Ep. 09 When to Invest in Your Fashion Business (& Where to Start for Free)
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So, here’s a hot topic: Money. More specifically, how to start a business when you don’t have a lot of money. If you scour the internet, you can find enough stories of multi-millionaires who started from zero, eating chickpeas out of the can while sleeping on their friend’s futon.
But there’s a less extreme version of this, and it’s far more common… so in today’s episode we’re talking about How to Know If You’re Ready to Invest in Your Fashion Brand.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
TRANSCRIPT
So, here’s a hot topic: Money. More specifically, how to start a business when you don’t have a lot of money.
If you scour the internet, you can find enough stories of multi-millionaires who started from zero, eating chickpeas out of the can while sleeping on their friend’s futon.
But there’s a less extreme version of this, and it’s far more common… so in today’s episode we’re talking about How to Know If You’re Ready to Invest in Your Fashion Brand.
Here’s the scenario: you’re craving a creative outlet. You’ve managed to save a small “safety net” of cash and may even have some disposable income at the end of the month.
You see acquaintances on Facebook breaking out on their own.
And you wonder to yourself, how did they do it?
What do they know that I don’t?
So you start to research.
“How to start a clothing line,” you type into Google.
From Marie Claire to WikiHow to “Startup Bros,” you face 938MM search results.
Overwhelm begins to set in, but you make one conscious choice:
To take the first step.
I was living this same reality in 2010.
I was just starting out, trying to launch a sustainable fashion brand, and I had no idea what was what or who was who.
The entire industry was a mystery to me with limited access.
Despite the very obvious barriers, I committed to putting $5,000 into a business bank account as an investment in a company I didn’t yet have.
I’ll never forget transferring that hard-earned cash as one lump sum, knowing that it was all of my savings and probably money that I would never see again.
I knew it was a calculated risk, and I was very aware that there were no guarantees.
When I look back on that first bank transfer I remember it as the first of many times I took a risk for my business without knowing how it would turn out.
Over a decade later, I now know it’s the name of the entrepreneurial game.
Whether it was investing money into a Kickstarter campaign I wasn’t sure would be successful or hiring a business coach or buying the numerous online courses I’ve enrolled in, what I’ve learned is this:
You have to be willing to invest in your business before you know it’s a sure thing.
I don’t mean that you should take out a second mortgage or drain your 401K, but you have to be willing to spend money to start or grow a business.
There is no way around it.
So, how do you do this without succumbing to the fear of bankruptcy and homelessness?
You create a “worst case scenario” plan.
Over the years, I’ve always told myself that if I lost all of my savings I could jump behind a bar and start pouring drinks again. As much as I hoped my bartending days were over, I knew that I could make cash quickly if I had to.
For you, it might be nannying or waitressing or admin or cleaning houses or freelancing.
Depending on how dire your “worst case scenario” plan is, having one can do two things:
- It can be an indication that you’re not ready to take action on your business.
- Or it can liberate you.
It’s the litmus test you need to make a big financial decision.
But here’s another scenario: maybe you don’t have to make a big financial decision.
Maybe you don’t have to move a lump sum of money into a business bank account.
Maybe you take it month by month – focusing on the things you can do to get your business moving that don’t cost any (or maybe just a little) money.
These are things like: social media, email marketing, networking, content marketing – all things that will help you build an audience and are vital to the pre-launch phase of creating a fashion brand.
Because here’s what I know: money shouldn’t hold you back from starting a passion project, building a brand or even creating an empire.
Yes, growing a business requires money but it’s not necessarily as much as you think.
There are things you can do now, ways to be savvy, free strategies you can use to make progress without spending a dime.
And I’m going to tell you five of them right now so you get started (with no expenses today):
- Set up a free Mailchimp account to start building your email list. You can have up to 2,000 contacts without spending a penny.
- Set up an Instagram account. Start creating content, engaging with people within your niche and growing your following.
- Set up a free Facebook group. Make it specific to your niche and the ideal target customer that your brand is trying to attract. Start building a tribe of future customers by engaging with them, creating valuable content for them and building relationships.
- Start content marketing. Write guest posts, record podcast interviews, create YouTube videos that appeal to your ideal target customer and start experimenting with content that encourages people to sign up to your email list.
- Start sketching out your ideas and getting your designs down on paper. You can download my free spec sheet template that will help you legitimize your designs and prepare them for a pattern & samplemaker.
Here’s the truth: To start a successful fashion brand, you must be willing to invest in uncertainty. You must also be willing to invest in yourself. BUT there are things you can do immediately, like right now, today, to test, experiment and see whether your idea is worth pursuing before investing any money at all. And there is nothing more valuable than that.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to make these strategies work for your fashion business goals, book a call to speak with Hannah, our director of enrollment. You can figure out together if we’re the right fit for each other and see if our goals align. Just go to factory45.co/apply – I’ll also put the link in the description below this episode.
