Ep 40 Transcript: The Link Between Personal Style & Success With Anastacia Haye

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors in spelling or inaccuracies in the spoken words.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today I am joined by someone who actually has a job that I didn't even know existed. And that's, think, what makes her so incredibly talented and exciting. And you are absolutely going to love her. So her position or her job, her title, she is a fashion empowerment coach.

And I'm gonna let her explain exactly what that is because she is going to blow you away with this. She has built such a strong business around this. And I will tell you this as well. If you are listening to this on audio right now, turn it off, go to YouTube, check out the video version of this, because this is going to have so much more power for you if you catch it on video. So I would like to welcome Anastacia. Hey, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for having me on your show. It is such a pleasure. I'm so excited for what we're gonna be talking about today.

So am I, because we're going to be talking about personal style and how your image can align with your brand. And we had a little bit of a pre-conversation here. And anyone who knows me knows that my visual appearance matches very much with my brand. So this is something I'm quite passionate about. But I didn't know that a fashion empowerment coach existed until you. And so I want to understand a little bit more about what that is. Let's start with what is a fashion empowerment coach.

Yeah, so for me, I started my career earlier as a personal stylist. So I was doing the whole nine yards, you know, styling clients, putting their outfits together. But I noticed that throughout. then let's kind of backwards a little bit. I actually started my business in college. So that all started. Yeah, that all started in 2015. And, you know, I was able to work with my professors. You know, we took a couple of business classes as well. And they helped us to create banners and business cards and all that fun stuff. And

You know, it was a great experience and I decided before going into college that I wanted to be more hands-on because I feel like a lot of people go to college, but they don't have hands-on experience. And so I said to myself, because I grew up watching, how do I look? I grew up watching these, a lot of these fashion shows that really inspired me. I loved reading Vogue magazines and the Glamour magazines and seeing how these women carried themselves. And I was so used to dressing myself up, putting my outfit together. And when I go to school,

everyone would give me compliments and my friends would come over to my house and say, can you help me put an offer together? Can you help me feel and look better? And I would charge them $20. But still that's an entrepreneurial spirit right there. I mean, you're making money. Let's monetize this. Exactly. So I would charge them $20. I mean, we were high schoolers. I'm like, I have like here $20 and I could buy like makeup and snacks and all that fun stuff. $20. It was like a million bucks at that time. Yes, exactly. For teenager.

So my friends would come over and I would build up their self-esteem. They would feel so much more beautiful. They would go to school and attract the boys and, you know, get all the compliments. And that really inspired me. And so I wanted to take it up a notch and go into retail. At that time, I didn't hear a lot of negative feedback about retail. I just thought of a clothing store equals people and people equals experience. So I really want it to be more hands-on, be able to...

shake the hands and develop my people skills and see what it's like to apply what I did for myself and my friends to real women out there who are in different age ranges, different body shapes, different insecurities and so forth. And so I started my first retail job at the age of 16 and that's exactly what I did. I was shaking hands. I was introducing myself. I was carrying the clothes into the fit room. I was having these like coaching sessions without realizing. I was like, you're beautiful. And when I hear these women like talking about like,

saying negative things about their bodies. Like, I'm so fat and I'm so this and I'm so that. And I'm like, no, you're not. Like, I can find the perfect look that's going to match your silhouette perfectly. And so that's kind of like how it started. And then that's when I went off to college. So after high school, I made up my mind. Like, I told my parents, I told my family, I'm like, this is what I want to do. And it was, it started at the age of nine and it just kept staying in my heart and my mind. I never let go of that passion.

And when I officially got the hands-on experience, I said, I'm going to further my education. There's more to it. And I'm grateful that I did. Now, I will tell you the truth. At one point, there were other family members, because when you have a big family of uncles, aunts, cousins, all of them, I had a huge family. At one point, they weren't really seeing my vision. And so to them, it sounded like a fairy tale. Like, what is she going to college for fashion for?

But honestly, I had to be confident, I had to be strong, and I had to go through with my desires. And I have no regrets. And so fast forward, I graduated in 2015 with my bachelor's in fashion merchandising, and I launched my first business in 2017. So now I had the education, I had the background work, but I wasn't 100 % confident about bringing that out to the world.

