067: Style Your Brand with Nicole Otchy

Do you ever put on a favorite pair of jeans or a blazer and it completely shifts how you feel?

There’s a real connection between our clothes and the energetic shifts it can bring to our life and work. In this episode, I talk with my good friend, personal stylist, Nicole Otchy.

Nicole specializes in personal branding for entrepreneurs and women in leadership by helping them develop and hone in on their personal style. She walks us through the correlation between clothes and how you feel, how she helps people navigate their style in a way that works for them and challenges that hold people back from being confident in their style.

What’s in this episode:

How Nicole got started in personal styling
The evolvement of her clients and her niche
Themes she noticed that were holding people back from being themselves
How she sees imposter syndrome come up in her work
How a focus on personal styling correlates to time and showing up
Steps she takes her clients through to identify their personal style

Connect with Nicole:

Website | Instagram

About Nicole:

Nicole Otchy is a personal stylist who specializes in personal branding for entrepreneurs and women in leadership. Her clients include thought leaders, women running multi-six and seven figure businesses, authors, and public speakers. Nicole’s styling work has been featured in Women’s Day, Exhale Magazine, Gilded Magazine, Ecco Shoes, and CBS Boston. Nicole has worked with clients across the country virtually and in-person between Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York since 2014. You can learn more about her approach to styling and personal branding on The Self Styled Podcast.

Links:

Style Your Brand
AGENCY

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EPISODE 67 TRANSCRIPT:

Download the Episode 67 Transcript

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:00:00] Welcome to The Scale Your Way podcast episode number 67. You’re listening to the Scale Your Way podcast, where we share simple, proven strategies just for done for you service based companies here, you’ll learn how to scale your business on your own terms so that you can have more time, money, create a bigger impact and a better life. I’m your host, Nicole Jackson Miller. Let’s dive into today’s episode. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show, Nicole here, and I’m excited to introduce you to my very good friend. Also named Nicole. Nicole Otchy is a personal stylist who specializes in personal branding for entrepreneurs and women in leadership. Her clients include thought leaders, women running multi, six and seven-figure businesses, authors and public speakers. Nicole and I met several years ago and I actually worked with her myself when it came to my personal styling. And I felt like I needed to take a look at my wardrobe because I was in this weird space of still having a lot of suits and clothing that I wore in my corporate career. And I really wanted to be more of myself in the way I was showing up in both my personal life and my business as well. So one thing that we talk about a lot in this episode is energy and managing your energy and using styling and clothing as a tool to help you with your energy management. And I know that if you’re here, you are done for your service provider. You are probably doing lots of different things inside of your business, probably trying to get out of client delivery. And this episode will be really incredible to teach you how to use clothing as a way to manage your own energy and to be able to show up for your business, for your team and for your clients to do so. Without further ado, let’s dove into today’s episode with Nicole. Hey, Nicole, welcome to the show.

Nicole Otchy [00:02:08] Thank you so much for having me.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:02:09] It is great. I cannot wait to chat with you today. And as a little background for everyone who’s listening, I met Nicole through a mutual friend and I think like very quickly also worked with her on my wardrobe because I had shifted from working at a corporate job to running my own business for a few years. And I felt like I was in this weird in-between of I had Nicole remembers, like I still had, like, suits that I mean, which is hilarious to me right now. I had suits that I didn’t want to let go of because I thought, well, like, what if I need to go for an interview? And so Nicole really helped me tap into just like who I was and how I wanted to show up. And I know you’ve been doing this for so many other people, too, including lots of business owners. And I wanted to just bring her on in case you are in a point right now where you are knowing that you want to make some shifts, stepping into your visibility so that you can bring more clients into your agency and spread your message and your impact and all of those awesome things. So I’m so excited for you to be here. Thank you, Nicole.

Nicole Otchy [00:03:20] Thank you this is my favorite conversation so thanks for having me.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:03:24] So would you mind? I always like to start with learning, like sharing a little bit more around your journey. How did you get started with styling?

Nicole Otchy [00:03:33] So I’ve been a personal stylist for 11 years. I think I might be 12 in April at this point.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:03:39] Happy anniversary!

