PODCAST SHOWNOTES

Welcome to the Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast, the ultimate no-BS business podcast for ambitious personal stylists ready to build a six-figure and beyond personal styling business.

You won't hear the typical snoozefest business advice that most personal stylists get told all of the time. Nope. Instead, I'll be sharing business-building strategies that will help you create a killer personal brand, a cult following of loyal personal styling clients, and make a ton of cash while creating lasting style transformations for your clients.

I'm Nicole Otchy, 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. And now I'm here to tell you how to do exactly the same. Let's get into it.

Welcome back to the podcast. Today we're going to talk about something that isn't often discussed in the business of personal styling, but it is absolutely critical if you want to build a brand that stands out, that attracts the right clients, and makes a lasting impact.

Today, we're diving into how to live your values in your personal styling business and why it's not just a nice to have but a necessity in today's market. The reason I'm bringing this up today is really simple. Since the pandemic, consumers expect businesses big and small to stand for something.

Whether we like it or not, people want to feel connected to the brands that they invest in and it's never more the case than in the personal styling industry. Now that doesn't mean that you need to be on social media constantly sharing every opinion you have about what's going on in the world.

But what it does mean is that the way that you communicate, market, and run your business should reflect what really matters to you. Today I'm going to walk you through how to do that in a way that strengthens your business and doesn't hurt it. At the end of this episode, I'm going to address the fear that so many stylists I talk to have about being judged online for sharing their perspectives and how to move past it.

Plus, I actually have a special resource for you in this episode. If you want to dive deeper into today's topic, I've created a free PDF guide that includes a brief outline of the key takeaways in this episode, a questionnaire to help you clarify your values as a stylist and a list of 30 plus ways that personal stylists can live their values in their business if you need some ideas.

The guide will help you take action on what we discussed today and apply it directly to your business. You can grab it by heading to the show notes. The link will be there. There's no upsell to it. It is very honestly and genuinely just a resource to help you think about this because we're going to start diving into positioning in the coming weeks and why positioning matters and why positioning is often the thing that we're missing when we're not getting any traction.

I wanted to give you this resource to start playing with thinking about how you want to express your value so that you can stand out more. When I first started my styling business, it wasn't just about making people look good. I really saw firsthand how much appearance impacted women's careers, their opportunities, and their financial success.

I worked in environments where really brilliant women, as in Harvard professors, really held themselves back. Not because they weren't qualified, they were probably overqualified nine times out of 10, but because they didn't feel confident in how they presented themselves.

This drove me to learn everything I could about styling, psychology, and the way that clothing influences perception. For me, it really wasn't about fashion or how I had been good at it, it was about helping women really step into their power in a way that I also often felt unempowered.

Interestingly, this same belief is what drives me in this business today because when personal stylists make more money, they help more women do the same and the ripple effect continues. I want you to take a moment and reflect, why does your work matter to you? What impact do you want to have beyond helping people feel more confident?

That deeper why, which often sounds like, “I want to help people feel confident in the world so that they can.” Ending the sentence in that way will often bring us a little bit closer to understanding our deeper values and it is what makes you unique in an industry that is becoming more competitive by the day.

Living your values in your business doesn't mean you need to constantly be making bold political statements online. There are a lot of ways to integrate your values into your brand without feeling like you're alienating people, and here are a few ideas for how you can do that. How you work with your clients is a great place to start.

The way that you structure your services, the kind of experiences you create, and even the businesses you recommend to your clients should all reflect your values. If you care about sustainability, for example, which I know a lot of stylists I work with do, does that show up in how you guide your clients in their shopping?

If you believe style is a tool for professional success, does your marketing and your messaging communicate that clearly and give people the information they need to trust that that is a value that you live out in your one-to-one work? Where do you spend money? The vendors, the tailors, the brands, every business service provider you choose to work with and that you recommend can be an extension of your values if you do this from a really conscious place.

In my business, I prioritize working with women-owned businesses whenever possible. That's something I don't necessarily advertise, but it is a way that I live my life, and it's part of my values. It's part of the values my husband and I have. We go to female-led doctor's practices. We hire our cleaning people from women-owned businesses.

