December 31, 2018

RCC 19: What Message Are Your Clothes Sending? With Shira Gill

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When you picture yourself five years from now, you might focus on what your day-to-day schedule looks like, or visualize yourself working in a new, amazing office. But it’s equally useful to consider: What is future you wearing?

Your clothes have so much influence on your confidence, how you show up in your business, and what message you’re sending to the world. But for many of us, clothes also bring up difficult emotions about body image and how we treat ourselves. Today, Shira Gill joins us to talk about how taking a closer look at your closet can elevate your business and improve your confidence.

Shira merges principles of minimalism with life coaching, home organization, and interior styling. Her mission is to inspire people to clarify their core values so they can clear mental and physical clutter, create space for what they truly care about, and live their best lives. She launched a first-of-its-kind Virtual Closet Makeover Program in 2018, which enables women from around the globe to overhaul their spaces and transform their lives.

Shira and I talk about how she founded her business and quadrupled her income in the first few years thanks to her hustle, a great group of friends, and a flexible arrangement with her partner. She also drops some serious truths about how clothes affect our self-esteem and our message. And, to build on everything you’ll hear in this episode, I want you to picture what future you wears that makes her feel powerful, competent, and kick-ass – and start dressing like that now!

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

  • How your clothes affect your confidence, how you show up with clients, and how you treat yourself.
  • How Shira started her business after being laid off when she was seven months pregnant.
  • Shira’s amazing pitching strategy that not only worked on me, but helped her quadruple her income in a matter of years!
  • Why Shira believes in organizing your workspace and your closet if you want to elevate your work.
  • Her advice on working with a spouse and balancing work, family, and travel.
  • Shira’s tips on how to start dressing for your business.

Listen to the Full Episode:

Featured on the Show:

PS. If you run a business (especially a coaching / consulting / teaching / training business)—and you want to earn $100K in 2019—I want to help you.

I’m running a program called On the 6 (inspired by the title of J.Lo’s debut album) and it’s all about bringing your business to 6-figures per year. Breaking past the $100K ceiling.

Details:
* Six-month program starting in January 2019.
* Group program 15-20 women
* Coaching on mindset, motivation, confidence, money blocks, marketing, and sales.
* Check out the program description here. If this sounds exciting, you can apply here.

Full Episode Transcript:

Welcome to the Rich Coach Club, the podcast that teaches you how to build your dream coaching practice and how to significantly increase your income. If you're a coach and you're determined to start making more money, this show is for you. I'm master certified life coach Susan Hyatt, and I'm psyched for you to join me on this journey. You're listening to episode 19, here we go.

When you look into your closet, how do you feel? Do you feel excited to get dressed, or overwhelmed, stressed, tired? Do you reach for whatever’s clean or whatever’s not visibly stained or smelly? Do you feel like your clothes represent who you truly are? Do you feel like your clothes are sending a powerful message to the world?

Whether you like it or not, your clothes do send a message. They send a message to you, to your family, to your clients, and to the people you meet out in the world and online too. So yes, even if you work at home and you rarely interact with clients face to face, your clothes still influence your mood.

If you wasted 30 minutes digging around in a disorganized closet, that’s 30 minutes you could have spent working on your business. My point is, your closet matters. Your style matters. How you feel in your skin and your body, that all matters. It all influences your mood and your confidence level.

And if you remember episode two of this show, you’ll recall that confidence is a crucial ingredient for a successful coaching practice. So if your confidence is shaky, it’s going to be really tough for you to reach your business goals.

So, today’s episode is all about that closet, your style, the message you’re sending to the world through your attire. It’s a juicy one. Let’s start with your Two-Minute Pep-Talk.

Here’s your Two-Minute Pep-Talk for the week. This is the part of the show where I share some encouragement and inspiration to get your week started off right. And I try to keep things to 120 seconds or less.

Recently, I hosted an event in Chicago called Finish Strong, back in October. It’s an event for coaches who want to bring their business and income to the next level. It happened in October, towards the end of the year, so I urged all the coaches to set some aggressive income goals and work hard and finish the final quarter strong.

