business tips Archives – Page 6 of 6

3 Things you need to know before starting the Business Of Fashion

by martwayne | Feb 16, 2021 | Business, Business of Fashion, Business Side of Fashion

An overwhelming number of startup fashion businesses fail after they get started simply because they failed to figure out some basic things required to run the business successfully.⠀

In the last few years, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria have become the hubs of startup establishment. According to the Venture Capital Report of 2019 by WeeTracker, Nigeria has the maximum score of Venture Capital followed by Kenya and South Africa.

However, in terms of trends, Nigeria has experienced more startup business shutdowns at 61.05%, Kenya at 58.73%, and South Africa at 54.39%.

According to the data from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, 20% of small businesses fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year while 70% fail within the first ten years. These statistics show that there is an increase in the failure rate hence it is a global concern.

Your business does not have to be on the list of the failed business.

Here are 3 things you need to know before you start the Business of Fashion;

⠀1. Know Your Niche Well

Firstly, you need to determine the niche you want to focus on in the Business of Fashion and avoid pivoting frequently. This will help you establish your brand and be known as an authority in that area. For instance, if you’re launching a plus-sized women’s wear brand or Corporate Clothing Retail, focus on selling those items only.

2. Identify Your Target Audience⠀⠀

Many fashion brand startups fail because they do not know their target market. This article on How to define your target market explains what you need to do before starting.⠀

Avoid making this mistake. Research your target customers’ social, financial, educational, and other backgrounds. This will help you deliver the choice and needs of your customers. For example, if you identify pregnant women as your target consumers, then you should create fashion items as per their choice of colors, trends, comfort, etc.

3. Know What It’ll Cost

Lack of funding is surely one of the reasons many businesses fail without realizing their full potential. In order to avoid such a situation when starting out, have a realistic budget of how much money you need to set up and run your business. After you have your budget ready, work on getting a significant portion of it ready.⠀This article on important costs to plan for will surely help you.

Starting a Fashion business

Starting any kind of business requires tenacity, endurance, and dedication. Setting up the business of fashion is all the more challenging because this is a hyper-competitive industry and a very complex one as well even at the smallest of scales that’s why you need to be prepared from day one.⠀

What are your thoughts?…. Let’s discuss …⠀

P.S.

Do you know we offer Online Courses in Sewing and Patternmaking, Pattern-making only, Sewing Techniques for Perfect Finishing, Origami Patternmaking and so much more? And you can register anywhere in the world! ⠀⠀

Check out our Online Courses Here: https://martwayne.com/online-fashion-courses/

Recommended Resources

Fashion Business Idea: Corporate Clothing Retail

How to Start a Clothing Factory

5 Ways to Build Buzz for Your Fashion Business

Research your Competitors – Fashion Business Growth Tip

by martwayne | Jan 18, 2020 | Fashion Business Growth Tip

⁣When you’re in business, chances are there are a ton of other businesses out there offering a similar product or service as you. Establishing an edge over these competitors is very important and you can do that by learning more about them.⠀

Researching your competitors is an essential tactic for finding out what your competitors are doing and what kind of threat they present to your financial well-being. After the research is carried out, you’ll have a better idea and understanding of what your competitors are doing. You’ll also be able to identify particular areas that need improvement and improve on areas in your business.

Now for us, we know the competition but we also try to find areas where we can collaborate on our areas of strengths and weaknesses as well. For example, @garmentproductionhouse, we pass on work to ‘competitors’ where we do not have the capacity or we are extremely overwhelmed. Others have passed on work to us as well. So we believe a lot in collaboration.

At the end of the day, competition is good because it keeps you on your feet. However, you cannot let other businesses the products to deliver if you want to become the industry leader. In simple terms, don’t wait for others to offer an innovative product and then jump on the same idea. Be unique, don’t copy, work on your product, do a lot of research and continue to be a step ahead of your competition.

