The Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast
The styling consultancy is the first "stylist only" business consulting firm dedicated to making personal stylists like you into 6-figurecreative CEOs.
We’re dedicated to pioneering a new category of badass, wealthy industry shifting stylists who run businesses that are ridiculously fun, have dreamy AF clients, and are making so much predictable monthly income, saving items in your The Real Real cart instead of checking out right away becomes a thing of the past.
Everything is about to change for you.
Listen in each week as host, Nicole Otchy, takes you inside the world of Six Figure Personal Stylists and what it takes for you to step into this world for yourself.
The Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast
From Hourly Rates to Premium Styling Services with Molly Hudson
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Molly Hudson already knew luxury retail. She had worked at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Barneys, understood what quality actually looked like, and knew exactly which clients she wanted to serve. What she didn’t have was a personal styling business built to match that level of experience.
When we started working together, Molly was still charging hourly, without clear packages, onboarding systems, or a real marketing plan. She was also raising two young kids and trying to relaunch her business while they were home for the summer. Within weeks, she had raised her prices, sold a premium styling package at roughly ten times her previous rate, launched her new website, and was close to a waitlist for fall.
In this episode of The Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast, Molly and I talk about moving from hourly rates to premium styling services, building packages around the clients you actually want, and creating the systems that make a high-end personal styling business easier to sell and deliver.
2:12 – How Molly’s background in luxury fashion and retail led her into personal styling
7:12 – The experience from Molly’s retail career that now sets her apart as a personal stylist
11:27 – How Molly identified the clients she wanted to serve and built her styling business around them
15:01 – The systems Molly added after joining the Income Accelerator and what she is still refining
17:24 – What Molly gained from working inside a small group of personal stylists
20:28 – How Molly approached creating packages and significantly raising her styling prices
23:34 – How to set expectations with high-end clients without assuming wealth automatically means demanding
25:18 – The hardest part of building a personal styling business while raising young kids
30:03 – Why the upfront work of creating systems pays off and what Molly wants to build next
Mentioned In From Hourly Rates to Premium Styling Services with Molly Hudson
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Summer Series:
Taking Time Off in Summer Without Going Quiet in Your Styling Business
How to Stay Visible in Summer Without Being Online All Day
Nicole Otchy: Welcome to the Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast, the ultimate no-BS business podcast for ambitious personal stylists ready to build a six-figure and beyond personal styling business.
You won't hear the typical snoozefest business advice that most personal stylists get told all of the time. Nope. Instead, I'll be sharing business-building strategies that will help you create a killer personal brand, a cult following of loyal personal styling clients, and make a ton of cash while creating lasting style transformations for your clients.
I'm Nicole Otchy, your host and a former personal stylist of 14 years who built a lucrative styling business in three major cities, but only after spending years trying to crack the six-figure styling business code without burning out. And now I'm here to tell you how to do exactly the same. Let's get into it.
I'm really excited to reintroduce you to this episode because it is perfectly timed with the summary series that came out a few episodes back. My client, Molly Hudson, came into my accelerator program with a legitimate business and a very familiar problem.
She knew her clients cold. They wanted luxury, they were quality obsessed, and they were over dupes. She had spent years at Saks, Neiman's, and Barney's. Her skills were impeccable when it came to the luxury market. She just didn't have packages, systems, and was trying to figure out her whole business with two kids at home over the summer. She relaunched her business, raised her prices, and had a wait list by fall while her kids were home the whole time.
And when your time is limited, your business plan is not really optional. It is the only thing that keeps you from spending what little time you have on avoiding the wrong things. And there's a moment in this episode where she pitches a client on a package 10 times her old rate and the client says yes on the spot.
If you have ever been wondering whether any of this that I talk about all the time actually works, Molly is going to tell you the answer in this episode and why it is absolutely possible for you to have it too. Let's get into it.
Thank you for being with me today, Molly.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Nicole Otchy: Molly has been a stylist for how long now?
Molly Hudson: Going on three years.
Nicole Otchy: Tell us a little bit about how you got into styling because I think your story's really interesting.
