How to Launch Your Fashion Business on a Budget

Are you dreaming of launching your own business but worried about the costs? Starting a business on a budget can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. In fact, with the right strategies and mindset, you can turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality without breaking the bank. Let’s dive into some practical insights and advice shared by industry experts to help you kickstart your business journey on a budget.

1. Leveraging Affordable Resources:

   One of the key takeaways from the discussion is the power of platforms like Fiverr. These platforms offer cost-effective solutions for services ranging from logo design to digital marketing. By utilizing these resources, you can access professional expertise without the hefty price tag, just like Nike did when creating its iconic logo.

2. Keeping Overhead Costs Low:

   For those venturing into industries like fashion, the emphasis is on technical training, small batch manufacturing, and minimizing overhead costs. Working from home, buying materials in bulk, and reinvesting earnings into the business are highlighted as effective ways to manage expenses.

3. Mindful Spending and Budgeting:

   Learning to save money while running a business is crucial. This involves tracking finances, setting strict budgets for supplies, and differentiating between service-based and product-based businesses. The speakers also advocate for buying wholesale, utilizing “friend labor,” and seeking help from students or offering internships to keep costs in check.

4. Exploring Opportunities and Partnerships:

   Finding a niche and exploring print-on-demand opportunities can be lucrative for entrepreneurs. Utilizing free selling platforms like Etsy and Shopify, as well as partnering with small businesses and leveraging personal networks, are recommended as effective ways to minimize costs while reaching a wider audience.

5. Managing Custom Work and Income:

   Artists and designers are encouraged to be selective with custom work, use explicit contracts, and request upfront payments. By exploring platforms like Amazon Handmade and building partnerships with small businesses, artists and designers can create sustainable income streams.

Starting a business on a budget is undoubtedly a challenging endeavor, but it’s also a rewarding one. By starting small, learning from mistakes, and staying committed to your vision, you can overcome financial barriers and build a successful business. Remember, slow progress is still progress, and every small victory is worth celebrating. So, if you’re ready to embark on your entrepreneurial journey, remember to embrace the community, value your time and skills, and stay resilient in the face of challenges. With the right strategies and a determined mindset, you can turn your budget-friendly business idea into a thriving venture. Good luck on your entrepreneurial journey!   Links mentioned: AIR- The story of greatness Google Sheets Sew Creative Lounge Previous episode about finding your niche Zahiyya’s website – Power in the Afro Hoodie Etsy Redbubble Amazon Merch

00:00 – 00:02 Look at your competitor, see what they’re doing. 00:02 – 00:05 See some of the hashtags from your competitors, because you never know. 00:05 – 00:06 It may work. 00:06 – 00:10 Welcome to the designers plants and coffee podcast, where we discuss how to succeed 00:10 – 00:14 as a designer while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process 00:14 – 00:15 and making money doing what we love. 00:15 – 00:18 Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. 00:18 – 00:23 The three ways to start your business on a budget, a couple of things we can do 00:23 – 00:29 like made to order, print on demand, and you can provide a service and Zahia, I’m 00:29 – 00:33 going to start with you, tell us about how you do your service based 00:33 – 00:35 designing and product on a budget. 00:35 – 00:40 Actually, that is the best way to start because don’t need any startup course. 00:40 – 00:43 Basically you’re providing a service and you just need clients. 00:43 – 00:46 So what I do is I provide a service for corporate brands 00:46 – 00:48 that do active men’s and boys. 00:48 – 00:54 So basically they give me a project or I’m working on an ongoing basis and 00:54 – 00:56 they tell me what they need and I do it for them. 00:56 – 00:59 I set it up based on the time I spent. 