Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christen Johnson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Christen, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think in order for you to know all of what it takes to be successful, you have to understand what success actually means to you. And for me, success is being able to do what I want and create a life that I love on my own terms. When I think of success, I think debt freedom, wealth, traveling, support from my family and friends, a happy marriage, a healthy body and mindset and a strong relationship with God.

And in order for me to reach this amount of success in my life, I am responsible for having faith in myself and putting in the necessary work, time and effort. Everything that I do is intentional in helping me to get closer and closer to my definition of success everyday. I think of it as like building a house brick by brick. Each of the bricks represents a step that I take or a task that I complete every day to get closer and closer to my end goal. But I’ve also learned that I can’t reach this level of success on my own.  I need the help and support from others who believe in me to help get me to the next level.

Christen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve always had a love for fashion but didn’t realize that I could turn it into an actual business until I entered college. I noticed people began to gravitate towards me because of how I was dressed so I decided to use it as a tool. I went from being an undecided college freshman to a business management major with a concentration in entrepreneurship, my sophomore year. I wasn’t sure what was necessary to gain the styling experience I needed but I picked up a retail job and secured my first internship with a fashion boutique, where the owner was a stylist. Post graduation, I had enough experience to land my first full-time job with a company called Trunk Club and that was the stepping stone that pushed me into the direction of Personal Styling. During my time there, I was blessed enough to work with both men and women, but I naturally gravitated more towards women and helping them curate outfits that increased their confidence. A year later, SCB Luxury Styling was born and I haven’t looked back since. My business genuinely started when I realized I wasn’t the only woman dealing with body image issues. I was more focused on what I “lacked” as opposed to what I loved about my body. I paid more attention to my body and started dressing in a way accentuated the best parts of me. And helping myself gave me the confidence boost I needed to help other women.

SCB Luxury Styling helps thought leaders rediscover their true style and live an abundant life through our signature C.E.O method. We take pride in helping women determine their unique body shapes so that we can curate a capsule wardrobe that best aligns with their personality and lifestyle. We specifically help our clients determine their personal style story so their style will remain authentic to who they are. We offer branding photo shoot styling, wardrobe cleansing and digital outfit curation. Each of our packages were tailored to meet the most common needs of our clients in order for them to leave feeling transformed and confident.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Entrepreneurship was always defined as going against the grain and “getting it out the mud”. But after starting my business and getting connected with other business owners, I realized that I necessarily didn’t have to struggle to have a true success story. There really weren’t any entrepreneurs in my family for me to look to for advice and guidance so I figured out a lot on my own. I took the leap into full-time entrepreneurship a few times and it wasn’t easy. And during those times, lack of capital was my business challenge. So I decided that having a job while running my business was the best option for me at the moment.

Your job is your biggest investor. I started using the money that I was making from my 9-5 to help fund my business and other investments. This helped me to make my business official and invest in my LLC. As my business began to grow, I was able to invest in coaches, courses and just the overall branding of my business. As a Personal Stylist, I wanted to showcase myself as an expert in my field so making sure that my website was up to par and that I had professional images of myself was key. And since I was investing more in myself and my craft, I was able to increase my prices. I soon was able to separate my business and personal finances so that I keep track of my income and expenses.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think we can all agree that 2020 was an interesting year. Since we had to limit social interactions, I made the decision to make my styling business completely virtual. This was something that I had always wanted to do but was afraid that I would lose out on clients and opportunities. But honestly, it was one of the best decisions I made. I was able to reach women in other cities, states and countries and still transform their lives without even meeting them. It was extremely rewarding and helped my business to grow exponentially. This showed me that I could successfully run my business from anywhere in the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sophisticatedchicbrand.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scbluxurystyling/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sophisticatedchicbrand
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christen-johnson-980b2585/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsamINVYbkWAo-yqwf2I86Q

Image Credits
Photography: Belle Imagery Portraits Elena Felton