Molly Hudson: I guess it started as a kid. I've always been into fashion and clothing, everything related. Since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to work in the fashion industry. I went to school for it, graduated with a fashion merchandising degree. Right after I graduated, I moved to New York City because I went on a study abroad semester to New York City while I was in school and I just knew I had to live there because it's everything fashion.
I did it right after graduation and got lucky and got into the buying office at Saks Fifth Avenue where I got some great experience. I saw it all. I got to go to fashion shows. I got to go to buying appointments. I got to see it all. I also was there during 2008, the big crash. I saw Lehman Brothers go out of business, Bear Stearns, all of it. I was in the middle of it. So I got to witness basically clearance sales at Saks. I thought we were going out of business and it was really scary with layoffs and everything.
I was there for a few years and decided to move back to Dallas, Texas, which is where I'm from. I worked for a few other retailers before landing back at Neiman Marcus. During college, I worked on the sales floor at Neiman's. That was my first fashion retail job and got my real experience with luxury retail and I just loved it.
I worked there for two and a half years and then I helped open the Barney store that they opened at North Park Center. It was a gorgeous store and another different side of luxury, more unique, especially different for Dallas clients. Barney's customers are so different.
Yeah, so after I moved back to Dallas, I ended up working back at the corporate office in the buying office and then ended in inventory management, seeing all kinds of different aspects of the industry. I loved working in fashion, but I just never was truly vested in the corporate side. It wasn't as creative as I liked. I loved the client-facing. I loved working in the store.
After I had my first daughter, I decided to stay home with her. During that, I knew it wasn't for me completely. I wanted to be able to stay home with my daughter, but also I needed the creative outlet and something to have something with an adult. I was helping friends here and there styling. I even took a part-time job at Neiman's as like an on-call associate to work in the store just so I could have my toe still in retail fashion.
One of my friends was like, “You should really think about helping people with their closets, you're really good at this, you know?” So I did a few guinea pig things on my friends and just decided to take the leap. I thought of a name and I just started doing closet edits. That's how I started and it just went from there.
The great thing about today's nature of business is you can just start from anywhere. You can get started on Instagram, TikTok, whatever your platform may be. It's all about word-of-mouth and I have a great community that surrounds me and so supportive. It's just naturally grown.
Nicole Otchy: It is pretty wild that you can just like for free, open up an Instagram account and have a business. I think it's so easy when we're in our businesses to forget how incredible of an opportunity that is, especially as like a stay-at-home mom who was like, “I really need to have another outlet with the bills,” I think so many people listening will completely understand.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, I mean, it wasn't any investment. My friend’s a photographer, I paid her to take some pretty pictures. I had a cheap graphic made, I think, through Fiverr at the time and just did it, and I started out, like I said, just with some friends and lower prices to get started. I went from there and three years later, I launched my website. I invested in business coaching with you, got better branding, better photos, and just decided to take it to the next level.
Nicole Otchy: You actually just had a rebrand, like the end of last week, your website went up, which is super exciting. It looks gorgeous. Congratulations. Big, big labor of love. It takes a long time, and you never realize there needs to be a rebrand.
Molly Hudson: No, you don't. I mean, even though I had someone do the website, I mean, you're the one, though, that has to write all the verbiage and pick the pictures and the colors and all this stuff. It is, you don't realize how much goes into it.
Nicole Otchy: If you had to pick one or two things from your past career that you think really, really helps you as a stylist, I have opinions on what I think makes you really stand out. Because I think every stylist has an angle and sometimes we don't even realize how unique our vision of the industry is. What would you say are the things that you took from your past career that has helped you the most?
Molly Hudson: Retail store experience. I mean, customer-facing, if anyone wanted to get in this, you go work at a store. You need to know how to work with all different kinds of clients. I mean, when I started out at 19, I was working in what was called Designer Two at the time, which was selling Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman suits. These were older women. She's maybe career, maybe not, maybe just ladies who lunch, I didn't know anything about this world.
I was just thrown into it. It was during the holidays. I just did it. I mean, I had no business doing it, but I just did it. It was great. I realized, “Okay, I like this. This is really fun. I like styling these ladies.” I will find stuff that looks good on them, even if it's not really my style. Then also just with the buying office, knowing all the ins and outs of the industry.
