Making money by shopping

By Daisy Carrington, amNewYork Deputy Features Editor | dcarrington@am-ny.com

May 7, 2007

I have a friend who has an eye for detail and is good with picking out the right clothes for various events and the right pieces for decorating a home. I have often told her that she should hire herself out to people who hate to or don't have time to shop. How can she go about getting clients?
-- Excited, New York

The great thing about your friend's two designated professions -- personal shopping and home decorating -- is that they are both fields relatively accessible to someone looking to launch a second career.

Neither requires going back to school, and both offer several avenues to creating a successful start-up.

One option is to seek work at a department store that has personal shopping services. Many of these positions involve selecting furniture and gifts in addition to clothing. They are a great way for someone interested in starting his or her own company to build a clientele and to gain experience.

Many department store personal shoppers start out in the sales department. Good sales associates work closely with the clients, building ongoing relationships with them, and develop a strong sense of the store's merchandise.

Amanda Sanders, a personal shopper for New York Image Consultants, advises starting out as an assistant to an already established personal shopper or designer.

"While my partner and I don't always need paid help, if we have somebody, say, an intern, who is willing to do the grunt work, and we trust them, we might just give them a client," she says.

"We're only two people, and we're pretty much booked every day."

Another option is for your friend to use her already established contacts from whatever career she is in and to develop a shopping/design business through word-of-mouth (and it sounds like you're already willing to give her a glowing recommendation).

For those who want to develop their own business, Sanders suggests getting in touch with human resource departments at law firms and large corporations and offering up their services as an image consultant.

Do you have a work related question? E--mail dcarrington@am-ny.com.