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EO 360°, a podcast by Entrepreneurs’ Organization, explores entrepreneurship with a wide perspective, moving beyond business to those insights not often shared by high-profile thought leaders.

Host and serial entrepreneur, Dave Will, leads in-depth interviews, whose featured guests include: Gazelles founder and CEO, Verne Harnish; popular podcast host and founder of Genius Network, Joe Polish; award-winning entrepreneur, Zahra Al-Harazi; and more. Tune into this top podcast made by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.

Learn more about Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the leading peer-to-peer network exclusively for entrepreneurs.

Nov 15, 2016

Summary:

In this episode, EO Podcast host Dave Will interviews Lauren Messiah, a fashion stylist who works with “badass” women in business, and helped to co-found the screamingly successful School of Style. Listen as Lauren describes how she pivoted from college, to a nightmare job, to styling celebrities and starting her own business, Personal Style University.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 02:02 – Moving from pure passion to booming business
  • 03:37 – The act of transforming a hobby into an money-earning business, and the unintended consequences
    • 04:11 – Lauren hasn’t lost her love of shopping, but it definitely isn’t as pronounced as before
  • 06:16 – Lauren discovered her love for fashion at 5 years old
  • 07:04 – Lauren’s dad didn’t believe she could make money from fashion
    • 07:32 – Her parents’ resistance on studying fashion
  • 08:31 – “I kept going because some force inside was telling me ‘this is going to work’”
    • 08:53 – “College didn’t prepare me for the real world”
  • 09:15 – Lauren was offered only $18,000/year as salary after graduation
    • 09:38 – She ended up taking a retail job at the mall
  • 09:55 – Moving from retail to a job at AOL
    • 10:45 – She started a blog
    • 11:28 – Lauren’s boss at AOL was supportive on her blog
  • 12:06 – Lauren’s main fashion rule for men
    • 12:46 – Cargo shorts are the equivalent to ‘dad jeans’
  • 13:24 – Another executive at AOL saw Lauren’s blog
  • 14:11 – Lauren’s friend’s dog is famous
  • 15:19 – “It’s the weird people who usually start up businesses”
  • 16:08 – Writing about sporting attire
    • 16:30 – Another start-up noticed her work and hired Lauren
  • 17:25 – “I still didn’t fit in”
  • 18:06 – Lauren needed to break free
  • 18:32 – The Rachel Zoe Project
    • 19:02 – Lauren found a styling workshop
  • 19:50 – Lauren partnered up and started a styling school
    • 21:10 – Lauren and Luke as partners
    • 21:57 – Where income is generated in their business
    • 22:10 – Trying to scale up the business online
  • 23:04 – The School of Style is for aspiring stylists
  • 24:40 – How to speak to celebrities
    • 25:10 – There are rules when speaking to celebrities
    • 25:55 – “We get our students jobs after they graduate”
    • 26:10 – Taking people with no experience
  • 26:46 – Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction
  • 30:07 – Working with Luke Storey
    • 30:28 – Lauren shadowed Luke on celebrity jobs
    • 30:34 – Lauren started on celebrity jobs and still felt unfulfilled
    • 31:45 – Luke and Lauren taught a class at Nickelodeon
  • 32:03 – Lauren’s first client
    • 33:02 – The client was so satisfied she told other people about Lauren
    • 33:21 – “The clothes didn’t change her life, but the way she felt in them did”
  • 34:40 – Lauren got referrals as a gift
  • 35:37 – Investments in style
    • 35:45 – Started with $1500
    • 36:20 – Style doesn’t have a budget
  • 37:16 – Lauren’s exposures were fairly organic
    • 37:51 “I was the dirty little secret of rich people”
  • 38:06 – I had good SEO
  • 38:32 – Stacy London helped Lauren get into commercials
  • 39:21 – Lauren is a hard core introvert
  • 40:13 – Lauren developed a course
    • 40:22 – Personal Style University
  • 41:28 – Style can hold people back
  • 42:18 – Style is about changing attitudes and building confidence in people

3 Key Points:

  1. College doesn’t teach what happens in the “real world.”
  2. Sometimes, you need to break free from convention to explore what really drives you and discover what you really want.
  3. Great style is an effortless conduit to confidence.

Resources Mentioned:

Credits:

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives