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I feel very blessed with all the life experiences I have been through. I owned and managed a construction company in my home country (Mexico) for over 10+ years with up to 500 people on the payroll. Coming to live in The Netherlands I couldn’t imagine not going ahead with my entrepreneurial passion. I’m a Tech Founder of a home services platform Chamba Services B.V., (which is still cooking).
On the side of that, with my International Fashion Design background for over 23 years, and after all the challenges I confronted with my very feminine style, (while being in an absolutely male-dominated world of construction), I learned to stay absolutely loyal to myself and my personality no matter what. So I decided to make something that directly helps people and/or their corporate teams, to look and feel empowered, gain self-confidence, and make the right visual impact for professional and personal goals.
Therefore I have been a High End Image Consultant since almost one year ago.
My quote in order for people to understand that it goes beyond image is: “I won´t help you dress up; I will help you empower your own personality.”
I have tried it all since it is very easy for people to understand how a stylist works, but they find it very difficult to understand what the job of a High-End Image Consultant is, which I understand. As one of my clients and good friend said: “You could not understand how much deeper it is, and personal until you experience it.”
So I have tried many tones or ways of expressing my knowledge. On many occasions, you just need to dare to speak out, even when you know that people might not agree with you, but at least you know that the ones who will be interested in your services will be the ones aligned with your professional objectives.
Especially in the Dutch culture, it is very difficult to approach people to offer help in my field because it is a visual service. They can often misinterpret it as something very superficial. It’s not like in many other countries that they leave the door open to improve in all aspects as a person, including their personal image.
I started from my personal IG blog. People would ask my advice about dressing up and trends, but I hate trends, and that’s when I understood the need to emphasize that it’s so important to stay authentic, “just as you were before the world told you how to be.”
The conference I was able to give at an event for Spanish Speakers in Amsterdam helped open doors for me to be heard. It allowed me to explain how important is to feel confident about yourself, and to be able to reflect whatever you want to attract. Social Media has for sure been a major help.
Male friends who asked me for this kind of help were the reason I considered this project, and thanks to them, it was born. That has also been a curious detail for me, most of the people approaching me for consultancies have been male entrepreneurs, and that’s why I still wish I could reach more women to help them be visually empowered.
My biggest mistake has been overworking for free. Sometimes you think that as a beginner starting a new project, you need to offer your work and knowledge at a lower price or even as a gift, and once they see your talent they will appreciate it, and then later buy your services.
That’s just wrong. Our time, effort, and knowledge should always be rewarded — unless you are truly doing it as a charity (which I also do, and love doing). But in that case, you have already mentalized that this is how you’re choosing to share your talent and valuable time
My biggest achievement besides many compliments from High-End Italian and Dutch Companies, about the re-branding of identity projects I have done, for them, is without any doubt; to see my clients as a result of my job shining through their eyes and smiles, because they feel so confident entering into a room, they remember what they are capable of, and they learn to feel comfortable even in an uncomfortable challenge.
Start now, even if you don´t know how, you will find out on the road. Don´t try to prepare thinking you will start later, because the coffee gets cold.
Yes, I´m preparing an in-person workshop in Amsterdam, and hopefully where I can finally see mostly women attending and interested in empowering themselves.
FEM-START is ready to support you on your entrepreneurial journey. We provide educational courses on funding, pitching, and finding investors, nurture a growing community of female entrepreneurs, and organize events all year long.
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