We had a total blast and I will definitely host that event again next fall, so mark your calendars. On the first night, I invited everyone to attend a kick-off party and we had the whole yacht to ourselves, fancy cocktails, a gospel choir. It was wild.

I told everyone, “Hey, come dressed as your future self.” In other words, think about where you want to be in five years and let’s dress that way; your future coaching practice, your future business, your future life. Are you a bestselling author? Are you running luxury retreats for women? Are you running a six or seven or eight figure business? Are you running for mayor?

Whatever you want to be, get dressed like that right now. And people took this assignment very seriously. We had some pretty fabulous outfits on that yacht. It was so much fun to see everyone’s attire and say, “Okay, tell me all about this look.”

Right now, I’m giving you the same assignment I gave my guests at that event. Get a mental picture of your future self; you in the near future, an even more, a confident, powerful, successful, rich version of you. What’s she up to and what’s she wearing?

Get some paper, write down your future self outfit and write down a list of what it would include or maybe draw a sketch, or get online and do some Googling and put some photos together. Put those photos on your vision board. Even better, start dressing like that right now. Live that future right now. Dress for the business you want.

This isn’t necessarily about dressing in a more fancy or corporate-looking way. Your future self might be wearing yoga pants and a floaty top and gold hoop earrings and some suede sandals. Great. Whatever your future vision may be, start embodying it today.

Researchers have found that the clothes you put on your body influence the way you perceive yourself and can even influence your behavior, yes, yes, yes. Your clothes directly impact your brain.

Now, I’ve observed this in my own life and I have two modes. So if you’re following me on Instagram or on Facebook, you’ll see, I have a couple of different looks. I love to dress super glam, so you’ll see pictures on Instagram of me in ball gowns and sequin jumpsuits. But you’ll also see me in the very best athletic wear you can buy because I’m an athlete too.

So in my own life, when I’m working from home, I’m very conscious about the material I put against my skin. It’s got to feel good. It’s got to spark joy. It’s got to make me feel like the most successful version of myself.

So sometimes, as an athlete, what that looks like is I come home from my run and from the gym and I get right to work recording podcasts. And I feel amazing that I have created a life where I can schedule myself to do whatever I want, and that includes moving my body in a way that feels powerful and dressing in Lululemon or Carbon38 or AloYoga and feel great.

And some days, if I’m on Zoom teaching classes or teaching webinars or meeting clients face to face, I’m dressed in an amazing cashmere sweater and some skinny jeans. Or it could mean I’m in a really fabulous blazer with a fun t-shirt underneath.

I have a bunch of different looks, but the common thread is everything I put against my skin feels amazing and I feel super confident in it. So listen, style is not frivolous; it’s powerful. Your outfit influences your mood, which influences the success of your day, which influences your income. Makeover your closet, people, and you’ll be helping to makeover your business too.

Now we’re moving to the part of the show where I give a shout-out to you; shout-outs to listeners, clients, all the wonderful people in my biz community. And so today, I want to give a shout-out to an oldie but goodie client named Darren.

So, Darren recently went through a terrible divorce and he was offline for a while, but now he’s back. And we were chatting on Facebook and he said, “I just started getting into your podcasts. The one with Brooke Castillo…” and he put a million exclamation points, “Fucking love it. And the gal that did Burning Man, oh my god.” He’s talking about the episode with Natalie MacNeil.

He’s like, “I’m so over being broke and being a victim of divorce. Fuck broke, fuck broken, fuck divorce, and fuck anyone who has a problem with my attitude or my language.” Darren, I love you.  You know we both love the F-bombs.

So he basically says, “I’ve been struggling financially long enough. I know the right road for me is coaching and it’s building itself as I type this. I’m seeing the hot tracks and leads daily, thank you, Susan Hyatt.” Thank you, Darren. Thank you for shouting from the rooftops that you are a phoenix rising from the ashes.

So hey, if those of you listening have something to say about the show, send an email to the lovely Larissa, support@shyatt.com, or better yet, post a five-star iTunes review about the show. Post something on social media. Let me know, and you might hear your name in a future episode.

