Image Strategist Helping Entrepreneurs Build Their Business & Uplevel Their Style

 

[INTRODUCTION]

 

Stu McLaren: There is a big trend brewing that’s revolutionizing the way business is being done. Big companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are jumping on this too but so are thousands of others in all kinds of markets like photography and calligraphy, fitness, finance, meal planning, lesson planning, dog training, and so many more, and they’re doing it by shifting to a recurring revenue model. Hi. My name is Stu McLaren and for more than a decade I’ve been helping tens of thousands of entrepreneurs generate recurring revenue through membership sites. Join our host, Shelli Varela, as she takes you behind-the-scenes to see how these companies are building a thriving tribe that spends with them every single month. Now, let’s get to today’s episode.

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Shelli Varela: Zayna Rose, welcome to the It’s a TRIBE Thing Podcast, buddy. How are you?

 

Zayna Rose: Shelli, I’m well. So, good to be here with you.

 

Shelli Varela: I am really excited to talk to you for a series of reasons. I love the topic of confidence and presentation and authenticity and especially, in these times and climates and I have had the pleasure and the privilege of working with you and utilizing your services and we’re going to talk about what a big difference that made for me personally. But if you’d be so kind, can you start with who you are, who you serve, and who were you at the beginning of that story before you were the amazing Zayna Rose?

 

Zayna Rose: Absolutely. I am, as you are, here in the Toronto area so I’m a local Canadian girl. I, 18 years ago, started my business and, of course, it has evolved over time but I started right out of university and trained to be an image consultant and strategist. I always knew, I had actually studied neuropsychology. Well, I was a psychology student really and I made this decision not to go become a psychology Ph.D. or a formal therapist and whatnot but I always knew that whatever I was going to do had to involve directly helping people as that is my love and my gift. And so, I found this career that is such a great combination of helping people with all aspects of their self-presentation. So, it’s how they look, how they interact with other people, how they use their unique charm, their stage presence, that kind of stuff. And it was exciting for me to be able to build a business that was also connected so much to my personality.

 

Because as we all know, as business owners, if we’re service providers, a lot of the time what we do is an extension of our own gifts and challenges and personalities and loves and things like that. So, I serve entrepreneurs, I serve entrepreneurs and, in my membership, I serve entrepreneurs who have digital businesses and speakers. And as it has evolved, those are also most of my private clients these days, although I have had a lot of experience, which I’m very proud of and happy about with people in different types of careers, different parts of the world, different industries so artists and lawyers and doctors, like you name it. And that was a real draw for me, that was a big part of why I do what I do and the way that I do it.

 

Shelli Varela: Well, I think you bring a very unique myriad of seemingly unlike things together to create this force to be reckoned with. And what I mean by that is on the outside, if a person didn’t know better, and they were just to meet you and to kind of hear who you are and what you do without knowing your backstory, and your history, and your education, and all of the things that you’ve curated from all these different places, it would be easy to think that you are a stylist of some sort. Can you explain to people the difference between a stylist and an image strategist just for those of us who are unaware what that actually means?

 

Zayna Rose: I can, of course. So, styling is one of my core services. And often, that is the thing actually, that has brought my most favorite beloved clients to the door. So, it’s a very important part of what I do and it’s often the thing I will help people to tackle and improve first. As we were talking about it, so style is one core of it. The other part is your interpersonal communication, how you network, how you build rapport with people, how you make your first impressions, how you exude your own charm, and how to find that if need be. And then the third part of the core of it really is your digital presence and your stage presence. So, of course, we know stage presence is also relevant to digital stages, but it’s also how you come across in your photos, how you come across when you’re communicating on video and how you are presenting yourself and how you behave and move and show up on stage as well. And of course, how you look is an integral part of that.

 

And the reason to start with style often is it’s the thread you can pull and raise that is so leveraged. When you help someone to see themselves in a different way, it instantaneously can affect confidence and comfort. And when one sees oneself in a new way, the world also sees that person in a new way as well. But it can so directly affect how you look at yourself in the mirror is important. How the world sees you is important but when you have that extra confidence and comfort in how you look and how you are communicating with your body and how you are just in general showing up and sitting in your energy better, it’s so helpful for not only our happiness, but also our ability to make an impact with others, our ability to sell as well.

 

Shelli Varela: I have so much to say about this because I am one of your clients and…

 

Zayna Rose: You are. The aforementioned beloved clients.

