We were lucky to catch up with Heidi Mckinney Simpson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Heidi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.
I met Michelle five plus years ago. A couple years ago she had weighloss surgery. She was working hard to drop weight and get healthy. Her hard work really paid off and she lost a lot of weight, well more than one hundred pounds.
Our first appointment was to purge her closet. Then we shopped, and shopped, and shopped! It was so exciting to watch her blossom. To see her confidence grow. To watch her see herself as I do. She is beautiful and remarkable. As she found and grew her confidence she also grew her business.
Her story is a prime example of why I love what I do. Yes, I assist in dressing but it is so much more than clothing. I love watching clients self esteem and confidence grow.
Michelle is just one example. I have so many more.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a wife and mom of four. I have been with my hisband Dan for 14 years. My kids are 25, 23, 20 and 10. I went back to college late in life and recieved degrees in Criminal justice and psychology.
I worked in the retail industry from the age of 15. I have always loved fashion and clothes. As young as eight, I would dress my Dad for business trips. He is color blind so I would help make sure he matched. At 21 I was trained as a personal shopper while a retail manager for a womens clothing store. I loved wardrobing my clients.
In my thirties I had a surprise divorce. Then met my forever husband Dan. Then we had a surprise baby and I recieved a cancer diagnosis when she was 14 weeks old. I was in the process of a career change to law enforcement. The cancer diagnosis took that change off the table. In the midst of all of this I started with a direct sales jewelry company. Another woman on our team asked if I would help her by going through her closet. I thought it would be fun and said yes. She ran a media marketing company and began hastagging her pictures #heidiapproved. She was the one that convinced me that what I had done for her was valuable and others would pay me to do it. She got me my first few clients and it’s been a whirlwind since. April of 2024 will be ten years since I started my business.
I feel that I am more than a stylist/personal shopper. Clothes and how we look, is such an emotional thing. Our clothing is like our armor, our billboard announcing who we are. My goal is to change the lives of those I work with. To leave a lasting positive impression on their lives.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I started my business while raising three teenagers, a new baby, in school for a double major, with cancer. The first five years of business was nothing but struggle. I had to fight for my health and fight for my business. Many times I wanted to give up but, my clients were always there reminding me that what I do makes a difference.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I strive to treat my clients with the respect and dignity I want to be treated with. I do my best to always be honest and caring. What I do is an intimate expierence. I have to be a safe space for my clients. I believe my empathy and integrity it what helps bring in new clients. I don’t advertise. I work strictly on referrals. My clients often become my friends and are walking billboards of my work.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Heidiapproved
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1669036606550290/?ref=share
- Other: [email protected] 919-272-4282