Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurel Kinney.
Hi Laurel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a burned out social worker in 2010 who wanted to do something more creative while helping people. I met another stylist who showed me the ropes and her process until I tailored my services to work best for me and the kinds of clients I like to help. It took me 5 years of building my client roster up to it being a full time profession.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not! The main struggle when I first began styling was that it wasn’t a common service to invest in, and I had to put in a lot of work educating people and networking to let potential clients what a personal stylist can actually do. It’s always challenging being in charge of your own income, so getting used to uncertainty was certainly something I struggled with.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a personal stylist, I help my clients discover their style and shop and create outfits accordingly. A good stylist will ask a lot of questions and get to know you so that you aren’t just shown what that stylist likes or what’s on trend, but pieces that suit your figure, budget, and lifestyle. It can either be a transformation or a transaction depending on the stylist. I was a social worker in my former life, so I am known to go deep with my clients to establish rapport and connection so that I can really guide my clients to style themselves intuitively based on what we learn together.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Get clear on your services so you can talk about them easily–knowing what is going to happen during the styling process sets your clients at ease, and you need to establish trust so that you can give them the best results. Having a really solid process and an efficient way to guide your clients towards transformation really allows the trust to unfold naturally, and your client will get more from the experience. Also, keeping the sessions under 2-3 hours is also key to giving them a good experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.laurelkinney.com
- Instagram: @laurel_kinney
Image Credits
First photo: Chelsea Francis
next 2 photos: Michael Hernandez
last 2 photos: Paula Wolf