 

Shelli Varela: The cool thing about this is there is this unconscious communication that both happens between a presenter and an audience. I can personally speak to that. I can also speak to the unconscious communication you have with yourself about yourself as a sense of who you be as a presenter. There’s sort of two very similar things but they actually are separate. I will share with everybody that when you have the opportunity to say be honored with a presentation that you were striving for or looking forward to and you actually get that opportunity, there is a tremendous amount of stress that comes with that because those types of presentations sometimes are once in a lifetime. If you cannot have your head thinking about how you look or do I look big in these clothes? I will share with everybody. So, I had the privilege, the great privilege of speaking on the stage at TRIBE Live last year. The caveat to that, however, is I had blown out my ACL about six months, nine months before and so for myself, I was heavier than I’d ever been in my life. And not that I’m worried about my weight but it was just I felt like I was borrowing somebody else’s body. I looked and felt different than what was natural to me.

 

So, that lined up, ironically, with one of the most privileged and honored stages, perhaps that I will ever be on. I am a TRIBer, I’m a fan of TRIBE, and I love the community and I wanted to do right by them and I was giving a presentation on story, the power of story, and selling with story. What I was coming up against is this discomfort I was having in my own skin, juxtaposed against this incredible beautiful opportunity. And so, I didn’t know how to dress for it. I didn’t know how to feel comfortable in my clothing or in my body just because my own body felt foreign to me in that snapshot in time. Insert the lovely Zayna Rose. What you did was helped me put together an outfit on the outside. You helped me put together an outfit that was complimentary and was catered to custom that specific stage when it came down to the colors I wore and the background of the stage and all of these small nuances that as somebody who is not you and doesn’t know all of – I would not have thought of any of those things.

 

The biggest thing that allowed for me and I just want to share this because I was so privileged to have that stage but also to have you helped me with that was I was so in my head about feeling a certain way in my clothing that I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to give the gift of my presentation in a way that I knew the audience deserved. And so, first of all, I know that we’ve talked about this before, but I just wanted to thank you for helping me with that and helping me to feel comfortable and confident in the clothing and in what you put together for me and honoring who I be and helping the best of myself and the best presentation without having to have my head all caught up in other things. So, thank you so much for that.

 

Zayna Rose: It was my distinct pleasure to be there for you in that moment and to help you with that. And your story matters so much because that’s the reason to work on these things. So, it shouldn’t be when you’re giving a big presentation or a small presentation your head should be just to have the privilege of thinking about exactly what you will say, and what your energy will be like and what intention you’re bringing to that moment. And if someone like me can take that off your plate and to, as you said, honor who you are and actually, we didn’t have a lot of time. I didn’t tell you all of the things that I did or how I came up with what I came up with. It was very important to me that you felt good in the clothing like it felt good on your skin and on your body that you could move the way that you wanted to move. I didn’t really explain all the little details of the cut and the color like I did a little bit but we didn’t have the time and I know that you would have been happy to hear it had we had more time but it was that it was in alignment with your personality style, as you said, with the mood of the stage, with the mood of the audience.

 

So, when you’re talking about whether you’re going to sit down in front of your Zoom screen or get up on a big stage in front of a thousand people or thousands of people, that’s sort of the connection. Those are the connections you want to make, like how will I connect with my audience in a way that is authentic and approachable and my version of modern, right? Because you also have to look like who you say you are and what you say you do. For example, if you say you have a cutting edge service and if you appear outdated to the eye, and that can mean many things, then there’s a lack of congruency there. So, you’re looking for the congruency with your personality, with your business brand, and that does not have to mean a literal translation of the colors of your brand or anything like that. But it’s about leading and connecting with your audience and creating the space to just do your thing to the best of your ability.

 

[ANNOUNCEMENT]

 

Stu McLaren: So many people in all kinds of niche markets are leveraging their existing knowledge and influence and they’re transforming it into passive monthly income. This isn’t luck. This is a repeatable formula for producing a growing subscription income and if thousands of others can do it, you can too. To find out what type of membership site would be right for your business, visit GetTRIBEGuide.com. Go to GetTRIBEGuide.com and download it today. You’re awesome!

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Shelli Varela: It’s interesting when you hit it out of the park, though. When you do something really well, it’s almost like you’re not aware of it. It just becomes something that feels a certain kind of way. And you maybe can’t put your finger on why but I almost consider you like a presentation whisperer because what I will say, I have seen you do that is brilliant, that it would be easy to overlook if you didn’t know better was you actually helped people get unstuck, because oftentimes people don’t feel completely congruent. They don’t feel completely comfortable or confident. Whether it’s a digital stage or an actual stage, it’s the same principle. So, the beauty of getting somebody unstuck in a way that they feel comfortable and confident in who they be, and how they look in their congruence, really oftentimes is the difference between them, first of all, making sales because you carry yourself in a different way.

