When it comes to working in the fashion industry, you can often be so excited to get started. You’ll have dreams from a young age, you’ll be keen to get started and work your way up, and you’ll want to do it all now. And that’s only natural. Whether you want to design or write or promote, or do anything else, there’s so much to take it when it comes to a fashion career.
But sometimes, you may find that you don’t want to climb the ladder. As with any career, you know that you have to work hard and earn your stripes to get to where you want to be. And while that’s absolutely cool for a lot of people, it won’t always work for everyone. Maybe you’re someone that has an entrepreneurial spirit – whether you know it or not! When this is the case, it could be great for you to start your own business.
Now, for a lot of people, the idea of starting your own business can seem really intense. Sometimes, it can seem like a pipe dream or something that you can’t achieve – but you really can. If you know that you’ve always wanted to have your own business at some time in life, then why not make it now? Why not take the plunge and get yourself into that position? No matter what kind of niche you do within the industry, and whether you want to do that today or in a few years time, here’s what you need to know about launching your own business.
Have Passion
So first of all, you have to make sure that you’re really passionate about what you’re doing. If you just kind of like your work, or worse – you think that you love the industry, but you just kind of feel like you should instead, it’s going to be a problem. Because to start your own business, you need passion. It’s the idea of needing passion to reach your goals – because it’s what pushes you and keeps you going when times feel hard, or you’re putting long hours in.
Have Some Experience
Next, it’s also handy to have some kind of experience. While you don’t have to have thirty years of experience in the fashion industry if you want to launch your own thing – some will help. Going in blind can be tough – because the industry is competitive. So knowing a little bit about fashion PR or design or fashion journalism is going to help you to really get started.
Have What It Takes
The final step on this introductory angle is to make sure that you know what it takes to make this work. As we have already highlighted, and as you will know, it takes a lot to get yourself into the fashion industry and makes waves – because it’s so competitive. So make sure that you have grit, and that you’re not going to be taken aback by rejection at first.
Come Up With A Plan
So next, when you’re sure that you can handle this and it’s what you really want to do, you need a plan. Because any business that is going to be a success needs to have a business plan. So find a basic template and start to work through each section and each area of the business, so you can work out what you want and need to do, to get the business off of the ground.
Work Out The Financials
Now, the business plan is important – but if you’re going to get things off of the ground, you will need to make sure that you have all of the financials worked out. Because this is business. And it’s not just a fluffy idea of coming up with something that you want to do, because it sounds or looks cool. Instead, it’s hard work and it has to make financial sense. So you have to plan this out, as it may even rely on you being able to get the funding you need to get things off of the ground.
Set Up However You Can
So next, you just need to get started. Don’t worry about not having an office or a studio – just work. Set up in your basement, get yourself a free phone number and a virtual address, and just get to work. By not overcomplicating this and just getting some kind of setup in place so that you can work, then you’ll be ready to go.
Find A Mentor
From here, you may also want to think about finding yourself a business mentor. Because it can be so hard to get things set up and for you to keep focused. And a mentor can give you great advice and help you to feel like you’re on track when things get tough.
Network
As a step on from that, it’s also going to be handy for you to network. Because when you’re launching a new business in an industry that is close-knit, it’s a good idea to make sure that you’re in the middle of things. Not only can this help you to have some kind of influence, but it’s going to give you the ability to get your business name out there too.
Understand Commerce
Now, while you definitely don’t have to have business experience to launch a business – anyone can do it if they’re determined or not, it is handy for you to understand business. Get to know the basics of business as much as you can. Because being in fashion isn’t just creative, it’s about being in business too.
Start Marketing
You also need to be comfortable with marketing your business – or hire someone that is, if you have the budget available. Sometimes, word-of-mouth can help you to get started. But it’s not the only option that you have. You may find that going hard on your marketing from the start is going to help you to get the traction you need – especially if you don’t have the contacts that you wish you had.
Make The Right Impression
So next, you need to make sure that you’re making the right impression. And this is so important. We’re going to talk about how you can do this with branding next, but you do have to realize that if you’re going to get traction and interest and customers that you need to make the right impression. You need to showcase what you can do, what your wiring is about, why your PR is great, or why your designs are fantastic – or whatever it is that you want to do.
Stay On Brand
Now, you do also need to make sure that you create a brand identity for your business, and then stick to it. Are you going to be high end or edgy? Are you familiar or mysterious? Who is your brand targeting and what makes up your brand? This can be so important in fashion to make sure that you’re connecting with the right audience, and that you have a market you’re reaching too.
Work With Influencers
It can then be great for you to start thinking about working with influencers. Right now, you know that social media influencers are really making waves. So it’s important for you to be able to really get your name out into the market, specifically with your audience, and collaborating with the right influencers from the beginning can help you.
Track What You’re Doing
Then, you also have to make sure that you’re tracking everything that’s going on with your business. Make sure that you track your growth, your sales, your website visitors – everything. In your business plan, you should have metrics to help you to see how well everything is going, so that you can continue to optimize your output and start to make your business as successful as possible.
Make Plans For Growth
And, as with any business, you need to make some plans for your growth. Now, sometimes, your business plan will touch on this. But a lot of the time, you’ll actually find that you’ll just focus on the initial launch – and that’s normal. But at some point, you’re then going to want to make sure that you’re thinking about the future, and that you know how you’re going to develop. Because if you have a goal, you need to get there, so it’s incredibly important to bring a growth strategy in to play.
So there you have it. If you’re someone that loves the idea of running your own business in the fashion industry, then this should help you to start getting things into action. Because most of the time, your dreams will stay dreams unless you start to plan them out. But now that you know some of the key steps that can help you to get your business off of the ground and then grow it, you could be ready to get things going – even if it’s as a side-hustle, to begin with. So happy business building fashion folk!