Nicole Otchy [00:03:40] Thank you. Yeah. So this wasn’t the plan in my life. I was going to be an academic. And so I have a masters degree in philosophy and ethics and was planning on getting a PhD. But I did a stopover in finance and then a stopover at Harvard University and through my work in those two places while I was like trying to get it together and study for tests to get into the next part of grad school, I started to see that a lot of the women around me were not taking as many opportunities of many of the men, particularly when I was at Harvard at the Kennedy School, because of like being nervous about their bodies or how they were dressing. And I was like, no, no. Now we don’t we don’t need to be hiding. You just wrote a book like that. But I never heard any of the male professors be like, well, I kind of chubby today, so I’m not sure if I’m going to take that CNN interview. And I had felt like this in grad school as the only woman in my program or one of two. I worried about what I looked like when I presented myself like, would I be taken seriously? Which I know, like my husband, who was actually in the program never thought twice about. And I started to shift my attention away from what I thought my career was going to be and to feeling this like very deep calling, not necessarily for the clothes. So that is the tool, but to help women show up in the world, because I knew that these women’s messages were important and I had an interest in one of the ways that I could help them do that. So I started shadowing other stylists, taking online programs, really teaching myself. And then somebody that was right here on CNN and asked me to help dress them pretty regularly while I was working at Harvard. I was like, you should be doing this for a living. Like, you’re really good at it. And then it kind of took off from there.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:05:21] Wow, that’s incredible. That is so I’m going to

Nicole Otchy [00:05:25] plot twist in my life.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:05:26] Yeah, well, and I think that so many people can resonate with that, too, because it’s like kind of that’s how a lot of people start their businesses where you’re in an industry and you. See that there’s something wrong or you see that there’s something that you want to do differently, and you started on the side a little bit, and then you realize that it’s something that people want and then you go for it. So I think that’s incredible. Were you seeing anyone else helping women with this?

Nicole Otchy [00:05:53] So 15 years ago when the idea’s first sort of came to my mind, it was the point at which the last recession had kind of starting to look at that. And there was a lot of like the guy wise became like super popular. So there was a lot of like, how do you make an outfit on a budget? I’m sure there were other times like this was popular. It’s just it became part of my consciousness. The sense of the 80s and the 90s were pretty opulent in that sense. It wasn’t like I had a shop at a thrift store kind of time. But then when when the recession came was right after I ever got to grad school. And so I was super weird because I was at an age where I was about to get married and these things were very obvious to me. And so what I saw was that’s about the beginning of the rise of like the fashion blogger. So I thought what was interesting about that was I had no desire to be a fashion blogger, but I was followed. There was a problem with the model because it was showing women how to consume, but it wasn’t showing women how to think about how to consume for them. And it wasn’t about their body type or it was about like it was about the personality of the blogger. And if that really resonated with you, then awesome. That was your style. The other thing that was really popular then was what not to wear. And that’s right. Yeah. And so, I mean, I’m a huge fan, Petraglia. She’s like evolved past what not to wear. And so for me, like there was a little bit of like, oh, look at the confidence you can give someone. Like it was the beginning of me seeing that. But I did not think this was a business. And I certainly, having been so academic, was a bit embarrassed, if I’m honest, like this didn’t seem serious enough. But once I started the business and took off and more like a Washington, D.C. circle and with the political realm, I learned more about psychology of it and kind of saw the practical application. And so at that point, yes, there were like more people becoming stylists in a more open way. But the business model wasn’t super obvious and really had to figure it out. Now there’s like whole rivals on it. Yeah. So so no, I feel like I, I don’t want to say got it on the ground floor. I do. I struggled enough the ground floor trying to fight it. It wasn’t like a genius thing, but.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:08:09] Yeah. And so it sounds to me like you’ve had a range of different clients and so you started more on the political scene. And how did that evolve for you?

Nicole Otchy [00:08:20] Well, I mean, just in terms of my own visibility journey, like I very much believed I was supposed to be behind the scenes and I struggled with, like being on social media. So a lot of the clients I was getting word of mouth, which meant that then I was really niched. And I live in Boston. So I was traveling to D.C. I did get some clients in Boston, but it was most of my income was coming from a D.C. clientele. So I would go and stay with my in-laws for like a month back and kind of like try to figure this out. And then eventually it changed. But I also did a lot of photo styling and my beginning of my career with some magazine work and stuff like that, which I do love. So it was really I would do anything that I could kind of. But I was very clear on only one thing. And I think that has been the driver. I always only wanted a client that was looking to spread a message. And it was a strange thing because I felt like a typical niche that you had 12 years ago. I was in and I was like a ladies who lunches stylist. Like I didn’t want to, like, dress a housewife. I mean, I love The Real Housewives, but that wasn’t my people. I was at the beginning. I would try to say, like, well, I like to dress nerds. Like, I was always figure out who this person was. But as entrepreneurship has become a bit over glamorized, I think it has become very popular. It was easier and easier to see who my person was. I still get a fair amount of women in leadership in the corporate world, but even the corporate world is looking very different in terms of personal brands and leadership. Totally. So I think that my career has developed and become more myself and what my my hope was for it because of the cultural shifts.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:10:02] Yes, yeah, I can see that. And so with the with the clientele that you’ve served, I’m curious, did you notice that when people when it came to styling and personal style, did you notice that there were like some seams around what we’re holding people back from really stepping into being more of maybe more of themselves and sharing their message? Like what was what were some of did you see themes was a different for people? What did that look like?

Nicole Otchy [00:10:34] A couple of the common themes that I begin to see, and it was interesting because it happened with people that were already quite visible in my sort of group. I mean, I worked with a couple of women who are presidential advisers, Stern, the Obama and Clinton sort of Clinton campaign with the Obama campaign as well. And I was very surprised by the level of reticence to take up their style, apart from sort of the more conservative. I mean, there were some relatively conservative, but to really, like, look at it like to break out of an Ann Taylor mold, if you will. I mean, if we’re still talking like pretty conservative, but to wear a red blazer, you know, to really step out because it it often created a the beginning of a little bit of an imposter syndrome kick off. It made you have to look at yourself differently, whereas they were very you know, there’s very few of the women that I work with are like badly dressed, like they’re not like men. They don’t know how to. And that’s another important thing that I should say at this point, like what we’re dealing with here. These are people that didn’t walk into meetings in Washington, D.C., like inappropriately dressed a lot. If it was a time issue at first, like what what made them come to me was they had kids and families and public careers. But as we delved into the work, there was often one or two things came up, a fear of being seen, like they were obviously being seen. But a fear about being noticed, I think is a better way of saying it, getting out. There’s a difference. Like you can go give a press conference and kind of blend in and you can give a press conference and not what that did for their worries about things like do I look too young, do I look too old or do I look too expensive? Will this give the wrong impression? But I like that. What does that mean about me? You know, those kinds of questions. And I was very surprised. I was very surprised because I in my for a long time, I was young. In a young age. I was like, wow. Like, I would have guessed these women this wouldn’t close, would just be like a side effect. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal. And it is. But it brought up a lot of deeper things. And that’s when I started to really become really more interested in it. But also when I became more interested in understanding what things looked good on camera, what things, you know, really understanding the styling for media, because I started to notice how different it was than in person. And I really realized that was a whole separate skill set that I really enjoyed like that puzzle.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:12:55] And what about imposter syndrome? Is that the same thing that you see with entrepreneurs?

Nicole Otchy [00:13:00] Yeah, I think with as entrepreneurs, that’s a little bit more complex in the layers. It’s not as obvious as they are because so many of us work from home. And even if we don’t work from home, we work in like a coworking space where it’s super casual. The problem with entrepreneurs and this is really interesting to me, is the disconnect between their day to day work life and the way that they dress there and when they have to show up. The gap is so big. So the people I was driving with in D.C., they were going to like high law offices and they were giving many of them were going to Gallas. It was just a very you know, they were always on. And so there was any energy needed to go into this onis in one of those factors was how they presented themselves as entrepreneurs. It’s really, really tricky and it’s quite insidious because what ends up happening is you feel and I can relate to this, you feel fine being comfortable behind the scenes, your head down doing the work, but then you eventually have to show up, whether it be even just zoom or conferences, which I think are going to be huge once we get on the other side of covid. And you have that moment when you’re like, oh yeah, I’m ready to go. I’m so excited about the hotel, what am I going to wear when that happens? You suddenly are panic shopping. You’re just grabbing things. And that may not seem like a big deal, but it’s a big deal. Once you get into the context of the conference and you are uncomfortable, you’re paying more attention to your clothes than connecting. And this is why I think it’s so important is that if you don’t look at what you’re wearing on a day to day basis as an entrepreneur, it feels really imposter-y or just flat out uncomfortable when you’re around other people to show up.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:14:39] Yeah, yeah. And I felt that when when we started working together to where it was very much like I mean, I would show up to at that time, well, I’m trying to remember where I was and in my business journey when we first started working together. But yeah, I was I think I was like transitioning out of my project management agency and like into coaching. And I remember when I worked in project management as I was operating as an agency owner and also like I was just trying to get stuff done. And so the last thing on in my head would be, what am I going to wear today? And so I would just like pull something out of my closet and make it work. And there was also a lot of energy that went into, OK, well, how am I showing up and does this look professional? And any time I would host a retreat for my coaching program, I would it same thing. It was like, let me go to Target or Ann Taylor or whatever, like. Just try and pull some things together, it was so much energy, and after working with you and really going through your process, it made choices so much easier because I knew that anything that was in my closet would be something that I could wear. Plus, you taught me how to put things together in a way that that worked, like when it came to accessories and it came to different things. And I really don’t even like a whole lot of I wear three different pairs of earrings and like, you know, and that was the thing to wear. You’re like, that’s fine and that’s fine. And like V-neck are great. And like, if you don’t have a V-neck, you can wear a necklace and that will give you the scent. Like you just gave me so many different tips there. So the listeners I know everyone who’s listening is kind of in the service industry. Right. Done for you, service provider stepping into agency. And the big thing that I hear from people is like, I don’t have time, like not even around personal stuff, like not around styling, but just like I don’t have time for anything. And so I’m curious, how does focusing on your your your personal style. Potentially help you when it comes to when it comes to time and showing up? Have you seen a correlation in that based on how it might shift your energy?

