There are plenty of training academies out there so when you do your research please be sure to find out the style of their training and what they cover on their personal styling courses. Just from my own experience I naively chose an academy because there was a TV celebrity attached to it (I thought it would open doors to that world – it didn’t!). Other academies will associate themselves with aspirational brands like Vogue but just note, if you want to be a personal stylist, celebrities; TV and Vogue don’t really come into play.
The next thing you need to ask yourself is what services would you like to offer your clients? Are you just going to offer Personal Shopping or will you do their colours and wardrobe too? An excellent personal stylist will offer all three as she/he knows it will not only bring out the absolute best in their clients look but it’s also the quickest and easiest way to build their database of clients. Imagine styling your client: a 30 year old mum, you do a great job and she then buys the colour analysis session for her mum who’s 55 who then decides to treat her husband to a make-over that’s how you quickly build your database.
If you want to offer all 3 services to both men and women make sure the academy you choose offers training in all three. I unfortunately had to go to 2 different academies and both their approaches to styling couldn’t have been more different; it was confusing to say the least! Also ask yourself can you really imagine styling men? As easy as it is to get a male client, if you can’t imagine it then you probably shouldn’t waste your money.
Speaking of money how much should your training cost? There is such a varied price range of training out there that it can almost put you off the whole idea. I foolishly decided to go to the most expensive academies for my training because my perception was the more expensive they were the better they must be. How wrong was I!!
The next thing you need to ask yourself is what happens post training? Does the Academy offer mentoring or do you never hear from them once you’ve trained? Will they help you with your website and Marketing? Being a trained personal stylist is one thing but you also need to have good business skills to promote yourself.
We at Style ME Training proudly offer training on all three services including mens styling. We then offer mentoring post training as well as giving you the option to come under the Style ME umbrella whilst you focus on building your own website and brand. We really feel we have catered for everyone’s needs as we also give the flexibility to train according to your availability; either doing the all training in one intensive week or as separate 1 day modules and even online.
No matter who you choose just remember training is essential without it you’ll always be fearful of getting a client who you won’t have the confidence to style. We’re not sure how our competitors training compares to ours but we at Style ME are all about teaching you the formula on how to style anybody no matter what their age, size or lifestyle.