00:59 – 01:01 So I prioritize the whole thing. 01:01 – 01:05 I don’t do it as a per hour thing, but it depends on how you set up your business. 01:05 – 01:09 So the service is the by far the best way to start your business. 01:09 – 01:10 You have no money. 01:10 – 01:13 All you need is a client and you provide a service for that client. 01:13 – 01:16 That’s the easiest way to get started and the quickest way to get started. 01:16 – 01:21 And so Tish, what would your advice be about starting your brand on a budget? 01:21 – 01:24 Two things with me, mine is actually service as well. 01:24 – 01:29 However, with teaching, I did actually get a grant, a mini grant, and that’s 01:29 – 01:33 how I was able to purchase about 16 sewing machines to actually get me 01:33 – 01:39 started and a bunch of fabric and like all of the sewing tools, there are tons 01:39 – 01:42 of grants out for small business owners. 01:42 – 01:46 And I would suggest to look into some of the grants, depending 01:46 – 01:47 on what your business is. 01:47 – 01:49 You can kind of start that way. 01:49 – 01:54 If you’re not going to go into services to look at some grants, but also work 01:54 – 02:00 on a business plan and see if you can begin to get seed stockers, people who 02:00 – 02:04 will come in on the bottom and they will see the vision with you and help you out 02:04 – 02:09 with it, everyone has seen the Nike logo, the swoosh sign, there’s a movie out. 02:09 – 02:11 And I believe it’s on Amazon right now. 02:11 – 02:14 It’s called air on, and it talks about Nike starting. 02:14 – 02:24 So this man who created Nike, he paid a graphic designer, $75, $75 to make this 02:24 – 02:28 graphic or this logo, there’s a similar marketplace where you can get a bunch of 02:28 – 02:31 services, this fairly cheap, and it’s called Fiverr. 02:31 – 02:32 I love Fiverr. 02:32 – 02:32 Yes. 02:32 – 02:33 I love Fiverr. 02:33 – 02:37 They did my logo, I’m starting out, but there are a few different things that you 02:37 – 02:42 can get from Fiverr to help you to get seed until you are able to afford someone 02:42 – 02:46 who was, uh, let’s say a lot more professional or agency to help you out. 02:46 – 02:48 Fiverr is a great tool to use. 02:48 – 02:50 So wait, we’re going to pause for a second. 02:50 – 02:53 And we’re going to pay homage to Tisha’s pink coat right now. 02:53 – 02:55 And then give the people a preview of it. 02:55 – 02:58 I told you all it’s a faux fur coat. 02:58 – 03:00 Cause I don’t want PETA coming after me. 03:01 – 03:08 What I have on is a fur coat and a dress, both by a project that I’m working with. 03:08 – 03:12 It’s a Macy’s project is on 34th available in stores now. 03:12 – 03:16 However, um, I’m working on the project with a bunch of 03:16 – 03:19 women who are absolutely fabulous. 03:19 – 03:21 Um, the name of the brand is called Brain Love Lab. 03:21 – 03:24 No shameless plug, plugging it Brain Love Lab. 03:24 – 03:26 The ladies are absolutely fabulous. 03:26 – 03:29 And actually the co-owners went to school. 03:29 – 03:33 They also went to textile, which is truly crazy. 03:33 – 03:34 It’s a small world. 03:34 – 03:37 And they all attended the same year that we attended. 03:37 – 03:39 So I was like, wait, what? 03:39 – 03:40 This is great. 03:40 – 03:43 Anyway, this is what I worked on as a technical designer. 03:43 – 03:46 I worked on this brand for Missy and women’s. 03:46 – 03:48 This, it should be in stores right now. 03:48 – 03:53 It comes in this wonderful pink and a winter white, and also the dresses 03:53 – 03:57 and a few of other things in stores to get it absolutely. 03:57 – 03:57 Okay. 03:57 – 04:00 Now getting back to what we were saying about how to start off. 04:00 – 04:06 Finally, as I said before, look into other avenues that you can get started. 04:06 – 04:10 There are, instead of, if you want to maybe begin to produce things, 04:10 – 04:13 mass produce, look at small manufacturing. 04:13 – 04:14 There are small batch manufacturing. 04:14 – 04:17 There are a few different tools that you can use to 04:17 – 04:19 really help you to get started. 04:19 – 04:24 One of the main things I would say, if you are a designer or a creative who did 04:24 – 04:31 not actually get the technical training that I cannot stress enough to find 04:31 – 04:37 someone who has experience in this area, because you do not want to make 04:37 – 04:39 costly mistakes at your own dollar. 