Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest today, Madison Guillory, clothier, stylist, full service wardrobe consultant with Tom James. Madison, welcome to the show.

Madison Guillory: Hi. Thank you so much for inviting me on.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Oh, and by the way, if you’re only listening, you’re missing this fantastic jacket that Madison has on. So you need to get on the YouTube channel and check it out. It is gorgeous. So, Madison, tell us a little bit more about you and the work that you do.

Madison Guillory: Yeah. Of course. So a little bit about me. Um, there’s a lot to learn about me and get to know, um, about me. Um, in my spending time with my clients, they get to know so much about me. But, um, I’m a native to the Houston area. Um, I know the ins and outs of Houston. I serve as clients all the way up to the woodlands, down to Lake Jackson, Clear Lake, um, Baytown, Katy area. So I’m all around Houston. I got into the space, the custom clothing space, about three years ago, and I can’t believe the time is absolutely flown, but I’m 25 years beyond just turned 25. And I got into this space when I was 22, and I met a girl in target of all places, and I asked her where she got her clothes from because she was wearing a custom blazer and custom jeans. And my clothes have never fit like that. I have one of the hardest fits to find off the rack, to the point where I’ve given up. Um, and when you look at me, you’re like, oh, like you don’t have a hard time. But no, I’m I’m a four up top and 8 to 10 at the bottom. That’s a huge drop. I was 15 inch drop from my waist to my seat measurement, and you can’t find that in pants almost anywhere unless you’re either doing something custom or shopping high end. But at that point, if you’re spending $300 on jeans, you might as well get something custom.

Madison Guillory: So I asked her where she got her clothes from and she was like, oh, my clothier. And she had just started in the space maybe a year before it came right out of college into the custom clothing world. And, um, she had just started in the space, so she didn’t recruit me at the time, but now she’s in recruiting and she just gave me her Instagram. She was like, check us out, see if we have any openings. And it took me a year to even apply because I was afraid to go into 100% commission sales. But it’s turned out to be such an amazing journey. But it took me a year to even apply. And uh, when I applied I was so scared. But I’m really, really liking it. Um, and so I really like the fact that I get to work with amazing people. The, the stigma around, like, executives and like, the top 1% of Houston is like, not true whatsoever. There’s some of the sweetest, nicest people that you will ever meet, some of the funnest people to hang around. They will include you in their inner circle and their events, and introduce you to their friends because they want to see you succeed. Successful people want to see you succeed. Um, and so that is what I love about what I do, the people that I’ve connected with and the people that I’ve helped increase their confidence when it comes to their outward appearance, because especially so many women have issues with finding things that fit off the rack.

Madison Guillory: They’ve just given up all hope on finding quality things that fit number one quality, and then number two things that fit. Um, because what we’re finding off the rack these days is just like whatever the market is giving us, and then we’re just supposed to accept it? No. We deserve, We deserve so much more than what we’re what we’re being given on the market as women. And when you walk into men’s stores, they have some of the nicest things, and we have more women who are in executive level positions in the market, executive level positions or business owners in the market than ever. And so we should have the opportunity to have that same level of quality that can have as well. And so that’s where I come in. I’m number one in Houston when it comes to working with women. About 50% of my book of business is women, and I work with a close to 200 clients here in the Houston area. Um, and so I have a 5050 split between men and women. And I love working with women just because it raises their their self-esteem and their self-image, but also they’re getting access to that high, high quality, um, garment and item that you don’t typically find in stores, even some high end luxury boutique stores, too.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s, uh, let’s engage the part of the audience that says, I work from home. I don’t need anybody who can help me get a suit or a dress or anything else. So what would you say to that?