All of the people that I hire in my programs to train my stylists and to support me are women-owned. This is also important if you are somebody who really values and champions groups that have been marginalized. Do you hire women or men who are of other ethnicities if you are white? Do you do your best to make sure that there is representation in your Pinterest boards, in your inspiration, and in your marketing that doesn't just show white people?

This is really important if you do color analysis because one of the number one things I see that stylists don't talk about enough is that if you are a light-skinned person, you actually are capable of doing color analysis and matching and finding options for folks that have darker skin because some of them have had the experience that certain color analysis programs have not been inclusive.

These are really important conversations. Those are ways that you can be addressing your values in your business. The third way is the way that you market. Your content should be about your ideal client, but it should also reflect what matters to you. This isn't just jumping on social issues just because they're trending. It is about showing up consistently with a point of view that makes sense for your values.

Whether your beliefs are that women should invest in themselves or that high-quality clothing is worth the money, your content should reflect that. If you believe that, for example, what's happening in this country is not of the benefit to women, then you need to make sure that you're not just sharing things absentmindedly, but that you're bringing it back to your expertise.

I think this is where a lot of us struggle, is that we don't know where we're supposed to speak up. But when we look at our values, it becomes very clear what the issues are that make sense. It probably doesn't make sense, but if you want to, to speak about every war that breaks out in the world just because it's a complex and nuanced thing.

If you want to speak about it because you're educating on it, that's amazing, but there are only so many hours in a day and there are only so many things we could be truly expert in. My recommendation is to think about how can you live your values so that when things do come up socially that you feel passionately about, there's already a foundation there with your audience to discuss it. They're more likely to interact with you, to take in your perspective because you've been showing and demonstrating those values all along.

Number four, who you attract. When you clearly communicate your values as a stylist and a business owner, you naturally attract clients who align with them. If you don't, you will end up with clients who don't fully respect or understand your work. This is true about your beliefs about styling, but it's also true about your beliefs about the world. That's where so many stylists struggle with burnout is they're constantly trying to please clients who aren't the right fit because they haven't gone back to the foundation of their business.

I talked about this in an earlier episode about your business being an ecosystem and I will definitely make sure that is in the show notes. But making sure you're starting with that ideal client and then radiating out your messaging from there makes an enormous difference.

Whether you are a stylist who believes that all sizes and shapes are worthy of having the kind of style they want, or you believe in sustainability, or you believe in human rights, or you believe in whatever, you need to be able to make the argument in your marketing so that you can better attract the right people.

There's this belief that we're going to push people away. But what we don't think about is actually how our businesses are weaker for not integrating our values into our work on a daily basis. It's also why it's harder for us to overcome burnout, because often what happens is that we don't have a bigger reason for being in our business.

We haven't cultivated that so that when it gets hard, and it will because if everybody could own a business, everybody would own a business and they would stay in business, you don't have enough to rely on. You haven't made enough meaning in your world and in your business to have something bigger to show up for.

Let's talk about overcoming fear of judgment because this is where I see so many stylists get stuck or they say things to me like, “Yeah, it's easy for you to say. You're really good about being outspoken.”

The truth is I'm actually not but it is just that I've learned that when you build a business without having your values in it versus when you do, not only is your day-to-day better but you actually can make the change that you started in business to make because we can't live all of our values on our own and so the worry that if we share our values that people will turn against us or it will turn off of our followers is something we really need to look at.

We need to explore that together. People fear that they'll get negative comments. Listen, that might happen. I do think that the specific place that you are showing up impacts a little bit about what kind of comments happen. I see that people on Instagram, I'm not saying they don't get rude comments, but I think the way you present the material dictates the kind of conversations that are had.

If you're coming at it from a perspective of trying to be controversial, people will respond in kind. If you're trying to show people that actually when they do this action, it impacts this and here's some information, data, and facts behind it, people have a different reaction.

The presentation does matter. The platform does too. More people are going to just make anonymous, nasty notes in the comment section of YouTube, maybe, than they would on your stories, because it's a little bit more intimate. Also, there are jerks everywhere, so I can't promise you that there's some way to present this that won't happen.

But here is actually the bigger risk. When you don't share your values, and you don't do this in a thoughtful way, which is why I created this opt-in for you guys to work through and think about this, you will just be ignored. Right now, we are in a business climate and an international climate where people want to work with those who stand for their values. In part, that's because some people, rightfully so, don't feel safe in the world in a different way than was the case a year ago. If you stay completely neutral, sure, you won't upset anyone, but you also won't attract anyone. You have a choice. You can be ignored or you can have an opinion.

