that has saved me several times over has been having a backup battery for my cell phone. My current vehicle has a USB charging port, but even then I like having this on hand because the job is so reliant on using my phone to take photos, I don’t want to get half way through my route and not have the charge to keep going. If I have a dead phone, I don’t have a way to use the apps and that means I’m not going to make any money. So, having a USB Power Bank to charge your phone is critical in an emergency.
I don’t really have a particular recommendation for one USB power bank over another. I found several USB power banks in the $20 range and that’s probably about the most I’d spend for this particular tool. The main thing you’re going to want to keep in mind is the time it takes to charge the power bank, how many hours a charge tends to last, and the USB connection it includes.
Dog Treats
My friend used to be a mailman and one of the things he swore by was having a dog treat on him to ward off pesky yip-yip doggies or other more aggressive Fidos that might be a nuisance and interfere with his job. Of course, as a mailman, you know which houses tend to have animals and which don’t, but in this line of work, you never really know. For the most part, if you can’t access a door, you’re allowed to post notices to a gate or other common entrance. That can be helpful in avoiding aggressive dogs, but you never know what will happen!
To be honest, I haven’t really encountered any situations I’ve felt I needed to toss a dog treat out to distract a dog – I’m not really sure if I’ve had any dogs come up to me that I can remember while on the job. But I do know I’ve shown up to homes where dogs have been and I also know my friend’s experience with dogs delivering mail and I just know chances are, if not yet, then someday this is likely to be beneficial to have on hand.
That said, we’re not here to make sure this person’s dogs on a perfectly nutritious diet, we’re here to protect our ankles so even just a couple bucks on some cheap treats can be a good way to deal with dogs on properties you need to visit.
Transportable Printer
Picture this, you’re out on a job in a town 30 miles from where you live and decide to check the apps for any other jobs in the area. You see one pop up 3 miles away that pays $25, but it’s a letter drop and you have to print out the letter, put it in an envelope and post it to a door. Unless you can find a place to print off a letter at a moment’s notice, you’re now out $25 you could have made super easily unless you opt to return this location, which isn’t ideal given the distance.
But if you have a portable printer, that’s exactly what you can do and not have to lose out on an assignment.
Of the items listed here, this is probably one of the more expensive ones, but of the situations I’ve ran into that have prevented me from completing a job, not having access to an ability to print off a letter has probably been the most frustrating and so a portable printer in my opinion is something that can pay for itself fairly quickly.
Manilla Envelopes
Much like the portable printer, having the letter printed off without a way to post it per the instructions in the assignment doesn’t do much good. Most of the letter drop assignments will require you to write “Personal and Confidential” along with the person’s name it’s being delivered to on the front and then place the letter inside of it.
Keep in mind, this is not an expense you’re going to be reimbursed for in most cases with some of the assignments. WeGoLook is pretty good about reimbursement if you can prove costs and they have reimbursed me for mailing stuff via UPS and having the store pack it, but for a lot of these letter postings, the cost of printing is factored into your bid.
That said, you should try and seek out the cheapest reasonable envelopes you can. I scoured Amazon and came across a pack of 250 envelopes for just $0.06 a piece and I thought that was a pretty good deal.
Tape
For assignments that require letter drops, you’re going to have to post the notice to the door and then take a picture of the notice. Of course, the easiest way to post the notice is to put a bit of tape on the top of the envelope and then stick it to the door before taking a picture and walking away.
Self-Defense
As I talked about in the ultimate guide to getting started in the Field Agent business, one of the downsides is that you will sometimes be approaching individuals that are well behind on their payments – this is why the lenders are trying to reach out to them with direct posted letters. Being in the process of being behind on bills and potentially losing your home or vehicle is stressful and so these individuals will be in duress. How they will react is uncertain and they certainly don’t understand that you have no association with these companies other than as an independent contractor assigned to give them notice.
That’s why I highly recommend all Field Agents keep some sort of protection on them. Given some of the customers of these notices, such as one credit union I often post notices for, explicitly ask you to not bring a weapon I’m not going to explicitly recommend a 9mm that would be certain to end any threat…but I will definitely recommend a taser or mace.
Yard Stick
WeGoLook automotive inspections often require this one. In order to complete these types of assignments, they will often ask you to use a yard stick to measure from the ground up to a point on the bumper or measure the size of a damaged area. The first yard stick I bought, I spent $1 on and it was wooden and then I ended up breaking it roughly 2 days later. So I opted to “splurge”on a metal one for probably $5 and it’s worked just fine.
In that same vein, I’d recommend picking up a standard tape measure as well for cheap.
Tire Depth Gauge
Some of the assignments I’ve done have required this. I didn’t have one for quite awhile and then I showed up to a site to do an inspection and realized it required one too late. It was identified in the specs of the assignment, but I overlooked it and so upon completion I didn’t get paid because I didn’t provide all the information required. So I’d recommend to just go get this ahead of time.
Miscellaneous Supplies
Lastly, I like to always have a pen and notepad on hand. Sometimes I need to note something down for reference later when I actually upload the assignment and of course, a pen is always required for filling out envelopes.
Overall, there aren’t any specific things that are absolutely going to be necessary and you can look at this list, ignore it and probably still find a good amount of success, but as I’ve been in the industry over the years, building this little list has improved my experience and allowed me to boost my earnings by being prepared for anything – including weather and mud that could be found in some of the property inspections.
Preparation is key to success and I’m sure there are things I could do well to add to my own toolbox. I’d be interested in what you keep in your tool kit.
As the founder of FieldAgentResource.com, I’m passionate about helping individuals looking to earn extra money find value in becoming a Field Agent. I’ve been a field agent since 2023 and in that time I’ve made an effort to learn as much as possible about maximizing my revenue in the field. Through informational articles and submissions from field agents in the community, I hope to empower individuals to make the most of their field inspection endeavors.
