We all have our own tastes, styles and preferences when it comes to how we dress, style our hair, even what we drive, and one of the great things about running a business from the comfort of home is that we can be exactly who we are with no need to impress anyone.
Like you, I have personal preferences. I love the fact that I can work in my PJ’s during the early hours of the day while I coach overseas clients, and comfortable gym clothes or shorts and a T-shirt during the day.
It’s great that working from home gives us this freedom to dress as we choose, but it’s also important to recognize that this is where it stays – at home.
When you’re out in the community or meeting with clients or prospects, put your personal preferences aside and shift your thinking to image management.
Whether it’s fair or not, image is critical. How someone perceives you is going to determine whether or not they will do business with you.
Psychologists have learned that most people will form an impression of you in the first four minutes and that 80 percent of that impression is based on nonverbal data.
What you say has...