When I ask potential delegates why do they want to become a Personal Stylist during our phone consultation the answers are usually the same: I love clothes and shopping, I’m good with people and a lot of my friends ask me for fashion advice because they feel I dress myself well. I agree with them that this is a good start and if the fit is right more often than not they book on to one of our styling courses.
They arrive on the Monday probably in one of their outfits that they feel suits them and are generally feeling quite confident… We always start the training with Personal Shopping where we cover body shapes and most importantly how to dress the different shapes. Blame it on the power of the presentation, as we show celebrities of the varying shapes clearing getting it wrong and then right but this is when the panic and doubt creeps in. Why? Because for the first time that delegate starts to doubt not only the outfit she is wearing today but her whole wardrobe back at home which as results makes her question why she ever decided to become a Personal Stylist!
This is where being of a growth mindset is going to help and get that delegate to be a successful personal stylist way quicker than a delegate who is of a fixed mindset. Growth vs. Fixed you might be asking? A book that transformed my way of thinking and learning was a book I highly recommend called: Mindset by Carol Dweck. It’s an amazing book where Carol believes we are either from childhood either of a growth mindset, where we are encouraged to learn from our mistakes and keep trying and are rewarded for the trying not the actual result or from a fixed mindset where we have to be perfect from the start as this what validates us and builds our self esteem.
Being a first born I was definitely of a fixed mindset, my fear of getting it wrong stopped me from trying many activities sports in particular, I knew I wasn’t a naturally sporty girl and the fear of being a failure made me get various sick notes so that I wouldn’t be humiliated in gym class, instead I spent loads of time perfecting my cooking skills because I was always validated by my parents and teachers at how good I was in that skillset. A simple thing maybe to some but this fixed mindset had followed me into my adult years and the only person who suffered and missed out was me!
By consciously changing my mindset from fixed to growth not only has my career transformed but so has my personal life. Learn from your mistakes, this is how you grow! What I say to my delegates that are often visibly frustrated with the knowledge that they may have been getting their choice of outfits wrong is that there’s nothing wrong with that! We would never say to a client “what possessed you to buy that unflattering dress in your wardrobe” we would say “ok you have this in your wardrobe, it’s lovely but it’s not the dress that’s making you look slim and balanced, I think you’d look so much better in this style of dress”…
We are in the business of bringing out the best in people not putting people down and if you’re first client is you, embrace it, learn from it don’t take it as criticism, the sooner you do that not only will your knowledge expand but so will your business as your friends will not only say you look incredible but will be wanting you to work your magic on them!