How to Get Your Image to Work for You, Not Against You with Holly Wilensky Katz: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. The only daily podcast in the world with interviews of the most successful entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down how to get your image to work for you, not against you. To draw these value bombs, I brought Holly Katz into EO Fire Studios. Holly is a personal stylist, style coach, and the best friend you never knew you needed when it comes to fashion and style. With Holly's expertise and knowledge, you will find yourself leveling up not only with your clothes, but with every facet of your life.

0:34and Fire Nation, today's value bombs. We talk about how your style should be evolving with your age, how a personal stylist is a service that is reachable for people at any budget or tax brackets and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Holly and our sponsors. Is this your year to grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOFire.

1:15Fire Nation, you have a book inside you and it's time to share your message with the world. That's why I created Author 100, a 100-day program where I will personally guide you one-on-one to create, write, publish, and market your book. If you want daily guidance and mentorship from me, JLD, then head over to author100.com to sign up for a free call with me to chat about the details. Holly, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What is up, fashion friends of the Fire Nation? Um, what I think is that what, you know, most people think that what you wear actually doesn't matter.

2:03But what I believe is that what you wear does matter and is actually part of your skill set. that way you can present yourself to the world, you know, you have total control over that and you can put your best foot forward. And, you know, fashion and style can really benefit you in all areas of your life, personal and professional. And Fire Nation, that's why we're talking today with Holly about getting your image to work for you, not against you. And Holly, you're a personal stylist. So we have to start with the question, what exactly is a personal stylist? I am so glad you asked. A personal stylist is a little bit like a personal trainer.

2:46So, you know, as someone guides you through a workout, what we do is we guide you through the process of, quote, doing the work, you know, to figure out the best fit and style for your age, your life phase, your wardrobe, and your budget. I'm really that lost connection between the consumer and the retailer that explains fit, fabric, you know, in detail for someone's age, industry, and lifestyle. When you buy a car, of course, you already know how to drive, but they still sit there and explain everything to you. I, it's, you know, there's no one to do that. I explain all the details when buying clothes that people really aren't familiar with.

3:29So Fire Nation, I hope you can realize why I brought Holly on to talk about this topic specifically, because most people right now think that a personal stylist is only for those rich and famous people. Are those people who think that wrong? Yes. And this is a service that is really reachable for people in any budget or tax bracket. You know, in this country, people see celebrities and they automatically feel inferior because we put celebrities on a pedestal. You know, personal styling is a service that you can seek out at any budget to help your style evolve with your age. So it's important that you figure out who can help you in your area.

4:17I help people virtually all the time. I also travel and help people, but it is not out of reach for someone who is, you know, on a regular budget. So Fire Nation, I hope you realize that this conversation applies to you. This conversation is not for the rich and famous. It's for Fire Nation. It's for our listeners here today. It's for every single person that wants to make our image work for us, not against us. So Holly, how can we tell? How can we tell when our image is holding us back? What are some of those key signs? So first thing, if you look back at pictures from you from years ago, and you're still wearing the same clothes, your image is holding you back.

5:03If you haven't shopped in 5, 10, 25 years, if you're reluctant to spend money on clothes, or if you're trying to get out on the cheap, or if you won't clean out your closet or part with anything, and lastly, if you don't think how you, you know, if you don't understand that how you look really does matter to the world, you know, your image is holding you back. And it could be things like you won't cut your hair or, you know, you're afraid to spend, all that stuff is fear-based. And when you let fear hold you back really in any area of your life, your image is going to hold you back too. That your image is that last piece of your resume, of your skill set that really sets you apart from the rest.

5:50I mean, even before COVID, coming back from COVID, now people are going back to work. People are more casual than ever. And it doesn't mean that you have to give up on your image or think that you just are blending into the wall. You have to really separate yourself from others. You have total control of your image, and that's a great way to separate yourself. Now, we've already touched upon this a little bit, but I really want to dive deeper into this. Should our style evolve with our age? And if yes, how so? Your style has to be evolving with your age. I mean, it has to be. You have to figure out the who, what, when, where, why of you.

6:33Who are you? Where are you in your life today? What do you need? What do you want? What do you like? And when I work with people, you know, I'm like, what's your style? People are like, I don't have a style. You don't have a style because you don't know what that is. And that's okay. I mean, and people that grow up with parents that don't know, end up having children that don't know. And I do corporate styling a lot. I work with HR people and they're complaining about kids out of college that they don't know how to dress. Your office wants to present a certain image and kids coming out of college don't know how to do that and it's because they've never been shown.

