PODCAST SHOWNOTES

Welcome to the secrets of a Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast, the ultimate no-BS business podcast for ambitious personal stylists ready to build a six-figure personal styling business and step into their creative CEO era.

We'll go beyond the typical snoozefest, cookie-cutter, business advice out there to share business-building strategies that will help you create a killer personal brand, a cult following of loyal personal styling clients, and make an unapologetic fuck ton of money.

I'm Nicole, your host and a former personal stylist of 14 years who built a lucrative styling business in three major cities, but only after spending years trying to crack the six-figure styling business code without burning out. Now I'm here to tell you how to do exactly the same. Well, let's get into it.

Welcome to the Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast. I am your host, Nicole Otchy, and I am so delighted that you're here. In this episode, I want to give you a sense of the journey that you're in for and what we're going to be doing during our time together.

I want to share a little bit of who the show is for first, because it's specifically for a group of people that I am basically obsessed with. Let's just get that out of the way now, which is established personal stylists.

I was a personal stylist for 14 years and now I'm a business consultant for personal stylists. That specifically means stylists who are in the trenches trying to get their next client, trying to figure out how they're going to make this business profitable, trying to figure out how they're going to get more engagement on social media, trying to figure out why it feels sometimes like everybody else in the game gets what to do or is successful, is constantly with clients, but they are not.

Rest assured, that is probably not the case in 98% of the instances that you see, but I know that it can feel that way. I have been there myself. The goal of this podcast is really to give you an established personal stylist, whether you've had three clients in your career or 300, whether you want to make six figures or you want to make seven figures, or you're just hoping you can make $50,000 this year, replace the income from your corporate job, or whatever that looks like, this is the place for you to get encouraged, to get inspired, to get the pep talk you need to keep going.

Because these are the pep talks I needed during my 14 years and I was fortunate to meet people that helped me along the way and have support, but not everybody does. Even if you do, I think hearing it from somebody that has not only been in the industry for so long but has helped hundreds of other stylists in different markets with different niches across the industry really is going to help you get a better perspective, which is something we often fail to have when we're working on our own and we're siloed and we're just trying to get everything done.

I want this to be a place that you go when you think, "Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited. I want to see what's next for me," and when you think, "Oh, my gosh, I think I'm going to throw in the towel,” put your earbuds in and go for a walk and listen to these so that you keep going.

The reason why it's so incredibly important to me that you keep going is because I wake up every single morning, and I did as a stylist as well, with one main goal. And that's for people in the world, particularly women, to show up audaciously, confidently, and fully expressed as possible so that they can make an impact on the world and the world can be better because that's what I believe happens when women are at their best.

The reason why that gets me out of bed now in this business as someone who works with personal stylists is because I know that personal stylists are often the first stop, the catalyst for women and men for their clients, to begin a transformation because of the tangible ways that they show somebody how to step into the next level of their identity.

I know the direct impact on human lives and people's world getting better that personal stylists have. I know it because I was in that role at one time and now I get to help even more people get an incredible experience from a personal stylist by working with personal stylists.

I really believe specifically with all people, but in the case of women who live in a society where it's not easy to be a woman, and if you show up and people see you one way, then you're judged, if you do it the other way, you're judged because that's just the nature of the game, and for stylists to help people drown out that noise and really step into the vision that you have for themselves so that they can go out in the world and make a difference, I mean, that is some of the most important work you can do.

So my job is to help all of you do this incredibly important work. That's why I get up every day and that's why this podcast exists. Every single day, I hear from personal stylists that they are struggling and wondering what they should do next and they're worried about the fact that the field has grown, and it certainly has.

I would say that COVID probably created the most personal styling businesses ever, which if you think about it is funny since no one was getting dressed, but there is a huge influx of personal stylists as someone who has been around for a very long time.

There's also a lot of talk about the difference between things like stylists and influencers and the industry has just gotten really interesting and complex, and I think richer for the better. But it does mean that there's a different set of rules, behaviors, and business strategies, quite frankly, that help people get ahead that were not the case 5, 10, 15 years ago.

