Episode 83 // Find Your Style with Tiffany Ima

Emily Thompson 0:00
hello and welcome to being boss episode number 83 this episode is brought to you by fresh books cloud accounting

being boss and work and life is being in it

Kathleen Shannon 0:16
it's being who we are doing the work breaking some rules and even though we each have to do it on our own

Emily Thompson 0:24
being boss is knowing we're in it together

Kathleen Shannon 0:27
today we're speaking with tiffany aima and she is a stylist and image coach for coaches and speakers she is passionate about teaching women how to exude confidence through style which sounds so boss she believes you can be completely magnetic by combining your style personality and knowledge into one spectacular package and i personally have been following tiffany on instagram for a while and have a total style boss crush on her so tiffany we are so excited to have you on the show today thank you thank you thank you for spending time with us

Tiffany Ima 1:01
yeah thank you so much for having me i was super excited when i got the email so i'm glad to be here

Kathleen Shannon 1:08
all right you guys today we're talking to tiffany about going from a fashion blogger to a full time stylist who is going to own her own business like a boss and whenever it comes to going from a hobbyist to a pro it is so important to know where your business stands freshbooks makes it quick and easy to get a real time view of your business from anywhere on any device generating popular reports like profit and loss payments collected tax summary and expense reports are so easy to do in fresh books oh and your accountant which you totally need to hire will love you because you can give them their own login to get exactly what they need to keep your books in order and to do your yearly income taxes again you guys it's important to go pro you need to be sending invoices like a boss getting paid like a boss and tracking your expenses go to freshbooks comm slash being boss and enter being boss in the how did you hear about us section and they will give you one month for free no credit card required all right back to our episode all right well let's just start by having you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into fashion and styling

Tiffany Ima 2:21
yeah so my background is kind of kind of funny it's like a lot of different things because i've always done a lot of different things so when i was in college i went to the fashion and retail studies program after i think i think i decided to switch my major a couple different times i started out in business but i eventually landed on fashion and retail studies and because i really enjoyed style and i love to learn about the reasons why people bought the certain things that they did so my program was very much catered towards that versus like design or anything like that it was very much about the reasons behind style so it was a very like sociological aspect behind it

Kathleen Shannon 3:02
is that even like psychological a little bit like bio ecology

Tiffany Ima 3:07
it is alright i think i think i had a class that was like it was it had the word psychology in it so i can't remember the name of ad more cuz i was years ago but it's very style has a very psychological aspect to it so i'm fast forwarding two years later when i started my blog which is intended to be just a personal style blog and i did that for you know maybe three years or so before i decided i you know i spent a lot of time doing this maybe i want to take it a little bit further than just a personal style blog so i decided to look into how i can make it into a business and so i think about this last october is when i kind of started to develop a concept and a market and who i wanted to speak to and i landed on coaches and speakers because it's the industry that people see you so it is important to make sure that your style is also reflecting who you are as a person and also your brand and i didn't see anyone i was talking about branding as it relates to style so i landed there and i love it so

Kathleen Shannon 4:13
i love it you speak to my heart so i actually have a background in personal branding more from like the graphic design logo positioning copywriting aspect of it but i have an e course and i mentioned personal style in it and i dipped my toes into personal style blogging did

Emily Thompson 4:31
not dip your toes kathleen shannon i'm gonna call you out how long every single day did you post your outfit online

Kathleen Shannon 4:42
maybe for a year or two and i would outfit to

Unknown Speaker 4:46
the dip

Emily Thompson 4:48
exactly more than a

Kathleen Shannon 4:50
bit but this is why i'm excited to have you on the show because i kind of fell out of it and i didn't know that you've only been doing this since october so i think it'll be really exciting and inspiring for our listeners to see a new boss who i mean looking at your instagram i would have thought that you've been i mean obviously if you've been style blogging for a while that shows up in your instagram but as a boss you're kind of a newbie boss

Unknown Speaker 5:13
i am i am

Kathleen Shannon 5:15
we'll get more into that but i want to talk a little bit about style and how your style reflects your personal brand so let's go there a little bit

Tiffany Ima 5:24
yeah for sure so for me i am all about just like confidence and that's a huge part of my brand because just my background in general is i went through a lot of like self esteem issues in my early 20s and like in my teen years and it took me a while to land at a place where i felt confident in myself and for me style was always a catalyst for that because i would never you'll never hear me say that you should you're confident because of your style but you will hear me say that your style reflects your confidence and for me style became a big creative outlet for me to express myself and i just learned a lot about who i was through that which is why i always wanted it to be a part of who i am and you know what i showed other people so for me my brand is all about just exuding confidence and i think you know the colors that i choose use cognitive vibrant just hues and i love it because it just shows that you're confident who you are it takes it does take a competent person to wear a color the colors that i wear so i think that's reflective and my brand image that's the that's the biggest part of my brand image is reflecting that image of confidence and you know i just want the people who follow me in my audience to really grasp that idea of being able to accept who you are and love who you are as a person because ultimately you're going to need to be able to show people that you know what you're talking about and you can't do that if you're not confident in yourself

Emily Thompson 6:51
oh i love that i know that like style is coming from a family where i don't know style was not a thing you just sort of work clothes because you couldn't go around naked and i love this idea that that it's it communicates to other people in a way that you know you can't wear you don't have to with your words or with anything else like they see you you're wearing something that is totally you you're communicating to whoever it is that seeing you like who you are and that you're confident enough to like own it and show up that way so i love that love that aspect of style and wearing clothes in it it being such a

Tiffany Ima 7:31
such proof of confidence and that's actually why my tagline is build authority before you say a word because you know a lot of times you can tell what someone does just by kind of the way they dress and you can just take the clothes that you're wearing and use it to be a conversation starter you can use it to you know you feel more confident so you're able to express your brand a little bit better just because you feel more confident in the clothes that you're wearing so there's like so many different levels where you can use style and it can truly truly change the way that you feel about yourself but it doesn't start there it doesn't start with the clothes it starts inside so

