Creating and maintaining the right personal image for you and your company

In the early days of my career in image consulting, someone asked me this question: "why did the Buddha not need image consulting?" I can see why the person asked the question. Afterall, if someone is famous for years and years, even after his death, wtihout having to wear nice clothes and groom well, then why are we trying so hard? Afterall, the Buddha had many followers, from the time he was on earth to the present day. Is image so important? My answer was this: "From my understanding, Buddha did not care about what others thought of him. Comments from people, bad or good, did not affect him. We are different, in that we are affected by people we meet. We care about judgments, and judgments affect what we think of ourselves. This is why people need to groom and dress well - to present themselves to others in their best light. Until we reach the state of Buddhahood, we had better do this - for those who do not know how to, there are image consultants whose jobs are to help you with your image." I challenge those who don't believe this, to walk down the street with rags or even half naked (you also have to be dirty - don't wash yourself for a week). See how you feel from the way people react to your image. Don't just go to places of poverty - you have to go to places where people wear expensive clothing and eat expensive foods. If you can live through dressing like a monk or a ragamuffin without denting your self confidence, I say: good for you! I don't care how much charisma or power a person has. As long as the person still cares about what others thinks of him/her, and still depends on people to make a living, and who needs friends, there will be negative effects from a bad image.