And so unfortunately, God blessed me to connect with a mentor. She was an entrepreneur and also minister at the gospel. So she partnered up with me and took me beneath her wing. She had her podcast. She let me be a close one of her podcast shows. And she taught me all the ropes of how to be an entrepreneur. She taught me how to write my first book, everything that I need to know about success. But at some point, the pressure started taking place in my life. I started feeling a lot of pressure.

Like she wanted to see instant results and the instant results was not coming because I was still learning. It was still a journey for me and I was still trying to identify what I want to bring out there. But I had all the information I needed. I had all the resources and so I was grateful for that and I applied it. And years and years later, a little bit, I'm going on to Thumbtack. I'm getting my first client. People are calling me because I lived in Florida and I was getting phone calls. Hey, could you help me put this outfit together? My very first client was a man

wow, yeah. Was a man. But to be honest with you, working with the women, it was a whole different ball game because working with these women, I was hearing more like things that they were struggling from within. Right. And so therefore I decided to become a certified life coach because I wanted to go from external to an internal. I wanted to learn the psychological reasons for why women

don't always wanna dress up or why they feel insecure or what is the cause of all of this? Because there was a point in my life where I struggled with insecurities and low self-esteem and lack of confidence because I had outside voices that were just manipulating my thoughts and making me feel unworthy. And so becoming a life coach.

And then having personal styling background, I merged that together and said, you know what, I'm becoming a fashion coach because I was not only helping women develop their fashion personalities or a sustainable appearance that attracts success or attracts, you know, the right type of attention, but I was also empowering their confidence. was helping them to see that they are not doing this for anybody else but themselves. And so that's really where, you know, the fashion coach came from. And so.

I love that. I love the lens that you are that you viewed this from. I love that you you took a look at what your clients were saying and really heard them, not just the how do I put an outfit together? How do I find the right things for them to wear? But you're listening to the complete picture of what it is that they they're seeking and identifying that there is a bigger gap that you can be fulfilling there. And I'm sure you would have had a fantastic career as a stylist and.

create a booming business doing that, but you saw that you wanted to do more. And I think that's going to really resonate. I'm sure it is resonate with the audience here because so many people listening to this are what I call my passion driven entrepreneurs. Now, most of them are what I call an accidental CEO where they sort of like looked up one day like, I kind of have this passion. I guess I'll kind of do a business. But you had the opportunity to be able to build this business as an actual business.

And what I love about everything that you're saying here is, you know, we look at the type of industry that you're in. I work with a lot of like interior designers, home stage-ers, and these are often perceived as fluff, to be perfectly honest. And I think fashion, to what you were saying about your family, is seen as sort of this fluff career. It's like, if you're getting an arts degree, like, okay, cool. Cause you couldn't figure out what else to do, right? And please, anyone who's listening to this, no, this is not my opinion. This is not what I'm saying here.

I say this with so much love and so much respect because I see these creatives, I see these people that are so passion driven and are basically like, screw it, I'm gonna figure out a way to make a career out of this because I love doing this. But you had so much purposeful and intent as you were going through all of this. You really knew what it was you were building. But I'm sure at the beginning you couldn't have necessarily imagined that you were going to become.

a fashion empowerment coach. You saw the styling and you you allowed that to evolve in a way that was natural and authentic that really helps your clients. That is so beautiful. You're so fortunate to have had that journey. That's incredible. Thank you. I'm really fortunate. And you know, to be honest with you, I love that you mentioned that because a lot of times creatives, they struggle with that. They go into the real world thinking that there's no point. But you know, Shauna, you know this, God gives us talents and he makes room for that.

We should be excited, but society tells us, go be a dang lawyer. go be a fireman. Go be I use that as my example all the time. There were like, when I was growing up, there was doctor, lawyer. There were these very specific careers. Oh my gosh. We've created so many new exciting careers since then, but there was a time where if you did not fit into one of these boxes, you didn't really have a job. You didn't have a career.

