Born to shop.Name: LaKeshu "Kandy" Whitley-White Age: 28 Occupation: Personal shopper Personal shopping is a occupation of people who help others shop by giving advice and making suggestions to customers. They are often employed by department stores and boutiques (although some are freelance or work exclusively online). Location: Portland, Oregon Duties: "I get paid to shop for other people," says Whitley-White, who specializes in home interiors, personal gifts and weddings. Her typical clients are professionals whose demanding schedules prevent them from running to stores. The process is threefold. First, she sets up a consultation. "I meet with the client to get an idea of what they're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. and determine a budget." Next, she takes the client "window shopping (jargon) window shopping - A term used among users of WIMP environments like the X Window System or the Macintosh at the US Geological Survey for extended experimentation with new window colours, fonts, and icon shapes. ." "Most of the time, they don't have the time to go to an actual store, so I make sure to stay current on what's hot in the market and in mail-order catalogs." Lastly, she hits the stores. "I make sure to keep receipts and buy things that can be returned if the client changes his or her mind or is not satisfied with the purchase." Salary: If you work for an upscale department store, expect to make $35,000-$90,000 a year. If you work independently, as Whitley-White does, you set your own rates. She charges a flat rate of $25-$40 per hour for the actual shopping excursion excursion /ex·cur·sion/ (eks-kur´zhun) a range of movement regularly repeated in performance of a function, e.g., excursion of the jaws in mastication. , as well as 15%-25% of the total purchase price. Training: While no specific academic degree is required, there are certificate programs in image consulting that cover personal shopping. Or you can gain experience as an apprentice A person who agrees to work for a specified time in order to learn a trade, craft, or profession in which the employer, traditionally called the master, assents to instruct him or her. to a seasoned professional. Aside from having taken a few art classes for personal enrichment enrichment Food industry The addition of vitamins or minerals to a food–eg, wheat, which may have been lost during processing. See White flour; Cf Whole grains. , Whitley-White holds a B.A. in communications/public relations from Oklahoma's Tulsa University, from which she graduated in 1994. For more information about this career, contact: Association of Image Consultants International, 1000 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 9, Washington, DC 20036; 800-383-8831; aici@worldnet.att.net You can get even more details about this unique career opportunity by reading: * Get Paid to Shop: Be a Persona/Shopper for Corporate America by Emily S. Lumpkin (Forte, $29.99) * Get Paid to Shop: Opportunities in the Mystery Shopping Mystery shopping is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service. These companies send mystery shoppers to 'act' as shoppers in return for some combination of cash, store credit, purchase discounts, or reimbursement for the goods or services Business by Judith G. Rappold (Business Resources, $26.95) |
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