There is a really exciting moment when you finish your personal stylist training. You’ve qualified, you’ve got the certificate, you’ve learned the skills and you’ve probably spent the last few weeks imagining what your new career could look like. Suddenly you can finally say it: I’m a Personal Stylist.
Naturally, you want to get started. You want the website, the logo, the Instagram page, the beautiful photographs, the business cards and perhaps even the leaflets sitting in local salons. You want your new business to look like a business, and I completely understand that because I felt exactly the same when I became a stylist.
But after nearly twenty years in this industry, and after training hundreds of aspiring personal stylists, I’ve realised that some of the things people rush to do immediately after qualifying are actually the things I would tell them to slow down on. There’s a big difference between looking like an established stylist and becoming a genuinely good stylist. Here are some of the biggest mistakes I see new personal stylists make.
Mistake 1: Spending a fortune on a website too soon
This is probably one of the most common. You’ve decided on your business name, you’ve got your branding and you’re excited, so naturally the next thing you think you need is a beautiful website. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a website and eventually you will probably want one. The problem is timing.
If you’ve only just qualified, what are you actually putting on it? You might have some lovely professional photographs of yourself. You can use stock imagery or photographs from your training. A copywriter, or nowadays AI, can produce beautifully polished paragraphs telling everyone how passionate you are about helping people discover their personal style. But where are you in all of that? Where are the real clients, the genuine testimonials and the stories about the woman who had lost confidence in her wardrobe and what changed after you worked together? Where are your own observations from carrying out wardrobe edits, colour consultations and personal shopping appointments?
That is what gives a website personality and credibility. Consumers are far more switched on than they used to be. Generic photographs and generic copy can make a website look polished, but polished doesn’t automatically mean authentic. People are reading your website because they are trying to decide whether they trust you.
My advice to new stylists is often to wait. Spend your first few months practising, working with real people, doing case studies and starting to charge clients when you’re ready. Collect genuine feedback and learn what you enjoy and what type of client you connect with. Then build the website.
You may also discover that the services you thought you wanted to offer when you qualified aren’t actually the services you enjoy delivering. It is much easier to build your website once around a business you understand than pay someone repeatedly to change pages, rewrite services and alter prices because you launched everything before you had properly tested it.
Mistake 2: Starting Social Media without enough content
Another thing new stylists immediately think is, “I need an Instagram account.” Maybe you do, but before you start posting, ask yourself whether you have enough to say.
What often happens is somebody launches their styling page feeling hugely enthusiastic. They post an introduction, perhaps a photograph about colour analysis, then a styling tip and another photograph. Two weeks later they’re wondering what on earth they’re going to post tomorrow. That is when the quality starts slipping. Suddenly you’re posting something simply because you feel you should post. There’s no strategy behind it and it isn’t particularly interesting.
I’ve heard it said many times that no social media presence can sometimes be better than bad social media, and I think there is some truth in that. If somebody finds your Instagram page and the content feels rushed, inconsistent or generic, it can actually make them less interested in working with you.
Before launching, build up a bank of content. Ideally, have several weeks, or even a couple of months, of ideas ready. Once again, this is where having real styling experience helps. The more clients you work with, the more you naturally have to talk about. You start seeing common wardrobe problems, shopping mistakes and recurring questions. Those experiences become your content, which means you no longer have to invent things to say.
Mistake 3: Thinking you HAVE to be on Social Media
This might be controversial coming from somebody working in fashion, but you do not have to build your business through social media. I’m living proof of that. Social media is one marketing tool. It is not a business plan.
If you love creating videos, talking to camera and producing content, brilliant, use it. But if you hate it, you need to stop believing your business cannot succeed without it. The question you need to ask yourself is, if clients aren’t going to find me through social media, how are they going to find me?
Perhaps you’re brilliant at networking. Maybe you’re a strong writer and blogging will become an important part of your marketing. You might build relationships with boutiques, hairdressers, photographers, gyms or other businesses whose clients could benefit from styling. LinkedIn might make more sense for your target audience, or referrals could become your strongest source of business.