So we're really going to break a lot of those down in these conversations and talk about what it means to create a truly transformative client-focused personal styling firm at this point in time because it is absolutely not the same.

We're going to talk about things like math and money and how to run a business like a businesswoman, because, at the end of the day, my belief is that if you really want to have the biggest impact as a personal stylist, you have to begin to see yourself as a businesswoman, a business person, or a businessman.

If you're one of the five men that are probably listening to this, welcome, you're also welcome here. Just know that I'm also talking to you too. It's really, really critical that stylists don't just dwell on this idea that they are creatives because in order to be truly creative, you need to be a killer businesswoman.

That is just the truth, especially right now in the industry today. This is no longer something that people have never heard of. This is no longer this idea that only celebrities have stylists. Everybody knows that's not true. You can go to Nordstrom and someone calls themselves a stylist.

That's what's really important to remember is that because there are so many more stylists, the opportunity for each stylist to show fully the way that they want to and in a unique way has completely opened doors for people that never would have been opened before.

In order to navigate those paths, you have to be committed to understanding business because understanding business gives you access to more clients and that's what helps you do what you want to do.

Every day I hear from stylists like, “I'm just not here for marketing, I'm here to work, I'm here to do what I want,” and if that's the case and that's how you really feel, then I'm going to just share that probably having a personal styling business isn't for you because having a business is truly one of the most transformational things that can ever happen to you.

So if you're a stylist that is really down for that, down for growth and becoming better, and not just earning a lot of money to earn a lot of money but to have the money you earn to be a direct reflection of the level and the depth of people you help, you have to understand business. You cannot separate those two.

Instead of looking at business or being a businesswoman as something that's like boring and you just see somebody in like a terrible suit and they're always wearing stark colors and it's just no fun, I invite you to use this space to rethink what you think of as a businesswoman and as a business strategy because often what's in the way from a style is just completely soaring and taking off in their business is the fact that they are not letting their mind envision a different way of being a business person. That is absolutely tragic to me. So that's what we're here to do.

What you can expect from this show is that we're going to be covering topics that have to do with the realities of running a personal styling business, whether that be dealing with difficult clients, trying to figure out where your next client is coming from, or really taking some time to think about what makes a personal styling service impactful.

We're going to talk about what I have come to see in my many, many years in this industry as the different types of personal stylists because I truly believe that there is not only one way to be a personal stylist, but there are different types of stylists, and we're going to talk a little bit about something that I talk about often on Instagram, so if you're not following me there, please go head over there, that there are a lot of ways to be a personal stylist.

Some of us have really kept ourselves playing very small by just looking around and seeing what other people are doing and thinking, “Well, I guess this is how we're a stylist.” I really want each of you who come here and hang out with me to really think about, “What do I want to be as a stylist and who do I really want to make the biggest difference to and for? What does success look like to me? What does being an incredibly savvy and strategic businesswoman look like to me?”

Because these are the questions that change everything and these are the questions that when you land on your answer for you, there are questions that no one else can answer for you, you create a business that people cannot get enough of. You create a business that people are telling their friends about and their family about and you have repeat clients, which means it's a lot easier to keep that business going.

Those are the things we're going to be talking about. I'm so excited to be kicking this adventure off with you and to have you here. If you are not following my Instagram, like I mentioned, definitely head over there. If there are topics you want to hear more about, I would love to hear from you.

Remember that this is your safe place to land on your good days and your bad days as an established personal stylist. I am here for all of it. Thank you for being with me.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me. It turns out that social proof is actually pretty important. So if you could help me out, I'd so appreciate it. If you just had a quick free moment and could leave me a rating or review on the podcast app, that would be killer. And even better, if you wanted to share this episode on Instagram and tag me, that would totally make my day and it would bring so much more awareness to the podcast and would help other stylists just like you who are looking to build lucrative styling business because the better each of us does, the better all of us do. Thanks for hanging out with me and I'll chat with you next time.