Kathleen Shannon 8:09
alright so i think that a lot of people think that fashion is frivolous or simply a side thought and whenever i was dipping my toe into fashion blogging i started to realize that it's really not it's not a side thought it's something that like you said communicates who you are and it kind of lets people know what you're about before they ever even approach you for better and worse i have found even with my own style background i

Emily Thompson 8:37
have to say kathleen is sitting here saying this and bright red lipstick and a hat right it's sitting on her bed in her bedroom kathleen will show up and whatever she feels like wearing that day

Kathleen Shannon 8:51
the last time i showed up to recording and this hat emily answers and i was like six and she

Unknown Speaker 9:00
remember that day

Kathleen Shannon 9:01
i mostly just want to be beyonce is what's happening right yeah um so i think that what you're saying is that creative entrepreneurs should be thinking about style because they instantly communicate something but how do we kind of match up what it is that we want to be communicating with what we're saying with our styles so like how do we even get started with that

Tiffany Ima 9:24
yeah it's really it really starts with purging your closet and i will always tell people to start there because really we're more intuitive than we think about our style and the colors that we choose and a lot of times the style that you want really matches your brand anyway because as someone who is a creative entrepreneur you are expressing yourself online every single day and because you're most people are solopreneurs it's you like you are the brand so your clothing it usually is pretty much there as far as matching your brand and projecting the image that you want to protect what i find is a lot of women have trouble with Finding out like, how to wear the things that they have in a way that stands out a little bit more. So I always say, you know, start with the closet purge. So you can get rid of those things that you really don't like and you don't wear. And then you can kind of see the clothing that you are wearing, and then analyze the reasons why those are what you reach for every day. And as you develop your new wardrobe, you can take those concepts like oh, I wear this shirt, because you know, shows off my neckline, I wear this color, because it brings out my eyes, it may not be a shirt that or something that looks good on you. But you know the reason why you have it. And then when you start to build your new wardrobe, you can take those concepts and apply it to the things that you're now getting. And you start to develop almost like a style uniform, that can be used to project your image every single time that you show your face in a conference, or you show up for a client meeting or you are just posting a picture on Instagram.

Emily Thompson 10:54
Nice. I know Kathleen is like ongoing closet. perjure how's that been going?

Unknown Speaker 11:01
Guys? Okay,

Kathleen Shannon 11:06
here's the deal. I was pregnant over two and a half years ago, and I purge my entire closet because I literally felt like I was going to be pregnant forever. Tiffany, do you have any kids?

Unknown Speaker 11:16
I don't. Okay,

Kathleen Shannon 11:18
I thought I was going to be pregnant forever. And then after I had the baby, nursing is a whole other style issue. And so then I had to like everything had to just be booby accessible. Yeah. So then I was purging even more stuff. And now I feel like my wardrobe is just, it's not what I want it to be. And that's why also, I was excited to talk to you. And I even hired a consultant to come over and look at my wardrobe. And I felt like I got rid of even more stuff. And I think that what's missing in my closet now is the element of playfulness. So like my personal style,

Emily Thompson 11:55
says the girl in the hat and the pink bra bra, right?

Tiffany Ima 11:58
I was gonna say the same thing.

Emily Thompson 12:00
Continue Kathleen. So

Kathleen Shannon 12:04
I okay, so I started style blogging and like the heyday of Carrie Bradshaw, right, like super inspired by her playfulness. And Tiffany, I feel like that's something that you really embody, like you're gonna mix patterns and prints and screw all the rules, because you're rocking it anyway, you always have amazing accessories. And even whenever you're not super accessorize, I just feel like you have it so pulled together. And I don't know if that's the difference between a photograph. And then how we feel in real life, which could be a whole other conversation, like how we look on a photo versus how we feel in real life in an outfit. But oh, what I was gonna say is my style point of view is kind of like post apocalyptic, witchy warrior Mama, like, that's the vibe I'm going for. Like, at any given point. If, if a zombie attack goes down, I want to be dressed for the part. Like, that's generally my point of view. That has to do and you're pretty much usually

Unknown Speaker 12:59
rocking it.

Tiffany Ima 13:02
I mean, you got that going on right now. From what I can tell us.

Emily Thompson 13:05
Right? She does. You'd probably wear yoga pants under that though, for all we know.

Kathleen Shannon 13:09
Wearing ripped up boyfriend jeans?

Unknown Speaker 13:13
rocking it. Anyway.

Emily Thompson 13:18
Give me totally off track. Oh, I was gonna say something to hold on.

Kathleen Shannon 13:24
I don't remember, this happens too, after you forget everything. Right. Okay, so Tiffany, after the closet purge? What are some of your top styling tips or considerations that we can really start to put into place now?

Tiffany Ima 13:39
Yeah, for sure. So whenever people purge your closet, the first thing they want to do is just run out or just go buy a bunch of stuff. But I always say that should not be your next step. Because what happens is you purge your closet of all these things, and you see all those things that you got rid of, when you go to the store, you just fill your closet with more of the stuff that you just got rid of just newer. So what you want to do instead is really take the time to develop your style first. So you you know, you pull inspiration, you try to find out exactly what it is that you do like and want to wear. Then you put together an inspiration board so that that's what's fresh in your mind. And that's the style that you have in your mind when you go to the store. And then you make a wardrobe checklist, what do you need so that you actually have a complete wardrobe after you do shop. And then once you go to the store, you have everything you know what you need in your mind. And even you know what you need, it should be on a list too. And then when you buy, you know your new clothes, you're actually creating a complete wardrobe because a lot of people have disjointed wardrobes where you just have, you know, you might have some cute tops but then you have literally no pants to wear with them or vice versa. Or you are feeling like it's too plain. So you go to the store and you just continue to buy the same things over and over and over again, because it's just what you're used to getting. So you need to take the time and really think through your purchases before you buy them. because you know if when you walk into any type of store or a grocery store whatever you're going to just buy things that you're used to buy versus you know buying the things that you actually need i love that idea of comparing it

