Part 2: Providing the Image Without Investing the Money - The 'Free' Tools

We began our series with Part 1: Providing the Image Without Investing the Money.  This is Part 2, where we take a look at the cheapest methods of looking the part.

Stand up straight.  Brush your teeth and floss.  Tuck your shirt in. Get your sleep.  Speak up so people can hear you.  Sit still and quit fidgeting.  Iron your clothes.

Does all that sound familiar?  Like, things your mother used to tell you when you were young?  Your mom was right.  These words of advice, by you applying them, can help you build an image of stability, attractiveness, and confidence.  Those are typical for a reason--they work.  Children who obey these simple instructions have a much better chance at being successful in life than children who do not.  If you don't believe me, do a search on Google for interviewing effectively.  Look up something on delivering effective speeches.  Notice the common threads--your appearance is very important, and your ability to project confidence is not just about the words you say, but everything about you.

These are, most often, controllable aspects for you.  Let's take a look at each one.

Stand up straight
If you want to appear confident, you can help yourself a lot by maintaining good posture.  You need not be stiff, but keep your head raised, eyes level, shoulders back (just slightly), and your back straight.  Suck in that belly if you can.  I once heard that keeping a good posture is an effective mini work-out, aiding with burning calories--so there's even more benefit.

Brush your teeth and floss
Taking good care of your teeth goes a long way beyond saving you on dental bills.  If you have an impressive smile, you feel more confident.  It's worth investing in teeth whitening toothpastes and, in some cases, a whitening kit, to bring your teeth to a subtly vibrant white.  Grey, yellow, or brown teeth occur naturally, over time.  I drink coffee--that stains my teeth.  To counteract this, I brush with a whitening toothpaste.

Tuck your shirt in
Having an untucked shirt just looks sloppy.  If you want someone to judge you negatively at first sight, leave your shirt out.  Yes, it is a style to wear your shirt like this, but don't trick yourself into believing that it's socially acceptable to everyone in the business world.  It's not.  It's one of those things you do when you're the cool executive that's bucking the system.  Hear that? Bucking the system...the one that you're trying to be a part of--the one that gives you a paycheck.  Yeah. That system.

Get your sleep
When you're tired from staying up too late, you develop bags under your eyes, it's harder to keep good posture, it's more difficult to concentrate and stay focused, and other people notice.  What's worse, according to the Sleep Foundation (sleepfoundation.org), lack of sleep can impact you in the following ways:

• Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents
• Increase in body mass index – a greater likelihood of obesity due to an increased appetite caused by sleep deprivation
• Increased risk of diabetes and heart problems
• Increased risk for psychiatric conditions including depression and substance abuse
• Decreased ability to pay attention, react to signals or remember new information

Do you want to make an impression by remembering the names of the people you met with today?  Are you concerned about your weight gain?  Do you want to live long enough to enjoy your wealth?  Then get your sleep.

Speak up
Knowing how to speak so you're heard is a gift for some and a practiced ability of others.  If you're like me, you find that you get drowned out when you speak normally in the midst of a big group, out at a lunch meeting in a loud restaurant.  Dropping an octave (if you're a dude, and not so it's creepy), projecting, avoiding words like "uh", "like", and "um", and good enunciation are key factors when speaking to be heard.  Maybe you could even try a British accent.
The University of Michigan conducted a study that's pretty interesting here: Want to Be Heard? Try Changing the Way You Talk

Don't underestimate learning from the internet.  There are lots of self-improvement techniques to take yourself to the next level of success.

Fidgeting
Fidgeting, doodling, foot tapping, etc. are said to have benefits.  It burns calories, it helps you focus, it makes you look funny sometimes--all great benefits, but my own views on it are what you'll read here.  Fidgeting is fine until you're in the company of someone that you must impress.  Exercise control over yourself to demonstrate that you're unshakable.  Fidgeting is associated with being nervous, so when you remain completely still, save for intentional movements, you are showing that you are confident.  It's a small trick, but it works for me.

