When I first entered the business world with my first job I never really understood the requirement for “business attire”.  Now being part of the Sr. Management Team where I work, I fully understand why people wear business clothing and in some cases a suit.  It all comes down to being taken serious and credibility.  If I showed up to Sr. Management meetings in shorts and a t-shirt and tried to present the Information Technology five year strategic plan, I highly doubt I’d be taken serious, in fact I know I wouldn’t be. 

Unfortunately in this day and age we are judged by how we look as we are a very visual society.  I’m sure many of you have heard the old adage of “Dress for Success”, if not, all you need to do is pick up one of the many success books that are available via your local book store.  You’ll find that appearance is a key to being successful and how you dress is a big part of that.  I’ve partially read University of Success and interestingly enough even the style of your shoe says a lot about you.  Check out a small paragraph here that talks about the different shoes and what you should look out for.  One side effect of dressing well, helps boost confidence.  If you look good then you immediately feel more confident and I can attest to this, wearing a well fitted suit just feels great.

So how does this relate to our business and how we dress?  Quite simple, take the adage of “Dress for Success” and apply it to you and your business.  We’ve had new business owners ask us how to dress and there are recommendations that World Wide Dreambuilders has set out (let me reiterate that again, these are recommendations) and for me it’s pretty much how I dress at work so no big deal.  We set our own example of how we want to represent our business and so we dress appropriately.  I can tell you not everyone does that and we hold no judgement; how they represent their business is up to them.  Not saying other people don’t, but we treat our business serious when we are at business events, or when we are sharing the business opportunity with others who are interested to look. 

If I was shown this business opportunity by someone in shorts and a t-shirt I don’t think I would have given this a serious look (credibility as mentioned above).  However if I’m sitting down on purpose to show this opportunity then I’ll dress appropriate to the situation.  I don’t always wear a suit and tie because success principals state that you need to adjust to every situation but more often if I’m sitting down on purpose and they know it’s to show this opportunity, I’ve got on a minimum dress shirt and tie.  There needs to be a standard in place for people to rise up to, but grace for those who either cannot afford it or just don’t want to.  Where else can you find a business opportunity that doesn’t judge? Pretty rare these day’s that’s for sure.

Stay tuned as I share more questions I’ve heard over the years…