Personal Shopper

Buying the perfect gift for a friend or loved can be a very time consuming task, if you’re someone who doesn’t shop regularly an absolute nightmare. Busy executives all over the world rely on skilled shoppers to do their gift buying and personal shopping. You’ll need a sixth sense to buy the perfect gift for someone you’ve never met before or pick clothes out for a client who you’ve just met. If you’re a shopper extraordinaire this is the work from home career for you.

Before The Start-Up, Let’s Not Get Ahead Of Ourselves

Significant shopping experience is required; you’ll need to quickly complete any assignment so knowing just the right places to look is essential. Shopping for someone you’ve just met or buying a gift for someone you’ve never seen before is no easy task so an ability to match personalities to gifts is also required.

The Start-Up

No home office setup here, all you need to get shopping is a car and cell phone. Make sure you’re always well dressed and presentable; your clients will look to your own sense of style when deciding if you are capable of the job. Building up a clientele list is your ultimate goal. Start off by marketing your services to specific target markets such as executives.

Making It Work

Know your local shopping areas well; finding your client a speciality item quickly or saving them money at a sale will help your service to grow quickly and establish your reputation as a knowledgeable shopper.

Marketing

Market your services using direct mailers to large firms and advertisements in local classifieds and the yellow pages. If you are looking to expand your marketing efforts, develop a website outlining your services, client testimonials and rates. Also consider starting a blog on your website with current shopping news, tips and product reviews. To drive targeted traffic to your site consider starting a pay per click campaign with Google’s AdWords or Yahoo’s Overture.

Don’t Forget

Finding the perfect item can be a very time consuming task, always charge per hour of shopping and not for the final product. As your clients can never observe you work this leaves the door open for abuse on your part. Building a reputation for honesty will be an important part of your start-up.