Yeah. And that's the realm or the era that I was living in at the time where it was either you were in the medical field or you were doing something with the law or you were arresting people. Like if you weren't in alignment with any of those, you were not making something of your life. And so I'm glad you're working with these accidental CEOs because they found their passion. They're like, screw you, I'm going to do this. And that's amazing. That is so amazing. Exactly.

And so what I love about, know, we met recently and I knew I had to have you on the show because I think that so many people look at fashion and aesthetics and especially with, we've got all the influencers and the YouTubers and there's so much being put on your visual, that visual appearance and there's so much vanity often associated with that. And you take the vanity out of it and you focus from the inside. And so

What is it that you do that allows, like how does this work? How do you incorporate that style, that confidence and that professionalism to help these women? And I know you said that your first client was a man, but I also know that you predominantly work with women. I predominantly work with women, but when I started my business, I attracted a man client. So, because he found me on Thumbtack and he's like, I was his personal shopper. I bought his suits. He gave me his credit card I went shopping

for him. experience. But after that, I noticed that now I was resonating more with the women clients, I was getting more of the women and having those one on one conversations with them. And it was so much more just deeper. I remember I had one client that was telling me for some reason, she just can't keep any friends, you know, and she's wondering to herself, is it her because she's so pretty.

so absolutely beautiful and she has her husband, her husband's her best friend, but she's talking about like gal friends. She's like, when she's not hanging out with her husband, her husband's hanging out with his guy friends. She's like, she would love to be out with the gals, you know, and having conversations and doing something fun. And she noticed that her friendships just doesn't last. And she always beats up herself. And I'm telling you this right now, Shauna, like literally tears came down her eyes. And this is just within us meeting within a few minutes that our conversation started and she just started crying.

because I think this is a burden that she's been carrying for many years. And she says she's spoken to her husband about it, but he will just say, hey, babe, nothing's wrong with you. You're good, you're good. But she was convinced otherwise. And so that broke my heart. And so what led me into believing is that a lot of times when women don't feel accepted in society or when they feel neglected or maybe they don't have a huge support system, they always point back to themselves.

Now I believe that we as human beings, all have faults, we all have flaws and we can always improve. But there are times when we shouldn't always blame everything on ourselves. It's self-sabotaging and that's what she was doing. And a lot of times what happens now, they begin to dress down or they begin to shadow themselves. I had another client that said her older sister always got all the attention and she never wanted to be the one to get in her.

her sister's shoes or walk in her sister's shoes or try to steal her sister's spotlight. And so she would dress down, she would wear very muted colors. She'll always try to stay hidden in the back. One day, and this is in her adulthood, now she's in her 40s. And she's like, I cannot do this anymore. And so we had a conversation. Spending a lifetime living in a shadow. That's, yeah. That does not sound fun, yeah. No, it doesn't. And we had a conversation, everything, and we worked together to...

Get away from that childhood trauma, like whatever that is, that history, that past that has caused you not to shine as brightly as you should. And so she's going to work now. She's wearing more colorful pieces. She's wearing things that matches her personality. She's getting compliments from her coworkers and they're like, wait a second, something's different about this girl. What happened? But clients who work with me as far as when it comes to confidence, I have my confidence coaching services. So they get a mixture of both, both the styling and

the inner part, we have those conversations. Why do you want to dress up and why have you not been dressing up? Why have you not been making time for yourself? What is holding you back? What is the real issue? And when I get to those underlining issues, then I'm able to find out what I can do to help bring in that confidence that they need so that they can thrive and succeed. Another client that I worked with, she quit her corporate America job. She was all about climbing up the ladder after a while. She's like,

she's miserable, she can't do it anymore. She put in her two weeks and left the company, dived into her 401k and created her business. And she says she knows that she's going into the houses of her clients and she wants to be respected and taken seriously. Even though she's coming with contractors, she still felt that she wanted to have a professional look. Something she brought to my attention is that she's attending a lot of events now and she's like, noticed how the women look and she knows how she used to dress when she was in the corporate world, but she's lost that

identity, she's trying to figure out how to dress herself in a way that feels like her and not like corporate America. So we work together to build up a wardrobe that made her feel like herself. It made her feel authentic. Yeah, and I think you're touching on something also that's really important that I kind of just want to bring the conversation back to because we talk about conformity and I actually just released an episode that talks about what you miss out on when you follow the crowd.