I've been on the floor and then I know just how stores run. I just have seen the whole industry. Now as basically a professional shopper, I know how to navigate the market and the stores and how things work.
Nicole Otchy: Yeah. I would add that one of the things I think is really impressive is your understanding of quality, your ability to really speak to it, because I think a lot of people get lip service to the quality thing, but they don't really know what a quality garment looks like, what the expectations of its life cycle should be.
They're [inaudible] things that I think for you are just so instinctual that you don't even realize that I watch and I'm like, “Oh, that's pretty impressive that you are able to educate your audience in that way.” I think that that's really, really cool because we all want quality, but we don't always know what that looks like.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, that's true. That is one of the things nowadays with everyone shopping online, it is something that you miss going into-- I personally love to shop in store. I'm one of the few people that still do. I love to touch the clothes, see it, everything. Even if you do love to do that, unfortunately, stores are just not stocked like they used to be, so your best selection is online.
I want to educate my clients on how to find and look for the things that are going to last and the fabrics that are good because there might be something that's a thousand-dollar dress, but it could still be a viscose polyester blend that is terrible. These are just things you need to know to look for that probably most people don't think because they just see the picture and think, "Oh, it's beautiful," but let's look at how it's made. Let's look at the details.
Nicole Otchy: I think from a marketing perspective, a lot of stylists fear sharing that concept with their audience because they think, "Oh, then they won't hire me." But what I think is missed in this sometimes, which is not missed on Molly because she does great with this in her content, is that actually it really makes you look like a pro and it gives the client a sense of comfort, knowing that when they say, "I only want quality in my wardrobe, I only want a wardrobe that's full of really good high-quality pieces," you could actually show them before they hire you that you actually know what that means and what that translates to.
That level of trust is huge because people don't want to do it themselves. Educating them that they can trust you to do it for them is huge and you do that really, really well in your marketing. You just did in your target series that I'm obsessed with.
Molly Hudson: I've had a really good reaction to what I'm doing and I think it's because my target client, they are over the dupe, they know that that's trash. They have the means to buy the real thing and they've said, I mean, I get messages, “I'm over buying dupes, I'd rather spend more money on the real thing than not because why do we need a closet full of just too much clothes that you're going to wear one time and just invest in something that's a little nicer?” Not to say there's not a random H&M find here and there because I love that, but you just have to know what to look for.
Nicole Otchy: Exactly. Which brings us to a topic that I think is really interesting, which is that you came really knowing who your target market is when we started working together. I want to share a little bit about if you are comfortable sharing a little bit about your journey to where you are now because you started out doing friends and doing the lower price, figuring it out, which is where I highly, highly recommend anyone listening that wants to build to where Molly is now, does. Then you did like hourly. Then did you do smaller packages or no, just hourly?
Molly Hudson: No, just hourly.
Nicole Otchy: Okay, so when we started working together, give me a picture of the business and where it was given all the experience that you had.
Molly Hudson: Well, when I started, I mean, I did not know any stylists, the only thing I was going based off is my friend who started an organization company and she started the same way I did and now her business is, I mean, national, it's huge and only four years old. She was my, I guess, mentor and so she was charging hourly and we just talked about a rate and I put that out there.
Starting off, I figured out my client, what kind of client I liked real fast. When I knew what I didn't want after working a few times with some of the clients and then after having a few clients that I really liked, I knew that that was my client. But that's where your course came in handy because I didn't really understand how I could get that client. I didn't realize that getting packages, I didn't even know that was a great option. I had no idea what to do. I just knew something needed to take it to the next level, and I didn't know how.
Nicole Otchy: What Molly came with was really important, which is a vision for what she wanted, because I can build you any kind of styling business that you want, but if you don't know what it is, or you haven't worked with enough people that you like and enough of the type of clients you get what they want, like Molly could say very confidently, you just heard her say like, they don't want the dupes anymore, some people can't stay that specifically.
When you're at a point where you’re like, “I think it's the next level for me, I want to make more,” we tend to forget that there are other things we need to know to get there. One of them is, who do you even like to work with? It's not just “I need more money.” It's like, what do you want to do to make that money? Who do you want to chill with to make it? And you are very clear about that.
