Anne Morrissey

I do what I say I'm going to do when I say I'm going to do it. I'm never late, and they can trust me. I have a really good eye, and I'm real with them. It's a combination of all of that. Plus, I'm 62 years old, and I've been doing this for 19 years. You have to have some age on you and some experience to do this business. Young people haven't had enough experience - they don't know anything about body changes, they haven't traveled the world. The people that have the money to pay you to do this don't want to listen to someone without experience. They want somebody that has been through things, that has got some experience, that knows all kinds of things. And the other part is that it's not about my style - I'm not giving them my style. I'm discovering what theirs is and putting it together for them. If they don't like a certain piece, that's fine, they just have to tell me, it doesn't hurt my feelings.

I had 45 different jobs before this, and I realized there is no right job for me - I'm going to have to create my own. At that time in school, they didn't talk about being an entrepreneur or owning your business. The whole goal was get a job, and I don't remember any advice that worked. The best career advice that I gave myself is do it yourself - find your own work, create your own work. Because managers don't know how to act, most of them. They got issues, and I was not having it. I could go and find any job, I just didn't want to do it. But I didn't know what I did want either, until I got inspired by What Not to Wear.

I think it's really to be a straight shooter. Tell it like it is. How I feel for them and for myself. And do not give anybody the benefit of the doubt. When somebody says something to you, believe them the first time. Yes, they did mean it. It's basically being real. Be honest. Be real. Speak your truth and expect it from other people. That's in my business and my life, for sure. And if they can't, they're not there long. It's a collaboration - it's not just me way up here, the stylist expert, and then down there, the struggling people. You bring that together, it's us. And our one job is to make them look and feel like a million bucks. If they try to get in the way of that, some people aren't ready for it. They're not really ready to be visible. I don't have patience for people that aren't ready for me. You don't pay somebody for their advice, and pay a lot of money for it, and then not agree with that. I'm not going to tell you it looks good if it doesn't, and I'm not going to tell you I like it if I don't. I'm going to be straight with you.