7:12So it's okay if you don't know the first step is awareness, but it's important to either get professional help like someone like myself or, you know, do some research, look at blogs, look at websites, department store websites. You know, it's easy to figure out kind of what you like and start from there, but your style, the same way you don't wear clothes, you know, from when you're a kid, you just, you have to keep going and evolve as a person in general. I mean, I know if I was wearing the same things that I was wearing in high school. I mean, Fire Nation is a little cringeworthy. So I'm thankful that I've evolved over time.

7:45And one thing that I will say, kind of an interesting story is, I was very basic and I had really just bad style my freshman, sophomore, junior, and half of my senior year of high school. I just had other things that I was focused on, sports, school, et cetera. But I remember my second half of my senior year, school was kind of winding down. I had already gotten early admission to the college of my choice. So I was going, and I just had more time in my hands. And so I actually started for some weird reason, kind of getting a little bit into clothes and style for like really the first time in my life.

8:17And throughout the second half of my senior year in high school into the summer before I went to college, I just had a massive upgrade in my wardrobe, a massive upgrade. And when I got to college, nobody knew me. I went to a college that I didn't know a single other person except for one person. There was one person in the over 4 ,000 people in my college that I even knew on any level. So I was basically starting afresh. And I had the most interesting experience because my reputation was like so different than it was in high school. In high school, I was just like the athletic person who just kind of got away with like, you know, jeans and like a little baggy sweatshirt.

8:56But in college, I literally began to like be looked at as this kind of stylish person, kind of a hip person. And I'm from Maine and I was going to school in a city, Providence, Rhode Island. and everybody was like, oh, where are you from? Are you from New York City? Are you from like Los Angeles? Like just because of like the way that I dressed, they were assuming that when I told them I was from Maine, not that anything's wrong with Maine, I love Maine, but people were just assuming that I was from some like sophisticated city type area when they heard I was from Maine, they're just like, wow, I never like had a assumption that somebody from Maine would like have this kind of style and I wasn't through the roof.

9:30Let's not get carried away. I was just dressing pretty nice, like button downs, collars, form-fitting jeans, nice shoes. I mean, things like that. But that was enough to really take that and have that new experience. And that really opened my eyes for the first time of like, wow, this really matters what I wear. And the initial perception, the first impression that I'm making with other people. And, you know, some people may be like, oh, that sounds kind of shallow and all these different things. Like, no, like your first impression is real. And that allowed me to carry that through. and I really enjoyed having that new persona, that new reputation.

10:05And I can remember carrying that all the way through. And, you know, really now that I'm in Puerto Rico, I pretty much just wear a bathing suit every day. So it's kind of different, but you know, once everything settles down here a little bit more with everything that's going on, you know, it's back to like dressing nice and looking good and feeling good. And we're going to be talking about the style rut that people get into. We're going to talk about, get excited about shopping and closet disorganization when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Is this your year to grow a successful business?

10:34Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you, who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month, and it costs less than hiring a minimum wage employee. Yes, it's month to month, and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Schedule your free 13-point assessment with Clay Clark himself today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire.

11:07Because Clay only takes on 160 clients and only allows 300 attendees to each business conference, you will interact with Clay directly, see thousands of real success stories, and learn about attending the Thrive Time Show two-day in-person workshop featuring the legendary Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire. become the next success story, schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join Eric Trump and Robert Kiyosaki at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Fire Nation, you have a book inside you right now, but it's not always about our desire to write a book.

11:45Sometimes it's about knowing which steps to take and when to take them to make it happen. If you know you have a book inside of you, but aren't sure where to start, then I have an exciting opportunity for you. It's called Author 100. Author 100 is a program I personally crafted to help you one-on-one every step of the way, from drafting to writing to publishing and even marketing your book. When you join the Author 100 program, you'll have access to me, JLD, for 100 days. We'll have weekly one-on-one calls, plus you'll get daily guidance from me whenever you have questions or hit a roadblock. Over the past 12 years, I've self-published five books, including one of the top five publishing campaigns of all time on Kickstarter, the Freedom Journal.

12:30I've also traditionally published with HarperCollins, so I know a lot about the book publishing world and where most authors go wrong. I created Author 100 to share my experience and the lessons I've learned along the way, and I can't wait to share it with you. If you're interested in learning more, head over to author100.com and sign up for a free call with me. that's author100.com. Holly, we're back and let's be frank, a lot of people get stuck in the style rut. So we've all been there. How do we get out of this rut? First of all, don't feel bad. Most people are. But if you're in a style rut, you know, it's because you're afraid of change or you really want to change, but you don't know how to start.

