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There’s a movie called Match Point, directed by Woody Allen, which I’d say is well worth a watch. I’m sure you’re wondering where I’m going with this, but hear me out. The movie is about the role that luck plays in our lives, and how we never seem to give it enough credit. I’m mentioning it here because today I’m going to chat to you about a lucky meeting with a happy outcome.
I’ve come to a stage in my business where I need to stop hiding behind the “I’m still creating my product ranges” story, and start getting out there and marketing what I have. So I recently attended my first ever Zoom networking event for local small businesses. Now I’m a person who hates parties, stands in a corner looking at my shoes at drinks gatherings and slinks away as soon as I possibly can. So I was well out of my comfort zone, and had no idea what I was expected to say or do at this Zoom session. I think I was the only newbie in the group, but the host was very nice, and asked each of us to talk a bit about what we did. A lovely lady named Kelly Caira, photographed above, came on. She told us she was an image consultant, and described what she did. I listened happily, all the while thinking that this had nothing to do with me. I assumed that image consultants were for the Meghan Markles of this world, who were in the spotlight all day every day. After I talked about what I did, Kelly sent me a message on the Zoom chat. She was clearly more clued up about what I did than I was about what she did. And thank goodness she was, else we’d have never connected. She said that she was interested in seeing my jewellery to find out if it was something she might recommend to her clients, and suggested that we have a one to one Zoom meeting.
And what an eye-opener that meeting was. In our one to one, Kelly explained more fully what she actually did. An image consultant will help you decide what colours suit your skin tones best, what clothes styles will work for your body shape, and what sort of accessories you should wear or carry. Dark colours or light; warm shades or cool; statement or minimalist; vintage or modern; these are all questions that get answered by an image consultant. In short they help you become the best version of you.
I grew up at a time when we were taking our cues about feminism from the likes of Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinem. It’s only after their time in the limelight that it became clear that you could be a feminist and be feminine at the same time. We started understanding that looking good didn’t erode your grey cells.
I mention this because although Kelly didn’t say so explicitly, it became clear to me that you didn’t have to be a celebrity to use an image consultant, because the point of image consulting is not just to make you look amazing, but to make you feel more confident. And that confidence extends well beyond a confidence in how you look; it follows through into everything you do.
I remember once, I was dressing for an interview at one bank or another, and I said to my daughter, “Do you think they’ll notice that I’m not wearing nail polish?” Wise beyond her years, she said “Mum, they won’t care, but if you’re going to feel more confident and perform better, you should put some on.” How true. The nail polish wasn’t going to change my knowledge, but it would subconsciously alter the manner in which I expressed that knowledge; and that could make all the difference.
For those of you who think that image consulting is like a little makeover with Cher in the cute teen movie Clueless, think again. Kelly is fully trained by House of Colour, and she has a range of services that she provides. But most importantly, she’s teaching you skills that you can use for a long time. It’s a case of “teach a man to fish, and he can eat forever”.
And incidentally, Kelly did like my jewellery on closer inspection, so that’s great news for me. And this is what I mean when I say luck plays a role in all our lives. We help it along of course; I could have easily ignored Kelly’s chat message, and that would have been that. But I didn’t, and that was lucky; and I’m glad, not just because she liked my jewellery, but because I’ve come across a likeminded person, who I hope will turn into a friend. She enjoys reading too, and we even found some books in common that we’ve both liked; this isn’t something that happens often in a first meeting.
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