Alright, it’s time for an interview. And today, you’ll be hearing from Shira Gill. Shira is a coach who specializes in creating beautiful closets, beautiful spaces, and beautiful outfits. Her mission is to help clients clear physical and mental clutter so they can create space for what they truly care about and live their best lives.

Her philosophy, which I think is so fantastic is that organization creates mental peace. Yes, queen, it certainly does. And she offers a closet makeover service. How badass is this? So on her website, she says, “Imagine starting each day by walking into a beautifully streamlines closet filled only with your favorite items that fit and flatter your current body. An organized closet doesn’t just look better; it actually helps you feel better.”

A big hell yes to all that. I could not agree more. I’m so excited to ask Shira about her business, how she finds clients, how she reaches her financial goals, and of course, I’m going to ask her to share some closet tips and style tips too. I know she’s got a ton of them, so let’s get started.

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Susan: Welcome to the podcast, Shira Gill.

Shira: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

Susan: So I have so many things I want to talk with you about. Number one, before we started this recording, I think you coaches should know what I said to Shira, which was Shira sent me a pitch to be on this podcast and it was, without a doubt, the best pitch I’ve ever received. And I think you guys should know this because I spend so much time trying to get everyone to pitch themselves and people think things like – like, Shira, when you sent that pitch to me, did you have any hesitation in your mind about it?

Shira: You know, I mean, I’m always nervous to pitch to somebody, but I think my thought was, like, I want to make this a homerun, slam dunk. I want to make it so easy for her to say yes.

Susan: Right, that’s exactly how I felt. When I received it, it was so easy for me to scan it, understand what Shira was about, which we’re going to get into, and say to Larissa, my assistant, “Book her immediately. She’s going to be an amazing guest.” And so what I would love to do, if it’s okay with you, Shira, putting you on the spot here a little bit, is put a copy of your pitch in the show notes.

Shira: Oh, that’s so fun. Yeah, we can totally do that.

Susan: I think it’s important for people to see the structure of a pitch that makes sense, because I receive pitches almost every day that don’t make sense, that don’t make it easy for me to say yes. And what Shira did well was she outlined why she would be an interesting guest and why my audience would care and what are the things that she’s done that would be of interest. And there’s one major thing of interest, because as you know, this is called the Rich Coach Club, which is about helping female entrepreneurs become unapologetic about making money. And, Miss Shira, you’ve done some amazing things with building your coaching income.

Shira: Yes, so when I started – I’ve had my business for about nine years now, and when I started my business, I actually had been laid off from an event planning company when I was seven months pregnant and had no idea what I was going to do with my life other than pop out this baby in a few months. And I literally founded my business out of a scrappy need to make some income and knowing that I didn’t want to go back to fulltime grind in an office. And so when I conceived of my business, there truly was no business plan, there was no vision. It was like, I have to figure out how to offer value in the world so people can give me some money. And so I started my business breastfeeding with a newborn. My husband was working for a nonprofit. We were in the Bay Area, which, as you know, is one of the most expensive places to live. And so it really was born out of girlfriends saying to me, “Alright, let’s brainstorm, what are you good at?” And I had always helped my girlfriends from junior high, high school, clean out their closets, organize, de-clutter. It was just like a fun side hobby for me. So I literally had this crew of women who were like, “Just do this. You’re so good at it. You help people. Put it out into the world and see what happens.”

And so I had zero money. I had just been laid off, we had a new baby, and so I got super scrappy and literally took pictures, styled pictures in my own home, did a, like, my first website on WordPress and did a huge email to every single person I had ever met in my life saying, “I have launched this business. If you know anyone who struggles with clutter or disorganization, I’m here to help.” And through that, I got my first clients, a handful of clients who then told their friends, and it really was like one thing led to another. And very soon into launching my business, we had listed our house on Airbnb and this amazing thing happened where an editor from Apartment Therapy contacted me, not even knowing I had just launched a business, and said, “We would love to feature your house on Apartment Therapy and do a house tour.”

Susan: Wow.

Shira: And so I said, “Well, if you’re going to do that, could you please feature my business?” And so then that happened and suddenly, it was like instead of having this scrappy little side hustle, it really catapulted me into having a business. But that being said, you know, my first year, I made $9000…

Susan: Wait, wait, wait, I don’t want to gloss over this, because there are so many people listening who, $9000 is their reality and they think they’re somehow a failure or somehow not good enough or whatever. So, Shira’s first year, 9K.

