A subtle element to overhead is what many professionals call the “golden handcuffs.” If you are a doctor, lawyer, accountant or other similar service provider, you may be expected to project a certain image. Expensive clothing, flashy jewelry, or late-model high-end automobiles may be part of the game.
Some of this seems sensible. After all, if you hired a lawyer to represent you at a real estate closing, and he pulls up to the title company in a 15-year-old car belching blue smoke, and thereafter emerges wearing a suit with shiny elbows, and tattered cuffs, you may wonder if this attorney is competent. A projection of at least moderate affluence is equated by the consumer with a skillful professional. We all know the stories of the simple, country doctor, or dedicated pro bono lawyer who avoids the middle-class trappings and chooses a quaint lifestyle. Those stories are the exception, and image does seem to count to a certain extent for lawyers, doctors, salespersons and so forth.
That said, a business suit can cost $300 or $3000. Most consumers do not mark demerits for shoes older than six months. A respectable car need not cost 100 grand.
The same image issues carry over into your office veneier, your stationary, even the appearance of your website. To adopt a Buddhist bent to this scenario, perhaps the middle road is best. Be mindful of your image choices. You don’t want to look like a vagrant (unless of course your business consists of sitting in front of a computer screen in your basement), but you need not appear red carpet ready either.