Nicole Otchy [00:16:59] So, yes, I have. But I think it’s fair to say that lots of women try like especially in that context. I was talking about where it’s the last minute you’re throwing things together, but the depletion of energy there is huge. And on top of the depletion of energy, it can often trigger a bunch of conversations about our beliefs, about ourselves and stuff like that. So the energy leak and the time leak isn’t just in the actual interacting with the clothes and the finding things in the morning or whatever. It’s also in the headspace of, well, do I look like an expert in this and am I coming across the same way I feel like I am in an Instagram post or my photo shoot as I’m coming across in person and as service providers? The energy and this is sort of the reason why people are coming to you is to get their energy back because they understand that having their energy handled and managed well is an asset to the business. Right. But we forget that our clothes are an asset to our business as well. And this can freak people out, because I think what happens is people think like, oh, other people are judging me. I don’t actually mean it like that. I mean it like to yourself first, because what happens is we think, look, I want my website to look good and I want to look like it’s put together. But then they forget that their clothes and the way they show up and their energy is like the in person more important version. Plenty of people of successful businesses with no website because they show up and their energy. Does that work for them? It’s not super common, but I’ve seen it and people forget that. And I think that one of the reasons why it’s super helpful from an energy standpoint is that from a scientific standpoint, there’s something called embodied cognition. So this is actually been studied. It was a research study that was done at Harvard that I was working with an economist on her research team. She was using that data. And I was that’s what I first discovered this. And I was super interested. And basically the point is, is that there’s this idea of look good, feel good, and that’s a little bit too shallow. And I think that’s important for me to just explain to entrepreneurs. So it’s not just you put on the clothes and they look good. So you feel good. If there’s no connection mentally to the clothes, then it doesn’t matter. Right? So I can look at an expensive car and know that it’s expensive, but it doesn’t make evoke a feeling of luxury in me when I drive it, if I have an associated luxury with that car. Same thing with our clothes. This is why it takes a little time and it’s not enough to just grab that cute outfit out of the window of that store, put it on, go to the conference and feel good. And then people are think, well, why not? What’s wrong with me? It must be my body. It must be this. It’s not. It’s because there’s a missing piece in how we talk about this that’s shallow. So you have to think to yourself as especially a brand and a business owner, like what do I want to evoke in myself first energetically and then in other people, and then the clothes have to match. And it may be a top from Target or it may be something more expensive. But if we don’t have the mental connection between the value and the clothes, it doesn’t do anything. That’s where I want the energy leak is like we don’t do that pre work to figure it out and a lot of people don’t know that. The other it’s just not a super it’s not a thing we’re taught. And so I think when entrepreneurs understand that, just like they understand that they’re branding the book something on their website, they can get behind styling as a tool in their business.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:20:24] That makes so much sense. And I do notice it’s it’s interesting because when I worked and maybe this is just an evolution of me as a person, I remember working in corporate and being like, I would just buy whatever was on the on the mannequin or whatever and wear it. And I looked fine, but I wasn’t comfortable and I almost felt like I was doing it more for other people versus and what other people thought of me versus doing it for myself. And I think the biggest shift that I’ve made around that now is that, you know, am I my husband will make fun of me sometimes because we’ll be like going for a walk outside in the morning. And sometimes I, like, literally roll out of bed and I have thrown my hair up and put a hat on and like, we’re out. And other times I’m like, you know, I like, give me five minutes and I will do my little, like, hair dryer. I’ll put some makeup on. I’ll put like a nice or top. It takes me five minutes and he’s like, we’re going for a walk outside. Like this is not. And it’s like, no, no, it’s not like for other people. Like, I just needed this. I just it actually just put me into another state. And I noticed that, too, with with works. And and sometimes, you know, again, like, I’ll I’ll show. So up and I won’t have done much and it feels great, like I’ll be writing and I’ll be a cozy and other times I’ll show up and I’ve taken the time to just, like, put myself together a little bit. And I notice that I show up into my I’m making different decisions and different choices. Things are easier. I have like a clear head space and I really feel like the boss. And I’m doing that for me and my my energy.