04:39 – 04:44 And I think for me, since I do create products, a couple of 04:44 – 04:46 ways I keep my overhead low. 04:46 – 04:50 When I first started out, I worked in my dining room, you know, working home. 04:51 – 04:53 Solicit, solicit. 04:53 – 04:55 I have family, I have friends. 04:55 – 04:58 We would have, I would, I will feed you if you come and sell, you 04:58 – 05:00 don’t know how to sell, you can iron. 05:00 – 05:04 You don’t know how to iron, you can trim, you know, so, so get that group. 05:04 – 05:08 But I think the most expense for me is materials, you know, and 05:08 – 05:09 it was getting materials. 05:09 – 05:12 So, um, I would never miss a sale. 05:12 – 05:14 I would never miss a sale. 05:14 – 05:19 If I saw that, and I’m to this day, excuse me, I’m the same way. 05:19 – 05:24 If I see that the cotton that I use is on sale for $2.99, I’m stocking up, but 05:24 – 05:27 I’m only stocking up on the colors that I’m running low on, you know? 05:28 – 05:29 Um, I buy zippers wholesale. 05:29 – 05:33 Um, so really do your research before you start spending money. 05:34 – 05:38 You do want a quality product, but you don’t want to pay $7 for a 05:38 – 05:40 zipper that you can get for two. 05:40 – 05:45 You know, most of these companies, if you are buying zippers and 05:45 – 05:48 you’re buying zippers in bulk, the more you buy, the more you save. 05:48 – 05:54 So if I go and I buy 50 zippers, I might be paying 47 cents a zipper. 05:54 – 05:56 And so that’s how I save money. 05:56 – 05:58 In the beginning, I will be completely honest. 05:58 – 06:00 I did not know these things in the beginning. 06:00 – 06:04 So in the beginning I was spending every, every dime I made. 06:04 – 06:06 And I thought I was making some good money at these pop-ups. 06:06 – 06:10 You know, I’m spending $50 for a table and I’m making $150. 06:10 – 06:11 I’m rolling in it. 06:11 – 06:11 Right. 06:11 – 06:15 Um, but I would take all of that money and I would exclusively 06:15 – 06:16 put it back into the business. 06:16 – 06:18 So there was no money for me. 06:18 – 06:19 There was no money. 06:19 – 06:21 There was no room for error. 06:21 – 06:25 I would buy muslin and I would make everything first because 06:25 – 06:29 once I cut it out of that fabric, if it was wrong, it was gone. 06:29 – 06:31 Remember this is the one of a kind day. 06:31 – 06:33 And so I had very limited amount of fabric. 06:33 – 06:37 Um, but I will say my very first bundle of fabric was a gift. 06:37 – 06:40 My very first bundle of African print fabric was a gift. 06:40 – 06:44 And that’s how Fearless Threads was born from a gift, from a gift from Ghana. 06:44 – 06:48 And so, um, my friend who bought me this gift from Ghana took me one 06:48 – 06:53 day and we got in her car and we went to every single African fabric shop. 06:53 – 06:58 She knew until we found one where the woman would cut her six yard piece. 06:59 – 07:03 And she became my go-to before I found my wholesalers. 07:03 – 07:03 I missed her. 07:04 – 07:07 Find the deals, find the deals, you know, don’t pay full price. 07:07 – 07:09 Don’t pay, um, retail price for anything. 07:09 – 07:11 And it’s, it sounds tedious. 07:11 – 07:15 It sounds tedious, but you really have to be conscious of that. 07:15 – 07:17 Create a spreadsheet, get QuickBooks, do something. 07:17 – 07:22 If you can’t afford QuickBooks, get Excel works, Excel works. 07:22 – 07:23 You can add everything up in Excel. 07:23 – 07:24 Google sheets is free. 07:25 – 07:25 Yeah. 07:25 – 07:26 Google sheet is free. 07:27 – 07:31 Um, if you get a ledger, if you just can’t afford anything electronic, 07:31 – 07:35 everybody has a phone, get Google sheets on your phone, get a, get a 07:36 – 07:39 notebook and write costs, amount, how much I’m setting, right? 07:39 – 07:42 You have to keep track of these things and it comes in handy. 07:42 – 07:46 If you ever do have to write a business plan, you know how much you’re putting 07:46 – 07:49 out and you know how much you’re bringing in, you can go to your Google 07:49 – 07:53 sheet and plug those numbers right into this business plan when you start asking 07:53 – 07:57 for money from the banks or from, you know, these, a lot of these grant 07:57 – 08:00 programs, you have to have a business plan and business plans 08:00 – 08:02 have to have financials in them. 08:02 – 08:03 So that’s my advice. 08:03 – 08:07 Start on a, start on a, on a minimal budget and give yourself a budget. 