Madison Guillory: Um. At the end of the day, different people value different things. Um, I can only step in and build that value into clothing in appearance as much as possible. And at the end of the day, you can decide what you want to do with that. But, uh, for the people that that say, you know, I don’t need to dress up that much. Um, yes. You might not need to, but you can always be underdressed in a situation. Um, never necessarily overdressed, but you can always be underdressed. And so, um, really evaluate how you want people to perceive you, your self-image, your repertoire. Because your reputation. Your reputation does matter if you are trying to actually grow in and move faster further. Um, your appearance does play into that because what do you want to say when people talk about you? When someone mentions your name and say, oh, I know so-and-so. Oh my gosh, they they, they are the one that when they walk into the room, they own it. Um, they have a, a stance where they care about who they are and their appearance, and they give that to other people. Because like I said earlier, when you dress good, you play well. When you play well, you get paid well, but also when you look good, um, when you look good, you have a better mindset and are more able to give to the world around you because you start receiving all of these compliments, you start receiving and you’re like, okay, my tank is filled up to give to other people.

Madison Guillory: Everywhere that I go, like I dress up going to the grocery store. But who cares? Like, you can always be underdressed, but you can never be overdressed. But I get compliments all the time. Everywhere that I go. And I just receive, I receive and I say thank you. And, um. And I am able to give back to you. So you’ll be surprised how much more able and open you are to giving back to the world around you. When you do dress well, no matter where you go. Yeah, you’re working from home, but you still go to the grocery store. You still go to lunches, you still go to dinner with family and friends, you’re still going on vacations. And when you go to those places, I’m pretty sure you’re not staying at a at a motel or a Holiday Inn. I’m pretty sure you’re staying at a 4 to 5 star resort where people can treat you. They can treat you like a king or queen, but you’d be surprised by just elevating your wardrobe just a little bit. They’ll treat you like royalty when you walk into the door. They’ll hold the door open for you. They’ll ask you what you need. They’ll grab you back your bags without you even having to ask. I believe it’s it’s it’s a your outward appearance is a silent statement of I. I dress today to be respected.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. I, I love everything that you’re saying. And I tell people all the time that I’m working with you got to get up every day, and you got to get dressed and you got to go to work. And I don’t care if it’s down the hallway or a car ride up the street or on the other side of town, but you got to get up and you have to get dressed to go to work. So what is the importance from a mindset perspective for us to actually get up and get dressed, to go to work, even if we’re working from home?

Madison Guillory: Absolutely. I can boil it down to even science. That dopamine hit almost because most people get their dopamine hit from like coffee or energy drinks. But if you look in the mirror and you’re like, man, I look good. You just told yourself a powerful statement that’s now in your subconscious that, like, I look good, like I’m. I’m awesome. Like you were. You were just feeding yourself these these affirmations that at the time, you weren’t conscious about it, but it’s in your subconscious. And then that just that that kicks off your day to where you just have a good day. And at the end of the year, at the end of the year, at the end of your day, you’re just like, man, I had a good day. But when you really backtrack it, where did that come from? I guess you can have a good day if you’re in like, sweats and in, you know, tennis shoes. I’m not saying that I can’t have a good day, but you can have a fantastic day if you get up. Do your makeup. Do your hair. Like yesterday. I didn’t do my hair. And every time I looked in the mirror, I was just so mean to myself. I was so mean to myself. And I was like, oh, you look like Sonic the Hedgehog. Like, what are you doing? And that just bled into my entire day. And just like, oh, wow. Gross. But when you do your hair, you do your makeup and and you put on the clothes, you’re able to tell yourself the things. And at the end of the day, you are your own best friend, even if you’re working at home alone by yourself. You are your number one best friend and you are by yourself most of the time. Might as well be nice to yourself.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And give yourself a reason to feel good and get up and go to work. So I work from home. I have my have a house away, a tiny house away from my house. And every morning I get up, I get dressed, I put my makeup on, I do my hair, I put jewelry on, like everything is very purposeful and it’s not for anyone else. It’s more for me. It’s about the way I want people to see me and how I show up, and I show up much more energetic and ready to play. Yes, I’ve put myself together because girl, on the weekend We’re talking about, you know, like beach gear, right? No makeup, hair in a ponytail, but that’s okay. Uh, so tell me more about. And we we started talking about this before we started recording, and I want to draw it out. You were talking about, um, how the first thing that’s judged is your hair and your shoes, and then we move to everything else. So tell me a little more about that.