Nicole Otchy [00:22:16] It’s real. It’s real. And and I want to just address why it can be the case that sometimes you can show up in your pajamas and work and. Yeah, I’m this way too. But this is exactly why it’s a tool. Anon’s Right. And I think that’s an important thing. I am not going to sit here and say that everybody should be dolled up all the time. I don’t believe that because my fundamental commitment is to women to show up. Now, I do think there’s a point at which not paying attention to how we dress or look can be a deterrent to people paying attention to us. That’s very rare and the people that I write. So I think it’s important to say it, but also to just acknowledge that’s probably not who we’re talking to here. But I think that it’s important to notice that it’s like you said about energy management. There are going to be times when you don’t need that tool and there are some times when you do and that it’s for you first is also empowering because as women particularly, we are raised and indoctrinated to believe that we how we look is for other people. But as business owners and his personal brands, we get to take it back, just like you decided what the values of your business were. You decide what the values of how you get trust are. Right. And sometimes it’s like you said, it’s cozy and it’s fine and people and that’s totally great. So this isn’t about always being pulled together. I think that’s important. Mhm.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:23:36] I love that. OK, so tell us a little bit more about the process that you work through with, with clients when it comes to entrepreneurs who are looking to become more visible and, and style of themselves in a way that’s like feels true for them, like what are some of the steps that you take them through?

Nicole Otchy [00:23:56] Yeah, I think it depends on where they are, how they’re coming to me. So it’s just like a quick photo shoot thing that’s going to be very different. Right. But I think generally speaking, to to describe what the most popular kind of way is, is what we did together. But I think that one the two pieces people are surprised by is that there is a mindset component which I think appeals to entrepreneurs. The interesting thing about style that’s very different about it’s similar to business, but it’s not the same as a lot of things in life, is that you can’t shift the beliefs until you are engaged in the work. So it’s very hard to shift your beliefs about getting dressed. If you have poor body image, unless you’re putting clothes on your body that flatter it, you can think about it. You think that it would be nice to have those thoughts, but they don’t actually come until you put the clothes on your body. So the reason why it’s effective is because they’re thinking and doing it together. And you kind just think about your style. You have to live it in the world. And so that’s a piece of it. And a lot of things that can come up for entrepreneurs around this just in case people are wondering and thinking, well, I wonder if that’s me, is if you’re somebody that is more likely to spend money and time investing in your business than in your wardrobe and yourself. And I don’t mean to the point of financial hardship. I just mean, you know, you have it. But it’s not a priority until other someone else sees you like a photo shoot. That’s something to take a look at. Why does your business outward facing you deserve more attention than what you wear to put the time into the business behind the scenes? I think that’s an important question. So so that’s definitely an important piece then. It’s really giving women the tools to understand themselves. So how to dress your body type, how to deal with specific issues that are individual, like I don’t like these types of fabrics. So they think that because they don’t like something isn’t comfortable, then they just have to opt out of getting dressed. Right. It’s right to go. No, that’s just you don’t like denim, like some other options.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:25:53] I used to think about that with the back of my job with like suit coats, like it was they and I think part of it was probably the fit, but it was also just uncomfortable. And I remember being like, OK, like, I just can’t I’m just going to have to go with blouses. And someone’s like, well, you can also do a cardigan if you like, if you want.\\

