Entrepreneur, Fashion Editor and TV Presenter draws on her vast industry experience to educate, enlighten and motivate others to follow their big biz dreams.
Working with celebrities, fashion houses, beauty firms, advertising agencies and magazine editors, Amber Renae shares her trade secrets on how to make it in this competitive space.
Through two signature eCourses, she encourages budding stylists to turn their interests into businesses’ and to use performance and presentation skills to gain public recognition.
With 12 years of digital, service and product based experience, Renae has inspired many women around the world to transform their personal image and boost their confidence by tapping into their uniqueness.
Amber Renae has gained international retail success through launching her own fashion brand in 2002, becoming a style icon featured on Project Runway Australia and styling numerous celebrities for various red carpet events such as the TV Week Logie awards.
We chat with the fabulous Amber Renae to discuss her career experiences, the importance of determination through hardship and the essential requirements for the road to a successful business.
Business Ambition
Being a successful business owner takes a lot of hard work and to be the business leader I am today means a great deal to me. I’ve tried and failed many times over the years, I persevered time and time again and overcame much adversity.
I didn’t give up! I’m a results driven person and a great problem solver, so when I want something I’ll do whatever I need to do in order to reach my goals.
Brand Positioning
I consider myself fortunate to have acquired a great deal of ‘real-world’ knowledge over the years and excited to share my tips and advice about this fabulously challenging industry with my students.
My courses are all based on my very own personal experiences, therefore students will receive a unique insight into relevant industry information which they can utilize in the marketplace today.
I am grateful for the opportunity to mentor the next generation and look forward to inspiring upcoming Stylists & Presenters on their thrilling journey.
Business Start-Up
Commit publicly to the venture. The hardest part is making a commitment to start, so if you make a public announcement you get accountability partners for free.
Once you’ve done that, find a mentor, e-course, blogs, videos or whatever you can about the industry you’re about to enter and commit to learning everything there is to know about it.
Business Fears
Heck yeah! I had fears, everyone does. It’s whether you let those fears overwhelm you or drive you which determines success in the end. Practice fear and you’ll get better acting in the face of it. There’s a great quote…
The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.” – Cus D’Amato
Business Regrets
In hindsight, I would have been more practical with cash flow in my first business and kept a regular part-time job to pay for my own personal expenses.
I would advise new business owners to make sure that they have a stable source of income for the first one to three years and don’t rely on your business to feed you or pay your bills. It’s awesome if it does, but don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself.
Business Benefits
The fact that it never feels like work. I can’t remember the last time I woke up and went to ‘work’. Granted, I probably spend more hours working on my biz than most people ever do at their day job, but it never feels like something I ‘have’ to do.
Business Challenges
The greatest challenge in almost all start-ups is cash flow. As a creative, it’s typically the last thing we’re interested in focusing on. We want to do all the fun, creative stuff, but bookkeeping and accounting is about as far from fun as you can get in my opinion!
So you need to prioritize this and schedule time to do it each and every week, or you need to outsource.
Business Influences
There isn’t a single person, but rather a few of them. And, these are all people who I look up to such as teachers or mentors. So, it’s anyone who has inspired or mentored me along the way.
Business Advice
- Never stop learning.
- Figure out your strengths and weaknesses.
- You need to develop immense self-awareness.
- Plan your time with ninja-like precision to ensure maximum productivity and profitability – and this usually means eliminating 80% of what’s on your To-Do list.
- Well this one took me a long time to realize but unless you’re focused on earning money – you’re not in business, you’re a hobbyist.
Focus on maximizing your strengths whilst outsourcing your weaknesses. You don’t have to be good at everything and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help by outsourcing the things you’re not good at.
Advice Received
My first business went bankrupt and I was hospitalized with a whole host of health problems (Cancer unfortunately made that list, among other things). I could’ve let this stop me (in fact, I did for a couple years!) but when I chose to look back and learn the lessons from that time, I realized I learnt more from that period of hardship than any other time in my career.
You learn more from failure than you do from success, don’t let it stop you. – Amber Renae
Public Speaking
Our greatest fear when getting on stage is that nobody will like us. But here’s the thing: the audience wants you to win – they want you to succeed.
Think about how you feel when you see someone on stage, are you secretly thinking, ‘Gosh, I hope they suck!’? Of course not! You’re thinking ‘I’ve given you my most valuable asset, my time and in return I want you to take me on a journey. Lead me, teach me, entertain me and inspire me!’
Your job as a speaker is to do just that, inspire your audience. Your audience wants you to win. – Amber Renae
What Does It Take
When it comes to business, you need to be able to withstand difficulties and disaster, because entrepreneurship is fraught with both! You need to train yourself to become exceptionally resilient and develop a high pain tolerance.