08:07 – 08:12 If you can afford to spend a hundred dollars a week on supplies, make that 08:12 – 08:15 a hundred dollars a week count towards those supplies, you know, get what you 08:15 – 08:18 need in that a hundred dollars and don’t go over, which is hard. 08:19 – 08:23 So basically what, I mean, we started off with a service base. 08:23 – 08:25 So what you’re talking about is this, it’s a product base. 08:25 – 08:29 So if you’re going to do a product based business, basically you have to keep your 08:29 – 08:32 overhead in your, um, what did they call it? 08:32 – 08:36 Uh, uh, cost of goods low so that you can actually make profit. 08:36 – 08:38 So basically you have to make more than you put out. 08:39 – 08:43 You have to make more than you put out and you have to keep your costs low by 08:43 – 08:47 buying wholesale and in bulk as you can afford it and you have to keep yourself 08:47 – 08:51 from getting burned out by relying on friend labor, I call it friend labor. 08:51 – 08:57 You know, if you know somebody that can help you get them to help you, if you know 08:57 – 09:01 a student and can offer them some type of internship, get a student or food. 09:01 – 09:06 I mean, food works, food works for my, my friends also like to cook. 09:06 – 09:08 So I would, uh, food works. 09:08 – 09:12 I would also say if you are, if you’re not doing a service base, but it’s, uh, 09:12 – 09:20 another way to, uh, actually start, get a library card, go and learn about the area 09:20 – 09:24 that you want to start it, start your business, your business in, go and learn 09:24 – 09:29 about, uh, let’s say a Pearl, a Pearl production or manufacturing or designing 09:29 – 09:31 or sewing, go and learn about it. 09:31 – 09:33 So you are not making costly mistakes. 09:33 – 09:34 Right. 09:34 – 09:38 Or, I mean, and even not even go to the library, YouTube university. 09:39 – 09:41 That’s how YouTube is free. 09:41 – 09:41 Yes. 09:41 – 09:47 You helped a lot of people out, learn as much as you can because, uh, this 09:47 – 09:49 is your business and your baby. 09:49 – 09:51 You do not want to make costly mistakes. 09:51 – 09:51 Right. 09:51 – 09:53 You don’t want to make costly mistakes. 09:53 – 09:56 Uh, I mean, the thing about it is, I mean, the more you learn, the 09:56 – 09:58 less costly mistakes you will make. 09:58 – 10:01 But because you’re new to business, mistakes will be made. 10:02 – 10:02 Yes. 10:02 – 10:02 Yes. 10:02 – 10:03 You know? 10:03 – 10:07 So I wouldn’t say, don’t be afraid of making mistakes because that will stop 10:07 – 10:11 you from doing whatever you have to do, but make it a learning thing, not just a 10:11 – 10:11 mistake. 10:11 – 10:15 So whatever mistake you may learn from it, pick yourself up and keep on going. 10:15 – 10:17 You can’t just say, Oh, that was, you know, Oh, what was me? 10:18 – 10:19 You know, it’s just, okay. 10:19 – 10:20 You made the mistake. 10:20 – 10:21 You learn from it. 10:21 – 10:23 Just don’t make that mistake again, because if you make it again, 10:24 – 10:25 then it’s going to cost you double. 10:28 – 10:31 We use a tool called lesson learns at so creative lounge. 10:31 – 10:33 We use a tool called lessons learned. 10:33 – 10:37 So after every major event, we talk about what went right, what went wrong, 10:37 – 10:39 what we should do going forward. 10:39 – 10:43 And it could be something as simple as maybe we’ll do more social media posts 10:43 – 10:45 that would have made this experience better. 10:45 – 10:49 So when we go into the next experience, we know that we’re going to do this, 10:49 – 10:52 this, this, we’re going to look back at that lessons learned documents, take 10:52 – 10:57 those things that went wrong as a lesson learned and move forward from it. 10:57 – 11:01 Now, like Zaheer said, if you keep repeating those same things, maybe 11:01 – 11:06 reevaluate a little bit, you know, take a step back, see why you keep doing those 11:06 – 11:08 same things over and over again. 11:08 – 11:10 Or maybe that’s not your niche. 11:10 – 11:11 And listen to our previous episode. 11:11 – 11:15 Finding a niche is important and then you can go hard on what you need to do. 11:15 – 11:17 I know there’s a product based business where you don’t 11:17 – 11:19 have to pay for the product. 11:19 – 11:23 And that brings us into print on demand, because this is what this 11:23 – 11:24 is available on cover me chic. 11:24 – 11:29 Of course, they have a bunch of products that you can print whatever you want on. 11:29 – 11:33 So if you’re a graphic designer or someone creative that can basically 11:33 – 11:37 create digital art, you can print whatever you want on the products that they have. 11:37 – 11:40 They handle all the shipping, the drop shipping for you, but 11:40 – 11:42 you do have to have a website. 