Nicole Otchy [00:26:12] that’s like, oh, not OK ourselves in, in. That’s the other role that I have is to be like, but look at this perspective, you know, because you will be like, well I can’t wear with my style because I need to be comfortable and like I will never tell someone to be uncomfortable. Like that’s your view. It’s either or it’s like saying like you can’t build wealth unless you starve to death. Who know one thing? Like, why would you say this about your clothes? Like, it’s so odd. So true, though. So I think that’s the other thing is really looking. I am not a stylist. There’s different schools of thought on this. But my my belief is that most women coming to me have some. What they like and goal is to pull that out and build on it, so I do do sometimes wardrobe overhauls, but we always start with what they have. So I will work with a client who I haven’t seen their clothes, not because I have a judgment. I really don’t. There’s nothing that I haven’t seen at this point. But also it’s very hard for us as people, even as creative entrepreneurs, to put words to certain ideas and we like. So visuals are very helpful for me and for them. And also we don’t see our own patterns. So like I wear a little black, it’s not hiding technique. It’s just definitely part of my brand. But I have to be careful that that’s not what I’m opting like. That’s not want to just defaulting to because I’m lazy. And if you look at my closet in lazier seasons that’s what’s going to happen, I might not think anything of that because it’s all in my closet and I’m surfing the Internet late at night trying to get a distraction by and more black tops like that kind of thing. But we can’t see that till somebody else is like, well, I’m noticing that you tend to do this. And then it’s like, oh, that is a shopping pattern that I need to be aware of. So a lot of this stuff is done that we’re changing. We’re just helping to become aware of it. And then, like I said, living off of it is what changes the behaviors. So that is important is that I start with what people have and then we work our way out. And then the last piece, I mean, there’s a couple of pieces here. But I think the most important thing is giving clients the tools, like you were saying actually of like, OK, I’m on Zoome calls a lot. What are the things that I need to know quick to feel good and confident. OK, it’s a V-neck. OK, now how about have a clean like what is the you know, it’s giving people those things. It really doesn’t take much. It just takes a little bit of knowledge to help you feel empowered. And then the more empowered you feel, the less you think about your clothes, which is the goal.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:28:32] Yeah. And I think that was that that was very empowering was you teaching me. And it wasn’t in like an overwhelming way by any means, but just teaching me how to think through certain decisions so that after our work together, like I can go, I have the ability to go buy something without asking you.

Nicole Otchy [00:28:53] That’s my goal with clients. As never been on an Instagram story about my goal, I started a workshop so to teach women and I didn’t anticipate how fulfilling it would be. Like I didn’t anticipate that I would want to train my entire business model to teach you versus doing it for you. And the reason is I can’t I can’t believe the level I had clients coming to be confident after they were with me for sure. And I have long term clients like seven years, but some of them took my workshop and the level of confidence that they have from doing the workshop. And I’m a pretty good I’m a pretty teachery stylist like I want you to learn it. Like, that’s not something that’s I don’t have any pride in, like keeping you forever. Maybe that’s a bad business model. Hasn’t been a problem so far. But generally speaking, I really enjoy I think as I’m going to be a professor, like teaching people I want you to, but seeing them, taking people through my whole process and giving it to them the level of competence, but not just the level of confidence in them, but like seeing it transform relationships with their daughters. Helping mothers for the first time have the most moving was being a woman who I worked with for two or three years. I was like, I think you should take this workshop. It’s beta form, just come in. And she did it and she said she she walks with me three months later and said that she like eleven or 12 year old daughter and she struggled going to the dressing room and leave you with her because her daughter was so critical of herself. But she thought she was critical of herself too. But she thought she was good at keeping it turns. You know, she’d say this model it. But she also didn’t have the tools to talk to her daughter about how to shift that. And so every back to school improvement, dressing, dressing room situation was a disaster. And after she did the program, she brought her to Old Navy and she came out like huge smile on her face, you know, just completely transformed and went to school. I had even littler kids, the parents of littler children like, you know, walk them through the process with them. And they were just so excited to get up in the morning, get dressed first is like dragging them out the door. So that is not the intention was I to teach kids. But I’m saying, like the the ripple effect, you know, people taking their adult kids out, you know, for shopping trips and being excited to say like, well, what about this color? You know, I couldn’t imagine. And so it is the best feeling to have somebody like you say, now I can go into a store and I don’t feel overwhelmed, are not sure that is better than any great one. Great outfit I could pick out for someone.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:31:19] Yeah. And I mean, I really resonate with that from a young age, like kind of dreading going shopping because it was very much around like I was trying to buy things that didn’t work with my body type because I had other friends who could fit into this stuff. And so that immediately made it in my mind that something was wrong with me and it was like terrible, you know. And so now, like, obviously, I mean that. I worked through a lot with that and had lots of therapy, lots of stuff, but like, you know, what’s been so nice about, like understanding my style more through through working with you and being able to, like, go to these stores and be like, oh, you know what? I don’t this is cute and it looks great on this other person. If I put it on, it’s not going to look good on me. But it’s not because of me. It’s just because, like, that neckline doesn’t really resonate with me. And so I prefer this neckline. And it just is it’s like also having it’s having the knowledge, but it’s also having, like, some vocabulary around it, too. And I can totally see how that would then make such an impact on anyone that you’re with, like whether it be friends or children or whatever. So. So, yeah, that’s it’s really it’s incredible work that you do.