Iron your clothes
Keeping your clothing clean, choosing the shirt without stains, and keeping all your clothes wrinkle-free is very critical to maintaining the image you're after.  If you're in wrinkled clothes, you appear sloppy and lazy.  Those negative descriptions can't be written off as a style choice--it's just bad.

Other human beings make hundreds of little judgments about you--most of them subconsciously.  When you remove all the little elements that can detract from you negatively, you significantly level the playing field.  You can now feel more confident because you appear as though you ought to be.  These are the free ways to make yourself look more successful, more confident, and more like you have it all together.

In Part 3, we'll continue to discuss additional ways of having the image without paying all the money.

Part 1: Providing the Image Without Investing the Money

I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me. - Warren Buffett

Let's face it, you sometimes need to spend a little to get more.  That fact is, when you're trying to get that job or make that impression, or when your job requires it, you have to find the money to make yourself appear as you want or need to appear.  You need your appearance to fit your goals.  It might be your car, your watch, your house, or even your acquaintances that must change.

It goes without saying, but I'll mention that same old truth that we're all familiar with: your expenses scale with your income.

Somehow, we always find a way to spend whatever extra we get.  People have discussed this phenomenon with their friends, with their family, and with their lending institutions and nobody seems to be able to identify exactly what the reason is, aside from pointing out that our appetite for more is equal to some exponent of what we earn.  Ah, the American dream.

For me, after my promotion to management, I spent more on clothing, my car, and even on decorating my office to better reflect the position I came to occupy.  I began to adjust my personal view of myself based on what was expected for someone in my place.  I had to look like someone who would hold my position.

Imagine this scenario:

You are waiting to go to lunch with Joe, a representative from a company with whom you are considering doing business.  When Joe arrives at your facility, he comes in wearing casual attire, fit for a new grad kid working at one of those kick-back-not-serious-but-innovate places.  He shows you to his ride, a 1989 Ford Escort with a faded, and peeling, paint job, a few dents that represent a quarky history, lending to the car's own personal character.

When you get into the car, a pine-scented air freshener makes a poor attempt at masking the smell of old cheeseburger mixed with pizza.  Once in the car, you try to buckle, but the seat buckle is broken and has been since somewhere around 1995.  The car barely starts, and a pitiful squeal from a lose belt interrupts your stunned silence.

To your amazement, the car makes it to the restaurant chosen by Joe.  The restaurant, however, is a Del Taco.  He treats you to a taco, a soda, and some fries--because he had a coupon.

After the meeting is over, he drops you off at your office.  He spoke well enough, and he helped you understand his product, but you can't help but feel distracted by all the cheapness, am I right?

In the above scenario, our friend has gained a promotion that puts him in front of a prospective client.  He has chosen to maintain his lifestyle in an attempt to save as much money as possible.  Don't you respect him for that decision?  Or do you think that his naive attempt to cling to his cheap way of living is a poor fit for the expectations placed upon him now that he has risen to such a visible and influential position?  Aha, now you're conflicted, right?

I personally think that adjusting your appearance and portraying what is expected of you is imperative to added success.  However, you can get caught in a trap of ever-increasing responsibility and time commitments, with an increasing paycheck, with equally paced expenses, and never win the rat race.  The goal is to ascend beyond the equalized revenue-to-expense conundrum.

Back when I was working my way up, my boss and mentor, told me that I ought to take every raise I received and just have it automatically deposited into my 401k account.  This way, since I was already acclimated to living according to my old salary, I'd be able to maintain my standard of living while saving for a fat retirement.  This made a lot of sense, and I've been contributing a lot to my retirement based on that advice, but I certainly haven't sent everything there--for many reasons.  I'm also guilty of scaling my life up as well.

That was good advice for raises, but it's harder to implement when you're going for a promotion or you've been promoted, or you're trying to sell your product, or impress a client.  At this stage, you have to roll back on the saving throttle a bit and spend your money.  It's challenging to think like this and not lose control.  However, in the coming days, I'll share in the follow up installments to this article, how to get that edge and elevate the perception that others have of you--without breaking the bank.

Ask the readers: How do you avoid the dented Ford Escort while still building the kind of wealth you ought to be building with increased income?

Be sure to read Part 2 of Providing the Image Without Investing the Money.