13:19So it's too hard. It's too emotional. You're building it up to be this giant thing. And it's really not. You just need someone to guide you through it. And, you know, again, when you look at pictures, you look at inspirations going on any department store website, it says what's new, what's trending, you know, look books, style ideas, wear it with this. they've really made it very easy for people who aren't familiar with shopping and style, how to, you know, start at zero. And it's, it's so beneficial to kind of start at one area. Maybe you need a pair of jeans. I'm just throwing that at you. You can't try on two pairs of pants and then leave and say nothing fits you or my body's too weird.

14:10You know, you have to literally try on 20 pairs of jeans to figure out what you like. And you start with baby steps, one bite. Maybe you want new jeans. Maybe you want new shoes. You can't dive in, you know, to the deep end and expect to, you know, to keep afloat. You've got to just start small and get help. But like I said, the first step is awareness. If you are looking in the mirror and you're like, well, I look okay. Well, no one's ever told me I look bad. You know, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're on the right track. It means that you're feeling this energy kind of stagnant that you want to make a change.

14:50And that's the first step. And looking online, getting help is the first way to get out of that. Cleaning out of your closet is the second way to get out of that. So, I mean, people have mass disorganization. They either overshop or they own nothing. And I will say that people that don't own a lot think that they're ahead of the game because they have very little, but they're just really doing themselves a disservice by not experimenting or going out of their circle. People that shop too much, they don't know what they have. They don't know what fits and they're afraid to give anything away because of that.

15:27They have a financial block. Everybody has a block. Sometimes it's laundry systems to have your stuff come back to you and present themselves to you. Sometimes it's money. You're worried about the money. But it's just as detriment to have the clothes in your closet that you don't wear than buying new ones because that's holding you back as well. And that's what I want to move into next is when we want to get out of this rut, obviously, we got to go shopping. We got to get excited about shopping. So what advice do you have for people who, and I'll be frank, I just don't love the experience of shopping.

16:03How do you get them shopping? How do you get them excited about shopping? Look, the only reason you don't like to shop or anyone on the planet is because you don't know what you're doing. And it's okay. I mean, I am in the stores all the time. I can, I live, breathe, eat, sleep this. Okay. So if you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what to look for, then of course you're not going to enjoy it. But when you do, you know, like I said, when you take small bites, it makes it much easier to figure out what you like. Whatever your industry is or your life phase, you know, most people's life do not require expensive clothes.

16:43So, you know, people's, again, it's the comparison to the celebrities. Well, this is what's hot, so I must, I should get that. That doesn't necessarily translate to you or your lifestyle. So figure out what you like and who you are today, not 10 pounds. You know, then I get another thing. You know, when I lose weight, I don't want to buy all these clothes. You know, it's just another block that you have because you need to dress for the body you have today. When you dress for the body you have today, then you present yourself on, hey, this is who I am. This is who I want to be. you can always improve on your style, but that's, you know, it's about the journey.

17:20It's not about the destination. I feel like I'm pretty in style, but I always want to look better. But if you don't enjoy shopping, you have to get a professional to go with you to sort of guide you through the process. When you develop a style plan, it's kind of like a grocery list, you know, as the same way you don't go to the grocery store hungry, you know, don't go to the store and say, well, I need everything. Well, then you're just, then you throw in the towel too early. You know, you have to just really go where you're comfortable, get help, ask for help. That's the first step. Get help, ask for help.

17:55And again, you just don't know what you're doing, Fire Nation. And my hand is being raised. I don't know what I'm doing when I walk into a mall. I'm so overwhelmed. I'm just like, there's big discounts here. They're super expensive clothes here. I don't know what's going on. But let's move into something that, you know, is actually, frankly, probably made your life easier recently is just everybody wanting to have less and to really just want to say, you know what, less is more. Let's go simple. Let's have the art of giving up things that really I can now look at, let's say for instance, my closet, my clothes rack and just not hate it, not be overwhelmed, but look at it and be like, oh, that's clean.

18:34That's organized. That just feels right. So talk about closet disorganization and how it can work against us. If you use your closet as a dumping ground for storage, if you are sharing the space with your partner, that makes it hard. If you, like I said, if you don't have laundry systems in place, you know, I go into people's homes and I'm like, who does the laundry? And they're like, well, sometimes I do it. Sometimes they do it. It's, you don't, it's just flailing around. You've got to have systems in place because clothes are energy. And if you don't treat your clothes with respect, then they don't come back and serve you the way they should.

19:15And it doesn't mean you have to be a neat freak. But what that does mean is that you have to have enough respect for yourself and for your clothes to get your act together, to have one area in your home that only belongs to you. No kid stuff, no storage, know this, know that, know, you know, a lot of problems that I see are like when, when someone dies and then they keep the items from that person as keepsakes in their closet. And again, it's just energy that's holding them back because of the guilt and they don't know what to do with it or they don't know where it goes. And, you know, it always, when I work with people, it's never, it is about the clothes, but it's always about something deeper.