11:42 – 11:47 But you can start a website very easily and you can do it DIY. 11:47 – 11:48 Um, use WordPress. 11:48 – 11:51 I, I am a website designer of developers. 11:51 – 11:52 You can do it on a budget. 11:52 – 11:56 Yes, you can spend money and get it done professionally. 11:56 – 11:59 And I would suggest that, but when you’re starting out, you can do it yourself. 12:00 – 12:04 All you really have to pay is for hosting and your domain name and then off to the race. 12:04 – 12:08 So that’s a very low budget way of getting yourself in there without spending a lot. 12:09 – 12:12 And I actually, my very first website was Etsy. 12:12 – 12:14 Um, and Etsy is great. 12:15 – 12:16 You don’t have to pay for it. 12:16 – 12:18 You pay to list your items. 12:18 – 12:19 And it’s something very minimal. 12:19 – 12:22 When I was doing it, it was probably like 20 cents an item. 12:22 – 12:26 Um, your item is there for three months and they took something 12:26 – 12:29 like 2.5% of your sales. 12:29 – 12:33 So Etsy it’s free, but now Etsy, you can do downloads. 12:33 – 12:35 You can do digital downloads on Etsy. 12:35 – 12:37 You can do all of these things on Etsy. 12:37 – 12:44 So look into places like Etsy and Shopify and these places that offer a version of 12:44 – 12:49 their website for free, just to even see if it’s for you and Etsy, actually that I 12:49 – 12:51 think that’s lower than like a credit card. 12:51 – 12:56 Um, like if you will have a credit card, I think that it’s 2.7 or 2.9%. 12:56 – 13:14 Um, like if you will have a credit card, I think that it’s 2.7 or 2.9%.Dictionary 13:14 – 13:19 because it’s actually actual art. So you can even, and that’s even a quicker way to start. 13:19 – 13:24 You don’t even have to have your own website. You can go to Etsy and have, you know, develop 13:24 – 13:28 your art and have it, you know, done another way. You can always get started and don’t let 13:28 – 13:33 money stop you from getting started because it’s very minimal. And I know another thing 13:33 – 13:38 you can sell on social media. I was going to say the, um, red bubble and Amazon merch, 13:38 – 13:43 where you just literally upload your designs and they take everything from there. You name the 13:43 – 13:48 design, they upload it. You set your price. They take a profit because of course it’s, um, 13:48 – 13:54 Jesus Amazon. So, um, they’re storing everything, but they’re mailing it out within two days. 13:54 – 14:01 And, uh, you get a royalty from whatever that is. If it’s a t-shirt, um, a pop socket for, 14:01 – 14:08 for the cell phones, a tote bag, you are getting royalties plus it’s is international. So wherever 14:08 – 14:15 Amazon is that shirt will stay on Amazon website for the life of Amazon. So it’s pretty much 14:15 – 14:21 limitless to what, and you can, um, I was using Canva just to create a couple of graphics, 14:21 – 14:27 something really quick, some, um, fonts and just uploaded that. But I also use red bubble. 14:27 – 14:33 Uh, red bubble is the same way. They have, um, a little more of a range of products that you can 14:33 – 14:39 use. And then you can post all of that to, um, social media. And I know like right now, TikTok 14:39 – 14:46 has TikTok shopping right now. It’s the best time for someone to get all of their product out and 14:46 – 14:50 it’s free. Yeah. It’s a good way. I mean, I, I just want to just, um, preface this whole thing 14:50 – 14:55 by saying, this is how you get started and this is not necessarily how you continue your business. 14:55 – 15:00 Right. Because when you do print on demand, Amazon merge, red bubble, stuff like that, 15:00 – 15:06 your margins are not high at all. You don’t get a lot of margins at all. So when I say margins, 15:06 – 15:12 meaning the amount of money you pay for something and the amount of money it costs to get the 15:12 – 15:17 product made and how much you sell it for. And the margin is what that is in between. So say 15:17 – 15:22 for instance, um, on a print, uh, what’s a printful, you know, they might charge, you know, 15:22 – 15:29 $12 and 95 cents, $13 for a shirt. You sell it for, you know, $23 that’s $10 profit. Right. So 15:29 – 15:33 you’re going to have to sell a whole lot of shirts to really turn a real profit. So then it’s all 15:33 – 15:38 about marketing. So you don’t have to have a lot of startup money, but you have to have, you know, 15:38 – 15:43 the wherewithal and the marketing to get your product out there. So this is a way to get 15:43 – 15:48 started. This is not necessarily a way to make a lot of money at once in the beginning. In the 15:48 – 15:54 beginning. Yes. There’s other ways to make money when you scale, but this is one way to get started. 