We Got Goals: Annie Frances Shares Goals for Her Styling Business

When it comes to determining to accomplish goals for yourself, there’s no underselling the importance of inner-confidence to make that happen. Research highlights that we’re more likely to make something true if we are already internally confident in our abilities. Enter Annie Frances, licensed therapist and personal stylist who fully believes that when you stay true to yourself and your own style you not only make things way easier on yourself on a daily basis, you can be more confidently and genuinely you, and that goes far.

“[Being a therapist] wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought, in the way that I could give back,” Annie said. “I wanted people to reach their fullest potential, but they can’t do that if they’re not ready.”

The stress of wanting to help people who weren’t ready for it weighed on Annie. An optimist and free spirit at heart – right down to her funky and expressive wardrobe – she found that her job as a therapist was changing her mindset about her own expressive nature.

“I was still trying to dress my funky way, but I was changing the way I was dressing and not quite myself, until I decided to continue on with the path of fashion,” Annie said.

When Annie made the leap, she emailed the CEO of J. Crew and asked for a job in New York. She put it out in the universe and made it happen. She moved to New York where she launched into her career in fashion. After two years she moved back to Chicago with her husband and started her business, Annie Frances Style Consulting.

Now Annie works with personal clients, helping them create a closet that feels like a breath of fresh air and excites them when they open the doors every morning. Annie has a unique app for her clients; she uploads customized looks using her clients’ wardrobes that they can then access whenever they’re deciding what to wear.

Annie Frances

2016 Goals:

On top of having a baby this year, Annie honed in on her calling: fashion consulting that enables individuals to love what they’re wearing and to feel empowered to take on their day.

“I’m so pumped for where [the business is] going,” Annie told me. “Finding boutiques that I love to work with, building rapports and meeting cool clients that have cool stories.”

Upon launching her career in fashion, Annie did primarily commercial work. But getting in tune with what she wants and how she wants her career to grow was a feat in 2016 that went hand in hand with becoming a mother.

“I was thinking [commercial work] was what I wanted and needed,” Annie said. “Now my mindset has shifted, and I really want to work with clients – with individual people and groups – and speaking. It’s been a fun shift, and having the baby made me realize that. I want to be certain of who I am and what I stand for and what career I have. I want to be a good role model because even though he doesn’t know me quite yet – he’s only six months – he will, and I want to already have that in place.”

2017 Goals:

Even though I’ve yet to ask Annie to go through my closet (although I desperately need it), I can tell she wants her clients to feel great in their skin just as they are. Her background in therapy has no doubt impacted the way she works with clients for the better. And in 2017 Annie wants to continue to spread the message of empowerment the best way she knows how: by building the skills to feel confident with what you’ve already got.

“I do feel like I have a talent that I don’t want to go to waste,” Annie said. “I kept it aside for so long. I thought, ‘Therapy helps people, clothing doesn’t.’ But there is a way to [build] confidence there. When [my clients] feel awesome in something that they’ve purchased or even discover something in their own closet that they didn’t know how to wear, you can feel great … I think it changes their mindset on life, too. It isn’t a matter of having the best of the best or what’s trending. I’m not a trendy person by any means. Maybe clothes are something you don’t care about, but you still have to wear it. So how’s the best way to do that?”

 

Watch out for Annie around Chicago as she continues to spread the message that feeling great and looking great comes from the inside out, and sometimes it just takes scratching what’s on the surface to unlock the beauty underneath. Want to work with her? Find her here.

Goals Think & Feel

About Maggie Umberger

Maggie moved to Chicago from North Carolina in 2014 with a degree in Journalism and Spanish, a 200-hour yoga certification, a group fitness cert and a passion to teach and to sweat. It wasn't until she found aSweatLife that she really started to feel at home. Here, she's incorporated her passion for health and wellness into her career as she helps to build the network of Ambassadors, trainers and fitness enthusiasts that exist within the aSweatLife ecosystem. You can also find her coaching at CrossTown Fitness and teaching yoga classes at Bare Feet Power Yoga, Yoga Six and exhale.