Shira: That’s right. and I think, you know, my mindset around it also was I was primarily a stay at home mom and the way that I structured my business, because I was breastfeeding at the time, was I can come do these boot camp makeover sessions. They’re three hours, because that was the longest I could get childcare and the longest I could be away from my baby. So that was it. That was all I offered. I offered a three-hour session or a package of three three-hour sessions. It was very simple. And people started booking it and, like you said, I made $9000 in my first year. And that didn’t feel like a failure to me. I actually was kind of blown away that anybody would pay me for this at the time, because it came so easily to me. I was like, this is just like hanging out with my girlfriends and people are giving me money. This is incredible. I think after the Apartment Therapy article, I started taking it a bit more seriously and thinking, alright well maybe this isn’t just a side hustle. Maybe I’ll put some more energy into promoting this.

And I guess I’ve always been good at pitching because I started pitching to Magazines, and just like when I pitched to you, my thought was, “How can I make this a really easy yes? What would be their dream come true?” And so when I pitched to magazines, my pitch was always, “Here’s five articles I could write that I think would be a great match for your demographic, and I have high-resolution professional pictures to accompany any article you pick ready to roll.” So for them, it was like they didn’t have to do anything. It was like ready to roll and so I just started getting yeses. And then, you know, my income went from $9000 to $16,000 to $40,000 to $80,000. And it really was only a few years ago that I thought, you know what, I want to go all the way with this.

I want to see what I can do. And it was really at that point where I invested in my business. And instead of being either cheap or scrappy, however you look at it, I decided I’m getting a business coach, I’m doing a business mastermind, I’m paying for professional photography, I’m redoing my website. I just went all in and it felt very, very scary. I am not a gambler. Like, if I go to Vegas, I gasp when my husband gambles like $20. So it felt like a little bit of a gamble to me of, like, let’s see, if I really invest in this business, what will happen? And I do just want to share with your audience that it was terrifying for me. I felt very vulnerable doing that and my business has now doubled and tripled in revenue to the point where my husband will be leaving his job this January 1st to come work in my business with me.

Susan: Oh my god, okay, wait, we have to stop for a second. Okay, so you doubled and tripled your income, and so your 2018 gross revenue is going to be what?

Shira: It’s going to be a quarter of a million dollars.

Susan: What? Oh my god, so good.

Shira: It’s insane.

Susan: Alright, so a quarter of a million dollars, from 9K to a quarter of a million dollars. Your husband is now coming to work for you, which people joke with me all the time about this because years ago, Scott Hyatt said, when I would talk about what my dreams were, what my goals were for income, and he would say things like, when you make X amount of dollars, I’m just going to retire and carry your bags. And I laugh about that. That day has come and gone and he’s not quitting his gig. He’s one of those people that was passionate and knew what he wanted to do in high school. So he’s a rarity.

But I often think about all of you badass female entrepreneurs who are slaying to the point that you’re retiring your husbands from their careers and then these men are coming to work for you. It gives me so much life. What are your thoughts about – I kind of think about, oh my god, if Scott Hyatt was in this office with me, I don’t know that our marriage would survive, but I deeply admire people who want to work with their spouses. So tell me about this.

Shira: Yeah, so we’ve thought about it a lot. So what I will say is I have always had a fire in my belly and been very passionate about whatever work I’m doing. I love working. I love being out in the world. I was an actor for 20 years and then I was in food and event planning, and now I have this career. And I have always loved working. My husband has dreamed of retiring, I think since he was a teenager.

Susan: That was his dream. He’s living his dream now.

Shira: Yeah, and it’s funny because I will admit that I have often wanted him to be more ambitious than he is and it has taken a lot of self-coaching to really come to accept who he is at his core and what he contributes to our family. And I should also note that it was because of him working a fulltime job he didn’t really love that I had the luxury to stay home with my kids initially and develop this business where I was making $9000 a year.  So he has kind of paid his dues, I think, for a long time and working jobs that were fine, but he never really had this passion. And so there’s always been this interesting dance because I have the flexible schedule, I’m the one picking up the kids every day and running the errands and taking them to soccer and all of those things. And to be perfectly honest, mainly I would rather be out there working and traveling and going to business meetings and he would really truly rather be driving the carpool, cooking dinner, doing the domestic stuff.