And I was talking more about opportunities that are missed by not venturing outside of what the standard norm is maybe for your industry. But it comes back to, I think, even just your image. You see what other people are doing. You see what's trendy. You see what maybe it's even like a friend is like, you know what you should do? You should wear this type of outfit or your boring clothes literally from friends. you're allowing that to dictate who you are, what your style is. And if you're not feeling good, it's

potentially that you're not creating the right image for yourself. I mean anytime a friend breaks up with someone, what do they do? They go get their hair colored, they get a haircut, they get their nails done. This is one of the things that we have identified does make us feel better. But if we're constantly just looking at what everybody else is doing and trying to mimic that in some way, we're not finding our true selves and that true identity. It's something that I have...

I love, I get a lot of the, I don't know if this is a compliment or not, but what I hear a lot from people is, I love your outfit. I would have never thought to put those things together. Or I couldn't pull that off. And I love when people say that because to me it is a compliment. That's why I say, I don't know if this is a compliment. To me it is. But it's also, it's identifying that.

I'm not looking for what everybody else is wearing. I am that person. Actually, I'll go into the vintage racks that if this was three years ago, there's a good chance I'm going to like it. Now there was 20 years ago and even better chance. I'm going to like it now and I put my own style together. I don't let anybody else dictate what that is, but that's because I know and I learned a long time ago that that's how I feel best. Now I went through a very brief story here, but I went through a time in high school where I tried to conform more and I tried to act like everyone else, look like everyone else.

and even speak like everyone else, even though inside my head the thoughts sounded different, but I'm like, if I could just like, you know, say the things that other people are saying, I'll just fit in. I was miserable. I ended up in an actually a very deep state of depression. And it wasn't until my university days, I'd moved away from my hometown and I looked up one day and I was like, nobody here knows me. I can literally be whomever I want to be. And I decided to lean in to who I was. And the more I leaned into it,

the more comfortable I felt and the more natural I felt and the better relationships I built because I was allowed to be my true self. And it's so, so I can speak firsthand to how powerful this is, but I learned this in my late teens, early twenties. And you're talking about women who are in their forties and fifties and later in life who didn't have that opportunity to really explore what their true identity is in that sense. And I think part of that,

And I'll let you speak to this, because I'd love to get your thoughts on this. Where does society play a role in kind of dictating what's appropriate, what we're allowed to attribute to our style, and what we're allowed to think about when it comes to ourselves? I think with society, as you mentioned earlier in the show, influencers. Every single year, I feel like now it's every single month, there's new influencer that's showing you that this is how you should wear.

the latest trend. to be honest with you, when you talk about the vintage styles and you know saying, you know what, if it's even 20 years back, I can see myself wearing it. The styles back in the days were so much better. I mean, if anything, felt like the styles back in the days made women feel a little bit more confident, if you agree with me. But they talk about the mini skirts, they talk about all these crazy things and not every woman wants to expose her body. Not every woman wants to wear ripped jeans. Not every woman wants to wear a crop top.

And so, as a personal stylist, as a coach as well, I try my best to help clients realize that you don't have to be a trend follower. You can find whatever works for you. If you're into vintage, if you're into the more edgy vibe, we want to identify what your exact fashion personality is so that you're not mimicking what's popular in society, but you are wearing things that you feel comfortable in.

And now a lot of times people mix up comfortable with laziness. And this is something I really want to touch base real fast on. you know, comfy versus lazy look. The comfy look is still well polished, still put together. I mean, you can look at a woman that's probably wearing a blazer tee jeans and nice clean white sneakers. She's comfy, but she still looks sharp. So she can go to the grocery store versus you see, and this is a popular trend. Yes, I really believe that this is a trend because I see it everywhere.

I don't know if you're familiar with Wawa, but are you familiar with Wawa? No. Okay, that's fine. Wawa as in like the convenience store? It's like a 7-Eleven. It's a gas station. Yes. And they coffee and sandwiches and stuff like that. Yeah. I went to Wawa the other day and what I see, a woman wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, a denim jacket, and some big purple bedroom slippers with like the airs on there. my gosh. Yeah.