15:54 – 15:58 As a product based business, you know, I’m selling an actual good. If you have a friend 15:58 – 16:02 and they like to take pictures, say, Hey, you want to go in on a photo shoot with me? You know, 16:02 – 16:10 I’ll pay for the print barter. Yes. Barter is still a really good way to get pictures for your 16:10 – 16:14 website, get promotional pictures because photographers they’re expensive and they, 16:14 – 16:20 they deserve to be expensive because they do brilliant work. But if you are just starting out, 16:20 – 16:24 get your cousin that likes to take pictures. I have a teenager who does all of my artwork for 16:24 – 16:29 me and I’m not just starting out, but it gives her a couple of dollars in her pocket. Cause when 16:29 – 16:33 people ask me, well, who does your artwork? Hey, this kid does my artwork. Let me put you in touch 16:33 – 16:37 with her mother. Do you just have to use your network? Everybody knows everybody. I would say 16:37 – 16:43 one of the biggest ways to stretch your budget is to use people, you know, use people, you know, 16:43 – 16:50 and also look at college students. There are if you can go to a couple of the career centers on 16:50 – 16:56 the college campuses and post there because, uh, they, the college students, they need the 16:56 – 17:04 experience. They need the experience. You still have to give them a stipend. You can’t get free 17:04 – 17:11 labor. Um, and also if you have something to sell, partner with small businesses, go to these small 17:11 – 17:18 businesses and say, Hey, do you take local artists? I may X, Y, Z here’s a sample of my work. Do you 17:18 – 17:22 think it will sell here with a commission? That’s passive income. If you can get into a couple of 17:22 – 17:27 those small shops and keep them stock, that’s all you have to do. That’s money. That’s going to come 17:27 – 17:31 in that you can put back towards your business that you don’t have to think about the stuff is 17:31 – 17:36 there. I haven’t explored it yet, but I’m also looking into Amazon handmade. I make a product. 17:36 – 17:42 So let’s put this product on as we like to say, Jeff Bezos, internet, let’s put this product on 17:42 – 17:48 Amazon and just get it out there. And the more places you have your product, the more people 17:48 – 17:53 will see your product. And the more people will want your product. Look at your competitor, 17:53 – 17:57 see what they’re doing. See some of the hashtags from your competitors, because you never know 17:57 – 18:03 it may work. Yeah. Sure. I mean, so we talked about service-based, we talked about product-based 18:03 – 18:09 and I think the last one we talked about, we need to talk about is custom. I know we don’t like doing 18:09 – 18:15 it, but we did start there. Yeah. We started there at one point way back when. I’m going to tap 18:15 – 18:20 out of custom because it’s not something that I like to do or talk about. You may get that sarcasm 18:20 – 18:28 out of me. But no, I’ve had experience doing custom. People are tricky and that’s me being 18:28 – 18:36 very politically correct. So with custom, if you want to explore custom, really think about your 18:36 – 18:44 price. Really think about your price. Custom is not $50 for a prom dress. Right. I have people 18:44 – 18:49 who’ve known me for years that will still call me and say, my kid’s going to the prom, can you make 18:49 – 18:54 the dress? And they’ll send me a picture. And I personally don’t like to recreate other people’s 18:54 – 18:59 work. If you send me a picture of something that’s out there, I’m going to say no, because that’s 18:59 – 19:04 copyright infringement to me. And as a designer, artist, creative, that’s something I just don’t 19:04 – 19:11 like. But I have told several parents on many occasions, it’s cheaper if you buy it. Which is 19:11 – 19:18 true. It is very true. Because the per hour cost of my time at this point. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not, 19:18 – 19:24 it’s not worth this. You will be better off buying it from off the rack and getting it altered if you 19:24 – 19:30 need it. Exactly. And, um, it’s okay to say no. Yes. It’s okay to say no. So, I mean, if you’re 19:30 – 19:34 doing customs, I think what you basically, what you’re saying is know your price, know what you’re 19:34 – 19:39 worth first, know what your time is worth, you know, and be picky about your customers. I mean, 19:39 – 19:43 I know in the beginning, everybody wants to say yes, yes, yes, everybody. But if somebody started 19:43 – 19:48 out saying that they want, you know, you know, a fur coat, like Tish, you know, and only willing 19:48 – 19:54 to pay $50 like Naima is just like, okay, no, you know what I’m saying? So you just, you have to know 19:54 – 19:59 what your time is worth. You have to know what your skill set is because everything you can’t 19:59 – 20:02 make everything you can’t make. Coats are different from dresses. Dresses are different 20:02 – 20:08 from swimsuits. Swimsuits are different. Face is different from cock. Exactly. Exactly. You know, 20:08 – 20:12 you have to know your fabrics, you have to know what fits and it’s iterations, you know, 20:12 – 20:18 custom is all about fit and, and, you know, one of a kind. So it is costly, you know, 20:18 – 20:24 and you really have to charge for your time. You have to charge for your time. My other advice, 20:24 – 20:30 if you do want to do custom, make a explicit contract, you know, make a contract have that 20:30 – 20:36 contract state exactly how many fittings they need exactly what it’s going to be. If you want 20:36 – 20:41 them to provide their own materials, spell out what those materials will be because a non, 20:41 – 20:48 a non seller or a non creative will go into a store and they will see lace for $199 and they 20:48 – 20:53 will buy it and they will not get the same results and they’re going to come to you and say this 20:53 – 20:58 doesn’t look like the picture. And what can you say? Well, that’s not the lace I told you to get. 20:58 – 21:02 Well, you told me to get lace and then it becomes something ugly. Yeah. And they’re 21:02 – 21:05 not going to get everything in writing. Yeah. And they’re not going to want to pay for it and 21:05 – 21:12 get paid upfront. Yes. You have to get a deposit up front. Yes. That’s no, you have to get your 21:12 – 21:18 hold amount up front with the contingency for a reef partial refund. If things don’t work out 21:18 – 21:23 right and always put in four times served so that you’re not losing, you know, and everybody 21:23 – 21:28 understands that going in there’s so many times that people are always not the way I liked it. 21:28 – 21:35 So I’m not paying. No, you’re going to pay me. Right. And people don’t people also don’t realize 21:35 – 21:41 that what looks good on a size two is not necessarily going to look good on a curvy size eight. 21:42 – 21:50 Right. I would also say I, um, I actually started out doing alterations and which is really kind of 21:50 – 21:56 custom. So with that, I had to talk to the person and tell them, uh, the things that I could fit 21:56 – 22:00 because they had like one person that lost a lot of weight. So it was taking down garments that 22:00 – 22:05 were like two plus sizes bigger than what she was. And I’m like, okay, that’s that right there. 22:05 – 22:10 It’s going to cost you more than what this garment is actually worth. It would be cheaper to go and 22:10 – 22:15 just buy something and then have me to alter it and, um, to tailor it, to fit you. And with that, 22:15 – 22:22 I also had several contracts stating you get one fitting, two fittings after the second fitting, 22:22 – 22:30 no, no changes at all. And you’re spelling it out. You have to be very clear because 22:30 – 22:35 with some work, they will try it on and then they’ll keep wanting to change it or want to 22:35 – 22:40 lose weight. And even for, for bridal, no, especially with bridal, you know, because 22:40 – 22:46 10, I mean, my thing is like with bridal, because every, the stakes are so high already, you know, 22:46 – 22:51 that is extra. You really have to have the patience to deal with brides and it’s not just 22:51 – 22:57 brides is the bride and their entourage because exactly, because it’s not just the bride is the 22:57 – 23:02 mother of the bride, you know, sister, you know, bridesmaids, everybody has an opinion. So it’s 23:02 – 23:07 like, really have to have the patient, you know, try it once, see how you like it before you say, 23:07 – 23:11 oh, this is going to be my business, you know, and also find others who are doing the same type 23:11 – 23:17 of work because there are communities where others are talking about the things that they run into, 23:17 – 23:22 the problems that they’ve run into in different solutions. They also will say some of their 23:22 – 23:26 nightmare stories and it will be that you never would have thought of, but then they would have 23:26 – 23:33 decided what, what additional clauses they added to their packages to prevent any type of surprises. 