Time Out Chicago interviewed me for a feature on ways to make quick cash–e.g., just become a stylist! I always appreciate publicity, but I wouldn’t call styling an easy way to make money. Like any business, it’s not just about having an eye for style–I’ve also got to be an agile marketer, a trend-watcher, a bookkeeper, an office manager, a publicist, a networker, a blogger, a webmaster, and a newsletter writer, roles for which I don’t receive a salary. (Luckily I love writing, so I don’t mind doing many of these tasks.) I may keep my overhead low, but there are still plenty of expenses involved–website hosting, maintenance, and upgrades, newsletter services, software and computer equipment, cell phone, car maintenance and repair, gas, parking, credit-card merchant services, magazine subscriptions, etc. And let’s not forget taxes!

So yes, styling might be a quick way to make some cash off of friends or acquaintances once in a while. But that hourly number is only a small part of the picture. I get a lot of emails from people who want to be stylists, and sometimes it’s hard to impress upon them that there’s more to it than just liking clothes and shopping.