Month: September 2019

PLANNING

Dear fashion preneur
How well do you plan?
Are you preparing for success or merely wishing for it. This may come to you as a surprise but you are in the business of planning more so than the business of design….you didn’t know that right?

I encourage creatives to be innovative but I find that most of us don’t need inspiration in this regard, creativity is our life line, it’s the very air we breath, it comes to us naturally and we even have a problem managing all the ideas we want to execute. Most of us fail not for the lack of creativity but lack of planning.

As we draw closer to our biggest season of the year please ask your self how you are planning to make the most of it. What are you doing now to ensure you meet your sales target, do you even have a sales target? Let’s do more planning this week, I know you’ve gotten the designing bit locked down .

PLANNING

MISTAKES

Dear fashion preneur
What do you think the Moremi Kaftan, Scullotes and Labu Jumpsuit from Xclamations have in common? Apart from the fact that they are all very well made, fit like a dream and have all surpassed sales targets they all share one other common thread…. can you guess? Ok I will tell you.

All these designs were MISTAKES!!!!! Yep they didn’t come out as planned and for one of them we considered a failure even 3 months into its launch, our customers resisted her and our sales team suggested we stop making them as they were such a hard sell. The Scullotes,like me ,are stubborn though and she hung in there,showing off her quirkiness and flair and one year after her launch she was made famous by k8henshaw and even rechristened #katespants in one of our most successful campaigns . All these designs have taught me the importance of effort and possibilities as well as the importance of tenacity and courage. I have other designs that started and ended as mistakes that never saw the light of day but they too are part of the journey and of them also I am proud.

Mistakes happen in other areas of my life as well, some of them have turned out to be my greatest blessings but all them have taught me a lesson and for that reason I am open to risks, to trials to chance and even to the possibility of failures . This is how I want you to think as well. Be open to mistakes, because …..you never know.
#

MISTAKES

WEALTH/HEALTH

Let’s talk about wealth
Health is wealth. This phrase is as true as it is cliche but truer words have never been spoken . True monetary wealth though, the kind that ensures you are comfortable well into your retirement years is built through making long term investments NOW.

As entrepreneurs we let our passions guide us focusing on transactions, collections, production and the daily grind at the expense of pensions, investments and passive income all necessary to ensure that all we are doing now truly pays off in the end. Dear entrepreneur you need to save and invest. Don’t say you can’t. Make it priority because it is that important. You alone are responsible for your future.

The same is true for your future health, it truly is your greatest investment. Health in your older years is a result of the healthy habits of your youth. So treat that with passion too. Stay off excessive sugar, incorporate physical exercise into your routine and guard your mental health jealously. Your super healthy future self will thank you later.

WEALTH/HEALTH

EASE

Everyone is looking for ease. Industries are built on our desire for shortcuts. We are all looking for a magic pill or tool that  would literally melt fat off our waist line and we watch those infomercials with wrapped attention hoping against hope that it could be real, it’s not.

We do the same thing in business. We throw money at schemes that promise quick solutions when the truth is quick fixes are short lived at Best. When people ask me how I did it, how I lost weight and kept it off, I see the disappointment in their eyes when I tell the truth, what they already know, I eat healthy and exercise regularly. I have made healthy living a lifestyle not a weight loss program. 

In business I get asked that too, my answer is not sexy here either, I have stayed relevant because I first committed to staying. I stayed when entrepreneurship wasn’t cool and joined the hype when it was. I stayed when the economy was booming and selling clothes was easy and I stayed when priorities shifted and devaluation forced businesses to close. I stayed when I was inspired and celebrated and stayed still when the applause ceased.

I want to encourage someone today that in business or in fitness the rules of the game remain the same, commitment is the only true currency for sustained success. One day at a time, soon  doing the right thing gets easier, hang in there long enough and it becomes second nature. That’s when you start to experience the ease but before that stay committed.


EASE