The fashion industry is an ever-evolving landscape, and it has the potential to be immensely profitable! Especially if you are thinking about starting your clothing line. But something that people don’t talk about or even take into consideration is that, sometimes, we need extra help to make things happen in this industry. So, let me tell you, opening your mind (and business) to investors can be better than you imagine, you just need to be prepared to do so.
Launching a successful clothing line takes time, dedication, and a lot of hard work. With the right knowledge and preparation, however, you can make sure that your launch is a success. But when we are talking about working with investors, you will need all of these and a little more.
If you’re looking to attract investors, you need to be prepared to market your product and make a convincing case for why your line is worth investing in. When it comes to preparing for investors, there are a few key steps to take. Firstly, it's important to create a detailed business plan that outlines your vision, mission, and goals and how you plan to achieve them. Additionally, you need to research any potential investors and make sure that you understand their goals and values. You'll also need to create a portfolio of your past successes and accomplishments. This will help prove to any potential investors that you are a trustworthy, reliable, and capable business partner.
When presenting your business idea to investors, you are presenting more than a business idea, you are presenting yourself! Who you are as a person, where you started your career, and who you are as a professional. Successful jobs and a successful portfolio anyone can have, but personality and professionalism come from within and years of experience. So presenting who you really are along with a perfect business plan is one of the main keys to attracting investors.
Never forget that your business is your baby. Your idea and your vision! Nobody can take that away from you, not even investors who will take a steak of your company. In the same way, you negotiate with your vendors, you can negotiate with your investors. You don’t need to give up on a huge percentage of your company just because you are open to partnerships. There are different types of investors out there, angel investors are my favorite because they usually are the easiest to negotiate with and they are looking into small new innovative businesses but, regardless of the investor you are looking for, you have to be careful with what (aka how much) you are giving up on your negotiations.
This is a topic that tends to follow me around. No matter the client that I have, investors are always something that pops up during conversations - especially budgeting and marketing conversations… Yes, you can have all the money you need for development, production, and marketing, but working with investors can be helpful not only for your budget but also for your marketing plan. Investors naturally have a huge network and, depending on the investor, they don’t have money in one type of business only, they invest in different areas and markets, which leads you into a vast network connection.
Every time I bring up investors in client meetings the conversation tends to go from “I will not give any shares of my company” to “But do you have anyone in mind that I should contact?”. Working with investors really doesn’t mean giving up on your company, but it means opening up your ideas to an even bigger success, it only depends on how you present yourself, how you present your business plan and what is your goal when working with investors.
This is always a conversation I love to have, so if you have any questions about it, schedule a free 30 min strategy call with me through the button below.
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