Unfortunately, I see so many people starting a business who get one or two knock-backs and decide it’s all too hard.
Personally, I’ve had more knock-backs, disappointment, and rejection than the average person has had hot lunches. The reason why I’ve achieved this success is purely because I’ve gotten up just one more time than my competitors did.
Business requires sheer determination and grit. – Amber Renae
Resources & Tools
My entire business is online now and I’m always looking at ways to automate or streamline as much of the day-to-day running as possible. As a qualified Civil Engineer, I’m highly systems and process driven, and I am constantly seeking new ways to innovate.
In that regard, I love any tools that help increase productivity or communication with my team.
Trello Project Management software, good for keeping track of tasks on a big project.
Also, I love communicating tasks using Jing which lets me create screen grab videos, much easier than typing a 5 paragraph email to my team.
Evernote is a must-have, it’s like post-it-notes on steroids.
And as for books, check out Tim Ferriss (the guy who wrote The 4Hr Work Week) new book: Tools of Titans – it’s a highly resourceful read and draws on thinking from many leaders such as Tony Robbins and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What’s New
I’m opening the doors to my Presentation, Performance and Publicity e-course about the same time this hits the interwebs… audiences can jump on the waitlist at www.amberrenae.com.
Furthermore, I will be posting a wide range of Facebook Live Videos throughout the year sharing wisdom, business tips & strategies along with various inspirational business articles.
Sum It Up
The three words for success: Never Stop Learning.
Hope you enjoy the following inspirational insights from Amber Renae.
I love what I do because… It lets me inspire and educate thousands of women all over the world.
Never be afraid of… Failure. It’s part of the course to success.
Greatest talent is… Ability to identify my own unique strengths and to develop habits and businesses around them.
My biggest challenge is… Being open to receiving.
I overcame that challenge by… Undertaking deep self-assessment and unlocking the subconscious fears I had around receiving.
When starting a business one must… Be pragmatically pessimistic. You need to define all the worst-case scenarios and accept that if any of this happens you’ll have learned a bunch of really valuable lessons.
I never go to work without… Making sure I’ve meditated and I’m in a good headspace.
Never underestimate… The power of vulnerability. Everything that you want in life lies on the flipside of that uncomfortable conversation or situation.
I hope to one day… Change one million peoples’ lives for the better.
In my spare time I like to… Read. I’m a huge bookworm and love to get my hands on diverse, non-fiction genres in the hope of mind-expansion.
Every girl needs… Self-confidence, and a community of women to support her.
On perfection… Perfectionism is just fear disguised as trying to do your best, done is better than perfect.
On every day… The only thing there is, is the now. I try to spend as much time in the now moment as possible.
On attitude… Nothing great ever happened to those who played it safe.
On purpose… Purpose is ever-evolving. Love yourself and listen to yourself.
On living… Everyone struggles. So, don’t overestimate the world and underestimate yourself, you are better than you think.
I absolutely love… Myself.
Success means… Being able to look in the mirror each day and say I love you, I’m proud of you, and you’re doing a great job.
Living the dream means… Being location independent and chasing an endless Summer.
My favorite quote is… Those who are certain of the outcome, can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety. – A Course in Miracles.
Happiness is… A practice that one needs to develop with daily routine. Happiness is a muscle that you need to train with daily discipline, much like you do any other muscle. I’ve got 5 Happiness Hacks that I live by, sign up at http://www.amberrenae.com/ to get your happy on today!
What’s Next
I’ll be launching a couple of new courses in this first quarter 2017, including a course on video presenting and production. Please contact EMAIL for further information.
Contact Details
I love helping entrepreneurs and small business owners take their businesses to the next level. Please EMAIL me if you’re ready to supercharge your impact, escalate your influence and skyrocket your success.
My soul purpose is to educate, enlighten and inspire people to live their dream life. – Amber Renae
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Thank you Amber Renae for sharing your fabulous journey with us and our readers. We believe you are a true Boss Babe, a woman who takes full responsibility for her life, creating a life/business she loves and inspires others do so. – Demi Karan – CEO/Founder, Heels Agency
Comments
9 Responses to “Amber Renae – Fashion Stylist”
Love this! Great post!
Really enjoyed this article.Really looking forward to read more.
Nice to read about your beautiful journey!
Love this post, i will read on…
Cool Article! Love it!
I’d love to be a fashion stylist, cool.
Awesome site, love your work.
You do such awesome stuff!
She’s so cool!