业务真的只是常识。是我找到的。我不断读到Inc。杂志文章,观看视频和讨厌的Gal的索菲亚Amoruso的访谈,研究成功的品牌,似乎总是回到几个简单的真理。
i love love love designing clothing. the more clothing i make the more i enjoy it and feel like i'm getting better at it, slowly but surely. but i think i really equally love the business aspect of what i do. it is like uncoding a puzzle. it's frustrating, fun, challenging, and requires just a ton of patience and hard work. there really aren't any short cuts. you just work hard, don't quit, and listen to your customers.
so let me explain some interesting ideas that have helped me with my business, ideas that took me a long time to figure out.
1.需求推动供应。
不是那样的方式!这么多企业会弄错。他们认为'我会获得贷款!金钱会让我取得成功!'没有朋友我的朋友。没门。您无法为采购订单创建产品尚未存在。有许多库存不会让您的产品更令客户呼吸。相反,你只有一堆死亡库存,不想要和负荷债务。在债务洞中开始业务是一个非常可怕的地方。 you have to wait until you have a product that has been tried and trued, loved and bought by many many people. and you have orders you can't fill because you don't have enough money. this is when you think about a loan. when i first started my business, a loan was the twinkle in my eye. i thought money would solve all my problems. i know i still don't need a loan because when i think about what i would do with the money, i have no idea. i don't need it. i don't have demand big enough yet for that. (this is obviously not true for all businesses. nothing here is black and white, just what has worked for my small clothing line.)
2。don't advertise.
magazine ads, billboards, commercials, facebook ads... do you notice them? i don't. i have ad block on my computer and i mute commercials on stupid hulu. i actually want to buy items less when i see ads... i think 'i hate you ad. i hate how you are trying to manipulate me. i won't buy you.' we have become immune to advertisements because of how bombarded we've become by them. word of mouth and content based blogs, interviews, press, etc are a better way to get noticed.
3. press does not equal sales.
很长一段时间我想......为什么有人没有注意到purusha?!为什么我当地的纸张不想写一下我?我可以在健身杂志或instyle杂志中获得一点功能吗?不。因为purusha仍然太小。我基于讨厌的Gal的商业模式的许多商业模式。索菲亚(令人讨厌的Gal的首席执行官)也没有任何新闻界,即使她每年赚1000万。曾经讨厌的Gal有一些投资者,记者终于注意到了。5年后,她在NY时代和In Inc。杂志,她成功后很久。 sometimes i see athletic brands in a little blurb in somewhat big magazines, and then i look at their website and facebook page. not a whole lot going on there. you never know what's going on behind the scenes of a business. and i know firsthand that i don't go out and buy something because cosmopolitan magazine had a tiny photo of it with a price tag on it in their magazine. only real customers who like what you make, and possible find you on their own, equal sales.
4.。you don't need celebrity endorsement.
再次,我从令人讨厌的Gal意识到这一点没有名人关注,并从第一手经验。在采访中,索菲亚实际上说,“我的客户没有每周看我们看看她应该穿的衣服。她为自己打扮,穿着她想要的东西。为了这么久,我想......我只需要在瑜伽裤子里喝德鲁布里莫尔!甚至为一些大名字瑜伽教师解决。我已经向流行的瑜伽教师发了免费服装,我发现它没有做得多。在我看来,它是什么,让你的品牌看起来有点绝望。就像你的成功就像骑着你一样的人一样,你不能自己做。当然,我会喜欢一个名人,我钦佩穿嘌呤。但我不会找到它们并试图送他们免费狗屎。 if they like purusha, they will buy it themselves. i would so rather have it that way.
5.。don't think you should do every job yourself.
this one took me a while. i thought, i'll save money if i don't have to pay anyone! i'll do it all! screen printing, dyeing, sewing, marketing, emailing and shipping! actually, no. i lost money that way, because i am not that good at all those things. it's so much better to hire an expert in every field, a person that is incredible at their one job. hiring nadya to sew has allowed my business to grow enormously in the past 6 months. she does things just faster and better than me. time is money. i'm not a seamstress. and yippee, i just hired our landlord's sweet teenage daughter to do all my packaging and shipping (the photos you see above are me doing those jobs! eep! no more!). i will continue to screen print and market and dye until i am able to outsource those tasks to others when the time is right. i am at my best running the business as a whole and deciding what clothing to make. eventually and hopefully, i will have people even better than me at those jobs working with me! always try to find people to work for you that are better at the job than you are.
6. let your customers decide how big you'll be.
从阅读商业留言板的回复,我透露了这一想法。这位家伙正在回应名为crumbs的蛋糕业务,不得不关闭一堆地点。这个家伙写道,'也许如果这一事业没有那么贪婪,也可以思考......“嘿!我们应该打开67个地方!蛋糕足够受欢迎!”......也许他们可以持续。您必须可持续发展,而不仅仅是假设需求将在那里。客户决定谁有权存在和成长。所以如此真实。我们必须倾听我们的客户,他们就像我的不间断导师。我不会为他们决定大嘌ηa如何变成。我不知道Purusha有多大(或小)。时间会告诉。 i can't dominate a market just because i decide i want to. i leave that up to the consumer.
so there you have it. some unconventional wisdom i never expected to be true. to my customers, thank you for all your beautiful help. all the feedback i get, whether it's a seam or fabric problem, or a design flaw, are SO SO appreciated. more than you know. i adore you. thank you! namaste.