The lazy dressing is what I call, you're not putting in actually no effort. You're wearing the bonnets or your hair is messed up or you're wearing some flip flops. It's like you don't care. And the lazy dressing that I'm seeing, especially in America is the pajamas. And I'm so tired of seeing it. It's like, you are awake. You are out of your bed. No, I just want to be comfy. You want to be comfy. You can literally be comfy with some jeans, as I said before, a cute top and some nice flats.

You don't have to wear your pajamas. Pajamas were actually women back in the days, they knew better not to wear their night gowns or their pajamas out in public. Yes. This is so resonating with me. And again, it's funny that you say that because I work from home and I've had people show up unexpectedly at my house and they'll see how I'm dressed. They're like, did you have a meeting today or were you out on a call? I'm like, no, but this is how I dress. Start your day.

I'm wearing dresses sometimes like sure if I'm around the house I'm not wearing my high heels around the house necessarily but I am wearing my dresses because I feel good in my dresses and there are some days where yeah I'm wearing comfier clothes. I will say I do not wear jeans. I attempted it about four or five years ago. I bought a couple pairs of jeans just to kind of see if I because I hadn't wore jeans in years see if how it would work and I wore them out a few times and all my friends were like what what are you doing here? I am not

people don't expect to see me in jeans, I don't expect to see me in jeans. It doesn't fit my style, it doesn't fit my look. I'm not gonna wear jeans. And who knows, maybe you could get me into the right pair of jeans. But so in listening to this, I'm sure that there's probably a lot of people who are thinking, okay, so how do I figure this out? Because we're talking like the vintage clothes and the comfy clothes and all these different things, but they've probably attempted some of these and they're like, it doesn't quite look the way that it did on that influencer or that model or in that magazine or in that Pinterest photo that I found.

So what are some tips for getting someone started on identifying what their style could or should be? My best advice to you is, yeah, start with the inspiration. Even if you looked on Pinterest and you're like, oh my gosh, I tried it. No, still get the inspiration because this is a great start. Every one of us at some point get inspired, especially as entrepreneurs. We're getting inspired by another entrepreneur out there. Wow, I love how she did her webinar. oh my gosh.

You know, I love how she does her presentation. At some point we get inspiration in life and then we take that very inspiration and make it our own. So I would encourage those who are starting this journey of fashion or you're just in a place where you want to remodel your look. I love that term. I love it. I would say start with inspiration. Pinterest is the best place to go. Why? Because you could literally go just like Google in the search bar and type in plus size or type in curvy or type in.

So many different things you can type in just to find someone that may resonate more with you or type in comfortable, casual, you know, and instead of just putting casual, put stylish casual, you know, it's all about the different terms that you put in. And once you get those inspirations, begin to create yourself boards and go shopping, go to the store, go to the mall. Online shopping has become become very popular, Shauna, because a lot of people aren't

having such an easy time finding nice pieces to wear in these stores because now these days, ever since COVID, a lot of these stores are selling mainly like athleisure wear. You wanna believe how many clients are saying, I can't find any dresses to wear to a wedding invite. It's so hard to find very nice, sophisticated, classy pieces. So online shopping is definitely the best way to go. And partner up with a personal styling, get your measurements, make sure your body type is measured.

correctly so you know if you were an hourglass or inverted triangle, oval body type so that you're dressing your body accordingly. And then also the color analysis is very important that women know what colors complement and like Shauna, pink looks great on her. She has no problem with that. But what about you ladies that are so used to wearing black and white and gray? Like my client that I told you, so used to wearing muted colors because she's like, no one look at me, just keep looking at my big sister.

those of you who are used to wearing the muted colors and you're not sure, maybe you're used to buying a certain amount of colors. One client will tell me she has a closet full of lavender and nothing else. It's so important to have an idea of what your colors are and how to rock those colors. And so that's my best advice is to start off with the inspiration, create yourself a shopping list. What's in your closet? What is missing? And definitely partner up with a personal stylist because the good thing about it with me, I offer my clients like a 15 minute complimentary consultation where they can

just jump on a call with me and have a quick conversation. If they wanna go further, then of course, they can book one of those packages. But I get to have these conversations with them, whether it's about their body shape. Hey, Anastacia, I'm just kinda curious. I'm not sure if I'm ready as yet, but I wanna know what would be my body type. And I have so many free resources that clients can take advantage of as well. So, yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, you know, I love what you're saying about also identifying, what are their measurements? What is their body type? Using some of those as a search term.

