Business Coach : Dress To Impress
-Now, in your mind, how important is it for the business coach to dress for the job they want to have and not just the job they do have?
-Oh. It’s absolutely– I mean, it’s important.
-If you see a young man who wears a suit, white collar, every day, and you don’t ask him to, what do you think– if he does it not just one day, but he does it every day? How do you start to think about that person differently, as an owner?
-Well, I would think that this person has ambition. He has drive. He cares about what other people think, and that he knows what he’s doing. And if he matches real good, I’m impressed.
-What about for the guy who has that only God can judge me tattoo on his neck? Or the guy who’s contemplating, he’s watching right now, and he’s like as soon as I finish watching this, I’m going to get a tattoo right on my neck. Because only God can judge me. Or for the guy who’s going through that only god can judge me portion of their life. What advice would you have for them?
-For one, then you need to go to work for a place that isn’t that venue. We, at my restaurant, you know, we get all kinds of people that come in and apply. And sometimes they’ll come in and it looks like a tackle box exploded in their face. And they got just things hanging all over. And their hair is purple and green. And we have to sit down and say this isn’t the venue for you. And they need to know that.
A lot of young entrepreneurs, I mean, I sat down with a guy– I’m not exaggerating– and he was an owner of a restaurant. And he was the owner of the restaurant. And he came down to sit down with me and he had– every time we’d meet he come in shorts, and he would come in this tie-dye shirt. And it was dirty. And he had long hair.
-But he’s his own boss.
-And he was his own boss. And what he came to me was, was my business is not growing. I don’t know what to do. And so–
-Would you work for you? I mean–
-Yeah. That’s one of the discussions I had with him was, you have to dress like an owner. I mean, if you want people to take you seriously when you’re dealing with things or when you’re trying to get them to have you cater or do other things, you can’t be dressed like a blowback from the ’80s.
-So if I’m dressed right now, I’m coming in with a tie-dye outfit– it’s like for some reason, it’s like a super tight tie-dye, it’s soiled in dirt. I got the multiple earring tattoo thing, going on there, looking a little crazy. What are going to you say to me, right now? What advice can you give me?
-Well, first of all, it depends on what job you’re asking for.
-If I’m trying to become the boss of a company someday. I’m a business coach, I want to become a business coach.
-You’re an entrepreneur, and you’re coming to sit down with me, and you say, what’s the first thing you’re going to say to me. And I’m going to say, why don’t you come back when you take my time seriously.
-Ooh. OK. But that’s what you’ve got to say and hopefully that person can learn from that.
-Absolutely. Now, I won’t be mean, I’ll just sit down and say, the expectations are that you also– you’re extending, you’re extending yourself to this person and saying I respect you enough to dress up for you.
-One of the things I’ll remember in high school was that there are guidance counselors, like now everyone dresses different, everyone is just different, everyone different cultures, different values, some people have the tattoos, some people don’t. And we just need to respect everyone’s diversity because you know we can’t judge people.
And I remember as soon as she finished talking, we’d be like, look at that dude, that’s crazy. You know and people, that’s what they do, they form impressions. And I think that’s important that we as people should not try to prejudge others. We should not try to label people. We should not try to have– but whether we do or not, the world does. And we’ve got to be very cognitively aware of that.
-And the reality is– and I use this illustration with my kids sometimes as we’re having discussions– is if you’re walking down the street and it’s dark, and there’s someone walking towards you and they have a hoodie on and you can see the tattoos and stuff as they’re walking.
And then you see somebody walking down in a suit or a nice shirt with a tie. Which one are you going to be more nervous about? You know, it may be that the guy with the shirt and tie is the one that’s going to stab you, but–
-You wouldn’t assume that.
– –but you probably wouldn’t assume that. And so, it’s important.