20:00Right. And so that's why, I, you know, I don't claim to be a therapist, but I sort of am one. I act like one because people really have deeper issues that are causing them to be disorganized. You know, keeping the laundry intact, keeping it clean, having it come back to you, having a designated place for your dry cleaning, making sure it gets to the cleaners and comes back. You know, delivery service is like amazing. Sign up for that. You know, and just having your things, matching your socks, putting your workout stuff separate from your other things. These are all little tidbits that can really help you stay organized.

20:43I mean, I could tell you stories for hours about the problems that people have because they don't know how to match their socks. They don't know, you know, what their separate underwear, workout underwear from regular, you know, or even getting fitted for a bra. Like a lot of women have never done that or haven't kept that up. You know, for men, it's all about grooming and, you know, making sure you have undershirts and making sure you your dress socks are separate from your sports socks and, you know, good jeans and going out clothes versus work clothes. I mean, there's just a lot of different areas that people maybe haven't thought of.

21:22And so all their clothes are together and it's just much, you know, needed. It's it's a lot of chaos. So it's important to just try to stay as organized as you can. Changing the hangers. You know, I'm a real big advocate of velvet slimline hangers because they really do save you a lot of room. I mean, you could, there are so many ways, especially if you have a small space that you can take advantage, you know, of the space that you have by changing your hangers when you're dry cleaning somewhere else. Organizing your drawers, folding your clothes a certain way so they stand up in the drawers. I know I'm throwing a lot at you.

22:00It sounds like a lot of work, but this is why when you do this, then you're set for life. I mean, when you jump in and you clean out your closet for one day, you know, give away your clothes that don't serve you anymore. you know, then you just keep the best of the best. And that's what you should be wearing is the best of the best. You should not be wearing clothes from 10 years ago or 15 years ago. You know, if you want to keep a couple of things that are still in style, that's okay. But you, like I said, you should be evolving and then rotating, taking out what doesn't serve you and donating that because there are so many programs in this world with people coming out of the prison system, people coming to this country, women who are pregnant, who cannot afford to buy maternity clothes.

22:50I mean, if you're done having kids and you can give your maternity clothes away, that's just a huge, huge gift that you can give to someone else so you can free up that energy so new things can come to you. It's like the death by a thousand paper cuts, Fire Nation. Do you want to day after day be walking in and just being disgusted with your closet or with your clothes or with this or with that, or this is with any single task that you do, if you take one day, just like Holly said, one day and you just get things right, and then you have that for the rest of your life. So Holly, with everything that you shared today, which is a ton of value bombs, what's the one key takeaway you really wanna make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation?

23:32Then share any call to action you have for our listeners, ways that we can connect with you, and then we'll say goodbye. Sounds great. Look, Fire Nation, I feel you. I hear you. And I see you. You're worried about spending money on clothes. You're worried about losing weight. You don't have enough room. Every excuse under the sun. But when you start, it is addicting. And let me tell you, the people that work with me, they are drinking the Kool-Aid. Start with one area. If you need new clothes, start there. If your closet is a hot mess, start there. If you need better systems in place, start there.

24:14Do one thing. And I will say this for everyone who's worried about their weight. When I'm done with you, you're not going to say that you need to lose weight anymore. Because when you wear the right clothes, you don't feel like you have to lose weight every single time you look in the mirror. I do have a very exclusive most common mistakes made video that is just specially for the Fire Nation. It is Holly Katz Styling. That is hollykatzstyling.com slash fire. This is a very exclusive video made just for the Fire Nation. Do not make these common fashion mistakes. Watch the video. Drop your email in, watch the video, try to make sure that you're not making these mistakes, and let's get your outside to match your inside.

25:08Fire Nation, I really hope you take these words to heart. I feel very fortunate. I made this transformation back in high school, and I've had to go through multiple iterations over the past 20 years since then. Believe me, it's easy to get stuck in that style rut. And you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So hopefully they're looking good on the dressing side of things. And you've been hanging out with HWK and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to eofire.com. Type Holly in the search bar and the show notes page will pop up with everything that we've talked about here today.

25:42Holly, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Holly and Fire Nation. What can 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 70-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle that you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs, and you can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com.

26:23UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Is this your year to grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Fire Nation, you have a book inside you, and it's time to share your message with the world. That's why I created Author 100, a 100-day program where I will personally guide you one-on-one to create, write, publish, and market your book.