Molly Hudson: Well, and that was my thing when I was working with people, it all comes down to, I'm kind of having an aha moment right now, it's like, my true passion is luxury retail. That's what I started in. I've dabbled in other places between jobs and stuff and it all comes back to luxury retail. I love everything behind it and that's the clients that I wanted.
Don't get me wrong, I love a sale. I love some stuff here and there, but the main part is I want someone that also appreciates those things or maybe they're ready to elevate their wardrobe and that's what a lot of my clients are. I'm a mom. I'm working full-time. I used to love shopping, but I do not have time anymore and that's my client. They appreciate the pretty things. They like the brand. A lot of the times, since they have been so busy working and raising kids, they've kind of lost their sense of style a little bit so I'm there to help them take out that little gap.
Nicole Otchy: Right, reconnect them with themselves really and then connect them with the things that are going to fill up their life with that kind of beauty and high-end luxury which brings us to why a business model needed to connect with that because Molly’s doing really well at hourly, but the perception to even if you're doing great is like, “Okay, you're going to send $5,000 for a dress or even $500 for a dress if as a client,” the package has to reflect, spend effect has to reflect in the price the perception of what the person wants in their life.
Yes, it's how much Molly wanted to make, it's where she wanted to take her business, but it's also knowing her audience and knowing that building the business there. What were some of the biggest changes that you feel like you made in the program?
Molly Hudson: I didn't have a process for anything. I really didn’t.
Nicole Otchy: I'm the club girl and none of us do. None of us do. We just dive in.
Molly Hudson: Right. I used Hue & Stripe. That was my only software. I didn't have on-boarding. I didn't have off-boarding and all of those things. I'm still working on a lot of my processes, but already just having my on-boarding and making that big one and then taking them down to all the other packages, I feel so much more it's almost dummy proof. It's just so easy. I feel so much more organized and I have a process for everything. I didn't have a marketing plan really. I'm still working on that, but--
Nicole Otchy: It's always a work in progress, these things, [inaudible] It's like you're just talking about templates that she got and systems that she's given in the program, but like they're living documents. You keep going back to it. You keep updating, you keep making it better.
Molly Hudson: Right, and that's another thing. Learning about marketing and how it really works and I'm seeing how it is working. It's not so silly and it's like, “Oh, hey, Nicole was right. Everything is working and I'm just starting.” It's like, I'm so excited with all the things that are happening right now.
Nicole Otchy: I'm so excited every time I see your content. It's like, “Oh, this is one of the pillars. This is the thing.”
Molly Hudson: I feel like the honor student. I'm like, “Oh, I hope my teacher still loves this.”
Nicole Otchy: Well, one thing about me is that in my one-to-one or my group program, once you're in my world, I'm going to be in your DMs. That's true. [inaudible]
Molly Hudson: I love it. Yes.
Nicole Otchy: I really think that one of the reasons my programs are small, and I keep it really intimate is because I want to be able to tell people, “You're doing amazing.” Because it is so lonely out here, it is so hard to know. People can use scrolling through your content and even watching it and they might love it, but they're not going to tell you because they don't even think to because they don't know how hard it is out here.
My thing is like when I see you guys try, when I see you guys working, I'm just so proud of you. I can't even not be in your DMs, but it is true you just said that when you see the marketing working it does feel like you turn the key into Narnia and you're like, “What? This is how it works. It's crazy.”
Molly Hudson: Yeah. You speaking on that lonely, the thing is living in Dallas, there are tons of stylists and I had reached out to a few just to talk to them but people are pretty stonewall because I feel like they think you're competition. I have yet to meet a stylist that I'm warm and fuzzy with because they just are to themselves. It's just a one-man show. Getting into this program gives you a sense that I still chat with some of the other stylists, I was in there with, or we'll bounce ideas off of each other.
Nicole Otchy: It’s the best.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, it's good. Otherwise, you don't know what you're doing because being a stylist is so unique. Unless you're a stylist with many stylists under you, I don't know anything else like that.
Nicole Otchy: So true. I think that what you're seeing here too is something people are worried about in a group program. It's like, “Ooh, I don't want to do a group. I don't want other people to judge me. I don't want people to see my business.” But A, I don't think I hold spaces that way. B, I think what we miss when we're afraid of judgment is what connection can actually do for us and how it can expand us versus feeling diminished by it.
Molly Hudson: Yeah. I got ideas from other stylists that we were all so different in our business and all of our customers could not be more different. But it was interesting how all of us came from such different backgrounds and all their businesses are run so differently that it opens up your eyes to stuff that you didn't even know was out there.
Nicole Otchy: It shows you that, yes, you could argue there's competition, but there's not. If you're building the business to what we talked about with Molly. She knew who she wanted, she knew what she liked, and she had her experience. No one can replicate that. No one is going to be able to replicate Molly's marketing, Molly's perspective, all the years in retail, and her ability, and I’m telling you, I see a lot of stylist content, I don't see people talking about quality and being able to educate people.
I have learned so much through watching her content. There's no one that's going to be able to put the pieces together the way that she did. But when you go through a business plan like we did, nobody leaves the program with the same exact business, which does happen in certain quarters of the internet because you have to bring yourself to it or else it doesn't work.
I think your business is a real testament to that. We changed things up. We gave you some packages. We drastically raised your prices. How did you feel about that while we were doing it? Because you were a real trooper about it.
Molly Hudson: That's the thing. I forget who had told me. It was my friend that's the organizer and she is a high-end organizer. She just did a hundred thousand square foot home. She's working with high-net-worth people. She was like, “We have to remind ourselves not to shop with our wallets.”
Well, that's what we also have to remind ourselves as a stylist. I might not spend $5,000 on that dress but our client will. It's the same thing with the packaging and I get it. I should know that as I used to price garments and mark things up in working in luxury retail, there is a client for that and that's who I'm targeting.
Nicole Otchy: It's so you, it's so hard when it's you. It's funny that you said it the way your friend said it, I love that, don't shop with your own wallet. First of all, great advice for a stylist. That should be a T-shirt for the whole brand. But also, we always think about how it's really important as stylists to learn how to address other people's body types.
We want to make sure people know we're not going to address them like us and all of that. What we forget is that part of that equation is also not pricing ourselves for ourselves. It is just as much as hard as understanding your client over there and getting into their world is the pricing, it is a way of connecting, we see it as taking things away from people, which is going to be a big problem in your business if you continue to look at it that way.
You made the leap, you upped your prices. While you were in the program, you had an interesting experience. You were working with a client in a smaller package, which is fun. Then what?
Molly Hudson: Yeah, she had a smaller--
Nicole Otchy: Like a charity package.
Molly Hudson: Yes, a charity package. Exactly. Busy working mom and what she needed was a complete overhaul. I just said, "This is what I have." And she said, "Great. When can we start?" It was that easy because that's what she wanted. I messaged Nicole immediately, like, "Wait, you were right. This worked."
Nicole Otchy: Well, what Molly is [inaudible] out is there's this in-between email conversation where she was like, “It was a big leap.” It was 10 times maybe the price of it. It was like a couple hundred to a thousand. That's a big leap. It was the first time Molly had charged that much. I knew she was worth it.
But when you've never pitched it before, Molly took the sales process that we talked about, which is a little counterintuitive because I don't tell people to present everything to the client. I tell them to ask these questions and then present them with the best option. She did it. The woman came back with a yes and just saw Molly's face on the next group call, I was like, “Oh, my gosh.” Now hearing that you're almost on a waitlist for fall, it's August 20th.
Molly Hudson: Yep.
Nicole Otchy: [inaudible]
Molly Hudson: Well, that's the thing, as you get years of experience, obviously, hopefully, you're going to get busier and I have people right now who are like, “Hey, I need something next week. You've got to train your client to like, you got a plan too. I cannot make clothes appear on your doorstep tomorrow for your event this weekend.”
Nicole Otchy: I think that's actually part of this. People think, “Oh, I'm going to do a higher-end client, which means 12 hours a day I have to be available.” What I tell stylists a lot is, not if you're training your client to be the right client. People think that there's this belief that people who are wealthy or people who are a really high-end clients are automatically demanding.
The reality is no one group of people is anyone [inaudible]. If you want to work with people who are wealthy and not demanding 24/7, I mean, they can be discerning, but they don't have to be demanding, they don't have to push your boundaries, which is why it helps to have a system to lay out for them an onboarding so they know what is in bounds, I think that's part of it but it doesn't have to be that way, to Molly’s point.
Molly Hudson: Yeah. You really touched on that too. Even last night, I was looking at my emails and I had several emails that were stuff about scheduling, but it was after my office hours. These people don't know my office hours, but I'm just trying to set that precedence like, "Okay, if you're going to send an email at this time, I'll answer it the next day when I'm in my office."
Nicole Otchy: It's easy to be like, "Well, I'm here now, let me just answer.” When you don't zoom out and see the bigger picture of your business, now I just schedule them, because sometimes at night that's when I have time, and then I just schedule them for the morning. But it's important, to Molly’s point, perception is everything in business.
Molly Hudson: Yeah.
Nicole Otchy: Yeah, for sure. What do you think are the biggest surprises have been for you in being a stylist? When you made the leap after had your children and you were like, "Okay, I'm going to open this business," what is then the hardest and what is then the easiest part that you didn't really expect?
Molly Hudson: The hardest was the balance. I was over-scheduling myself because you don't realize what something you think might only take two hours or I would get into these closet edits and let myself just get completely zapped. I would be in a closet for six hours. Nicole had some great advice with those. That was just my biggest thing, the balance of it all.
I'm still trying to figure that out because I don't want to be on my phone. My daughter is almost seven and she notices everything. She's like, “Mommy, you're always on your phone. Are you always working?” I just don't want her to think that I'm always on my phone. I'm trying to be more present with that and just keep it now that they're back in school, like working during work hours, that's the great thing about being a stylist and working for yourself, my office hours are only till three o'clock and then I'm done because I'm going to pick up my kids and be with them.
Nicole Otchy: Anything having higher prices helps with that because you don't feel like you have to say yes to everything. You don't feel like your systems are in line to keep some of those structures and boundaries.
When I didn't have those things, I was constantly reacting and I didn't have kids then but I'm so grateful I figured out systems before I had a kid because they do notice. My daughter's three and she's like, “I hate your phone.” I'm like, “Oki doki.”
Molly Hudson: Yeah, they do.
Nicole Otchy: Yeah, but the flip side of that is they also noticed the like I noticed she's like, “Oh, Mommy works hard.” I want her to see both. I don't want her to see me on my phone when I should be paying attention to her and playing blocks, but it's also good for our kids to see that.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, that's part of the reason I wanted to do this. As a mom, you cannot have it [inaudible]. They're too young to realize exactly what I'm doing, but I decided to take the leap of faith. I have a passion and I feel so grateful and lucky that I can say I love what I do and I know what I've always wanted to do.
Then I was able to take the leap of faith and do that. That's what I'm trying to teach my girls. Hey, you know what, if you find something you love, it will never feel like a job. It doesn't. I love what I do and it's fun for me.
Nicole Otchy: Yeah, it's so easy. I think too, I hear this from a lot of stylists. They feel guilty. Molly did the [inaudible] in the summer and I know a lot of people feel concerned about that, like, “Oh, the kids are home.” But partially, that's hard when you don't have a plan for our business. We don't know what is important. We don't know what matters. If you are taking some time away from your kids, it's three or four hours for the things that are actually moving your business forward.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, I planned it around their camps or I would say, “It's movie time. You're going to watch a movie for a little bit. Then we're going to have a fun activity around it or do it at night.” I just made it work. The great thing is now I can go back to anything that I didn't maybe get as detailed on something. I just referenced back to all the things that I saved down and printed off and am able to deep dive in more now that they're at school.
Nicole Otchy: You were able to do enough to relaunch a business, and get sales.
Molly Hudson: Yeah, at the time I re-launched my business, and launched a website.
Nicole Otchy: Kids were home for summer.
Molly Hudson: Kids were at home. Was it a little chaotic? Yeah, but I can look back and be like, "Hey you know what? I did it."
Nicole Otchy: Yeah, and it's done. Now you can go back to our fun, but it's done. I think we make it seem like everything has to be perfect. No, I want to tell you exactly what things you need to do because we don't have time to waste here. We have like families and we want to make money. My thing is like, I want you making money, we'll figure out the rest of it later.
Molly Hudson: Well, I think I had voiced that concern to you when we were in the talks and you were doing the program, I was like, "Oh, my kids are at home." You said that. You're like, "There's never really a perfect time." I was like, "You know what? "That is honestly the truth about anything."
It's like when someone says, "Oh, when are you ready to have your next kid?" Well, you're never really ready. You just take the leap and go for it. When are you ready for kids? You're never ready.
Nicole Otchy: You're just more or less knowing about what you're getting into. Basically, it's my experience. I had a lot of time to plan and I still was not prepared.
Molly Hudson: Exactly. It's just like with anything. I'm very grateful that the timing worked out with the launch because now I feel more organized than I ever have because everything is just lined up for me and I take in the time to do the work.
Like you said too, all the templates and stuff that you, it does take a lot of time to get everything set up, your onboarding and everything, but then you just have it, it's ready. When you just send it to someone, you change a few things out and I love that.
Nicole Otchy: One of the things Kristen was saying, who was also in the program with Molly, was like, "Yeah, it takes a couple of hours to fit, to like maybe put in your copy for the on-boarding and off-boarding." But she's like, "It took me 10 years to get it." People tend to be like, "Oh, how much time is this going to take?"
It's like, "Well, it's going to take you years, or it's going to take you two hours on the program, like up to you, and you're going to feel more confident selling your offers." But if you don't know that, you don't know that. If you don't know what you don't have in your business to make it easier, then how would you know?
Molly Hudson: The templates in itself, I was like, “Wow, I wouldn't even know where to start with this onboarding.” Even though we went through all as a template, the templates are great, if you put in the work, the program's already paid for itself. It was a month ago.
Nicole Otchy: Every person who did the program, already paid for itself. Again, can’t promise it but--
Molly Hudson: You have to put it in the work, it's like anything. That's how much you put into it. I was able to do it with the kids at home and figure it out.
Nicole Otchy: Awesome. I have so many things, I'm so excited about your business, but I'll shut up. How are you most excited about it in this next chapter?
Molly Hudson: Just taking it to the next level and now that I know what the real client that I really want is, I feel like now I have the confidence to talk to the client that I want and have exactly, I feel like there was maybe not that it's too late but there's been missed opportunity that the client is looking for you for the answers.
I was going to them saying, "Well, what do you want?" And now I can say, "Here's what you need." I think just being able to take it to the next level and keep building from there and building a brand, that's what ideally that's my goal. I would even love to maybe have a stylist under me or I can have a team of people. That would be the ultimate goal.
Nicole Otchy: I could see you being a great mentor. I could really see that for you. I don't think it's for everyone, but for you, I could really see that you would have so much to teach them and you could really bring a lot of understanding that I think will be lost in coming years because of how much retail has changed. I think that that would be really amazing. I can totally see that vision for you, and I'm excited.
Molly Hudson: Thanks.
Nicole Otchy: Thank you for being with me today, Molly. It was so great to chat with you.
Molly Hudson: Yes, thank you.
Nicole Otchy: Thank you for tuning in today. Molly's results prove that with the right strategy and support, taking your styling business to the next level is absolutely possible. If you're ready to attract dream clients, confidently price your services, and master marketing and sales to drive consistent, high-ticket results, the Income Accelerator may be your next step. Head to the show notes, apply, and let's talk. Do not wait. Your six-figure business is way closer than you think and I would love to help you make it happen.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me. It turns out that social proof is actually pretty important. So if you could help me out, I'd so appreciate it. If you just had a quick free moment and could leave me a rating or review on the podcast app, that would be killer. And even better, if you wanted to share this episode on Instagram and tag me, that would totally make my day and it would bring so much more awareness to the podcast and would help other stylists just like you who are looking to build lucrative styling business because the better each of us does, the better all of us do. Thanks for hanging out with me and I'll chat with you next time.