Kathleen Shannon 15:12
to grocery shopping and it's like if you're trying out a new recipe you've got the image of the recipe that you're wanting to check out you make a list of it i love that because i can look at an inspiration board and on my inspiration board is a lot of gwen stefani and kanye west so then i can make a list okay i need some drop crotch pants you know like that's what i did but at the same time it's so funny because literally kanye is on so many of my inspiration boards but i don't look like kanye west like i'm not a guy i'm not african american i'm i'm probably closer to looking like gwen stefani and i can see some overlaps between them but i find myself doing that exact thing where i'm just going to the store and buying the same thing over and over again because it's what i'm used to i think what's hard for me is i can't find the quality pieces or if i do find it it's like four or $500 right the piece i want and then i'm scared to invest in it because what if i don't like it what if i ruin it in the wash what do you think about that like how do you how do you go about getting new pieces and really buying investment pieces versus like kind of for fun pieces that you can fast fashion fast fashion and like how it might fit into your wardrobe what's your approach there

Tiffany Ima 16:32
well my approach is going to be different than people who are as into style just because i'm i am a shopper like if someone asked me what my favorite hobby is i would say shopping and i don't even have to go and buy things i just like to go and comparison shop so for me my approaches is very different than what i would teach people to do because i don't think everyone can shop like i'd like i can because i have patients and i actually enjoy shopping so when i when i'm looking to buy something new first of all i have an education of fashion so i know like a lot of the cost of fashion so for me i'm very particular about how much i spend on a particular item and i'm looking at the quality i'm looking at the stitching i'm looking at the scenes looking at the fabric content like and i know how certain fabrics wash and certain seams will hold up and wash so i have all this like when i go into a store i have a lot of background knowledge in my mind i need to take you shopping right yeah yeah you're very particular so like spending for me like a shirt like the one i have one which is just a button button down denim shirt i know that i'm not going to spend more than $15 on it because i know it didn't cost that much to make it so that's in my mind i know exactly how much i was spent on particular item now we're talking about investment investment piece like a leather jacket obviously that's a little different so you know you go in thinking i'm going to spend you know maybe three to $400 on this piece but if you're patient you can wait for the deals and wait for the sales to so there's it just depends on how you shop as to you know how you approach getting the things that you need because some people hate shopping your if you hate shopping you're more likely to spend more money on clothing because you're not going to wait for the sales and being there when there's a bunch of people trying to get the deals you're just gonna go in and be like that's what i like i don't care if it's $250 i'm gonna buy it and i'm leaving and i'm never coming back for three months that's not me i shop everywhere i can shop at a thrift store i could shop at nordstrom i could shop at a boutique it doesn't matter so long as i'm finding something that i really want to wear i love that i

Emily Thompson 18:37
want to know what your most favorite recent purchase is like what have you picked up that you're totally dying over right now

Tiffany Ima 18:45
actually i just bought a cloth and stone off shoulder like plaid top is white with pink and blue plaid and it's so cute i just bought it like three days ago and i love it it's so comfortable if anyone of you ever you know need a really comfortable top cloth and stone is like what you should do they sell it at anthropologie and you can also get it at like tj maxx or something like that too but it's just really soft and comfortable because i really like soft feminine and very comfy clothing when i get dressed because it's just super easy and it makes it easier for me to get dressed on daily basis and then my other favorite thing in the world is maidwell jeans in general so especially my flea market flares are probably wear them

Unknown Speaker 19:32
yeah they're the best

Kathleen Shannon 19:33
here's the deal is i don't feel like post apocalyptic warrior mama in them yeah unless i'm pairing them with like a badass harness like

Tiffany Ima 19:46
well certainly good well that's totally okay like for instance if you were wearing your fleamarket jeans right now with what you have on you could do like a like a cool choker and you would just be there already and you just have the hat and the flares and the Toker and you will be there. So you can always work it out. Hey, I

Kathleen Shannon 20:04
have a question. I'm not sure if we if we covered like the the top tips that you would give to someone. But let's circle back around to that because I have a question actually, a lot of our listeners are still in a day job or they're working in a corporate culture. And they have dress codes, which like, for me, is so offensive. And ridiculous that dress codes are a thing, or that even the culture of dress codes is a thing. So for example, my hair was in locs, I had blonde locks down to my waist up until about a year ago, I chopped them all off. And people would always stop and say, Oh, I wish I could do that. But I work a day job. And at that point, I had become confident enough with my hair. And with being a nonconformist. I was voted most nonconformist every year, sixth grade through 12th, um, that I feel like it is kind of this attitude of confidence and being able to rock whatever you want in a corporate culture, like often I wonder if that's just an excuse people are making to kind of not stand out. So what do you think about really exuding personal style whenever you work a day job or are in a culture where everyone's wearing the same damn thing?