There are many routes, but you have to find the one that works for you. That is exactly why business planning is so important. You need to understand where your clients are going to come from rather than simply copying whatever you see other stylists doing.
Mistake 4: Fixating on pricing before you’ve tested the service
New stylists can spend an enormous amount of time worrying about pricing. Should a wardrobe edit be £150, £250 or £500? What is everybody else charging? Of course pricing matters. Eventually you need clear prices and you need to understand your value, but in the beginning I would much rather see somebody testing their services than obsessing over the perfect price list.
Carry out case studies and work with people. Ask them afterwards, “If you had genuinely been looking for this service, what would you have expected to pay?” That information is incredibly useful.
You might also discover that the service you thought would take two hours actually takes four, or perhaps something you thought needed three hours consistently takes ninety minutes. Until you have delivered the service several times, you don’t really know.
That’s why I would be very careful about printing rigid prices, timings and packages everywhere immediately after qualifying. Give yourself room to learn. Your first version of your business does not have to be your final version.
Mistake 5: Printing hundreds of leaflets
This one always makes me smile because I understand exactly why people do it. You’ve got your logo and your business name and you want to see it printed on something. It gives you validation and suddenly your business feels real.
So you order hundreds of beautiful glossy leaflets showing your services and prices and start asking salons, cafés and local businesses whether you can leave a pile with them. Personally, I think there are much better things you could do with that money.
Think about your own behaviour. How often do you pick up a leaflet, put it carefully in your bag, take it home and then actually book the person advertising on it? Usually it gets crumpled up, misplaced or thrown away.
A business card is different. I absolutely believe in having something simple you can hand somebody when you meet them. However, rather than leaving twenty leaflets in a salon, build a relationship with the salon owner. Style her, show her what you do and let her experience your service. Then, when one of her clients says, “I really need help with my clothes,” she doesn’t point towards your leaflet. She says, “I know someone brilliant.” That recommendation is worth far more.
Mistake 6: Acting too established too quickly
This one is less about marketing and more about mindset. When people qualify, understandably they are proud. They’ve changed career, they’ve achieved something and they want to tell everybody, “I’m a stylist now.” I did exactly the same. I was so excited that I was practically swanning around announcing my new career to everybody.
But something interesting happens when you behave as though everything is already sorted. People assume everything is already sorted. The friends who said, “I’ll tell everyone about you!” don’t necessarily do it. The person who is brilliant at marketing assumes you already know what you’re doing, while the business minded friend who could potentially introduce you to people doesn’t realise you need introductions.
One of the most powerful things you can do when starting a business is show a little vulnerability. Take somebody for a coffee and say, “I really need your help.” Tell the friend who works in marketing that you’d love their opinion on your ideas. Tell the person with a huge network that you’re looking for case study clients. Ask your business minded friend what they think of your pricing.
You would be amazed how helpful people become when they understand that you genuinely need them. When I first started, I think some people looked at me and thought, “She’s fine. She knows what she’s doing.” I wasn’t fine! I needed all the help I could get, and most new stylists do too. There is absolutely no shame in that.
Mistake 7: Spending too much time building the business instead of becoming the Stylist
This is really the thread running through all of these mistakes. It is incredibly easy to spend your first few months doing things that feel like work, such as choosing fonts, changing your logo, designing a website, researching limited companies versus sole traders, creating packages, ordering stationery or rewriting your Instagram biography for the fifteenth time.
Some of those things eventually need attention, and of course you should make sure you have the appropriate basic registrations, insurance and legal requirements in place when you begin trading. But don’t let business administration become another form of procrastination.
At the beginning, your greatest asset is not your logo. It is your ability. You need experience. You need to practise analysing people, walk into wardrobes and solve real problems, and shop with different body shapes, personalities, budgets and lifestyles. You need to discover the difference between understanding styling in a classroom and delivering it confidently to somebody who is paying you.
That is what creates a stylist. The website, the perfect Instagram feed and the beautifully designed price list can all come later. First, become really good at what you do.
Ultimately, the strongest marketing tool you will ever have is a client who walks away from an appointment thinking, “That was brilliant. You need to meet my friend.” No amount of branding can manufacture that.
Love Nisha x