 

Zayna Rose: Absolutely.

 

Shelli Varela: And also, too, there is that unconscious conversation that’s going on in the minds of the audience and you’ll find this in even things like job interviews, where the person who’s interviewing you might say, “I don’t 100% believe you, but I’m not sure why.”

 

Shelli Varela: Yep. There’s this cognitive dissonance that goes on especially with job interviews, and by the way, as coaches, experts, consultants, aren’t we constantly job interviewing when meeting with new prospective clients or launching in front of new prospective members, right? It’s a similar thing. There are a lot of options in the world. If someone is shopping for an expert to help them, they can meet with three different people. And if everyone is equally qualified on paper, there’s nothing wrong with choosing the person with whom you connect the most. And people find it hard to articulate why a lot of the time. But if you are communicating well, you are leading with your authentic self and it means you are showing who you really are. It means you’re being accepted for who you really are. And then everything we do becomes more effective. And I have to say it’s so lovely for me to hear that you felt that about what we did together. And it ranges, right? You were in a moment that had some challenges because of the body changes and what that can create in terms of the hesitation for standing up in front of a lot of people and, frankly, in front of a camera because that video lives forever and you, my goodness.

 

Now, I have to say this. You, afterward I heard you say you had thought about not stepping up onto the stage. And probably hundreds of people approached you afterwards. Because of what you talked about, you touched so many hearts and minds that day. People were crying in your arms. People were flocking to you for how you made a difference to them with your presentation and to me had you not stepped up on the stage that ripple effect could not have taken place. So, for me, if it is to help with it could be a small thing. It could be a more deep thing. But if that helps speakers and experts to just have a little more comfort while they’re doing what they do, the performance can be elevated. And there are different levels. Some people are already super confident really sitting in their stage presence. Our Stu is one of those people so I dressed him and Amy for TRIBE Live and Stu didn’t need more confidence. Stu didn’t need help in that area whatsoever. He’s a master of who he is and what he does.

 

What I did for him was he got to enjoy my interpretation of it anyways like he just got to enjoy what he was wearing and it just added a little something for him and he was happy about it. But for another person, I’ve had clients who truly appear outdated and you have to help them fix that, especially for example, if they’re selling tech, like high-end tech or something. And that’s a very real thing like you have to solve what you referred to and that subconscious activity in the mind when people are viewing the person they’ve come to talk to you or the person they may want to invest in working with.

 

Shelli Varela: Absolutely, for sure. And I love also how you’re gentle with your delivery because fashion is not my jam. I know I’m doing something with my hands or I’m over here, over there. And for you to be able to point those things out even just something as simple as what you said, if you’re selling tech and if you’re selling cutting edge tech, then if you are wearing clothing that unconsciously tells people you’re “outdated”, I’m not actually sure what that means, but it creates almost like an interrupt in the minds of the people who are trying to listen to you. And they’re like, just like we said earlier, “I don’t 100% believe you, but I’m not sure why,” and that actually deeply affects your bottom line. It deeply affects whether people say yes to you or whether you’re able to make that transformation, which is the whole reason you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place.

 

Zayna Rose: Yep. When it comes to the style part that as we say makes such a big difference on the front end in the first impressions like sometimes you have seconds to intrigue people further. Whether you’re standing somewhere live or these days online like is what you’re putting forward click-worthy so to speak like are you connecting in a way that people want to know more? Are you being intentional about how you’re showing yourself? It’s not about being fancy. You don’t have to be into fashion. You don’t have to be fancy. I’ll tell you a secret. I’m not that much into fashion either. Like I have a love for fashion in a way but fashion and clothing like those are tools that some of the tools I use to help people and you can be the jeans and t-shirts person every day if you want to. Not all jeans and t-shirts are created equal as we have found. Some are going to be more flattering.

 

Shelli Varela: You should have a tutorial on that.

 

Zayna Rose: Yeah. Oh, gosh, but that’s the thing, right? Maybe it’s a simple thing like your pants need to fit a little better so when you sit you’re not uncomfortable or maybe things need to move a little better so you’re not fussing with it when you’re working or maybe you need a complete visual reinvention. Maybe this is the moment. So many things are happening in the world that we can’t ignore that we can’t deny and I’m glad we’re not doing so. But now is the moment, the culmination of what’s happening right now with health, with climate change, with Black Lives Matter, with fighting for social justice, with adjusting our businesses because of the situation that’s been created in the world with lockdown. Like, we can’t also ignore or I hate for us to miss also the opportunity with our personal development that goes hand-in-hand with this moment. And if we need to do some little tweaks on how we present ourselves so that we can make a bigger difference at this time in whatever way that means, maybe it just means leading inside your small closed community. Maybe it means speaking in public to tens, to thousands, to millions.