Tiffany Ima 21:18
Yeah, and I and I actually do still work in a corporate office, like I have my I have a full time job still, in addition to my side business, so which really, to me is not really a side business. It's just what I do. But I think it is stifling to work in a corporate office. And a lot of times, it is more that you are afraid of the looks you'll get for what you're wearing, when you're at work, versus you know, you'll get in trouble for wearing it. So you know, I always tell people to go for it and accessories if they are not comfortable with doing it in their clothes. So, you know, wear cool hat, wear cool necklace, get some super cool color shoes, or you know about just, you know, do it in your accessories versus in your actual clothing. Because it really depends on the corporate environment to now that I think about it cuz I work at a fashion environment. So you know, you're going to see a little bit more of, you know, kind of the outward expression and an environment where the corporate office is in fashion, versus like, if you're a lawyer, so obviously, there's going to be a big difference there. So it really just depends on when you know, the environment that you're in. Because there there is a level of appropriateness. And I hate I'm putting it in air quotes, because I really hate that word. But you know, unfortunately, it is real, especially in a work environment. So it is hard, you have to kind of, you know, Judge based on the environment you're in, there are environments where you really can't, you know, express yourself as outwardly as you want to, just because of, you know, kind of the unspoken, Yuya unspoken dress code. That's kind of set and everyone does dress the same and you feel like you have to follow suit. I say just do it one day and see if your supervisor says anything.

Kathleen Shannon 22:59
Well, and I think that's a good point, though, is that, for me expressing my style, even whenever I worked a day job is more like I just didn't want people to comment on it, even if it was positive. Like, I'm kind of more of a tomboy. I don't wear dresses very often. So then the day I do wear a dress. I don't want everyone saying Oh, right. Oh, you're wearing a dress today. Like it's just kind of embarrassing. And I'm like, Can I just wear the dress without commentary? At my last day job, which was at an advertising agency, which is super. What's the word for it? contemporary progressive. I remember the very first day I was like, I'm gonna wear the craziest thing I can. So people just know I'm setting the foundation. Know what they can expect. It's so funny on Halloween when you're like came into the office wearing fishnets and booty shorts and effervesce. It was like a post apocalyptic and Oh, and I was wearing skates. So like I was skating in on like, with my fur on and

Unknown Speaker 23:58
that's awesome. And

Kathleen Shannon 24:00
goggles. I think I was wearing goggles, just crazy. I had a raccoon on my head. And there was so just Tuesday for capital and that's the thing. The neighboring office, they didn't know that we were having a Halloween party and they legit thought I was just coming to work that way. So I knew I hadn't made it to style. But honestly, Okay, so here's another thing is since working for myself, I feel like I have no one to get dressed for

Emily Thompson 24:27
I was about like, let's flip that so I know. So many like work from home solopreneurs lose their sense of style. whenever it's so easy to go from your bed to your desk wearing the same thing like I'm one of those people that's totally guilty of sometimes I'll wear something all day and then sleep in it that night and get up and wear it all day the next like a couple of times and no shame in my game. no shame in my game. Um, so let's let's talk about like dressing for yourself. And like having that sense of style that you want to express even when no one is around.

Tiffany Ima 25:04
Yeah, that is, that's a big thing for a lot of solopreneurs. And entrepreneurs because you don't have to, you don't necessarily have to get dressed. And I'm just so everyone knows I'm throwing up air quotes again, because I love getting dressed daily. And I feel like you know, when you have a situation where you're at home most of the time, then make them buy cute pajamas, you know, don't, don't buy just don't just wear old t shirts, you know, you can, you can go out and get really, really cute pajamas and look great at home too. And I always say, you know, 90 90% of your wardrobe should be what you wear on a daily basis. And then some of those extra pieces for special events, you know, they shouldn't overtake your wardrobe. So I am all about, you know, having a wardrobe that matches your daily lifestyle. So you know, you want to have cute clothes, but and I think I also think that getting dressed can actually change your mindset about the work that you're doing at home too. So if you instead of having like a ratty old t shirt, and everyone has those that they sleep in, you can have like a really cute like, off shoulder pajamas set with with shorts, and then you can wake up and still feel adorable. So I think it's just a matter of you know, your level of wanting to look cute at home, because I think the environment, kind of the environment that we set herself is that I need to look cute for someone versus I want to look cute period. And that's where I am. I'm just like, I just want to look cute. Doesn't matter who's there.

Kathleen Shannon 26:28
I know I remember it used to be like I wanted to look cute for guys, or you know for that kind of attraction. Yeah, then I wanted to look cute for other girls like once the world of Instagram and Pinterest and all that came along. And now I just need to get back to looking cute for myself and not be wearing you guys. Literally some of my ratty t shirts still have breast milk stains on them. Like that's disgusting. I am like, just get rid of it. Whenever you said get cute pajamas. You just blew my mind. I feel like I got called out like in my world to have some cute pajamas.

Tiffany Ima 27:04
Yeah, I feel like everyone should have a pajama set at least at least two. Yeah,

Emily Thompson 27:09
so I know like I had the dress scenario recently where like I like to wear dresses like and I wear them semi often and I wore one and some neighbor saw me and they're like oh mo you cute today. And like guys like this is just what I look like when I get dressed out of the ordinary. So and it really it's made me think a whole lot more lately about how I need to get dressed more often. And like I get dressed for Kathleen is really what it comes down to right or I get dressed for like the mat, the clubhouse masterclasses that we have or webinars that I do or whatever it may be like, I get dressed. Or let's see, I certainly use those outward facing like social like online social settings as an excuse to make myself get up and get ready. Yeah, but I am usually sitting here and cute from the waist up and in yoga pants from the waist down.

Kathleen Shannon 28:06
Okay, so regardless of someone's body type or coloring, or all the considerations that come into place whenever you're styling someone, what style tips do you think are universally flattering or even like a certain trend right now that you're loving that you wish that everyone would get on board with? What are you loving? What do you think works? What are some Style Tips that we can do right now.

