Dressing with intention Part 2... or projecting the image you want.... ALL THE TIME!
To all my friends and my clients who don't have traditional nine to five jobs:
You ARE your business, very much like I am my business.
You may be a consultant, public speaker, business coach, musician, artist, yoga instructor, direct sales person, financial advisor, social media expert, esthetician, real estate agent .. the list goes on.
Every time you walk out the door, you are representing you and your work to the world. You NEVER know who you might bump into and when & where you may meet a potential and/or current client.
Some days, I only need to leave the house to walk the dogs, go to the gym and run errands. Now, I'm not obsessive. I don't put on a full face of makeup or wear what I'd wear to a networking event or to meet a client, but I always make a point to look nice, neat, polished... and whimsical... since that's my key word.
This is when I go back to the blog I wrote a few weeks ago about finding your key words. It's important to determine the impression you want to represent to the world and stick with it, even if you're running to the grocery store.
I go to the gym regularly. I'm friendly and chat with my fellow gym goers. The typical conversations goes “ Blah, blah...What do you do? Blah, blah, blah...” I often self-effacingly, say “Well, you wouldn't know it because you only see me at the gym, but... I'm a fashion designer and a style coach” Typically, I hear back something like; “Nah... you can tell that you're something like that.” That's because I dress with that intention, no matter what I'm doing.
Here's another example:
My husband loves to wear his “Rock Star” coats that I create for him. He can't go anywhere in the coats without being stopped. He starts out saying “My wife's a fashion designer.” If I'm around, he may point to the other side of the room and he typically hears, “Oh, I'm pretty sure I know who she is.”
That's because, along with my personal list of key words: whimsical, creative, friendly, playful, impish, etc... I always have in the back of head “Looks like a fashion designer... Looks like she knows what she's talking about!”
You may be a Business Consultant who works with high end clients. Some of your keywords may be: prosperous, powerful, effortless, trustworthy...
As your style coach, I'm going to tell you, even if you are just dashing into the Wawa for a much needed cup of coffee, you should not be wearing a schlumpy, ill-fitting pair of pants and and beat up old sweat-shirt. And it doesn't matter if no one sees you. This is internal. It's about how you feel about yourself and what you project... and that's what the world is going to give back to you!
See you next week.
Happy Friday!
Not the best photos, but I scanned my facebook feed for a quick collage of me in my "whimsical, magical, artistic, creative, approachable, friendly, playful, unique, fun, striking, impish" glory.
Click here to down load a work sheet if you haven't worked out your keywords yet.