in Pinterest. Pinterest is the second largest search engine for anyone who is not aware of this. Next to Google, Pinterest is the largest search engine. it has been built as a platform that is so easily searchable for the right information. And so it can be such a powerful tool to use because you can easily save the items that you actually like and you can categorize them. So I love that you're saying to go there and get started. And obviously, I'm sure that, you know,

bringing in a stylist, bringing in yourself to help take it to that next level once they've got that inspiration, take some of the overwhelm out of this as well. Because if you're listening this you're thinking like, listen, I can't do this on my own. I mean, give Anastacia a call. She can absolutely help you. But I also understand that sometimes that's intimidating as well. What are some tips maybe for someone who wants to work with a stylist but might feel a little bit shy about that initial conversation? Because if they've never worked with someone before,

I can imagine there's a little bit of intimidation that sometimes people feel before calling you. And obviously like having a conversation with you, for anyone who's listening, you can tell she's not intimidating, like just talk to her. But I'm sure that there's still some insecurities that might keep someone from venturing out to a stylist. What are some tips for getting over that part of it? Yeah, so my whole overall intake about this, when it comes onto wanting to partner up with an expert, maybe it's your first time.

really think to yourself and sit down because at some point in our life, we've all hired an expert to do something for us, whether it's creating our website for those CEOs, you're probably like, okay, the accidental CEOs are sitting down like, I need a website. oh my gosh, how are people gonna find out about my craft? So all of these things and we try our best to find out, first we think to ourselves, okay, I'm going to do this. And a lot of the clients that I'm working with, they're entering into new.

chapters of their life. So think to yourself, why are you hiring a coach, a business coach? Why are you hiring an interior designer? Why are you hiring someone to mow your lawn? There's an underlying problem. There's an issue that you're trying to get resolved quickly. So as far as being intimidated, I would say, don't be. Ask yourself these questions. What are some things that I really just can't do on my own? Like, I have the basic things, okay?

I know that I'm supposed to put on clothes, obviously. I know I'm supposed to wear shoes with my outfit. But the thing is, what kind of shoes are you wearing? And what kind of clothes are you wearing? And when it comes on to entrepreneurship, it is such a mind blowing thing. It is such a blessing, honestly, to know that you are creating something sustainable for the future, that you are your own boss, that you get to create your hours. But at some point of your life, you get to go out there and jump on podcasts, jump on interviews, jump on a stage.

even beyond television, all of these different opportunities will at some point be something that interests you to take your business to the next level. And one of the things that's so important is your image. And you want to believe how many times I go on Facebook and I see these very successful entrepreneurs on their Facebook ads and they look so good. And it's like when you go onto their landing page and you see their photos, their professional photos, they look so legit. It's like, I need to work with her. She's a true boss babe.

Ask yourself, what am I doing that requires me to take things to the next level? And is it something that I can seriously do by myself or do I really want to take things to the next level and work with someone that can help me to refine what I want to do? What are my goals? Did you recently lose weight? Did you recently gain weight? Are you experiencing menopause? These are all different types of things women go through and you shouldn't go through it by yourself. You should have someone by your side that can guide you, especially as you're going into

the business world. So you're standing out, you're being respected as the leader that you know yourself to be, and you're being taken seriously. And even if you're in a crowded space or a crowded, yeah, a crowded space where there are multiple businesses like yours, at least you can feel confident that those potential clients or prospects that are coming your way, if they met with that coach over there, met with that coach over there, and you're in that same niche, you can feel confident that you have a chance of standing out and

maybe even closing the deal with them, you know? So I think that's really what my overall perspective is on that. And I really love that because I mean, I will definitely be one of the first ones to attest to like when I started my business, I didn't have a lot of money for marketing. So I focused on my brand and I made sure that everything that I did represented my brand. And it wasn't just about the colors, but that was a big part of it. So yeah, pink is my color. So my clipboard was pink, my tool belt was pink. I got pink stripes on my car.

