The first year of infuture.fashion is behind me. It was a special time! I always feel so excited while building something brand new. You can safely call it a turning point in my life, because once again I turned my life upside down. There will be many moments like this in my life – it’s just who I am.

Getting started is never easy

Yes, I started passionate and excited to do it but the beginnings were definitely not easy for me. I had many demons in my mind while starting it. It was a hard time, the full-time job I had became my worst curse. Luckily I can’t run out of ideas. There’s always some notebook with my thoughts, inspirations written down.

When did I make the decision to switch to my business?

It’s not like infuture.fashion is my first business. I’m entrepreneur long before that. I just worked on different projects at the time. I like to try new things and I hate doing something what doesn’t make me happy. So it happens that I start new project and work on it for a while untill I realize that it’s not what I wanted. I see so much potential for development in me, in the world.

Some things didn’t change though. It was very important for me to work directly and closely with the owners of fashion businesses on the basis of partnerships based on trust and sincere relationships.

Why did I make this decision?

There were several reasons for this decision. You can read more about it below.

Independence – although I was working on managerial positions with the promise of the ability to decide about important things ex. the direction of development of the brand, the reality often showed that I will never be my boss neighbour. I will not be treated as a partner. And although I was treating their business like my own I was still the person who works for them. Plus, in larger firms I worked in, there is a management board, an investment fund, a headquarters in another country – and not many possibilities to get those people to hear me out. And I must say I feel on a mission to change the world so my voice must be heard. But I need to admit that I have learned a lot from each place I worked in. Experience is something you can’ buy, right?

The flexibility of work and saving time – I did not want to be limited by the place where I work. I consider going to the office for 8 hours pointless. Plus long hours spent travelling to and from the office. Currently, for my work, I need a laptop + good internet and that’s it. So I can work from anywhere.

These were the key reasons that made such a change in my life.

What were my concerns?

I am a person who likes to plan activities, but how to plan the development and acquisition of customers, and thus specific revenues for the company account? That’s why I was very concerned about it, will I manage?

I told myself I need to make at least the same amount of money I was making in a job. If I did not achieve my goal, I would simply go back to the employment. Fortunately, I can now write about it from the perspective of the past, because the goals have been achieved and I can easily develop my clients’ businesses, which is a lot of fun for me.

What were the beginnings like?

I must admit that the beginning was very intense, I was messaging people, calling people – all to know more their needs. Fortunately, most of these conversations ended in collaborations, which resulted in the fact that specific inflows on the account began to appear, which was very important to me, because it showed that I was going in the right direction and there was hope for the future …

Of course, it was still a long way from achieving my goals, but thanks to this I got fuel for further operation and a big kick.

In the meantime, I conducted a series of closed trainings for some high-achieving fashion companies.

Effects of cooperation with clients

I suspect that this is the part of the article that interests you the most – I’m all about results too! Here I will describe examples of my work. Unfortunately, I cannot describe all of it, I can’t call my Client’s names and share the brand’s identity, because that was the request of my clients and I respect them very much.

Let me just add that these are fashion businesses from very different markets that have been operating on the market for 3 to 10 years.

The average increase in monthly sales is 120%.

The biggest increases in sales was generated in the period of 3 to 6 months of cooperation.

The total increase in sales for all my existing clients is EUR 10 million.

What is most important to me, apart from customer results, is that no customer has left and I have no “pain” clients on board. I designed a pretty decent process of prospecting clients assessment – I know that some people see it as a sign of disrespect, but I learned from my experience that this is an effective way to operate. I would like to add that I limit the number of my regular customers to ensure quality.

Business innovations include sometimes really small changes like the packaging change and I don’t think about better colours and higher quality paper (yes, it make the work too) but I have something different in mind – tight box. I know, my Client made big eyes too. But hard to open box is not a mistake, it’s thoughtful strategy. The Client’s excitement is growing! A little frustrating? Good! Because a small percentage of frustration is good for sales. Think about luxury retailers – they move so gracefully, slowly handling you the item – everything is in slow motion. Jewellery shopping? Sales advisor pays attention too – to the moves, the way he handles the product, the way he lies it on the table – but not the plain table – on a special display stand. Do you feel that? Your customer will feel that too 🙂

More ideas? Recent on-trend innovation examples includes:

Typo in an advertisement – I can’t count the number of messages saying we have a typo 😉

Local business promotion by laud talking in public space – it’s an old-fashioned method but still works wonders.

