At the end of the 5-day Train to be a Personal Stylist course we have a one-to-one business planning session and one of the questions I always ask is: Who do you intend to style now that you’re a trained Personal Stylist?
The answer I get is always the same: “Men, women of all ages and backgrounds.”
This is where I step in and give them a bit of a reality check.
- I ask my 50-year-old delegate: “Can you really imagine yourself in the stores styling a 20 something millennial?”
- I ask my 20’s fashionista delegate: “Can you really relate to a 50 something woman, whose going through the changes?”
The answer is of course “no!” Just because you’ve been trained on how to dress all the different body shapes and colour seasons doesn’t mean that you should want to style everyone. You should initially only aim to style your target audience. For every delegate their target audience will be unique to them.
This is when I can see them finally relax, as phew the pressure is off! We then jointly conclude who will be their primary, secondary, and tertiary audience and put a plan together to target them…. But it always starts with 3 simple steps:
- Own your new look! Build yourself a flattering capsule wardrobe, #DressYourShape, #WearYourColours, wear your right red lipstick, introduce new brands into your wardrobe so that people can’t help but notice a slimmer, younger looking more confident you!
- Mingle with people, expand your social network. Initially people might be a little confused as to your new found confidence, or may even be a little envious but the key is to express some vulnerability, tell them how you were feeling about your image prior to getting your colours done or dressing your shape… be relatable and then inspirational, saying if I can look and feel better, so can you!
- Give out your business card, link up with on Instagram, go out for a coffee with them and be sure to give out little styling tips, if their moaning about a particular feature… reel them in…dangle the carrot! Don’t worry about sharing your knowledge for free, by the end of your training you’ll be equipped with a magnificent toolbox of styling tools so you’ll never run out.
This all comes with a warning though, very soon you’ll be creating a few mini you’s!
But as the saying goes “Imitation is the highest form of flattery.”
Look forward to it!
Nisha x