Would you like to learn how to research your competitors? Leave a comment below ? and I’ll start working on it.
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Kickstart your career in the fashion industry with our fashion courses. We offer courses in fashion entrepreneurship, patternmaking, fashion design and lots more.⠀⠀
Visit our website at www.martwayne.com or WhatsApp 08143402567 to learn more.⠀⠀⠀

Getting your Fashion Business Ready for 2020

by martwayne | Dec 5, 2019 | Uncategorized

⁣It’s amazing to think we are almost at the end of a decade ?, and while 2020 always sounded like the distant future, it’s almost here. While it may be tempting to kick back, relax, and let things go during the festive season, use the end-of-year as an opportunity to take stock of what’s happened during the past 12 months and make plans for the 12 to come.

From getting your finances in order to shaping up your staffing, here are some of the most important activities to do now if you want your fashion business to be ready for the New Year:

1. Run Your Financial Reports

By running your financial reports , you can get a better understanding of how your business is performing financially. Don’t have an accountant to help out with these tasks? Software programs like Intuit QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Wave are great for that.

If you a completely clueless about accounting, numbers and figures, then you should take our Online Fashion Entrepreneurship Course which breaks it down in simple understandable terms. I have found that it is important to even have an idea of the numbers in the event whereby your accountant may not be knowledgable. I have had to argue some issues with some accountants I have tried to work with in the past. Thankfully I have an accounting background and I did ICAN so I was able to challenge some of their positions because their treatment of certain items were completely wrong.

2. Consider Future Goals & Plan

Take a good, hard look at your accomplishments this year. If you aren’t meeting your goals, it might be time to reevaluate your business practices. Perhaps you did not make as much profit as you expected. Try to figure out why. Are you using up your cash flow to buy assets? Are too many people owing you money? What worked this year and what didn't? What do you plan to do differently next year? How do you plan to minimize cash flow? What lessons did you learn this year that will be detrimental to you next year? It is time to check out your strategy and work on a solid plan to meet your goals for 2020.

Click here or on the image to register for our Online Creative Patternmaking & Origami Online Course

3. Get the Required Knowledge to Upgrade your Skills

If you are lacking in certain areas or need to upgrade your knowledge and skills and improve your income, now is the time to secure all needed admissions and registrations against next year. Often times, we fail to invest in the knowledge we need to move our businesses forward and end up paying for it in other ways. When you calculate the opportunity costs, you are better off paying for that Course now than after you have lost so much money. Investing in that knowledge also ensures that you put the rights things in place to earn a higher income or save on costs.

4. Sit Down with Your Team

As the current year winds down, schedule some time to speak to your team members one on one. Inform them about areas they need to improve, let them know what they’re doing well and encourage them to keep it up in the New Year. It is also important to ask them what they think worked and what did not. It might also be time to make some harsh decisions and shut down certain departments that are gulping up your profit. Or let go of those people who are causing the business more harm than good.

5. Work on your online presence

Now is a good time to review your digital strategy, so take some time to look at your engagement statistics and start brainstorming some ideas to improve your numbers. Monitor your analytics closely. Know what works and what does not work. Most digital marketers only focus on driving traffic to the site but if it hurts your bounce rate, then you are better off not running as many ads. And if the traffic does not result into a conversion, it also becomes pointless. Truth be told, it does take a while before the results from digital marketing are seen but keep at it and watch your metrics carefully. And more importantly find someone who knows what they are doing. It goes beyond just running social media ads.

6. Take a Much-Needed Break

As a business owner, you must aim to take a little time for yourself. Plan a few days away from it all when you can relax and recharge. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will? ? I know it's hard and we are all quilty but one of the most important plans for next year is that break from it all. The life expectancy rate is reducing and you need to ask yourself if it is all worth it if you end up spending it all on drugs. stress wrecks a lot of havoc on the system so when your body calls for it, take that break!

2020 would be a turning point for many fashion brands, and to be a part of those it’s essential you get started now. Remember the planning starts today not in January. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! Get that vision board out, get your budgets done, get the much needed rest and enjoy the holidays so you can start the year off with a bang!

Recommended Resources

About Me

Tope Williams-Adewunmi

A fashion entrepreneur passionate giving power through fashion

by sharing knowledge guaranteed to help fashion lovers

turn their love for fashion into a viable business.

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