In order to have a successful fashion business you have to make a profit. Depending on your goals you will determine how much profit you feel you need to in order to be successful. So what are the 5 ways to increase your chances of success.
- First step is to have a kick ass product that is not in a crowded market. To make sure your product is right do some prelaunch events, such as: pop up stores, events, or parties, to see what buying customers say about your product. It will give you proof of concept that will give you confidence in your line or teach you what you need to change in order to create a more salable collection.
- Have a good production system in place to assure quality, fit, and delivery in order to insure that the you delver on your brands promise.
- Market, market, market! Need I say more? Without marketing no one will find you.
- Have a solid sales organization behind your product? If you don’t have sales there is no business. Expecting sales without having salespeople is not realistic. The salesperson can be yourself, but then you need to make sure you devote enough time to actually selling. Whether it is yourself, and in house salesperson, or a road force, there needs to be top notch professional salespeople/person who is contacting customers on a regular basis.
- Have enough money to invest. I see too many people run out of money just when they start to be successful. The stories of people starting with $5,000 and building a million dollar business are few and far between. Realistically you will need more. Of course I can’t say what that is because each company is different. So keep in mind the following. Can you fund your business for 2 years? Do you have enough money for marketing? Do you have a line of credit to help with cash flow?
Do these 5 things and that will give you a leg up from other startups!