I didn't do all that just because of the business. Obviously, like I really like these things as well, but it doesn't hurt things. And when I would show up, I'd be memorable. People would always remember me. If they didn't remember my name, they still at least knew that I was the girl with the pink hair and someone else could tell them exactly who that is. And I've seen it time and time again, where someone represents themselves really well and it transfers into their brand. But I've also seen them do it poorly. I can remember early on when I was getting into interior design,

I had this luxury property that I was working in and the client wanted a florist to come in and do some permanent arrangements. So some artificial arrangements in the house. And these are going to be pretty deluxe style arrangements, not inexpensive by any means. And again, this is a luxury property. so we called, you know, I asked a few different people if they could recommend someone and several people recommended the same company. And this woman showed up.

And my client was so offended by how she looked after she was like, she is, I don't care how good she is, she is not getting the work because she showed up in that lazy look that you're mentioning. So she could have dressed down. I don't think my client would have had any issues if she was dressed down, but she wasn't just dressed down. She was wearing jeans, a hoodie and flip flops. There you go. And she did not get the job. She was incredibly talented.

That's the thing. Like she could have, she probably would have done a better job than the company we ended up hiring. And the company we hired was great. Don't get me wrong. But I this woman actually could have done a better job, but she couldn't sell herself. So my client wanted nothing to do with her. I even tried to say to her, listen, like everyone's giving me this, this person's name. Like this is the person in town who's doing this. She's like, I don't care. I don't care. I'm not, I, if she's going to show up to a property like this, looking like that, I don't want anything to do with her. Doesn't trust her. I agree.

You know, when you're starting off in business, Shauna, I always say this, you are the face of your brand, know, and, you know, no one needs to know that you're starting off or you're still building up just, just you alone stepping out with confidence and just having a smile on your face and just being well dressed. And that just exudes confidence. That just makes people feel like, okay, like you said, there's a level of trust. They seem like someone that's professional, someone that can be taken seriously. You know, I remember one lady was telling me that she was hiring

looking for new employees and there was one young woman that came to the interview. I guess you found her on Indeed or LinkedIn, I'm not sure, but she said that this young woman had a huge tattoo on the side of her face and she was not even dressed for the job. And she's like, you've got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous. And it's like simple things like that. If you got a tattoo on your face, you decide to do that fine. But if you're going to a job interview, cover it up, get some, you know, tattoo makeup and cover it up and.

put on a button down shirt and some dress pants. If you don't know how to dress, at least have a button down shirt and a skirt or something. It doesn't have to be complicated. But for women who don't want to just have the simple look, they want to look like real professional leaders. It's so important to work with someone that can help them to navigate through that because fashion is one thing, it's an art.

but finding and identifying your personal style and branding your image for success is whole nother ball game. And to your point in a professional way too, because I think that it's so important for women want to look good, but also are very much afraid of projecting the wrong image. And that's where a professional can definitely come in and support and assist. you know what they say, dress for the job you want, right? So if you are just starting out, especially all the more reason to enlist in a stage of services to

to help you to ensure that you're gonna feel comfortable and confident in everything that you're putting out there. And then your brand just naturally will align with that as well. I love that. In my case, it's dress for the client that you want. When you're a boss, babe, it's not like, now you have a different mindset and it's like, what type of client are you trying to attract? Especially if you're a high ticket entrepreneur, if you're someone that's selling courses and master classes and all these different types of things.

Who do you wanna attract? Who's the ideal client you love to work with? We're not trying to put anybody down, but I'm just saying when you think about who you wanna work with, who is that person? And so will you stand out in the eyes of those individuals? If you're talking about top-notch CEOs, can you attract those CEOs? And so that's even the mindset that I want them to shift now, like dress for the ideal clients you want, your dream clients that you want to attract. Cause there's so many people that get into the business world

and they can't even attract even one high ticket sale. You know, their logo looks good. Their logo looks good. Everything looks good from the outside. But when the person, when people get to meet the person behind the logo and behind all of the brand, you know, messages and the tagline, all of that stuff, it's like, whoa, this is not what I expected, you know? Exactly, yeah. No, and I think that, yeah, the confidence does come from within.

