Fashion Business Owners Musings: Don’t Focus on All You Still Have to Do

One of the designers who is a part of The Designer Membership sent me a message saying “thinking about the amount of work I have to do makes me enjoy it less.” And that really stuck with me.

I think we spend a lot of time thinking about all the things that we still have to get done. All the things on our task lists, in our project management platforms, and scribbled on pieces of paper in our notebooks.

There’s an almost constant feeling of needing to do something. And if on some rare occasion that feeling goes away for a short time, we immediately question it.

Why don’t I have a million things to do? Am I not working hard enough?

And I understand why this happens– business ownership keeps us moving. There’s never really an end to the work because with every accomplished goal comes a new set of fresh goals.

But honestly, this is no way to go through life.

If we spend all of our time focusing on the amount of work that we still have to do, we spend no time focusing on the joy of it all.

Yes, launching and running a fashion business is tough. But it can also bring us a lot of joy.

We’re working for ourselves, chasing our dreams, and #makingStUFhappen.

And we need to remember that.

We need to revel in that regularly.

We need to stop and smile and acknowledge that this is a journey.

And when we are able to make that shift, the entire experience of business ownership becomes something new.

It becomes exciting and full of possibility rather than hectic and scary.

It becomes a fun challenge rather than an impossible mountain to climb.

It becomes a joy.

So, just a little something to keep in mind as you enter into the nutty holiday season and the new year beyond.

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!