So we’ve kind of grappled with that gender reversal, just because even in this day and age, it’s kind of taboo, right? And so when we talked about it, I realized that what I was really hungering for in my life and my business was more freedom and more autonomy to really take my business and – you know, like people ask me to come fly to New York or fly to different places and I can’t because I’m home with the kids as the primary still. And so part of this arrangement in him coming to join the business is that he is so happy and eager to take on that role of being home and being flexible and being able to pick up the kids. And when they have two weeks off for winter break, he’s like, go do your thing, I’m here. So that’s a major part of it. But I think, in terms of working together, we’ve been very clear, both of us, about our individual needs and I don’t want to sit in an office with my husband all day, and I don’t think he wants to sit in an office with me. So the way we’re structuring it is basically that we will have a weekly meeting to go over what are our quarterly goals, what are you doing, what am I doing, okay great, see you next week.

Susan: That’s awesome.

Shira: So that’s the plan, to be very autonomous, so we’ll see how that goes.

Susan: I really like this plan and there are so many – I wish we had like five hours to talk about this because we could do a whole episode just on culture at large and training women to be the primary caregiver. And I know plenty of stay at home dads and just the different struggle that they face when they choose that role. And so I actually am all about this setup. My kids are older now; Ryan’s 20 and in college and Cora is 18. She’s graduating this year and she’s going off to college, but Scott has actually been – so when I travel, our kids weren’t teeny tiny when I started traveling, but he definitely has been the one. He’s like, “How come the kids have gone more places than I have?” And I’m like, “Well that’s because you’re the parent who stays home with the other one, you know.” And so now that we’re becoming empty-nesters, it’s a whole different ballgame. But back in the day, like hell yeah, put him to work as mom-taxi, meals, all that stuff that I continued to be in charge of even as my business scaled. But anyway…

Shira: Yeah, and I do want to point out that my kids now are almost eight and 10, and I think it’s the first point in their lives where I really feel like I’m ready, I’m hungering for more freedom and autonomy and frankly, so are they. We’ve just hit the point where they would rather be with their friends than be with me. And so I don’t think this arrangement – I don’t think I would have been ready for it, like, if they were two and four, I really did appreciate having that time and having the flexibility to both work and pick them up from preschool. But I think in the last year or so, as my business has really taken off, there has been this friction of even if a kid is sick, my husband and I are fighting over who has to cancel their day. And so I think that’s such a universal stress of how are we going to put all of this together. And I think having him leave his job to create that flexibility for our family is everything.

Susan: Right, I do think there’s so many beautiful things in the way that you talk about this and that you guys have talked about it, you’ve planned it, you’ve decided, hey we’re going to have quarterly meetings, we’re going to do all these things, instead of where my mind goes, where like, oh my god, he would have an office in this room, and that’s it. So then it could be structured in a way that benefits the whole family and everybody’s preferences and not just, like, your worst nightmare.

Shira: Yes, and my husband is the most extroverted person in America, so he’s very excited to go work in cafes and bars and pound the pavement, and it’s been made very clear that he’s not in my office.

Susan: Well, I have to say, that’s the same, Scott Hyatt, I always joke that if you look up ADHD with extroversion in the dictionary, there is my husband’s photo. And I am slightly on the introverted side of the scale. I’m an outgoing introvert really.

Shira: Me too.

Susan: Yeah, so we’ve got that in common. Well I will be following this journey for updates on it. So for everyone listening, here we have someone who started her business as a result of being laid off. So this was a rebirth for you, new mom, went from 9K to now 250K, retiring your husband to work for you and to support the family. And so the work that you do, you talked about organizing and de-cluttering, and something that is interesting to me about what you do, because I talk so much about the energy of clothing and the magic of clothing, quite honestly, in my BARE work, let’s talk a little bit about an entrepreneurs space and closet and what you’re on a mission to help.

