Chill Out

It’s a hot, steamy summer night. You’re heading to dinner wearing your favorite sleeveless silk top and carrying your cutest clutch purse. You make your chic entrance into the trendy bistro, only to discover the place is the exact same temperature as an igloo in the middle of January in Alaska. What’s a girl to do?

My sister recently discovered the Chilly Jilly – a stylish, wrinkle-free wrap that folds into a tiny drawstring bag and fits right inside your purse. She wrote the folks at Chilly Jilly a note explaining what a lifesaver this product is for her, and the owner, Jill Boehler, asked to use Melinda’s testimonial on their web site homepage.

Jill’s a smart lady. Not only did she create this product that saves us from the cold-movie-theater fate of jamming our arms into the too-short Abercrombie sweatshirt of our kids’ we found stuffed in our trunk (the sweatshirt, not the kid) – but she’s using also customer’s testimonials to bolster business.

Creating ongoing communication with your customers can do lots of great things: it allows you to continue sharpening your business plan to your customers’ needs, it lets you know when you’re on the right track, it gives you the best sort of marketing there is (straight from the happy customer’s mouth) and on a bleak day, it creates a little sunshine.

“There is nothing more satisfying to me as a business owner than when a customer takes their time to say good things about my product. It can really make my day! I try to share some of the comments with other customers, but sometimes it serves as the juice to get me through a rough day!” says Jill.

From this day forward, promise me one thing: when a customer, client or friend says “good job!” put the sentiment in a little file so you can use it as a testimonial on your web site, in a brochure, as a comment post on your blog … or just to put a smile on your face.

The Key to Happiness

When we’re not at the pool, a favorite activity for the girls is arts and crafts – painting, designing, and coloring their worlds with dreams and goals and pleasant thoughts.

My nine-year-old is a budding writer, and her current mission is to develop a magazine. As you can see, she’s mocked up a cover with articles about pressing issues including “Geek or Not – Figure it Out,” “Are You Looking for a Popular Summer Sport?” and “Is Your Makeup All Right?” Ever the detailed entrepreneur, she’s held space for advertising, and will no doubt hit up relatives in the coming months to support her current endeavor with cold, hard cash. Maybe she’ll give me a job some day when she’s the editor of one of the big, fancy glossies in NYC.

With big, broad strokes, my seven-year-old has painted the keys to happiness, in no particular order: sunshine, smiles, peace, love, and chocolate ice cream cones with a cherry on top. After a long day at the pool, peace brought on like only sunshine and lots of time outdoors can bring, smiles, hugs and some soft-serve ice cream (minus the cherry, but we’re not too picky), I have to say she’s got it right. There ya go, I just saved you $25 on the latest, greatest self-help book. Remember, you read it here at the Amy Mac blog!

Loving This Living: California Dreaming Edition

Amy Mac’s first LOVING THIS LIVING profile is all about the big business of fashion. I am a true believer that loving (or hating) what you are wearing can make or break your day, but let’s face it - everyone doesn’t have a knack for pulling together outfits that work.

That’s where a personal stylist like Sutton Stracke (and her fabulous blog) comes into play.
Sutton Stracke, of Laguna Beach, California, is a stylist and the founder of Bespoke Trunk, a lifestyle and fashion consulting company that caters to the individual fashion needs of women around the world. In addition to personally styling clients that live in her region, she writes a splendid blog where she gives advice to women on looking fabulous – whether you spend your days presenting in the boardroom or cleaning in the playroom.

Check out the transcript of my interview with Sutton:

Tell us what you do to Love your Living: The company I founded, Bespoke Trunk, helps style women no matter what their budget using pieces from mainstream stores, high-end designer boutiques and vintage pieces.

What is the best part about your job? The worst? What makes your job interesting and unique? I love chatting with clients about their likes and dislikes of fashion, and I love the hunt of shopping based on those likes and dislikes. The idea of helping someone look and feel better is fascinating to me. The worst part is resisting buying for yourself during the hunt!

Is there any special training required to perform your job? A good eye for putting looks together and good people-listening skills are all that it takes.

If someone was thinking of pursuing a career in your industry, what would be the first steps they'd need to take? If I could do it all again, I would probably get my BA in fashion merchandising from an established school such as the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Living in New York is almost be a prerequisite for a job like this. Street style in NYC is the inspiration of many designers, and seeing those styles on a daily basis becomes your own inspiration.

Tell us something fun you’ve done recently because of your job. I loved doing the closet makeover with my sister-in-law. Though it was a long process, and perhaps painful for her, it gave such a sense of accomplishment to us both. I loved watching her face when I showed her multiple ways she could use one dress or one pair of trousers. Giving people a sense of power over their own closet is a remarkable experience.

How do you keep a good balance between your work life and your home life? I am still working on this part. Because I am new to the Orange County area and have just realized this business, I need to spend a lot more time on it than I do. But having a good nanny helps, and supportive husbands are the whole key – luckily I have both.

Any parting words of advice for our readers about balancing work and life? The one thing that has come to me this year is to do what you love. Once you have that, then the work is no longer a chore. If work isn't a chore, but something you really desire to do, then the stress of a job disappears. But when you work at home you must be disciplined to work only in the constraints of the hours that you have decided on, or otherwise it all blends together, and you do neither well.

AMY MAC LOVING THIS LIVING CONTEST: Subscribe to the Amy Mac Blog (on the right side of the blog under "Get Email Updates for Amy Mac) and you’ll be entered to receive a FREE two-outfit consultation with Sutton via e-mail! A winner will be chosen randomly from the list of Amy Mac subscribers (if you’re already a subscriber you’ll automatically be entered) on Feb. 6!