Madison Guillory: So how can I break this down? I can mention a little bit about my background here. Um, because being a, um. Being an African-American female, it growing up, that was the first thing that we talked about. We were taught about and had to have a conversation about growing up Is. Our parents are here. Um, and I think the generation before me, um, just was, was so self-conscious about their hair and, like, conforming to this, the standards of the corporate environment that, um, they almost neglected it, but they always looked good. It was going to the salon almost every week to make sure that your hair was put together. So no one could ever say that, oh, their hair is like nappy or on the side of their head. And over time we have, um, what’s it called? Companies who have been able to better cater to us, have, um, offered us products to be more confident in our natural state. And I, me personally have also grown to be more confident in my natural state and um, and also keep it more presentable in those situations. But, um, me personally, there was just so much conversation about hair growing up. I’m so aware of it. Um, and then when it comes to men, um, I’ve never seen someone who has their hair in their face on the side of their head, has not, has not been combed, overgrown, be respected personally.

Madison Guillory: Um, I can spot $1 million haircut from a mile away, and I can go up to that person and tell them that and say, you. You actually care about your appearance because you have $1 million haircut. They could be wearing workout clothes in the gym, but I can tell that they’re in a respected position or are are looking to rise into a respected position because of the way they cut their hair. Um, it’s huge. Even even men, um, African American men that have dreadlocks. But if they have a focus on keeping their locks together, keeping keeping that, uh, that edge up tight, um, the taper and everything. I can tell they care about their appearance. And I think that also came from my dad to my dad’s a business owner in the Houston area. And so he the things that he always, um, that he always checked in the morning was his hair. He would almost cut his hair daily, cutting his beard, shaving his face. Um, always, always had toothpicks on him. You have to make sure that your teeth are clean and put together. Your breath smells good because you’re communicating with people. You don’t look tired. Even if you are tired, you are doing things that that help you not look tired because no one wants to work with a tired person like your your face. This your neck up matters.

Madison Guillory: And then the shoes, um, when it when it comes to, um, Your shoes. I actually had this incense with a friend of mine who was. Giving him the benefit of the doubt. He didn’t have much money at the time we were in college, but I had, um. I had a friend of mine that didn’t take a focus in on his shoes. And he wore the same, like, beaten ups, berries every day. And then I had a, um, a business colleague of mine where I ran into him at the grocery store, and we got into conversation. The three of us looked down at his shoes and he’s like, well, I can tell that you’re not really focused on growing yourself by the by the way your sheets look. And that changed his life from that day moving on forward. He got some new shoes. He kept his shoes polished. Even if your shoes are old, making sure they’re. They’re polished and clean and not, like, busted and beaten up. You know it. It doesn’t take that much. Like, a little bit goes a long way. You don’t have to wear the most expensive Ferragamo shoes. But, you know, taking a quick trip to maybe Allen Edmonds or, um, or Marshalls, Nordstrom Rack, places that have, you know, markdowns and just investing a little bit more on the fun and goes a long way. Mhm.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. So Madison, if folks are ready to connect with you and want to learn more, what’s the best way to connect.

Madison Guillory: So the best way to connect with me is via phone. But I’m highly active on social media. I’m all over Instagram, all over LinkedIn. On Instagram, my handle is styled by Maddy G. So stay dot, be DG and on there you can see so many things that I’ve done for my clients over the last few years, the relationships that I have for them. I even have clients featured on my page. You can see a little bit about me, um, and the many different hairstyles that I’ve transformed into over the last few years. Um, but there’s a multitude of pictures on there and ideas of what we do provide. Now is every single thing that we that that we offer on my Instagram page. No, because I have thousands of fabrics that we can dive into from anyone, any background, any size, any taste and style that you have, whether it’s conservative or super fun. As you can tell, I’m a super fun person. I love to dive into color. I appreciate the classics and I love the classics. A classic blue goes a long, long way, but I love to dive into prints and patterns and have fun with with, um, with different combinations and things like that. On LinkedIn, you can find me under Madison Gallery. It’ll pop up right there on Google. You can Google me on Google and all my information will pop up. But if you look on my Instagram page, my my cell phone number is on there. Um, for business (832) 875-8551 and, um, I’m easily accessible more by text than by phone call. Um, because I do have very in-demand clients, but I’m always open to helping out someone there.