Tiffany Ima 28:29
I actually think one of the trends that's pretty flattering on everyone is the off shoulder trend trend I think that looks cute on pretty much any anybody type. Of course then you have to worry about a shoulder now. There you go enter Of course you do have to think about because they're everything comes in like different shapes, different cuts. So you that's where you think about it. There. The thing is, is like there's not much that's super universal because like you can say you know everyone looks good with a belt on around their natural waist. But then you worry about like some people are better with a skinny belt. Some people were better with a thicker belt because of the height. So there's always like a little nuance that goes along with that like universal style tip. So it really is is so individual style is and it's very much based on your coloring and on your proportions. And because everyone is unique and every single person you know I can wear something and you guys could wear the exact same thing it's going to look completely different on all three of us. But really, it just comes down to buying things that you feel good in and you look good. And that is really the only thing that I can say as far as like a universal tip.

Emily Thompson 29:44
Oh good. Okay and and forecasting, or what trend is like coming up right now or you see coming in the future that we need to jump on.

Tiffany Ima 29:55
You know, the thing is everything right now is so there's so many things it's already in fashion like you have 90s you have a little bit of 80s you have the 60s you have everything kind of happening all at once already so it's hard to kind of say what is going to be interesting like it could literally be anything especially with how shadows are making a comeback

Emily Thompson 30:19
that will be a happy day

Tiffany Ima 30:22
well i'll be a rollerskates like kathleen at her halloween party that's that's what's gonna happen next

Emily Thompson 30:27
roller skates and a raccoon

Kathleen Shannon 30:30
okay i have a question for you as far as styling and your dream clients go so you're super colorful in your style i mean your instagram feed is just a happy place and i'm curious whenever you're styling other people do you like styling people who have the same sense of style as you or do you like really seeing what they're about and you know meeting that challenge

Tiffany Ima 30:56
yeah for me i love the challenge of finding more what they're about so you know if i have a client that wants neutral clothing they're gonna get neutral clothing i'm not gonna force them to wear color just because i like it because i really like the psychological psychological aspects behind getting dressed and i would never want to dress someone you know in a way that makes them uncomfortable but i do like to get to the root of why like say they're like oh i only want to gray and white and black i want to get to the root of why of that before i just say yeah let's do that because sometimes we just because they're afraid to wear the colors so you know you start small you say okay you have gray right in black but then this blue looks really great on you so we're gonna put a couple of shirts in there that's that color too and kind of get them you know more acclimated to wearing the colors but i think a lot of people are afraid of color just because they don't really know exactly what colors look good on them and when they were they're like oh whenever i wear this bright orange shirt i look like crap and like because that bright orange shirt looks like crap on you not because you can't wear color in general is just because that particular color does not look good on you so it's really about that person but i will try to get them try to get them to wear color by showing them a colors that look good on them first

Kathleen Shannon 32:08
and how do you figure that out like what colors look good on you

Unknown Speaker 32:12
how to figure out

Kathleen Shannon 32:15
what colors look good

Tiffany Ima 32:16
that's a very involved question and i'm obsessed with color theory and i always say like this is where people find out how much a nerd i am but the basic the basics are that people have either cool undertones or warm undertones and that's like the basic thing that you want to find out you guys both actually have cool undertones i'm looking at you and that's the basic thing that you want to find out because then you will be able to find out like you know do i look better and yellows or do i look better and like like bright bright reds so cool and warm undertones the basic the basic way to find out what your undertones are is to take like an orange piece of paper and then like a fuchsia pink piece of paper which is kind of like a blue or pink versus like a warm pink and you hold those those up to you and whichever color looks better on you you can tell so if you look better in orange you're going to have warm undertones and you look better in the future you're going to have cool undertones that's the basic way to tell and that's only the very very beginning everything else is very very involved after that but it's really it's really quite simple once you start like to look at the colors that you're wearing and understand like just hold them up to you and understand like hey you know my dark circles are kind of standard out when i have this color of summer phase you just start to pay attention to those types of things

Kathleen Shannon 33:34
and that's how you really find out what colors you know look good on you you can have someone analyze you and tell you exactly what it is but if you're looking to do it at home it's really just about paying more attention versus just buying something because you like the color i have a simple hack go to sephora and do the color matching like pretend like you've got to buy some foundation and they do this like little color matching thing on your cheek i mean it's probably better to have someone actually look at you but i did the color matching thing and then could see which foundation was right but then there's also an option where you can pick out crazy lipstick colors yeah and the crazy lipstick colors kind of tell you more about what colors look good on you so like it will tell you what shade of red whether it's the kind of more orangey red or the the cooler red and then it will also show so for example whenever i did this it showed me that like green or navy blue lipstick might look good on me so that's the right sort of thing okay well then maybe a green shirt or a blue shirt might look good on me too

Tiffany Ima 34:36
funny funny story with that with the host of for matching specifically the foundation one i will say that is not always accurate and i think the lipstick is going to be a better approach because you'll have the yellow oranges and then the pinks in there to kind of separate it i went to before with my roommate one day and they matched her and they're like you have yellow undertones and i'm like no no She doesn't, my roommate is like, literally like the palest like pink person. And she's like, clearly cool. Like, you don't even have to test her to know that she's clearly cool. She looks great. And like these, like kind of ice or blues. And I'm like, I just looked at her. And I was like, No, she doesn't have yellow undertones. So it can be accurate sometimes. But you also just want to do multiple things too, because sometimes they'll match you and it will not be correct. The other thing about makeup is a lot of people have the baseline that you can have neutral undertones to and some people can be closer to neutral than others. But some you're still gonna have either warm or cool. There's there's not going to be necessarily a new neutral undertone. So that's the other thing about makeup you have to kind of think about too, because color theory is so much more involved than people like think and I'll talk about it for hours.

Kathleen Shannon 35:58
You're talking to an art major here. I be I majored you know, or like I was a letters major. I'm like I was a colors major.