Nicole Otchy [00:32:37] It’s incredible. But also just it’s just like everything else I think. And again, I’m going to refer to women as the majority of hard work with. But we tend to think it’s we tend to always be looking for what do we do wrong. Yes. And so without and without the knowledge in any of our life and in relationships and style and food in anything without the knowledge of what is actually happening out there that’s making our brain think something in here. We can’t disconnect and we can’t disconnect from the belief, oh, what’s going on here? What’s wrong? That’s just what our brains do. They’re looking for what’s wrong. If you don’t give your brain something to look at that’s more critical thinking like, well, is there something wrong with me or is this necklace just not appropriate for my height? Well, then we have a very different focus if you can make better decisions from there. And that is a very different energetic shift, too.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:33:25] Mm hmm. Awesome. So before we wrap up, I’d love to know, how do you work with you mentioned this workshop, like, tell us how you work with people right now.

Nicole Otchy [00:33:35] Yeah, I’m in between. Speaking of fitness, so I do have one to one client, and I probably will end up stopping one to one around late July, taking some leave. And then it will be. But I’m I have online programs. I have my signature program, which is called Style Your Brand for Entrepreneurs and Women in Leadership Development Program. Right now, it’s running live in March, but it will be going in on demand version very soon by summer. So that will be available. I do 90 minute consults. I have longer packages, but eventually more education and eventually a membership site, which I’m very excited about.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:34:13] Oh, that’s exciting. Yeah. So, all right. Last question. What does it mean for you to scale your business your way?

Nicole Otchy [00:34:22] So for me, it’s a lot about what we just talked about, like really thinking about how I can empower women to show up more by giving them these skills, but also having really honest conversations about being visible, because I think the tools are the clothes. But there’s more to the story. And I think, you know, having examples of other women who talk about their fears around being visible, but doing it ways, you know, like I’m someone that took it, took my husband and me last night, eight months, for me to open a Facebook page for my business, you know, 10 years, 12 years ago, like, I am not an early adopter of put it that way. And so I have always thought, like, oh, I love to be behind the scenes, but as I grow more as a person and confident that as I find more of my purpose in this work in my life, I really do think it’s important for women to see why it matters so much for them to show up. Right. And it’s just so important. And so scaling my business means getting getting the conversation to more people and getting these tools to more people in a way that feels manageable. So online programs, a membership site and keep showing up when I don’t feel like sometimes.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:35:29] Yes. With you on that. I’m sure many listeners can also resonate with that, too. So thank you so much for coming on today. Nicole is such a great conversation. I really appreciate you!

Nicole Otchy [00:35:40] Thank you so much for having me.

Nicole Jackson Miller [00:35:44] Thanks so much for tuning in, if you are ready to stop settling for being a done for you service provider and really fully step into the role of agency owner and CEO and lead a team that you love that just delivers excellent client results, then you have to check out my new program called AGENCY, which is specifically designed to remove you from at least 50 percent of client delivery in 12 months or less, so that you can have the time and the space to be able to run your business and, you know, to take a tech free vacation, too. That’s always nice, right? So if you’re interested in learning more, head over to NicoleJacksonMiller.com/Apply. You can learn more about the program. If it looks like a good fit, then apply. And we will send you before our call. We’ll send you a free business assessment that will really explain more about the framework that we use to remove you from client delivery. And it’ll give you an assessment that you can take to really show where you are now and where you’re going. We’ve had so many people get a lot of insight just from taking that assessment, so I can’t wait for you to check it out.