Shira: Okay, great, yeah, so basically, my work is I coach people through the process of editing and organizing their living and working spaces. And my specific niche is closet overhauls. And that’s kind of what I’ve become known for. And what I love about helping a woman edit and organize and style their closet is I think your closet really signifies your relationship with yourself, your self-esteem, how you want to show up, body image stuff. Like, it’s all there buried in your closet. And so it’s a place where you really have to think about how do I want to show up, how do I want to feel in my clothes, who do I want to be? What are my goals? And is my closet, is my workspace supporting and elevating those goals. And I think, given my experience of working in hundreds of homes, for most people, the answer is no. Most people are not even conscious of how their closet or their cluttered office affects how they’re showing up. And so my big goal is to help people create spaces that support and reflect their goals and ambitions and really help boost them up so they can live their best lives and do their best work.

And so I launched my virtual closet makeover program this year in 2018 and hundreds of people from all over the world have taken this program. And it’s been so interesting to watch because I think, when I launched the program, I was worried that people would think a closet makeover is kind of a surface trivial thing. And really, what I’ve been seeing through the work that my clients have done in this program, is it’s anything but. When you have to slow down and take everything out of your closet and go through and try things on and dust the shelves off and set it up with intention, you are forced to really take stock of who am I, how am I showing up, am I confident in my clothes, do I like my body, how am I treating myself; so many big questions.

And what I’ve been seeing, which I’ve been so moved by, is that the women that have gone through this program are using it to show up completely differently in their lives, in their work. People are doing their closets and then doing their pantries and losing weight as a result of clearing the clutter in their kitchens and pantries. So really, it has the potential to be so impactful and I just encourage everyone to really think about, how are your living spaces affecting you? Are they supporting you, are they stressing you out? What are some little things that you can start to tweak to start jumping into elevating your life and living your best life through your space?

Susan: Yeah, I want to just interject here that the BARE program – so for those of you listening to Rich Coach Club, you may not be aware that I have a book coming out in March called BARE. And the BARE process, part of the BARE process, the whole thing is about helping a woman come back to herself, inhabit her body, love the skin that she’s in. And one of the steps in the BARE process is called closet detox. And what’s interesting, I want to just high-five everything you just said. People love closet detox week inside the BARE membership community because it seems like such a fun little de-clutter, like I’m just going to pretty up my space. And then once they get in there and they start looking at every piece of clothing and asking, you know, does this feel like love? Why am I putting this against my skin? What a lot of my clients find is that a lot of their wardrobe consists of either things that camouflage their body – the sole purpose of the thing is just to make them look as skinny as possible, which typically translates into very uncomfortable and they hate it. Or they have ambition-sizing going on in there, like if I just lose X pounds I’m going to get back into that thing. Or, what I was doing was I had stacks of jeans of all sizes. So I was hoarding bigger sizes because I didn’t trust myself to take exceptional care of myself. So there’s so much deep work that is wrapped up in what you’re doing that I do think that the question you’re asking, from an entrepreneurial standpoint is, is this wardrobe or is this space supporting the elevated vision I have for my business?

Shira: Absolutely, and I want to get back to what you said about the different sizes of clothing, because I think that’s such a universal common pain-point. And having spent a lot of time in other people’s closets, I’ve seen most women have three sizes of clothing in their closet. They have their, quote, skinny clothes, their fat clothes, and the items that actually fit. And why I think this is such a problem is by seeing your body as the thing that needs to be altered rather than the size of your clothing, you start thinking of your body as a problem. And the skinny clothes that people think are aspirational actually really perpetuate negative thoughts about yourself and can lead to such low self-esteem and even body-loathing. And I think even when we feel badly about ourselves, we can be more prone to overeating and not taking good care of ourselves.

So I am always a fan of only keep the clothes that fit and flatter your body that you feel great in. I have yet to meet a woman whose, you know, skinny jeans that she can’t get on her body actually make her feel good and revved up and motivated. And even with the fat clothes, I think that pile perpetuates the idea that you may not succeed in your weight-loss goals and you need these items in case you fail. So I’m all about eliminating the fat clothes, eliminating the skinny clothes, and embracing the body that you’re in, the skin that you’re in, and how can I treat that body with the most care and respect and love possible. So that is a huge part of my mission, just that I want women to stop being so hard on themselves.