23:33 – 23:40 Right. But yeah, um, custom work, just know that it’s going to cost you the money that it takes. 23:40 – 23:45 It’s literally can think of it as haute couture, which is hand-sewn. I’m literally stitching all 23:45 – 23:49 of this by hand and I’m creating it specifically to your measurements. No one else will be able 23:49 – 23:54 to fit this because no one else has your, has your measurements. Exactly. And that’s bespoke custom. 23:54 – 24:02 Yes. No refunds, no refunds. Yes. Um, so any, that was, that was a great, great, thank you for bringing 24:02 – 24:09 up customs. I hear that was, that was one we needed to discuss custom, any parting words of wisdom 24:09 – 24:15 that we can give our audience as always, if you have questions, drop them in the chat, we’re going 24:15 – 24:20 to do an episode later on where we address, um, not just the most popular questions. We’re going to 24:20 – 24:24 try to address as many questions as we can. Now we may group them if they’re kind of similar, but 24:25 – 24:31 any parting words of wisdom, ladies? Um, I, I, my, my first, my first and only, I was like, don’t let 24:31 – 24:36 money stop you from doing what you want to do. You know, there’s always a way that you can, um, 24:36 – 24:41 start. Um, it might not be what you want in the beginning. Um, but if you listen to our previous 24:41 – 24:45 episode, you have to find your niche first. So you know what you want to do, what you like to do and 24:45 – 24:50 what you can make money at, and then you go for it. It doesn’t have to be all at once. You can start 24:50 – 24:54 slowly. You can start small. You can start with one product. You don’t have to have a whole 24:54 – 24:58 collection. You know, some people, uh, just start with like dresses or some people just start with 24:58 – 25:04 just tops or just skirts or just bags, accessories, you know, whatever that is, you only have to have 25:04 – 25:09 one good product. So the leap out of that product, and then you add more, you know, and that that’s 25:09 – 25:14 what it is. I mean, start, you have to start. Don’t let money stop. Absolutely. And, um, I would say 25:14 – 25:20 don’t despise small beginnings. Everyone starts off small. Don’t, yeah, don’t despise it, but also, 25:20 – 25:27 um, get to know your, get to know your community. You know who you can talk to and maybe test out 25:27 – 25:32 each one of them to see where you actually fit and what you actually like. Don’t despise small 25:32 – 25:38 beginnings. And I would just say, take those, take those not so savory moments as lessons learned, 25:38 – 25:42 you know, learn from, learn from those things that we’ll just say mistakes because I can’t 25:42 – 25:47 think of a better word right now. But, but take those mistakes and learn from them. Don’t let 25:47 – 25:51 them discourage you. Don’t get down on yourself because you didn’t go out. 25:52 – 25:59 out and make $3,000 your first outing. Because honestly, if you went out and you made $30, 25:59 – 26:04 that’s a win because somebody liked what you put out there. So, you know, just always always think 26:04 – 26:11 about your lessons learned. And I take my my first $2 bills like I still have my first $1. 26:13 – 26:18 You know, I didn’t I didn’t do that. I should have but I didn’t do that. I wish I did but I 26:18 – 26:26 didn’t. Yeah, I wish I did. Because yeah, you know, living we learn. I guess that’s it for this 26:26 – 26:33 episode. So if you are watching on YouTube, you know, leave comments and questions below. But if 26:33 – 26:41 you’re listening, wherever podcasts are, you know, subscribe, download, share and tell your friends, 26:41 – 26:46 tell your friends. Until next time. Yeah, I’m Zaheer from Cover Me Chic. Naima from Fearless 26:46 – 26:50 Thread. Leticia from Keeping You in Stitches. See you next time.