creating your business style no.1

you are a unique individual

Photo credit: Leather-craft-37 Pixabay

You may start your new styling journey from the position of an existing image that you want to update, or one that you want to tweak, or with a completely clean slate. It really doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you finish that is important. At the basic level, your styling needs to reflect your position in business, but it also needs to reflect your individuality and your style. In the wider world, a creative style may seem to be a slightly intangible thing. But think about the number of times you have looked for a product or service online and clicked on, and then straight off a site? It could be that this site has the answer to all your prayers, or they can solve your current problem, but for you personally, the visual impact just doesn’t appeal.

If I can move beyond your image and style for a moment, there could be any number of things that put you off at first sight, but it will probably be the overarching creative styling that makes you click away. Personally, I find some elements of cartoon colours and shapes off-putting whatever the nature of the site, although I really appreciate that this messaging might work well for you and your business. My major bugbear is if I am expected to look through reams, and reams of repeated information to finally get to the price of a course that I might have thought was interesting, while being assailed by random colours and details that put me off exploring further. I know it’s not just me, and it must be a method of delivery that obviously works for some businesses, whatever my thoughts.

This demonstrates that we cannot be all things to all women, or men, and nor should we try to be. However, think of this instant reaction, which we all have at times, when you are working through your ideas about how to dress for the workplace. It absolutely doesn’t matter if lots of people don’t engage with you, the way you present yourself, or business…if they were probably never going to. Your energy and delivery need to be concentrated on getting the feeling right for those clients who you do want to attract, and whose lives you could make a real difference to. The balance between you being you, and also reflecting what people both want and expect to see, is where you will find your sweet spot. Where your image speaks for you in a way that a thousand words would not.

There are several steps to clarifying your vision and importantly your creative aesthetic. At the very heart of your personality, you are a unique individual, and your tastes and preferences are yours alone. If you try to shoehorn your creativity into an idea, perhaps an image you have seen, you may not get the results you are looking for. That styling, although beautiful, is maybe at odds with your character, or your message, so you will always be attempting to tweak it to get it just right. Being authentic is about the most important attribute you can have when thinking about design, and your approach to creating an image that works for you and the way you work.

When you start from a position of originality, you also have complete creative control. There is no right or wrong, if it fits with your aesthetic, then it just might work. Trial and error, as well as a lot of experimentation, will be the best way of testing all your thoughts, and importantly how they work together. You are aiming to create a big styling picture scenario here, not a detailed set of items. How formal is your industry? What are your clients expecting? Can you wear anything you like or is there a dress code, either imaginary or real? Have you found that everything is much more casual now, and that gives you much more choice? But it may also create a bigger headache because there now is so much choice.

All rights reserved. Milly Churchill asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work.