But in order to get that confidence within, sometimes it's about putting on that exterior shell that makes you feel good, that makes you feel confident, that makes you feel like you can represent everything that you're saying that you are. Because you are that person, you are that powerful, you are that boss babe. But sometimes we all need, I don't know if you want to call it the armor or what, but you know, sometimes that's a little bit of what we're putting on there is that, you know, just helping to bring that inside on the outside. when we can do that on the outside, comes easily on the inside.

Yeah, I agree. Wonderful. So you've got a free guide that you're offering to everyone. I know you mentioned you have a number of resources on your website, but in particular, you're offering this audience branding your style and confidence for success. So how do they get this resource and what exactly is it? OK, so they can head over to my website at www.anastaciastyling.com and click style resources. So literally, as soon as they land on the website page, they will see style

resources in the menu. They can click on it and scroll down because of course they're going to see my book for ladies who are curious on how to dress their specific body shape. Maybe you're not ready to work with a personal stylist. This book is your guide. I mean, literally it will help you with how to dress your specific body shape. Like you will be able to know what your shape is. And also I have like other bonuses as far as how to dress for interviews, how to dress for networking events, date rights, all that good stuff.

But for the free guide, as Shauna mentioned, this is really all about how to brand your image for success. And it's just sharing with you the essentials of how to get started. So whether you are a entrepreneur or you are an accidental CEO and you're starting your journey and now you're in a place in your life where you have the confidence within, but now you want to show up more for your business. You want it to be more of the face, you know, whether that's doing your reels or doing your first Facebook ad.

or going on a stage or hosting your first seminar, whatever the case may be, this free guide that I'm offering you is going to help you to take your confidence and your brand image to the next level. So it has all the tips that you need on how to brand your colors as far, like not just brand your colors on your website and all that stuff, but actually how to brand your colors for your business. So all of those important things. Yeah, just how to stand out in the market.

And I'll be sure to add that link to the show notes as well. So if you if you want to check it out there, you're welcome to. I know you're talking about, you know, bringing in that brand into your style. Anyone who's listened to the podcast, I've spoken about LuAnn Nigara. she was a host. She was a co-host on this episode on episode number eight. And she her brand color is green. And if you ever see her out at any event, she is wearing green. I promise you, it's a it's a massive part of her wardrobe. So it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to put every single

piece of your wardrobe needs to be in your brand colors. Everyone knows I love pink. Not everything in my wardrobe is pink, but finding your style I think is so incredibly important. So this is a great resource to get people started. Yeah, it's important. Me personally, my brand color is just pink too, but today I'm not wearing pink. I'm doing a plaid blazer and I feel good about that. anybody that meets me, they know my signature pieces is a blazer. I'm always rocking a nice blazer and some pumps.

is all about, as Shauna said, you don't necessarily have to have a closet, like maybe your brand color is purple. You don't have to have a closet full of purple, but at some point people should remember, like Shauna, they remember her for her hairstyle. People remember me for my bold lipstick. So there's something memorable about you that compliments your business. And that's really what we're saying. Absolutely. Wonderful. Okay. So if someone's listening to this episode and we've talked about a lot of things today,

If there is one thing that they can take with them to implement right away, to stay with them throughout the week, what is that one takeaway that you want them to feel and to keep with them? Do not compare yourself to others. Embrace who you are as an individual and embrace who you are as an individual in style and confidence. I love that. That is a sound bite right there. Amazing. Thank you so much for joining me. This has been amazing, Anastacia. Thank you. Yeah, it was fabulous. I loved it.

Wonderful. So listen, if you're listening to this episode and what we're saying here is resonating with you, I hope that you will continue to listen. Tune in with us again next week, but don't forget to like it on your favorite podcast platform. Be sure to leave us a review and the best way that you can show your support not only for us, but for your fellow female entrepreneurs is to share this episode with someone that you know can really get value and benefit out of it. Until next time, everyone keep thriving.