Trisha Stetzel: Beautiful. Thank you so much for that. And by the way, if you’re not watching us on YouTube, you need to go over there because I already said something about the jacket, but her hair is amazing, too. You got to see Madison’s hair today. Okay, let’s talk more about the service that you provide to your client. So how does it work and what do you do for them?

Madison Guillory: Yeah. So, um, working with me is a huge benefit because I’m that bypassing in-store shopping and online shopping, and that can be a headache for a lot of people. Like I, I personally hate going into the mall. If you’re in the Houston area, I avoid the Galleria like a plague. It gives me so much anxiety and I have an idea of what I’m looking for, and I just want that one thing and go. Um, so when working with me, it’s grab and go. You know, if you if you, if you’re looking at your calendar and you have an event coming up in the next 2 to 3 months, all you have to do is text me and say, hey, let’s get this into process. But with working with the client for the first time, I love having an in-person meeting for about an hour to two hours. So we’re meeting and we’re sitting down and we’re discussing what you do or do not have in your closet. We may be doing a quick closet consultation. I typically meet most of my clients in their homes, so I get an idea of who you are and what you have. And so I’m not duplicating anything that you already have. Um, what you do have and what you don’t have. Um, we’re going over different, um, qualities of fabrics and pricing. Getting an idea of where you want to start.

Madison Guillory: Um, and then I’ll take your measurements. Um, talk about some of the specifications that you want when it comes to men. Men are pretty simple. But then you have, like, the traditional style. The more relaxed style, you have more of the tapered Italian style. Now, um, or if you trust me, in my, in my opinion, on what you need to do for you, I’ve never had a client that’s been unsatisfied with my personal recommendation. Um, because if you trust me in what I’m doing, I’m the expert, and I can help you get to the to the desired outcome that you want. Um. And then with ladies. With ladies. We have so many different options now when it comes to styles and fabrics. Um, I want to make the process as simple as possible when it comes to making decisions. And so I will come prepared with ideas, book, books, um, somewhere for us to start. And then I will always come back with ideas every time we get back together. I typically see clients 4 to 5 times a year, and the time absolutely flies. It takes about 8 to 8, 6 to 8 weeks to get a custom garment. And so we’re planning ahead of time. Um, and that’s where I come in, where we are staying, on top of the things that you do need that are coming up. So.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Beautiful. That sounds like so much fun because I hate going to the mall.

Madison Guillory: Oh, yes.

Trisha Stetzel: No. My favorite. I don’t like shopping. Uh, this is so tell me this. I know that you’ve got some favorite client stories as well. And so if you can share their experience or your experience with them, of course, keeping their identity private because we don’t want to tell everybody who your clients are. Um, but describe to me or tell me some of your favorite client stories so that the audience can get more of an idea of how you’re interacting with your clients.

Madison Guillory: Yeah, I would say my absolute favorite client story. Um, and I want to mention her name right now, but she’s an amazing woman. She was a referral. How I got connected with her was actually pretty funny. I ended up meeting a gentleman who is the top salesman at a BMW here in Houston. He referred me to a gentleman. That gentleman ended up becoming my client. And then he referred me to his colleague. Um, and she is an she’s an amazing person. She’s like the light of the world and deserves the best. But when I first met with her, she was so skeptical because, number one, she had never spent this much on clothing before. But number two, she was just so let down by the market that she had given up on trying to elevate her look, even though she was in she was in an executive level position where she was making important decisions in these boardrooms with with mostly men. Most of the time she was the only female in the room, and so she didn’t feel like she was necessarily getting the respect that she deserved. And the situation, because those men were dressed very, very well. And so when I first met with her, I was just like, just give me a shot doing a couple of outfits for you. Um, I will tell. I will say I like to set the right expectation on the front end with if you have a difficult fit. She’s not she’s not the easiest fit, but she has a very great shape to accentuate, um, and to appreciate.