Emily Thompson 36:10
I love that I've been I've been thinking about you know that like super bright orange lipstick, and thinking wondering if I can rock that out. Now, I feel like I want

Kathleen Shannon 36:19
Okay, here's a question. What if technically, you know, we're cool undertone, but we feel really badass in neon yellow lipstick, right? or hot orange, like a hot orange shirt? Like what? Where do you kind of draw the line between like, no, I love this. And I feel like the bomb even if I kind of look like ass?

Emily Thompson 36:43
Where do you draw bass line? Well,

Tiffany Ima 36:45
the other thing about color theory that people don't realize is, you say, Oh, I have warm undertones. And then you think, Oh, I can only wear yellow and orange. And now that's not the case at all. Because like for instance, you can wear cool colors too. But like for someone like me, like I have very, very yellow orange undertones. So for me a cool color is going to be like like a teal or you know something that has like a cornflower blue things that have a little bit of warmth to it, and kind of stands out against because you can go like, complimentary to your undertones to and that will look amazing on you and stand out really well. So that's the first thing you want to think about. Because someone who has cool undertones probably will look good in neon yellow, because it is a cooler yellow. So you know, it's something that you have to think about as far as like, I wish I wish this weren't a podcast. So I can like show you the difference between the colors like a cool orange and and a warm orange because there are oranges that is going to have a little bit more coolness to it that you can rock out. If you want to

Kathleen Shannon 37:46
hook us up with a photo, we'll put it in the show notes. Oh, sweet.

Tiffany Ima 37:50
And then the other thing is that you can pretty much wear any color that you want. Color Theory matters from the waist up. So if you want to wear a color that doesn't really look good on you put it on your pants, but wear a skirt or something like that that's farther away from your face. And then you can pair it with the color it looks better because the light is going to reflect onto your face. And that's where you know you can kind of see where the colors don't look good. So I always tell people like wear whatever color you want, you can put it in an accessory you can wear it on a bottom and then just make sure whatever is reflecting directly from your face is a color that's going to give you a really good cast on your face. So love it.

Emily Thompson 38:28
I feel like I just had so school. My closet one yeah, two we go shopping with me. Yeah. Oh, that sounds amazing. Okay, I want to talk a little bit about business now. Katelyn, do we move on to business? Are we good for that? Alright, so I want to talk about business stuff. So you still have a corporate drive which means your side hustling your creative thing Do you have any like hopes in the horizon of like when it will be the real thing? No, that's not the real thing. You know what I mean?

Tiffany Ima 39:01
Yeah. So actually I have my services are there like they're on my website and you could put you can go there and purchase them today. But I'm actually going to be launching them towards the end of this month. So I'll have you know three different styling packages to choose from. And the hope is that I get the hope is that I'll grab enough clients to be able to leave my job within the next like six months to a year trying to be realistic with it because I could say I'm going to get clients and leave next month but I'm trying to you know kind of pave out at least one year plan to be able to leave my full time job and go into styling full time. So that's that's ultimately what my goal is. But the first step is to really like launch my services in a big way.

Emily Thompson 39:44
Awesome good. I love that and I love that one I love that you're being super realistic about because it's really easy to be like I'm do this in three weeks go and put in your notice and then right but Okay, so let's talk about your services because I love the idea like my favorite thing about creatives is that they pick these like little creative avenues and they like business model them and turn them into like a living writing is fantastic so for someone who has this passion for color theory and fashion and style to turn it into a business model i want to talk about that model a little bit so you're launching three services styling services tell me a little bit more about those like what made you come up with these like the idea that you would make money this way

Kathleen Shannon 40:30
yeah and i love the idea that your styling services are kind of based on a timeframe versus necessarily like just a closet purge or just a shopping trip so i'm curious about that as well

Tiffany Ima 40:43
yeah so the idea of building a wardrobe is that it really does take time for me it took probably like eight years or so to really kind of get a solid style now the whole the whole plan is that my clients it won't have to take you know eight years for them to find what their style is so the packages that i've come up with you could start at you know kind of a basic level and just do just one one on one session and i'll kind of give you an idea of what to shop for or what to look for and then i have a three month package where we would work together for that timeframe and i'll give you like a like a style book that you can go off of and then my longest package is six months in which i would actually hope you purchase clothing six outfits one per month and you will have a better idea of how to shop by the end of it and also the idea is that you'll get have a wardrobe by the end of that six months because i what i don't want is for us to get start working together and then we kind of know what your style is but we don't really have enough time to really kind of solidify it and then you leave me and you're still lost so the whole point is to you know have these different timed out packages so that we get to know each other better first of all and then that means that your style at the end is ultimately going to match you because i know you better and i also am taking it to consideration your coloring and then also your proportions as well i

Emily Thompson 42:03
love that i love how you've packaged up your passion into these packages that will help people you know reach the goal of gaining confidence and representing themselves through style and all that jazz i love creatives like things like this

Kathleen Shannon 42:19
i have a question about having three tiers this is totally like behind the scenes stuff is your ideal package that someone works with you for six months like would that be if if every single client signed on for six six months aside from the monetary stuff or is it maybe that kind of middle three month package which one do you feel like you could really own and if you could only offer one which one would it be

Tiffany Ima 42:41
if i could only offer one it probably would be the three month package because when you get into the higher packages there's a lot of work involved and shopping for like say i had 10 clients that's a lot of work to be shopping for 10 clients all at once so i would if i had to choose one it would definitely be that middle ground because it's enough time that we can get your style like solidified but it's also not so much time that i'm not going to be able to pay attention to all of my clients at once so i would definitely fall and i'm thinking most people are going to fall into the middle ground and

Kathleen Shannon 43:15
okay i remembered what my question was who takes your photos

Tiffany Ima 43:18
oh i do i take all of them i have a climber yeah tripod and i have a remote and i just over over the years of being a style blogger i just learned how to like really do it people do ask me all the time they're like who's your photographer and i'm like i don't i'm looking for a photographer so i just i just learned how to do it and overtime i just got good at it so

