Lauren Messiah – From Hobby to Revenue-Generating Business

Summary:

In this episode, EO Podcast host Dave Will interviews Lauren Messiah, a fashion stylist who works with “badass” women in business, and helped to co-found the screamingly successful School of Style. Listen as Lauren describes how she pivoted from college, to a nightmare job, to styling celebrities and starting her own business, Personal Style University.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

02:02 – Moving from pure passion to booming business 03:37 – The act of transforming a hobby into an money-earning business, and the unintended consequences 04:11 – Lauren hasn’t lost her love of shopping, but it definitely isn’t as pronounced as before 06:16 – Lauren discovered her love for fashion at 5 years old 07:04 – Lauren’s dad didn’t believe she could make money from fashion 07:32 – Her parents’ resistance on studying fashion 08:31 – “I kept going because some force inside was telling me ‘this is going to work’” 08:53 – “College didn’t prepare me for the real world” 09:15 – Lauren was offered only $18,000/year as salary after graduation 09:38 – She ended up taking a retail job at the mall 09:55 – Moving from retail to a job at AOL 10:45 – She started a blog 11:28 – Lauren’s boss at AOL was supportive on her blog 12:06 – Lauren’s main fashion rule for men 12:46 – Cargo shorts are the equivalent to ‘dad jeans’ 13:24 – Another executive at AOL saw Lauren’s blog 14:11 – Lauren’s friend’s dog is famous 14:35 – Dog featured on Inside Edition 15:19 – “It’s the weird people who usually start up businesses” 16:08 – Writing about sporting attire 16:30 – Another start-up noticed her work and hired Lauren 17:25 – “I still didn’t fit in” 18:06 – Lauren needed to break free 18:32 – The Rachel Zoe Project 19:02 – Lauren found a styling workshop 19:50 – Lauren partnered up and started a styling school 21:10 – Lauren and Luke as partners 21:57 – Where income is generated in their business 22:10 – Trying to scale up the business online 23:04 – The School of Style is for aspiring stylists 24:40 – How to speak to celebrities 25:10 – There are rules when speaking to celebrities 25:55 – “We get our students jobs after they graduate” 26:10 – Taking people with no experience 26:46 – Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction 30:07 – Working with Luke Storey 30:28 – Lauren shadowed Luke on celebrity jobs 30:34 – Lauren started on celebrity jobs and still felt unfulfilled 31:45 – Luke and Lauren taught a class at Nickelodeon 32:03 – Lauren’s first client 33:02 – The client was so satisfied she told other people about Lauren 33:21 – “The clothes didn’t change her life, but the way she felt in them did” 34:40 – Lauren got referrals as a gift 35:37 – Investments in style 35:45 – Started with $1500 36:20 – Style doesn’t have a budget 37:16 – Lauren’s exposures were fairly organic 37:51 “I was the dirty little secret of rich people” 38:06 – I had good SEO 38:32 – Stacy London helped Lauren get into commercials 39:21 – Lauren is a hard core introvert 40:13 – Lauren developed a course 40:22 – Personal Style University 41:28 – Style can hold people back 42:18 – Style is about changing attitudes and building confidence in people

3 Key Points:

College doesn’t teach what happens in the “real world.” Sometimes, you need to break free from convention to explore what really drives you and discover what you really want. Great style is an effortless conduit to confidence.

Resources Mentioned:

Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network The School of Style – Lauren’s business with Luke Personal Style University – Lauren’s styling course AOL – Where Lauren landed her 2nd job Dog featured on Inside Edition – The dog Lauren is ‘dog-sitting’ The Rachel Zoe Project – TV show where Lauren realized styling could be a living Luke Storey – Lauren’s partner and fashion connoisseur Stacy London – An American style consultant who helped Lauren’s career

Credits:

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives