We had the good fortune of connecting with Dana Lynch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dana, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

I actually never wanted to own my own business. When my husband and I moved back to Colorado after a few years in Southern California, I was totally ready for a new career. Image consulting and styling were on my list of possibilities. Since I wanted to make a choice that would make me happy for a long time, I did lots of soul searching and due diligence…lots of informational interviews! Even though I had a few fields I was looking into, I knew in my heart of hearts image consulting was really the only thing I wanted to do. After researching, what I found was about 99% of image consultants owned their own business. Even though I failed all of the “are you an entrepreneur” quizzes, my passion for styling and helping women transform their lives won out. So I “hung out my shingle” and the rest is history. One other bit of important info here is I knew I didn’t want to build my business on just my eye for style, so I took extensive training so I’d be able to objectively explain style recommendations to my clients.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

My official title is “image consultant.” The term personal stylist is the more popular buzz word and phrase people know today. In a nutshell, I help professional women take the stress out of getting dressed. Over the years I’ve developed a system: I help them clarify their personal style; we edit their closets; I shop for the perfect pieces to complete their wardrobes; and after they purchase everything and alterations are finished, we put everything together and create lots of outfits. My goal is for my clients to be able to get dressed with confidence and then forget about how they look, so they can focus on the rest of their day. I feel like the relationships I have with my clients is what sets me apart. It’s a very personal experience to have someone come into your home and closet, and I never forget that. I’m a very sensitive person and always deliver feedback in the way I’d like to receive it. “Do unto others…” is a guiding tenet in my life. So I’m able to truly understand my clients’ style, we get to know each other very, very well. They trust me, and I’ve become close friends with a lot of my clients. I started my business before social media came into play. My business was built on in-person networking…which was great, because networking events always felt like a party to me! In the beginning, I felt guilty, like I wasn’t working when I went to an event, but a business coach advised me that there wasn’t anything wrong with having fun and enjoying the business building aspect and I got over my guilt pretty quickly, lol! Because I value relationships and know that no two people are ever alike, so you’ll never get cookie cutter advice from me whether we’re working together on line or in person. And I always promise we’ll have fun together!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Even though my business is in Denver, I’ve recently moved to Northern Colorado, so I’m having fun exploring lots of fun places here as well as loving Denver. Not being a morning person, the first day we’d sleep in and spend a lazy morning catching up and drinking coffee at home looking out on my gorgeous maple, pine, blue spruce and birch tree filled back yard. Once the morning warmed we’d go to the Benson Sculpture Park in Loveland followed by lunch at Mo Betta Gumbo and boutique shopping in downtown Loveland. You know day 2 is going to involve shopping! We’d stop at Peace Love and Little Donuts on the way, and then we’d head to Denver to Cherry Creek North and then scoot down to Nordstrom at Park Meadow. Or we might stick with boutique shopping in Larimer Square followed by dinner at Bistro Vendome. Day 3 of this fantasy weekend with my bestie means skiing at Vail. After a day in Blue Sky Basin, we’d apres ski at La Cantina in the transportation center (not fancy at all, but casual and fun,) or the patio at Pepi’s. Back in Denver the next day, more eating would be in order…brunch at Snooze or The Universal. Hopefully there’d be a great fashion installation at the art museum or maybe we’d do a ghost tour (if you’ve never done this, it’s super fun!) So much food, so little time…some of my other favorite places are Root Down, El Five, Jax…of course, I’m always up for exploring new places, too.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Well, first and foremost I dedicate this shoutout to my husband. He has always been my biggest supporter and believes in me. I also want to give a shoutout to The Alliance of Professional Women. It’s a professional networking group in Denver. These amazing women have given me so much support, leadership opportunities, referrals and friendships. And lastly there’s my good friends and clients who have always been amazing cheerleaders.

Website: https://elementsofimage.com
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Linkedin: Dana Lynch
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Image Credits
Mark Woolcott

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