Susan: Yeah, absolutely, a thousand percent what you just said, which is why their homework, once they get in their closet, is the only thing allowed in your closet is what fits you right now, and that you love it. And so all kinds of coaching comes up around that, around worthiness and around wasting money and so many things. But when a woman opens her closet, when I did this work myself and when I open my closet – now, I’m not saying my closet – every seven weeks in the BARE membership community, we do closet, and it’s amazing to me how every seven weeks, I learn something new. It’s a never-ending evolution, because I’m like, “My closet’s good, girl.” And I open it up and I’m like, “How is this still in here? Why do I own this?”

Shira: Yes.

Susan: But it is so freeing to open a closet and be able to put your hands on things that you know you love and not waste time and energy and mental gymnastics on is it going to fit, does it make me look a certain way…

Shira: Totally, it’s like the paradox of choice thing, like when you open your closet and there’s so much in there to navigate through, you can’t get dressed in an efficient way, whereas if you’ve done all of that pre-work to make sure you’ve put in the time to organize and clean and de-clutter your surroundings and make sure everything, you love it, you use it, it fits, getting dressed is like a breeze. It’s two seconds, done.

Susan: Yes, so let me ask you this; if you had one piece of advice for Rich Coach Club listeners, what is the best possible thing they could do regarding wardrobe for their business?

Shira: So I would think about what is the business that you want, and I would really kind of drop into that vision of you at your best killing it in your business, and then I would just think about what am I wearing. And then I would wear that.

Susan: Yeah, I mean, it’s different for everybody. Like, you know, there are days when killing it for me, building this multiple seven-figure business, is I’m in my best Lululemon because I just lifted weights. And then other days, like today, I’m in a leather blazer because I’m doing a webinar and I’m showing up as a boss. So it’s all about how you feel.

Shira: Totally, yeah, so there’s no rules about it. It’s not like in order to be a successful wealthy coach, you have to wear a blazer.

Susan: Right.

Shira: I think the idea is you want to feel good and elevated and confident in your clothes and I think what most people fail to do is just be intentional. And so usually, people are just throwing things on and rushing out the door, so actually, I might revise my statement. You know what I would do, is I would pick your outfit the night before. This is such a simple little thing that I did in my group and people said it was a game-changer, just look at your calendar, what am I doing the next day? How do I want to show up? How do I want to feel? And go into your closet and take five minutes, pick your outfit and lay it out. So it’s all about that making the decision ahead of time so when you wake up in the morning and you’re rushing out the door with the kids and the coffee, you’ve already taken the time to put in that self-care and decide how you want to show up and what you want to wear. So that’s what I would say. Think about how you want to feel and pick it out the night before.

Susan: I love that. And can I just give props to my southern momma who used to make me do that every night. Even though I wore a uniform, I had to lay that Catholic school uniform out with my socks, my shoes, my bow, my accessories, and it’s something I still do today with my workout clothes, because that’s what I put on first. It is absolutely, like, you and I, we are like two peas in a pod with this, Shira.

Shira: I love it.

Susan: So let me ask you this, because I could talk to you all day, but what I want to know is how can people best find you and connect with you? And of course, we’ll have all the details in the show notes as well.

Shira: Perfect, yes, so my website is just my name, shiragill.com. It will be in the show notes. My virtual closet makeover program is right there on the homepage and you can connect with me on Instagram @shiragill.

Susan: Yes, her Instagram is also beautiful. Well I can’t thank you enough and I am going to go elevate my space before my webinar and get rid of some of this stuff on my desk.

Shira: Yes, clear that surface.

--

Throughout this episode, we’ve been talking about the importance of creating a beautiful closet and a sense of style that really suits you. This may seem frivolous to some of you, but it’s really not because your clothes have a direct impact on how you feel. If you’re struggling to squeeze into a top that’s too tight, if you can’t breathe properly, if you’re wearing something scratchy or stained or something that just doesn’t feel like you, then you’re not setting yourself up for a million-dollar day. And when it comes to your coaching business, you want to give yourself every possible advantage, including feeling great about what you’re wearing.