Kathleen Shannon 43:41
we we've been talking a lot about passion projects in the being boss clubhouse this this week and and talking about like my old fashion blogging and now talking to you i feel so energized around styling again and really embracing my own personal style and really knowing what that is i think that there is an aspect of taking photos of what you're wearing to kind of be able to look like using that as a tool to look back and reflect on what you actually love what actually looks good on you so i think that's the thing that i wanted to talk about that i forgot about

Emily Thompson 44:16
you remember that

Kathleen Shannon 44:19
um what else plays into your own role as a creative entrepreneur like what struggles or challenges are you currently facing

Tiffany Ima 44:27
the biggest challenge is balancing a full time job and figuring out how to be really consistent with my blog because you know having a style blog and having a business on the side is not something that you have to do and again i'm using air quotes so it's hard to come home after being out of the house for nine hours and find that energy to really put into your business because it takes a lot like you work basically you're going to have two full time jobs until you leave your your full time job because it's a lot of work and is there is all about being consistent and really showing up for your audience so i think that's really the biggest challenge for me right now and i would also say that just not always having people around me that understands what i'm doing because like i was like oh yeah i'm gonna go online and you know shop for people and they live hundreds and hundreds of miles away from me and they're like that doesn't make any sense and so just kind of you know seeking out people other creatives who are going to encourage me in that too

Emily Thompson 45:29
oh i totally get that and that's something i feel like those two things are probably the two things that our crowd struggles with the most because so many of them still have full time jobs and have this creative side hustle that really is its own full time job and you know so many of them also like have families or just lives is nice too so juggling all of that can be can be really painful i really hope that your launch goes off so well that screw six months to a year you're able to just dive in but also that piece of like finding your people i was talking to a coaching client just this morning and struggling with the same thing this idea that you like what we do and the fact that the fact that we live so much of our lives online or especially like the work part of our lives online it can be really hard when it comes to like face to face relationships explaining to people that like you have to go host a twitter chat and people were like what that makes no sense to you it can be hard to talk about those things so those two things are their normal i guess is what i'm saying and totally overcome unbel

Tiffany Ima 46:35
yeah that's funny that literally happened to me the other day someone's like you want to go get dinner i'm like i'm co co hosting a twitter chat can't sorry

Unknown Speaker 46:43
i like why exactly

Kathleen Shannon 46:45
so are you hanging out with other stylists or other fashion bloggers like who is kind of like your tribe online

Tiffany Ima 46:53
online actually most of my creative friends are people that i don't see because they're all online so it's a little bit harder because they're not with me they're not in front of me i'm working on trying to you know find a group here in columbus where i can kind of gather with them instead not instead but in addition to just so i can have kind of a face to face because i feel like you know that face to face interaction and relationships super important to just have motivation and that way because my you know my my friends who aren't creatives they they are totally supportive but they don't really understand like this might mean that i won't see you for two months if you're really pushing me to go this way and that's what i was finding i was either completely neglecting my friends and family or i was not doing enough work so i was finding myself in that place and i did take i took a break i took a i'm coming off of a pretty long break right now because i was just so i was drained because i wasn't seeing anyone any of my friends in real life so i took a break and i really needed to get recharged and refocus and now i want to figure out that balance because i know i need i need my friends and i would like to you know kind of develop some close relationships with people who are creatives and will encourage me in person and you know understand what i'm going through

Kathleen Shannon 48:13
so what's interesting and cool is that you started this business essentially from your passion and from a project of documenting what you're wearing and and fashion blogging obviously you have an education in it as well so but what's really cool about it is even as you took a break as someone who's just following you online i never perceived that break probably because you've been able to integrate your creative expression with now your business so you're still taking photos of your outfits and i'm still consuming that you know what i mean so i think that's a cool part about turning what is a passion into your job

Emily Thompson 48:54
true and i like i also live there any listeners who live in columbus ohio like shoot tiffy email because all the bosses are cool do not be creepy or she will tell me about it but but like i do know that that is such a huge thing for having people locally that you can meet with face to face who who get what you're doing and understand how to be encouraging i think that like friends and family who don't get it like obviously have your best interests in mind and will be encouraging but if they don't know what they're encouraging sometimes it's not quite what you need right um so there's that i'm sure we have some columbus bosses

Kathleen Shannon 49:34
i have a question about blogging are you still fashion blogging like technically blogging

Tiffany Ima 49:40
i now most of my posts are focused around like educating versus like oh this is a cool outfit even if i do an outfit post it will be more about educating like why this is good for like a specific event or something like that versus like oh here's you know seven pictures of different angles of this outfit and this is Regarding the stuff from, so I do a lot of posts that speak to color theory or speak to getting dressed for client meetings, things like that, that are going to educate my audience a little bit more, because I'm approaching it from a different angle. Because I'm trying to teach people how to dress as a coach or speaker, and also how to integrate that with their brand.

Kathleen Shannon 50:21
Do you feel like social has kind of replaced, like the traditional fashion blogging, like so for example, you're still posting outfits on Instagram, and that might feed to your blog that's educating. But, you know, I was thinking back to my fashion blogging days, and it was definitely during the heyday of fashion blogging, and I think I was doing it because everyone else was doing it. Obviously,

Emily Thompson 50:41
you were doing it because you wanted to do it

Kathleen Shannon 50:45
to the level or to the game that everyone else's was, you know, yeah. So. So but but even blogging in general, I mean, this podcast has not that Emily and I haven't been writing, we consider ourselves professional email writers. But podcasting has kind of replaced blogging as far as that expression side of things. So I was just curious to hear your thoughts on kind of flat fashion, blogging, where it's been, where it is now, where do you think it might be going in the future? And when what role that plays in your business?

