As a business and life coach working at home and largely over the phone, image issues have generally not ranked high on my list of business priorities (especially with two young children and lots of messy birthday parties, playground visits, and school projects to contend with). But then I was the winning bidder at my children’s school auction for a free makeover at a local boutique. As the makeup consultant pondered the best colors for my eyes and skin tone, she breezily said, “It’s a known fact that successful people wear makeup.” This simple comment hit home after 5 years of dressing mostly in fleece jackets and stretch pants and wearing almost no makeup beyond lipstick. Then an entrepreneur friend told me the story of how an image specialist deemed her hairstyle “too suburban” for the type of business she was launching. She immediately went into the city and got a more chic cut, and people noticed.

As I began to think about this “image thing,” I remembered back to a seminar I attended a few years ago where the speaker relayed to the group that only 12% of communication is verbal. Could that really be true? The remaining 88%, she said, are non-verbal “messages” along the lines of what you are wearing, your haircut, your makeup, your tone of voice, your facial expressions and even your attitudes. Wow! I began thinking that this image thing is in fact important. “And it doesn’t stop at physical image,” she said. For entrepreneurs, image includes the look of your business card, your web site, your marketing materials and even how professional your voicemail sounds. It’s true — I know of a number of service professionals who combine family and work voicemail messages and I think it somewhat dilutes their professionalism.

Now that I think of it, a literary agent client of mine told me that hiring an image consultant was the best investment she ever made in her herself and her business. She learned what types of clothes suit her, what colors to wear, and even how to have her hair cut. I think I might actually consider it for 2004 — how about you?

I’d love to hear what you have to say on the subject of image. Happy New Year from the Work/Family Balance Trenches!