So earlier in today’s episode, I asked you to visualize what your future self would be wearing; you a few years from now. What’s she up to? What’s she wearing? Here’s one more fun question for you to consider.

So when it comes to your style, your clothes, your look, what’s the big message you want to broadcast into the world? Your clothes are always sending a nonverbal message into the world, so what do you want that message to be?

When Michelle Obama became First Lady of the US, she was pretty disinterested in fashion. She just didn’t particularly care about it. She never had. But she knew that, like it or not, she was about to be thrust into the public eye in a huge way. And she knew she was going to have cameras pointed at her nonstop and she knew people would pay close attention to her clothes.

So she decided, you know what, if everyone’s going to be staring at me then I want to send a specific message. And she decided, I want to primarily wear outfits created by American designers, especially people of color.

She wore outfits created by Prabal Gurung, Tadashi Shoji, Jason Wu, and the list goes on and on. And through her style, Michelle chose to broadcast a message of diversity and unity. Of course she did. She wanted to showcase all the gorgeous cultures and all the gorgeous colors and perspectives that comprise the US.

And she also made a point of wearing affordable pieces from places like Target and J.Crew, which stunned many people at first. She wanted to broadcast to Americans that looking and feeling great doesn’t have to be an unattainable dream. It’s possible even on a modest budget.

And she wanted her clothes to signify, “Hey, I’m just like you. I’m a working mom, I care about my family and my country and I love wandering through the aisles of Super Target and finding a sweet deal just like everybody else.

So I’m sharing this story about Michelle Obama to remind you that, with your style, you have an opportunity to broadcast a particular message, a reminder, a philosophy to the world.

So what’s it going to be? By wearing cute shorts, you can broadcast a message of joy and sensuality at every age. Your message might be, “Hey, women over 50 can wear shorts and have fun too. You don’t have to cover up and hide once you reach midlife.”

By wearing red leather pants, you can broadcast a message of individualism and nonconformity. Your message might be, “Guess what, you can raise two kids, run a thriving business, be intelligent and compassionate, and wear sassy leather pants all in the same day.”

To me, this is what’s exciting about clothes. It’s a chance to craft and broadcast a particular kind of message to the world. So take some time to consider what type of message you want to broadcast through your website, through your newsletters, through your social media messages, through your conversations with clients, and yes, through your clothes too.

And then start dressing the part. Every single morning when you get dressed, you get another opportunity to share your message with the world.

So thank you for listening to today’s episode. Your homework for this week is to upgrade your closet and your style. So start dressing like your future self. Start considering what type of message you want to broadcast to the world through your clothes and start noticing how different outfits influence your mood and influence the success of your day, because clothes do matter.

When you get dressed, I hope you can select outfits that feel good and look good and that feel rich to you; rich as in powerful, generous, beautiful, and yeah, sometimes luxurious. And when you start your day already feeling rich and grounded, then it’s going to be so much easier to run your business and reach your income goals. Feel rich to get rich, peeps. Peace out.

Alright, thank you so much listening to Susan Hyatt's Rich Coach Club. If you enjoyed today's show, please head over to shyattagency.wpengine.com/rich where you'll find a free worksheet with audio called Three Things You Can Do Right Now To Get More Clients. You can download the worksheet and the audio, print it out, there's a fun checklist for you to check off. Just three things to do. Check, check, checkidy-check.

This worksheet makes finding clients feel so much simpler and not so scary. So head to shyattagency.wpengine.com/rich to get that worksheet. Over there, you're also going to find a free Facebook you can join especially for coaches. Bring your coaching practice and your income to the next level at shyattagency.wpengine.com. See you next week.

Enjoy The Show?

GIVEAWAY TIME:
It’s Week 6 of the Rich Coach Club Giveaway and we have one 1-hour coaching session with me with your name on it.

To win all you have to do is:

Post an iTunes review (then email support@shyatt.com the title of your review). Once we receive your email, your name will be put in a drawing at the end of week 6 to win!

XOXO,
Susan

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