Plain business cards with QR code and request to not to scan it – People are strange, you ask them not to do something and they do the opposite – rebels!

Cosmetics labels with additional texts ex. Bored? Download free ebook. We need to follow law restrictions but did you see that the labels often look the same? You have no idea how many people read the labels and how many shared what they found on the label in their social media. WIN!

Creative team recruitment through educational meetups – a great way to see how people behave, who is the leader, who knows a bit about the topic.

User manual in a changed template, additional comments like “Be careful, no one wants to read it but it’s very important”.

Introducing bonuses for not working on vacation – great for employee, great for PR 😉

Advertising on Facebook without links – it’s not what Facebook Ads experts advise but who cares?! (and… it works!)

Offer in the form of a holiday postcard – leaflets go straight to the bin in 9 out of 10 cases but beautiful postcard… totally worth trying!

Personalized business cards with a handwritten note – networking meeting never been so effective. Great way to start building relations and partnerships 😉

Promotion of the boutique through vlogged vlogs of an older couple. Too cute to miss out.

What mistakes have I made?

Work

Overthinking, over analysing – did you ever heard that knowledge may be our biggest curse. It was me, until a few weeks ago. As a result, I had a lot of stress at the very beginning.

Of course, in my case, it all worked out and now I can write about it in a positive way, but that doesn’t mean it had to be that way, so please pay attention to it from the very beginning if you see the first signs.

Life

My work began to blend in with my life. I started to work much more, and because I really like what I do, I stopped paying attention to other things. Until I recognised health problems and nervousness. It was the first sign of burn out. It was time to plan my life too, not only work tasks.

Do I regret my decision?

Absolutely not! I trust myself, my decisions. It was the best I could have done and the best professional decision, but I am also aware that it could have ended in a completely different way … if not for the consistency, determination and a dose of happiness that everyone always needs.

The key here is, of course, action, not passive waiting for customers to fall from the tree or the sky. I did not get any of the clients as a gift, I had to show and prove that it is worth working with me.

It is much easier now because I have specific results from my clients and they report to me, but please remember that if you are thinking about switching to yours, it is actually blood, sweat and tears from the very beginning, where you must have a specific plan and idea.

Thanks

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my clients, partners and finally my family. Customers for their trust, and partners for providing results for customers, which, of course, are monitored on an ongoing basis and I pick on if there is such a need.

What are my next goals?

GOAL 1

Increasing the total sales of my clients to PLN 20 million. Currently, it is EUR 10 million, so I need to double it.

Can you think of my goal as ambitious or not, it depends on who is on the other side? If the Director of big retailer brand reads this, it is a weak target, if the owner of an small store who makes 6 figures a year is reading it, may say I’m crazy.

It all depends on the perspective.

GOAL 2

Online course

Online course – this is a topic that has been on my mind for a long time. Now it is a big trend. Online learning is booming so why not to use it. There will be 5 courses going through different aspects of business innovation, which all result from my professional experience and the development of fashion businesses to the level of a dozen or so million euros a year and very nice profits.

Oh… I almost forgot – those courses are available in pre-sell with extra bonuses! Make sure to treat yourself: LINK

GOAL 3

Podcast and audio products

A podcast is a point on my list that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It’s time to stop thinking, just start working with it, especially since I like listening to podcasts a lot. There are people who don’t like reading my long articles, neither watching every YouTube video I made. And business is business so audio products will be available too.

Request

I have a big request here to you what do you think about my goals? Do you think these goals can be of value to you and help you grow your fashion business? Is this the right direction? Your opinion is very important.

What do I get the most satisfaction from?

The answer is trivial, from the satisfaction and joy of my clients and people who follow me. I want to contribute to the society. If one person can find value in my work, I’m proud.

I love when people share with me the results they get by following my advice. I love when they message me to ask futher questions or share their takaways. Such moments it is worth doing what you do!

Below some examples of all kinds of messages, I get (email, WhatsApp, Messanger etc.). For such words, it is really worth doing what I do!

I believe that, if you do something only for money, for me it is empty and has no value. It is not money that is a means to an end, but satisfaction with what you do and the relationships you build by helping others, where earning is a positive side effect of the value you give to others.

It is worth remembering that! And I wish you the same, thanking you that you are a reader of the blog in the same time.