Again, I want to make it clear. This does not mean you have to have an opinion on everything in the world. It means you have to have an opinion and show that in dictating your values in your marketing on the things that make sense, on the things that are a genuine extension of what you truly care about and what you can back up in your work.

But let's talk about rejection because a lot of people get stuck focusing on the fear of people disagreeing with them, but that's actually the wrong focus. That's what I want to invite you to look at today. Instead of thinking about what sharing your values does for your business, we tend to think about how it's going to destroy it when nine times out of 10, people just don't care and don't listen.

What happens when you start to share your values, and I can attest to that from this podcast, is that you attract the right people who believe in what you do and what they do. It helps shape your reputation and your brand identity as being a leader in the space and it builds a business that actually makes an impact.

I think part of the thing that we forget is that we can't build a thriving business alone. We cannot make a difference in the lives of our clients just by the work that we do. Your work requires other people to buy into your vision, whether that's clients, collaborators, or even brands that you partner with should you go down that route in your business.

If you don't communicate where you stand, how will anybody know if they want to be a part of what you're building? You can absolutely run a business that is purely transactional, where you focus only on the clothes and you never share anything personal or meaningful. You can do that, but it's going to be a lot harder.

That is why when stylists go too hard towards tips and tricks, they don't make money. Trust me, I have sales calls about this every day. Because in 2025, people don't just buy services, they buy into people, they buy into beliefs, and they buy into something bigger.

Because the truth is that while you may think everyone deserves a style they love, not everybody needs a style the way that you do it. Not everybody needs a stylist. You need to give them a reason to pick you. One of the easiest ways to do that is to just stand for what you believe in. It's also a good exercise in visibility, which is something I hear a lot of stylists talking about, but not walking the talk.

As you go about your week, I want you to think about this: What are the values that truly matter to you? How can you integrate them into your business in a way that feels natural, strategic, and that you can be consistent with?

Most importantly, where have you been holding back because of fear? If you want help with this, don't forget to download the PDF guide I created to go with this episode. It includes a whole bunch of options and ideas for you to live your values in some places, to think into this more deeply.

I just want to remind you that what this looks like isn't going out and sharing every hot take and every world event that you have ever heard about and resharing things mindlessly to your Instagram stories. But it does mean—and this should already be happening in your marketing, so this should just be another layer to make your marketing better—it does mean that you need to be intentional about how you show up and maybe take things a step further.

If you talk about things like living your values in terms of sustainability, then you need to explain what the cost of not being sustainable is to your clients. If you talk about body acceptance and you're only showing thin white bodies, you have something to look at there.

If you believe that you should empower women who haven't been given a voice, are you hiring those people in your business? Now those aren't things you have to announce to everybody, but what really matters is taking an action. Because when you get clear on what you stand for, everything else in your business gets easier.

The right clients show up, what your next service should be is easier. What to say in your marketing becomes very clear to you. Your marketing, your sales, your ability to attract the right clients. They all flow from intentionality, and they should ideally all flow from your values.

Make the choice to stand for something in your styling business. Remember that people who don't align with you, we're never going to book with you anyways. You're not losing people. As a matter of fact, more stylists are losing people from not showing their values because no one is paying attention.

The ones who do, they're going to be the clients who stay with you for a really long time. They are going to be more bought into the styling process. They're going to show up more excited. They're going to be willing to invest more because they're not just changing their style. They're investing in something bigger. That makes a huge impact on how they talk about their work with you, who they recommend you to. It has a ripple effect. Being thoughtful and standing for something is incredibly attractive in the world right now.

This is what I mean when I say tips and tricks don't make people remember you and they certainly don't make people feel called to hire you. They want to know what you stand for, and they want to know who you are and why your perspective on styling and why it matters in the world, why is it for them?

Give them something to be excited about because that's how you build a business that lasts. That's how you get to that 30% to 40% repeat client rate that I talk about on here. It's going to help you show up bigger and better in your business so head to the show notes, grab the resource I created for you, and take some time to think about this. Maybe come back to this episode every year as you're planning your year and think about how you want to live your values, and I'll talk to you on the next episode.

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.