 

Whatever that journey is for us, whether we’re more involved in what’s going on publicly or not, we’ve got no choice but to move with this time. And so, it’s a natural time of transition in the world and it’s a perfect time to take another look at ourselves and ask ourselves, are we telling our own story the way we want to tell it? Am I who I was three months ago? Am I who I was a year ago? So, it’s looking at ourselves, whether it be the way we dress or the way that we use our body language, our ability to connect with our audiences? Are we moving in the direction that feels good to us, that feels real, that feels authentic?

 

Shelli Varela: Absolutely. And you said something that I want to circle back to. Whether you want to or not, you are telling a story, so it’s important to tell the right one. So, you’ve created a membership site of people with exactly these things. Can you talk a little bit about that?

 

Zayna Rose: I can. It’s called Profit In Style and it helps entrepreneurs with exactly what we’ve been talking about. So, the core pieces of it, one is positioning. So, everything that how we express ourselves in a public way and in a private way, it’s good when it lines up with our positioning in terms of who we want to be as leaders, who we are as business owners. There’s the style piece, of course, that connects back to every section. There’s the charm piece. So, are you using your natural spark? For just one quick example, we’re all communicating on camera. So, even those of us who did it regularly even more and sometimes you need to turn that volume up on your personal charm one notch so that it comes across as intended and that kind of thing. And then the other pieces are, again, your digital presence with how you are in photos and non-video and that kind of stuff and connecting to stage presence when we get back to physical stages. And I mean, I like fun. I like humor and I intentionally build those things into what I deliver and how I deliver and we’ve all got a lot on our plates and this stuff matters and working on engagement matters, too.

 

Shelli Varela: Well, I think I love that you’ve created a membership site around this because it allows people to start as they intend to continue and then some ways create a greater sense of momentum when they can hit it out of the park, when they feel good, when they feel confident, and also when they become aware of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

 

Zayna Rose: True. And our journeys keep changing as entrepreneurs. So, sometimes you’re focused on pre-launch and launch and sometimes you’re focused on delivery. Sometimes you’re focused on batching your videos or networking and what have you. So, what I like about the membership format because I have launched a course and I enjoy the membership format so much more because it allows me to serve people where they are and help them with what they need in that moment because these things keep changing. And frankly, some people join simply for this style piece and I’m happy about that, like if that’s moving the needle for them and that’s something that a lot of people have always wanted. But to have someone to help you with that privately can be inaccessible because of geography. It can be challenging because of budget and whatnot, but to have the community together working on that as well as and my membership’s not too big yet so I get to have a lot of personal interaction with my members and that’s something that has served me really well to build those personal connections, while I’m able to and to really see what challenges are coming up. And it’s been an honor to serve them in this moment where all of us need extra support, that kind of shift messaging and that kind of stuff and just to feel good in our home offices, our cameras.

 

Shelli Varela: Absolutely. Well, I’m super grateful for you. We will be definitely working together again. But last question, if you had some advice to give somebody who’s entertaining the thought of perhaps starting a membership site, what would you tell them?

 

Zayna Rose: I would tell them to go for it and don’t hold back on customizing it by using your personality. And use your voice. be genuine, be transparent, connect with people, and be heartfelt in your own way because that’s what works.

 

Shelli Varela: Incredible. And especially now like if ever in the world, there was a time to use your voice, that time, my dear friend, is now. Thank you so much, Zayna, for stopping by and for hanging out with us. I deeply appreciate you and I will be forever grateful.

 

Zayna Rose: Well, it’s been my pleasure. Thank you for having me here and it’s been a real pleasure to work with you as well.

 

[CLOSING]

 

Stu McLaren: I hope you love that story. It’s amazing, right? That’s what It’s a TRIBE Thing is all about. So, many people in all kinds of niche markets are leveraging their existing knowledge and influence and they’re transforming it into passive monthly income. Listen, this isn’t luck. There’s a repeatable formula for producing a growing subscription income and each week we’re going behind the scenes to show you exactly how they did it. Get the latest stories and actionable ideas from each episode at www.ItsaTRIBEThing.com and if you know one other person who could benefit from this, tell them to subscribe. Tell them to go to ItsaTRIBEThing.com.

[END]