We become what we wear, and that makes a difference to our business performance. Professional stylist gives free tips on what to buy for your wardrobe and tax deductions you can claim.

Jim James: 0:08

Today, I interviewed Nick Hems, who is a stylist that I've worked with, and he's a great one at that. When it comes to looking confident as a business owner, Nick says we first must find inner confidence and authenticity for the way that we appear. Our clothing and our body language, that's where it starts, according to Nick, because it is somehow our duty to look like a leader in order to get the buy-in from people, but then there needs to be a certain amount of authenticity there with that. You need to feel like a leader and believe that you are. You need to find the right reflection in the way that you dress, so that it is still you. Of course, clothing and grooming have a big impact on our confidence, which led Nick to talk about style personality, which is not something that everyone understands. He says it's not a sense of wanting to look "good," because what does that mean, really? Nick could never dress two people in exactly the same way, because it just doesn't work. To look good, you've got to feel good, and that is individual to everyone. Everyone has a personality and a way that they are. Finding that fit of clothing that you wear is really, really important. That way, people see through what you're wearing, that reflection in your personality, and it's the strongest way you can bring yourself about authentically. We can say we'll dress you in a suit, but what suit? What colors are we going to use? That's To be able to determine what we would look best in, as business going to reflect who you are. owners, first off, make sure hat whatever you've got fits, ecause that's the first point here the majority of people all down. They have clothes hat may look right, but they on't fit properly. If it oesn't fit, you could have it ltered. Nick says it's not ju t about how we dress and the cl thes we wear. It's people's pe ception of us, and when you're wearing something that looks t rrible, even if it's expe sive or branded, you may come a ross as sloppy, with possibly t anslating into the way you ork. So, first thing Nick woul do is to make sure that wh tever items of clothing he actua ly likes, they fit him corr ctly, and then he'll loo at how he can accessorize his ook, how he can add to his look ithout spending too much money, yet gives him a bit of variety rom day to day. For men, acce sories could be pocket handke chiefs, and for ladies, neck aces, bracelets, and broaches ould do. If you've got a suit o wear, Nick says to think of i like this, "How can I change th look of this suit throughout t e week?" With accessories, it akes you look as if you care, a d people pick up on that even f they don't nec I then proceeded to ask about watches which, for most men, may be the only accessory they have. When I used to live in Asia, having an expensive watch was kind of a rite of passage. Nick's take on it it is that watches are a really powerful, strong accessory. However, not everyone has the budget to go out and buy an expensive watch, and you don't need to. A timepiece is a really, really nice accessory for a man. Nick says it's about finding that timepiece that's going to fit with what you're wearing. For him, that's an important thing. You can play around with the wa ches you've got, the different inds of straps you may have, wh ther it's leather, metal, or esh, whatever it might be, b t it needs to go with what y u're wearing. It may even be go d to buy two lower cost watches one casual and one formal. was looking at Swatch. They're bout 40, and you can buy a r ally nice-looking and funct onal watch. Nick says you ca buy exceptional-looking watche for 100. You just need to do your rese Our next topic was about shoes. For Nick, your shoes sets off the entire look. You can have a really well-fitted suit, but if you're wearing the wrong shoes, they completely take away from the entire look. Getting shoes right is really, really im ortant to a look, and so is ma ing sure that you care for th m as well in the right way, an that's imperative. With sho s, you can come at it from a c st-per-wear basis. Sometime , you can go out and buy a ch ap pair of shoes, which might ge worn out fast, or invest in sho s that will maybe last you lon er. My daughter bought a pai of Doc Martens shoes last wee with her mother, and I fin lly treated myself to a pair of hoes that are as expensive as y children's shoes. We look at hoes as being an essential ite which can last us years, cer ainly, if we take good care of them. We then moved on to talking about dressing for the occasion. I used to have a client from a listed company that wore an open neck if he had good results, bu if it was bad, he'd wear a tie and a jacket to show he was se ious. Nick believes that you should dress for the occasi n and also dress for the envi onment you're in. For xample, you may be looking for a new job, you're going for an interview, do your research, have a look at what they wear, here you're going, and dress ight for that environment. If t's an occasion where yo 're making a formal statement to a group of people, you need o keep in mind your clothing. Y u don't want to come in with our really expensive suit and Ro ex watch and tell your staff, "I'm really sorry. We can't a ford to keep you on. We're g ing to have to let some of y u go." This paints a bad pictur . You leave people with a bad taste in their mouth. So, absolu ely dressing for your environ ent and dressing for the sit ation is paramount. Since Nick mentioned staff and teams, I asked about the importance of clothing, not as a uniform, but as sort of a dress code. Nick says every company has a brand, whether they know it or not. It's a way that they want to be perceived. When yo have your staff and they are seeing clients, they should e given guidance as to what to wear, so that they actua ly reflect your brand. From a commercial point of view, I he rd that if you have the name of the company on the item of cl thing, you can offset that aga nst tax. For instance, if you w re to give your staff shirts or jackets with the company name o logo, that's a tax-deductib e item, so that's also worth thi king about. Since we are somewhat transitioning to working from home, I asked Nick for his opinion on the proper Zoom "outfit" and whether we should be dressing up or dressing down. To create a good impression online, Nick says that, again it's dressing for the environment, not necessarily your home environment, but the environment you're transporting into. Truly, you wouldn't want t dress too dissimilarly from ho you would be dressing if you ere going into a meeting in a actual office. You could wear decent shirt or blouse, and ou could even be wearing pajama bottoms (since your legs aren t seen). That's not something o worry about. But just remem er, you will set the tone by wha you wear. There are many factor to consider when you're on oom, and the way you dress s one very important factor. Y ur lighting and sound then b come just as important, be ause people can't see all of our body language, they can't ee you, they can't see everyt ing that you've got to offer a if you were in an office, so yo need to project yourself in the right way, a In terms of colors, for those of us that would be possibly looking for a basic assortment of clothes, the world's favorite color is blue, and it's qui e a calming color. According t Nick, it's reasonably neutral, it's available everywhere, and it's the world's most loved color. If you're looking at ies or squares, whatever it is, lue would be great. If you're ooking at the actual suit, for ick personally, he'd stay away rom black. He prefers a navy lue or grey suit, because it's ore generic. You can wear that o many different places. Where s for him, a black suit is just bit too dull. It's not somet ing that you'd want to be weari g to a business meeting. If people are looking for sources of inspiration, depending on where you are in the process of style, where you want to be, Nick says there are a number of good people on YouTube that you can follow that give advice on style and dressing, and they're not hard to come across. If it's more inspiration about what to wear, he'd look on somewhere like Instagram. He'd do some digging around and find people that are around your age range, that represent a look that you like, follow them, and look back on their historic photos. If you are lost at where to go completely, have a conversation with someone like Nick. He has a website, and he's on Facebook and Instagram as well. I hope this has been meaningful for you. I hope you learned about dressing appropriately, even if it's for a Zoom meeting, how to accessorize an outfit, what shoes to wear, and how to project yourself as a business owner worthy of recognition.