If you love to shop or simply have a passion for this, you should consider making money by becoming a personal shopper. Personal shoppers will generally work with clients that have no interest in shopping or do not have the time to do it themselves. The best part is that personal shopping allows you to indulge in your love for shopping while being paid for it.
Choose Your Niche
While most people associate personal shoppers with clothing, there are other areas of retail that you can choose to work in. An example of this will be Laurie Ely who began her career as a personal shopper by shopping for the elderly. She would fill 5 shopping carts with orders from her clients at her favorite store.
Choosing the retail area that you want to work in before you start your business is important. This will help you know the type of shopping you are going to be doing and will help you determine the market you want to target. Knowing who to target your services to is important and will help you in the long-run.
Getting Started
While you do not need a degree to become a personal shopper, it is a good idea to have some experience in the retail field. There are many larger retailers that have personal shoppers who assist their customers, it might be a good idea to take one of these jobs. This will help you learn the ins and outs of being a personal shopper.
You might also benefit from some training from organizations such as the Association of Image Consultants International and the Professional Styling Academy. These organizations will offer certifications to personal shoppers who want to be able to advance their business knowledge and become image consultants.
Make It Official
While you will not have to have a business license when you work as an employee, you will need one to operate as an independent or freelance personal shopper. Each state will have different requirements for their licensing and you need to find out what this is. To do this, you need to check with the local county government to find out about the laws in your state.
Spread The Word
When you are ready to start working as a personal shopper, you will need to start getting the word out. One of the ways that you can do this is to place ads in areas where your target audience is going to see them. An example of this will be if you want to work as a shopper for the elderly, you can place flyers in retirement communities.
You should also look at establishing a solid online presence. This can be done via social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You should also have a website and blog for your personal shopper business. This will provide people with a means of finding you when they are online.