Tiffany Ima 51:22
Yeah, I really think it, it kind of just depends on what what it is that you're blogging about. Because there's so many different types of fashion bloggers, like you could have a lifestyle blogger who does outfit posts, but also does recipes or something like that. For someone like me, who's more into, like, the educating piece of it. So a little bit different, because it's not just about me and about what I'm wearing, would you why I don't do full posts on my outfit, because I want people to kind of, you know, grasp how clothes will look on them versus how they look on me, because everyone is different. And for me, I'm actually probably going to be moving away from like writing actual blog posts, and into more doing more video. Like, because I feel like it's just so personal for me, when I get into a stream of consciousness, I can just go on forever. So I probably will be I say probably I shouldn't say that I am starting a YouTube channel called sweat pants intervention. And it's going to be all about how to how to find your style and get out of the sweatpants and really get dressed every day, even if you work from home. So that's, that's coming pretty soon as well. Okay, well, no

Kathleen Shannon 52:27
wonder you were like I have a lot of work to do a YouTube channel is huge. And so exciting. I'm so jealous, I want a YouTube channel. So. But there's so much work that goes into it is going to be like, kind of shooting that at the same level that your photographs are or you know what I mean? Or are you going to just have like a cool background, like, how are you producing that,

Tiffany Ima 52:51
I'm probably going to be starting with just like just the, you know, black background, and then just me sitting. But eventually, when I probably once I leave my full time job, that's when I want to start to hire like a videographer to help me out with getting you know, more cool angles and like, Come shopping with Tiffany like things like that. And I want that's where I want it to go. And that's where I see it going. It will take time. I know, again, trying to be realistic about you know, you know, those expectations versus reality means

Kathleen Shannon 53:22
realistic getting started.

Tiffany Ima 53:24
Exactly, yep, keep it real simple. So a lot of it is going to be just me, you know, kind of sitting and saying the things that I would be writing in my blog post, but I feel like it's more personal just coming straight from me. And so I probably replacing a lot of our blogging with those videos, and they'll just be embedded onto my website. So that's where I'm going. And I'll still write like with emails, obviously. Because I think that's super important. And I think a lot of blogging is going into more your email list now. Because it's so important to connect with them in that way with your audience in that way. So most of the writing is probably going to be going into that. So

Emily Thompson 53:59
Oh, I love that. Tiffany, you are doing it. Like totally doing it. And it makes me so excited to see someone who's taking something like a love for style, and turning it into like a legit business. So do you have anything you? Well, do you want to ask? Kathleen?

Kathleen Shannon 54:17
I just wanted to ask, like, what is a victory? Like, what are you celebrating in your business lately? And what is a big win that keeps you motivated and keeps you going?

Tiffany Ima 54:28
For me? It's been just going from just blogging to actually building an audience and having people who email me and ask me for advice and things like that. Because last year at this time i was i was just blogging and I felt like I just wasn't getting anywhere. And I wasn't really building an audience but now I'm starting to see like trends and the people that follow my blog and follow my Instagram. And they're this they're the same type of people and I'm like I'm doing this I'm getting I'm getting the people that I want to, you know, read my blog. and i've really enjoyed that and i've been able to build an email list and you know be able to connect to my audience and i've really enjoyed that and i think you know it just showed me that it really works when you have a focus it really does work and you can you can truly build something from nothing and i think that's a huge one for me amen

Kathleen Shannon 55:19
hey man amen i don't know if you listen to our podcast but amen is like the ultimate

Emily Thompson 55:27
throw it down alright perfect so do you have any any advice for folks who want to be boss especially i think in the realm of like full time job side hustling your passion making it do

Tiffany Ima 55:41
yeah really it's gonna sound super cliche and corny but just don't let go of that dream that you have because that's that's the difference between people who have dreams and people who make it a reality is people who make it a reality they are like this is a dream and it might not make sense to anyone but i'm still gonna go for it and just putting in the work does require and research that's required to build something and i think that is the biggest thing and that's what held me back for three years from going from blogging to a business is just forgetting that you know it's not normal this isn't like a normal thing is becoming more normal now but it's not normal for you to build a business just at home from scratch and then it probably doesn't make sense like if i say this as someone who's a lawyer they're gonna be like you're crazy that's not gonna work but it does work and i see at work all the time so just keep that in mind when you're working towards leaving your full time job it can work you just have to put the work into it

Kathleen Shannon 56:39
yes all right tiffany where can our listeners find more of you

Tiffany Ima 56:45
you can find me on tiffany ema.com our website and i love instagram so you will always find me on instagram and i am at tiffany ema on instagram

Kathleen Shannon 56:55
thank you so much for chatting with us it was such a joy getting to talk to you and getting to nerd out on color and fashion and all things style

Tiffany Ima 57:05
and thank you ladies so much for having me i truly enjoyed it

Kathleen Shannon 57:09
kathleen here i wanted to pop in because i've been getting asked a lot what my role i've read creative is now that being bosses taken off so much and i wanted to let you guys know that branding business visioning and coaching creatives to blend more of who they are into what they do while positioning themselves as confident creative experts is still a huge part of my work and my life at very creative i'm still giving my team creative direction and putting my stamp of approval on every single project behind the scenes but a big part of my role there is helping to create the braid method branding ecourse this is something i'm super passionate about and what this ecourse does is it helps creatives who can't quite hire great creative one on one work on their own brand and their own business vision we have ecourse book a ton of exercises and even audio files so that you can learn on the go the ecourse is now open to new students only until august 8 learn more at read creative calm and click ecourse in the main menu thank you for listening to being boss please be sure to visit our website at being boss club where you can find show notes for this episode listen to past episodes and discover more of our content that will help you be boss in work and life did you like this episode please share it with a friend and show us some love by leaving a rating and review on itunes

Emily Thompson 58:33
do the work be boss and we'll see you next week