Fashion Business Owner Musings: A New Way Of Looking at Things

Have you noticed how easy it is to focus on what’s going wrong, instead of what’s going right in business?

When you’re doing something that’s really difficult like building a fashion business,  there is usually a lot happening at once. And it’s not all necessarily happening how you’d hoped.

There is so much opportunity for us to focus on what’s going wrong that we often don’t focus too much on what’s going right.

How did this event go? I didn’t make as many sales as I wanted. 

How is the website coming? It’s not really what I envisioned. 

How did that magazine feature go? It didn’t drive anyone to my website.

It’s easy to zero in on what’s not working and what’s going wrong, because it consumes us. We are working so hard to build something that makes money (because otherwise we won’t be able to continue doing it), that anything that isn’t “perfect” stresses us out.

What’s interesting is that I’ve noticed that it’s not just the pessimists. I like to consider myself an optimist. Yet somehow I still find myself fixated on all the things that need to be fixed and adjusted and improved.

So much of this is tied to our mindset. We need to learn how to adjust out thinking habits to support us rather than work against us.

What if we worked on flipping our focus on what’s not great to what is great?

How did this event go? I made a sale, collected some email addresses, and met some really cool people.

How is the website coming? It’s off to a good start and I’m excited to sit down and make some changes to make it even better!

How did that magazine feature go? It was so much fun to be interviewed and I loved seeing my collection in print for the first time!

When we’re working as hard as we are, it’s easy to slip into a mindset of “not good enough.” It’s a natural part of launching your fashion business.

But it’s important for us all to be aware of this when it happens and have a plan for getting out of it.

For me, it’s thinking about all that has gone right, all that is exciting and possible in the future.

Try not to wallow in the negative, try to bask in the positive.

Lots of love and encouragement,

Nicole Giordano

Nicole is the founder of StartUp FASHION, an online resource and community supporting for independent designers around the world with building their businesses. A deep love for the craft of fashion paired with an adamant belief that success is defined by the individual, led her to found StartUp FASHION, where she helps independent designers and makers screw the traditional fashion business rules, create their own paths, and build businesses they truly love. More than anything else, she’s in the business of encouragement and works every day to remind makers and designers that they have something special to offer the world and that they can, in fact, do this thing!

1 Comment
  1. Benny F

    Right on! Exactly. So True. It’s to easy to focus on what we need to do. Although focusing on the negative does drive us forward and makes us aware of what needs to be accomplished.

    Reply

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