Let me digress...........For those of you who don't know me very long, I've worked in corporate office jobs right around the same time I started dating my then boyfriend turned husband, Ronnie, about 10 years ago. I got used to weekly staff meetings, managing staff, projects and events. Reporting to bosses, creating reports,working lunches, giving presentations in meetings, handling budgets and the list goes on and on. Very corporate! I have all the smart suits to prove it.
September 11, 2008 is when it happened, I took Linda shopping and we both loved it. She suggested that this was my calling and all I could think of was "how do I turn this into a bus
iness"?. My last mentor also said she felt very strongly that I needed to have my own business, but since I never took her shopping, she didn't know what type of business to suggest, right?
So from September to the end of November I researched fashion jobs, but still applied to jobs in my old field.
In November I thought maybe I'll work at Neiman Marcus as a personal shopper. Of course I picked the snobbyist store, and highest title. You have to work from the bottom to be hired as a personal shopper. Then I thought Nordstrom, in marketing, we studied a book called "The Nordstom Way". I was very familiar with their business and liked how they treated their customers.
One day I tried to apply on line, but I thought their website was down so I called them. I ended up getting the friendliest HR assistant on the phone. We started to chat, I told him a bit about me (sold myself hard!) and he told me nothing was open, but to call in a week. I called a week later and he told me to call in a few days, well this went on for weeks! Then one day he called and asked me to come in on Saturday to interview with his manager. I came all dressed up early that Saturday and was pumped for my interview. I was quickly shot down by the other assistant who told me "the HR manager didn't expect me
, there were no openings, why was I there, who arraigned this.....etc." She said she could interview me, BUT WAIT I want the head honcho to meet me, she is the decision maker, not this little assistant!!! Thank goodness I didn't listen to that voice and had an interview - which went really well. Again, I was reminded there was no openings and they were cutting people.
One week later I received a call from Karen (my now boss) to come in for an interview, they had an opening. (that's God by the way)
December 2, 2008 I started working at Nordstrom. The first week I worked there, my ego wrecked havoc on me. What was I doing folding clothes, didn't they know I ran $2,000,000 budgets per community x9 communities (I was the marketing manager for a new home builder). I would be emptying someones dressing room and I would say to myself, "they don't know who I am". Oh the ego is an awful thing! I struggled not to let others see what I was thinking. I thought I was so better than ever
yone and had done so much more than them, but didn't want them to see it. THE EGO! So yucky.
Well fast forward just a few months and so much has changed. That boyfriend who became my husband - we are getting a divorce, I am moving into an adorable guest house tomorrow AND last week I looked at my boss and said, "just so you know, I like my job, a lot" and she said "oh
sister it shows".
Change is in the air and it's good!
I really like going to work. At work, I can take
you to any department and sell any item. I was in Women's shoes two days ago, searching like mad for a customer. I can sell mens clothes, kids clothes = you
name it. No one tells me where to go or when. It feels like I am an independent contractor. I love the freedom.
But, it's not so much Nordstroms, its the job of transforming someone. Helping them get to their better selves on the outside. Seeing their face twist up when I show them an outfit they would never have picked, knowing it would look fabulous on them, and seeing their face light up when they put it on. Teaching them the tricks to get around their "problem" areas. Shocking them when I tell them not to buy something because it does not look good.
My biggest love is my clients I've had outside of Nordstroms. They let me into their home to critique their clothes. That takes a lot of courage on their part and delicacy o
n mine......which is being acquired by the minute! I don't want to offend them, but want to tell them the truth and know in the end their appreciate it.
I love dressing people, It's like a project for me that is so easy! The words, styles, suggestions, colors, cut and fit all just seem to flow from my mouth. All those years of admiring fashion I guess really sank in deep and now their coming out.
Best of all, I see them light up. I get to be the girl that solved their question. The one who made them look, then feel great. I love this.
Yes, I know I have found my calling. I just received my business cards, so cute! The website is next, then mass marketing. So watch out Rachael Zoe!!
My shopping day with Linda !
