We recently connected with Sarah Mueller and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Best Me 360 started from an idea I just couldn’t shake. I have always struggled with clothes for as long as I can remember. In middle school, I would change clothes 10 to 20 times before leaving the house. Even into adulthood, I hated clothes shopping. I would find my basic outfit type and stick with that. If I found a pair of pants I liked, I would buy a few pairs so I could just keep wearing them.

As my daughter got to be in her teen years, she would help me put outfits together or go clothes shopping. She then went to school to be a Personal Stylist. That is when my life changed. She knew how to use patterns, colors, and cuts that flattered my body shape. I actually loved clothes shopping because I wasn’t wearing things that conflicted with my shape. I told her she should start a company that was like a hair salon, where people could bring their clothes in and have them professionally styled and she could even have other personal stylists work out of this place. She said she wasn’t into business and wanted to just style. So I dropped the conversation.

Another event that was happening in my life was my dad was dying. He had Leukemia and had been battling it for about a decade and it was taking a toll. He was 84. He divorced from my mom almost 30 years prior. Over the years, he would tell me he wanted to find a woman to share his life with. He would tell me he really wanted to go fishing with people, but everyone is too busy all the time. So he would go by himself. A determined to live life bachelor, he went to the movies alone, he travelled by himself – he went to Mexico, Norway, all over Europe, and short trips around the US. He went to dinner by himself 4 to 5 times a week. He didn’t let being single hold him back from experiencing life…but he did have a longing to share all those experiences with someone. After his death, I had to clean out his apartment, In his top dresser drawer was a woman’s engagement ring. A ring he had hoped to give to someone he found that he could marry and experience life with.

A few months later, the idea of starting a company to help people be the best version of themselves really started to consume my thoughts. A place that would help people feel more confident by offering fashion styling. When a person feels confident, they get the most out of life. They speak up more at work to get that promotion. They ask that person out on a date. They feel confident to start that new business…or whatever it is they really want in life.

That is how Best Me 360 came about. Our mission is to make personal styling affordable and approachable for the everyday person. I believe that fashion styling should be as common as getting your hair done, because the clothes you wear has just as much, if not more, of an impact on how you feel and how you are perceived by others.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been a serial entrepreneur since I was a kid. Memories of lemonade stands, selling plants from my mom’s garden, and coming up with business ideas was part of who I was. Growing up poor and always seeing money struggles, finding ways to earn money was deeply ingrained in my perspective on things.

I earned an associates degree and took a job with a Fortune 200 company. During my time there, I went on to get my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a few educational certificates from Villanova University and University of Notre Dame – Mendoza Business College. I worked there for almost 15 years advancing to a IT project manager. I loved the discipline and ridged processes and procedures that the corporate world uses. I recommend any entrepreneur to work at least 3 years in a a large successful corporation. The network and experience you will gain is something you will not get from just being an entrepreneur alone.

I currently run 2 other businesses – MN Night Lights, a landscape lighting design and installation company, and Watch Dog Goose Patrol, manufacturer of a plastic dog silhouette decoy that moves in the wind to scare pests. The dog decoys are sold at Ace Hardware stores across the US, Lowes.com and Amazon.com and used on prestigious properties such as Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, MIT, Rutgers, and many celebrity homes in the Hamptons.

The mission for Best Me 360 is to give others the confidence and resources to be the best version of themselves. By connecting personal service professionals who want to enrich the lives of others in an encouraging and supportive environment, Best Me 360 creates a community that promotes individuality, confidence and self-growth.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

WOM – Word of Mouth is the best source for new clients. We get so many clients that come in for a session with the Personal Stylist and then come back with their friends or families later. A mom came in for a Color Analysis Session. A few weeks later she booked appointments for her 3 adult children and came back with them for the session.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Best Me 360 became a company in 2017 and I opened my first location of Best Me 360 in February of 2020. It had been years in the making. I spent all my savings in making the space ready for big launch of my business idea. I had done years of research on the idea. People were in need of fashion styling for going to work, going to events like weddings, concerts, conferences, and on trips.

Well, we all know what happened in March of 2020. Everything shut down. Every event I was ready to style for stopped. Literally, stopped. People didn’t go into work. They didn’t go to weddings, concerts, conferences, or on trips.

Even after people did start to move around a bit more, everything was different. Our already casual dress, got even more casual for most. People were going to zoom meetings without their pants on!

The same day the pandemic hit, my mother died. Although she had been on the decline for about 10 years losing herself to Dementia and I knew her time was limited, her passing was still surprisingly rough on me.

I closed the Best Me 360 Style Studio for 8 months. Now looking back on those years, I can see I was depressed despite trying to function the best I could. Even now when I see some old YouTube videos from 2020 or early 2021 where people were talking about doing things and living life, it shocks me. “What? You were out living?’

Now with my 3rd location of a Best Me 360 style studio newly opened in Roseville, MN, I am excited and continue to open more locations. What I am doing is really changing an entire industry. I want personal styling to be as common as hair styling. There are so many people out there whose passion is fashion. They help their friends and family and maybe work in a clothing retailer. They could be helping so many more people with their passion and knowledge of fashion styling.

I have tenacity and passion for what Best Me 360 can do to help everyday people live their life to the fullest.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BestMe360.com
• Instagram: @BestMe360
• Facebook: Facebook.com/BestMe360
• Linkedin: @BestMe360
• Youtube: @bestme3604

Image Credits
Sarah Mueller