I’m pretty pragmatic. I often use phrases like “What are the chances that . . .” and “How likely is it that . . .” And I believe, with my whole heart, that this is a characteristic that holds me back. I read a sentence today that said too many people focus on probability when it comes to having dreams and setting goals. I am without a doubt one of them.  And I’m telling you this so that if you share this tendency you might recognize it in yourself and do something to change it. I have been working on changing it in myself. Because I want to set massive goals and I want to attempt to reach ..read more

We are always looking for answers. As business owners, this is natural. We crave definitive steps and exact tasks. Which feels right . . . after all, if we have the answers, we’re less likely to make mistakes, right? Sure, that’s true. But the issue is that there isn’t always an answer available. I know that you don’t want to hear that, but it’s the truth. There simply isn’t always an answer for how or when or why to do something in your fashion business. There is no exact roadmap for business growth, therefore not every question has an answer that will work exactly as it did in the past or fo ..read more

I posted a graphic on the StartUp FASHION Instagram that said: You don’t have to get it right every single time. Just keep going. And boy did it go over well. I got a lot of private messages about it. And honestly I’m so glad. Because getting down on ourselves when things aren’t going as planned in our businesses is one of the biggest hurdles to reaching our goals. The fact is, if you’re doing it right, running a business is full of missteps. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t. But it’s the act of trying that makes you a good business person. When you try and get it wrong, you refle ..read more

Some of the most common things that I hear from designers when it comes to productivity are “I don’t have the time to do it all.” “I’m so busy.” “I just want to focus on the creative stuff.” I get it. Doing it all is exhausting. And I used to be the same way — feeling like there weren’t enough hours in the day, like I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do because of all the other things that needed to get done, feeling ruled by my email inbox, social media, and admin stuff. Well, here’s the thing, as business owners we all have to deal with this. It’s part of the job. And the ..read more

Not too long ago I was having a conversation with some members of my family about the concept of writing a letter to your future self.  The purpose being that, in doing so, you would be able to make better choices in your life now, based on who you want to be in the future. If you write this letter to your future self and make note of the future scenario in which you hope you are living, then rewinding back to the present you start to assess the decisions you’re making. I loved it. And I thought, what a great idea to apply to a business! I got to thinking about myself in the future. (I ch ..read more

Let’s talk about goals. There’s something that happens as we create goals for ourselves. Sometimes, if those goals are scary, we subconsciously find things that we need to have or do before we can get started. We hold ourselves back without realizing it, telling ourselves that we need something, when often what we need is right in front of us. Here’s what I mean. The people, information, and resources that we need in order to accomplish our goals, already exist. We just have to get used to looking for them and actually seeing them. When we create this habit and change our mindset, we start to ..read more

You know how sometimes it feels like you’re doing so very much to grow your fashion business but it doesn’t seem like all that work is having much of an impact? I get that feeling. Not so much anymore, because, honestly, you all are so incredible with sending me emails saying how much these blog posts help you. But in the past, when I was still trying to get this business off the ground, it often felt like the stuff I was doing was a waste of time. So much work goes into everything we do with our businesses. In particular with our blog posts, emails, and social media posts. It’s so much work a ..read more

We hear a lot about how it’s important to find ways to stand out as a fashion business in a crowded marketplace. I understand this advice; it’s advice that I give too. As business owners in a very saturated market and at a time when “access” is a given for customers, there is certainly a need to differentiate your brand in a way that captures your customers attention, hearts, and loyalty. But I think that this advice can sometimes be misconstrued. I think that sometimes we take this to mean that we’re wasting our time in building our businesses if we aren’t “unique” enough. I think it’s e ..read more

Something we need to remember as fashion business owners is that habits are important to our development, growth, and success in both life and business. So I’m curious… What is habitual in your business? What are things that you’re doing on a regular basis that you barely even need a reminder to do because they’ve becomes so integral in running your business? You may be having a hard time answering that. That’s OK, that’s common. But if you realize that not much of what you do is habitual, I’m sharing some of the stuff that I believe will make the biggest impact on your business, if you focus ..read more

Your ability to succeed is in direct proportion to your ability to solve your problems. I once read that somewhere and was worried. If I’m being honest, over the years I’ve had to teach myself how to get good at being decisive with solving problems in my business. I’m a classic “what-if’er” and it has bitten me in the butt more than once. And I know that I’m not alone in this. Creative people entering into the world of business tend to be way more contemplative; “perfectionists” (not a real thing, in my opinion) that don’t always have the experience or the personality type to make swift b ..read more