Madison Guillory: But when, when working with clients that have a more difficult fit, I’m like, there’s going to be a couple of alterations that we need to make on the front end, but once we figure that out, then it’s super easy to work with me from from there. And we’ve yet to have to change her pattern since the first time doing alterations for her. And so I just saw her light up when her clothes came in, when her when her second batch of clothes came in directly from the factory and fit without making any alterations. She was so pleased. She was so excited. She was so happy. And that made me jump for joy, because I was so excited to see her have something that she felt good in, and she looked good and she just, she just lit up and it was night and day from like the first time that I met with her to now. Because like I said, when I first met with her, she was just so, like, disappointed. And and I know she didn’t want to be disappointed again. So all I wanted to do was deliver her a great garment that would make her feel more confident in, in the, um, and not the industry, but the market again. So so that’s what we we deliver. We deliver, um, convenience, we deliver confidence, we deliver quality. And so that’s one of my favorite, um, client stories.

Speaker4: I’m not sure if I.

Madison Guillory: Have any other client stories that are just as impactful.

Trisha Stetzel: So I bet.

Madison Guillory: You.

Trisha Stetzel: Impacted plenty of people. And I know you have another story.

Madison Guillory: Um. I would say when I get, when I get, like texts and photos from clients that are like, oh my gosh, look at what you put together. I look so good today. Um, type of thing. Or, you know, I, I, I’ve been I feel like I’ve impacted more women than men just because there’s so many choices for men when it comes to quality items. I get so much more feedback from my lady clients. I have this lady client that, um, she’s no longer living in Houston anymore. I think she stepped down from her position and living in another state now, so I haven’t heard from her recently, but when I first met with her again, she she was a little unsure about the process, but she was willing to trust me and try me out on a capsule. And we did a couple of capsules for her, um, which just made sense. We could take a couple of items. It just makes so many different outfit combinations out of it for her because she was like, I just don’t want to think. I don’t want to think when I go into my closet, I don’t want to think in the morning when I get dressed, I just want to look good. And so she looks like a million bucks. Like if I saw her walking down the street, which I never saw her walking down the street, but she always texted me when she got compliments.

Madison Guillory: Um, if I saw her walking down the street, I would stop her and be like, what do you do? Where are you from? You look amazing. Because she. She just looks like a million bucks. But we strategically planned out her capsules. Um, so I had taken pictures of each outfit and put them into a album for her. Oh, cute dog I have. I have a pitbull. Um, I had put them into an album for her, so whenever she needed to get dressed in the morning or pack for a conference or trip, she could just, she could just go into the album and pick out a couple of outfits and be like, okay, this is how I want to look for the next few days. And it was so easy for her to just get get ready and get dressed. So, um, that that was really awesome being able to do that and impact in that way. Um, and then turn around and help out with like, different style ideas. So at the end of the day, people just don’t want to think about it. It can be it can become very stressful. Um, if you’re always having to think about, how do I pair this with that? And, you know, different styles I have.

Madison Guillory: I have one of the most stylish clients walking into her closet. This is another client. This is another lady client walking into her closet. Her shoe collection is like, oh my gosh, I just want to live in here. Her shoe collection is amazing. Louboutins. Um. Um, what’s what’s the other one? Jimmy shoe and, um. Antonio. I can’t think of the of the name right now, but her shoe collection is amazing. Um, so I was able to go into her closet and take the capsules that we made up for her, impair the different accessories that she had with it. And she was like, I would have never thought about pairing this shoe with this outfit. You know, like, good thing you’re here. Because now I can actually wear these shoes because a lot of the times women were like, oh, we like this, but we don’t necessarily know how to like, style it or wear it, so it just sits there. So how can you get the most use out of the out of the clothing and accessories that you already have in your closet and strategically add, um, items and accessories based off of what you already have?

Trisha Stetzel: It’s amazing you offer such a valuable service, and I know your clients love you to death, so I know our time has already gone by so fast. Uh, thank you so much, Madison, for being with me today. Again, if you guys want to connect with Madison, you can find her on LinkedIn at Madison. Madison? Her last name is spelled g u I l l o y on LinkedIn. Or tell us your IG page again.

Madison Guillory: Instagram. I’m styled by G, so that’s s t l e d dot b dot d I g.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. And we’ll have all that in the show notes for you guys. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer you can just point and click and connect with Madison. Madison, thank you so much for being with me today. This has been tons of fun.

Madison Guillory: Thank you Trisha I appreciate the opportunity.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston leader that’s ready to go and look amazing. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.