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How to look your professional best!

Guest post by: Maggie Gibbons

Article Overview: Dressing professionally needn't be difficult if you remember a few simple rules.....

How to look your professional best!



Rules of Dressing for Business:

Have you ever been in a situation where you really wanted to be taken seriously but weren’t? You really thought you’d make an impact but got a lukewarm reception and were left wondering why you didn’t?

This has happened countless times to almost every woman and man I know. Could it possibly have had anything to do with your clothing? Or, to put it another way what you weren’t wearing? I’m talking Authority pieces here.

Authority pieces are items of clothing that establish credibility, they include key elements like jackets, sleeves, collars, and suits in firm fabrics and neutral colours.

Authority pieces add substance, then they instantly fade into the background to allow your audience to focus on your words, skills and abilities. With them you’re viewed as competent enough to command attention, without them you’re not and may even be overlooked in an interview situation.

So let’s look in detail at these elements:



1. Appropriate….Dress for your Industry….Your position within the Industry….Geography….What your client will expect to see.

Design a 3 word description of the message you want your business look to communicate. Start by brainstorming all the words that you can think of that convey a good impression, eg Competent…Warm….Intelligent…Creative…Organised… Friendly…Approachable…Professional…Capable…Reliable…

Stylish.

Elegant…Glamorous…

2. Affordable…apply the cost per wear principle

Build a capsule wardrobe of 6 – 10 items that will all mix together.

Choose quality over quantity.

3. Attractive…Colour and harmony between hair, eyes and skin tone.

Shape and scale. Understand your body shape. Are you small, medium or large boned?

4. Assured…Appearances and actions need to be congruent to complete the picture. Non verbal and verbal should match. If body language and words don’t match the body language becomes the message.

Assess your wardrobe

When you have created your lifestyle pie chart go to your wardrobe and see what you have there. Try everything on. Make sure your clothes fit well. Do they suit your current lifestyle? Look at yourself in a full length mirror from every angle. Sit down in your clothes, see how they feel. Give away anything that no longer fits, has passed it’s sell by date or no longer suits your lifestyle.

What’s left? What’s missing? Write a list of everything you need and take this list with you when you go shopping.

Don’t spend money on novelty ties, or high fashion items.

Jacket

Jackets have been part of the Effective Business wardrobe for nearly 500 years. They command respect quite unlike any other garment.Whether you wear a suit every day or something more casual make sure you have at least one jacket that you can put on any time you need to appear more professional, like meetings, presentations etc.Whether it’s worn over a t shirt or classic shirt it immediately adds impact.

Building your wardrobe is a lifetime endeavour. Keep it simple and be appropriate. Your wardrobe should reflect your unique personality and of course your lifestyle.

What impression does your business wardrobe create? You make a huge mistake by not taking your business wardrobe seriously. In future consider yourself the brand and your clothes the packaging.

make you

Very few people have ideal proportions or are perfect height, the key is finding clothes to look your best at all times.

Maggie Gibbons is a Life and Image Coach and can be contacted on 0035387 6782406 email maggiegibbons@iol.ie

Blog maggie-gibbons.blogspot.com

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Related Forum Posts
Setting a Budget For Professional Development - Hi Louis - I think a big challenge is that many entrepreneurs don't set a budget for professional development. It's usually something companies will look at as they hire people and use as a staff retention & development tool but it's not usually the case that you'll find an entrepreneur sets a professional development budget for themselves.
Training Budgets - Louis, When I first started out there wasn't any money for training. Everything went into making the product and trying to close a sale. Now that I have staff I'm starting to look at professional development as an investment in them. It helps keep them motivated and hopefully they bring back some skills that can help my company. Do you have any suggestions on what a good target % would be to spend on training / professional development? Jennifer.
Ideal professional services provider - Hi James, What I like in a professional service provider is that they go beyond their area of expertise to try to help your business grow. They try to introduce you to other clients or people in their network who might help you. If they come across an article that might be of interest to you, they send it. They give you suggestions for your business based on the other companies they have seen and worked with. My lawyer, financial advisor, and accountant are all great at helping me grow my business beyond providing their professional services (still working on my banker!). This is why I use them and I send many of my friends and associates to them.
Training and Self Development - It's interesting to me that the latest StatsCan study shows that the majority of ongoing professional development training is paid for by large corporations. Yet, at the same time it is small business and entrepreneurs who need to invest in this exact training in order to remain competitive. So why is it that we are not taking ongoing professional development training? Is it time? Money? No perceived need? I'd appreciate it if you could take a second to answer the attached poll.
Re: I want to do business online! - [quote="lukassmith":11aths35]Hi all, Do you people have any idea about cheap and professional web Design Company? Actually I have a sport stuff business and want to spread my business online. Can anyone help me out ??[/quote:11aths35] If you'e just starting out in your business, try a "cookie cutter" website where you just input your info into a site that's already been created. It's cheaper that way. Then, if the site takes off, you can afford to go with a professional designer to make something unique.


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