Image consultants are mainly focused on styling, but there are many elements around fashion and image that they can become experts in. The principal goal of personal stylists is to boost their clients’ confidence and enhance their appearance. Therefore, they should consider advising them on many aspects that affect their self-esteem, from grooming to lifestyle routines. The overall image of people is determined by their attitude as well as their looks. As a consequence, image consultants have to give tips about many details aside from selecting stylish clothing and accessories for clients.
In order to make that possible, you can diversify yourself as an image consultant. It is beneficial to have experience in various fields of the fashion and styling industries. Personal stylists who have worked all their lives in a single sector are more limited since clients are exigent. They ask for a wide range of consulting services to change their lives for the better. So, image consultants with varied knowledge are capable of helping their clients improve their wardrobes, lifestyles and behaviors to become the best version of themselves.
It is convenient to be curious about new areas related to your job. An image consultant who has only one kind of experience may tend to be less adaptive. We encourage you to keep learning and expanding your skills. That way, you will be able to offer the highest-quality and most detailed services. Moreover, you will answer your clients’ requests with more confidence, meet all their needs and satisfy them.
For example, if you learn how to find the personal color of people based on their date of birth, you will explain it to your clients during the consultations and select items in those colors. In addition, you will be able to build personalized skincare routines for your clients if you study about the best skincare products for each type of skin. The most relevant thing to do as an image consultant is to be well prepared in order to provide premium services.
SPECIALIZATION OR DIVERSIFICATION?
We recommend you to start specializing in an area. Once you feel motivated to evolve and develop new abilities, you can broaden your expertise to diversify and offer more consulting services like grooming consulting or home decorating. The important thing is the path you choose for your own professional growth. The decision is very personal and you should make the choice based on your interests, career goals, market needs and skills.
Specialization
You choose to specialize in what you are talented and really love to do. You are highly motivated and have a single focus of attention and energy. You become an expert in a certain area and can raise your fees accordingly. By having similar projects, you acquire strong experience in a specific area. Also, you take advantage of the learning that you get from one project and use it for another as a reference.
Diversification
You offer many quality services that have a connection with each other, which give you recognition in diverse markets and economic security. Your spectrum of potential clients to contact is broadened. The variety of projects gives you more work and diversity. Consequently, you are more likely to work on distinct projects with particular clients and vendors.
There is a third scenario: a mix of both alternatives. You can seek to specialize in an area in which you know you have skills and knowledge. Beyond the fact that you will focus on a particular sector, you can at the same time diversify in the sense of being attentive to other offers that adapt to your profile and in which you can contribute from your expertise.
Nevertheless, it is better if you do not intend to take on too many projects and work on a few ones in depth. Make sure that you are ready and have enough capability of working on a concrete area (styling, grooming, home decorating…). There are expert professionals in their field who have years of experience and background doing a specific job, so learn from the best to provide valuable services to your clients.
The most common thing to do as an image consultant is to specialize in a certain sector which is your true strength but diversify the type of work you do. You should find within your area different potential clients, resources and platforms to not leave your field but, at the same time, widen the spectrum of possibilities.
For example, some image consultants may be specialized in men’s fashion, but those professionals can also study about women’s style for some months, practice and incorporate it in their services to expand their business. If you are working in a certain field, you can extend to various branches like accessorizing, hair care, communication… Just learn about it and find a way around it.
BUSINESS DIVERSIFICATION
Do you feel that you have made progress with your image consulting business, but there comes a time when you find yourself stuck? The best thing you can do to keep going is to develop diversification strategies. There are different strategies that will help you diversify the markets, products, services or your customers.
This concept generally refers to the same thing: to expand, look for more options or generate different sources of income. Everything will depend on applying the strategies and jobs that work best for you so that your business can stand out in the best way and get more clients. As well, diversification is about evolving as a professional and finding new jobs related to your field that you love to do.
What is diversification in business?
Diversification is known as a business strategy. It is about expanding the potential market with the intention of having greater growth. In other words, it consists of finding new market niches that a company can reach in order to achieve success. These strategies can also be used when the company is planning to restructure a line of business. Keep in mind that diversification generally requires an expansion of financial and human resources for further growth.
By diversifying the business, new products and services are being created, other customer profiles are included as targets and new approaches are also being developed for existing services and products. According to the condition that every image consulting business has, it will be possible to define which of these options is the most appropriate, since the variables are different for each company and image consultant.
Why do companies diversify?
Companies tend to diversify to achieve higher profitability. Image consultants use diversification to expand into industries and markets they consider interesting and helpful for their clients. However, personal stylists who want to diversify must be sure about their availability to dedicate enough time to learn and develop new skills. If an activity or area awakens their interest, they have to plan their learning process logically.
As a result, new quality features, services and products are offered by the business with the intention of attracting more customers. Once you increase your appeal and reach, your image consulting company will be able to explore new ranges of sales while having the ability to greatly increase your profits. On the other hand, diversification also helps your brand image to be promoted and it is used as a mechanism to stand out among the competition.
Is diversification beneficial?
Business diversification has many benefits. Some of them are increasing the target that you are addressing, improving the brand image of your company, entering new markets, differentiating yourself from the competition and achieving higher income. Each image consulting business will know which strategies to develop and how to do it according to the goals it has. Diversify to have more opportunities, get new clients and grow your business. Remember that there is nothing more important than innovating and constantly growing. Try to diversify yourself and aim for more!
6 TIPS TO EXPAND YOUR IMAGE CONSULTING BUSINESS
- Define your goals: The fact that your goals are measurable, achievable, realistic and within a certain period of time will allow you to evaluate your progress.
- Be disciplined and perseverant: Many professionals have natural talent and it is much easier for them to learn or develop certain skills. However, all image consultants need discipline and perseverance to be able to maximize their strengths to the fullest.
- Become an expert: Find out what you are good at, develop those abilities and you will see that in a short time you will be able to grow your business and participate in the creative processes of your specialties.
- Keep learning: Courses are one of the best platforms to get essential knowledge on fashion, lifestyle, grooming… You can also read books, articles and magazines written by experts or watch lecture videos. Investigate in depth about everything that catches your interest. Dedicating time to study and practice allows you to develop your skills on image consulting but also to do networking, which will help you grow your business in the future.
- Be versatile: Diversifying yourself will help you learn, get involved and participate in different areas of the industry. The more skills you have, the more chances you have for success. Surely there will be difficult times when not everything goes as expected, but do not give up and keep going. If you are diligent and believe in yourself, you will be able to achieve a successful career.
- Collaborate with other professionals: Participating with other image consultants and stylists will bring you great benefits. You will learn from other specialties and techniques that will upgrade your services. Consequently, you will be recommended to other clients for future projects. Consider building networks a priority.
Download the STYiLES app now on App Store or Google Play to start enjoying a premium image consulting experience. The app is the smartest way to connect image-conscious clients, professional image consultants, and specialized merchants, all on one platform.
If you have any questions, contact us at styiles@styiles.com.
