Going Off the Beaten Path to Find a Road of Success and Satisfaction

I came across this youtube video and was excited about sharing it with everyone here. The idea is creative marketing. I love the way the Terry Prince is so passionate about his work. He dispels conventional marketing practices and seems to earn a really good salary from his part-time gig. I was shocked to learn how many CD's he's sold in just one year by not following conventional methods of marketing. He follows his heart and is rewarded for doing so.

As artist and designers we have to be open to explore unconventional ways to market our product. Let me know what you think about this video. I am sure it will put a smile on your face and maybe even inspire you.

Enjoy!

Specialty Items Rein Supreme in Down Ecomony

Today's economy is the perfect time for us designers who specialize in specialty items instead of apparel collections to gain more sales. Items such as accessories, t-shirts jewelry and skirts are fun and easy buys for consumers. The more unique and also salable the better.

Today's issue of WWD posted an article on this subject titled, "Buyers Wait Longer, Scour Harder for Special Items". The article indicates that store buyers shopped at the recent trade shows the way customers shop in stores, very cautiously. This means that the more unique your product, the the more people will notice it. Think about yourself as a shopper, are you purchasing single items or are you buying spring/summer clothes like you normally would in an upbeat economy?

This is the perfect opportunity for designers to showcase their unique items by doing trunk shows at local boutiques. This eliminates the risk for retailers as you would pay them a commission for your total sales for the event. Everyone wins in a trunk show event. You and the retailer make money from sales. You get to test your product and if you get a lot of interest, the retailer may want to place a wholesale order for your items that did well!

So, start making your phone calls to your local boutiques and schedule a few trunk shows for this summer. After all, everyone loves fun and unique summer tees, jewelry and bags!

*Pictured above: The Jenny bag from the Kali Collection. Click here for more details!

A Follow Up Interview Tip that Will Get You Noticed

Everyone knows that thank you cards are a must, right? They show that you really appreciate your interviewer's time and that you have a real interest in the position that you have interviewed for.

Here's the tip:
Buy your thank you card immediately after the interview rather than buying a generic box of cards. When you buy cards individually you get to choose the card based on the company's culture and the feeling that you received from the person who interviewed you. You will be able to pick up on whether the person is conservative or artsy. Buy your card and have a cup of coffee and write your draft. Highlight key points that your interviewer stressed. Also reconfirm the reason why you would make the perfect candidate. Keep your card brief and upbeat!

Forget about snail mail. Now that your card is finished. Go back to the company where you interviewed and drop it off with the receptionist.

Your interviewer will most likely appreciate this quick and immediate attention. In this competitive environment where there are so many people applying for jobs, tips like this can set you apart from your competition.

Is Being a Do-It-Yourselfer Holding You Back from Blossoming?

If you are an entreprenuer who runs the entire show yourself you could be faced with the, "I must do everything myself" syndrome. This in fact could possibly be holding you back from achieving more sales and focusing on the tasks that you are skilled in.

I've had to evaluate my workload and learn how to delegate work out to either freelancers or interns. I've also just found out about virtual assistants whom you can hire from various online companies. You can hire a virtual assistant from different countries not just within where you live. I have not hired a VA yet but, when I do I will let you know how it works out!

If you're an artist, you truly care about presentation online and offline but, try not to do all of the artistic work yourself. Delegate small projects out like creating logos, flyers and catalogs. You can also have them build up your social network pages. This can save you tons of time, even though you may be skilled at doing these tasks yourself. You will now have the time to focus on the more important tasks like designing you product and selling it. The sooner we delegate or outsource work the more time we will have to do the things that we truly want or need to do.

There's always a way to get affordable assistance. Try one of the ways that I listed above (freelancers, interns, VA's) and let me know how it works for you.

Do you already have assistants in your business? What was the tipping point that made you realize that you can't do everything yourself?

Break the Workplace Norm and Take an Excursion

While I was writing the blog for the post below on April 26th, I realized how valuable an experience I had at Jones Apparel Group. My boss who was the design director created an environment that was more than just work. He made fashion design a real life experience by letting his team know about events related to fashion that we should check out. He was big on taking time out of the office once every blue moon and expose us to cultural events related to fashion. We did little excursions to the museum like, going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Chanel exhibit and the Dangerous Liasons, Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century exhibits. I also accompanied him to the Parson's School of Design fashion show. Of course we did the work related trade shows but, the events not directly related to work is what I loved because, it showed another aspect of our industry.

There's always going to be work to do, deadlines to meet and fires to put out but, once in a while it's good to Break the Norm and do a group event with your staff.

I think that if we have the opportunity to enrich someone else's lives then we should. It doesn't matter what industry you are in. There's bound to be some type of event that your staff can benefit from seeing together as a team. These little events around town are fun and of course educational. It gets you out of the office for a few hours to merge work with culture and history.

So go ahead, take the aftenoon off once and a while and treat your staff to a local cultural event that relates to your industry. You'll be looked at as someone who is a true leader, someone who is passionate about his industry while enriching yourself and your staff! If you're and employee, you take the lead and mention to your boss that you want do a group outing for a specific event. If he/or she is not interested, you and your fellow staff can still make arrangements. The whole idea is to grow oneself, to become more knowledgeable about your industry's past, present and future direction and to support this knowledge through engaging conversations. This is how you can become more valuable.

What's Old, Really is New Again!

Hey, I just wanted to share this book with you! While I was working at Jones Apparel Group, my boss gave this book to me as a gift. It's called "Ossie Clark 1965-1974" by Judith Watt. It's a book about the life of Ossie Clark a British fashion designer whose hay day was in the mid 1960's - 70's. What's interesting is that although this designer passed away back in 1996 his name is being revitalized. A new Ossie Clark collection was presented at the February '08 fashion week in London so we should see the collection in stores this fall.


Who was Ossie Clark? According to Judith Watt, "Ossie Clark 1965-1974", Clark was considered a rock star in the fashion design scene. His evening dresses were all the rage. He was very skilled in flattering the female body with ruffles, flounces, layers and intricate cutting techniques in sheer chiffon to heavy weight wool. "His brilliance lay in his ability to understand form and proportion and to achieve it through cut and fabric." He was married to Celia Britwell who was a textile designer. They collaborated with Celia providing the prints and Ossie the high fashion garments.


Ossie designed both for the high end elite and was able to appeal to the mass market customer by designing for the Radley label in London. He even designed leather jumpsuits for Mick Jagger.


I'm excited to see how the collection will be interpreted for today's customer. Ossie Clark seemed like a real master technician. According to an article in W magazine. His clothes has inspired contemporary designers such as "Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney and Anna Sui, among others".

New Ossie Clark! Picture from W magazine. article



One of my favorite Ossie Clark Dresses from the 70's featured in the Ossie Clark book by Judith Watt.
Click on image to enlarge and read print!

The Yeahs and Woes of Website Personalities

Are you getting the sales results that you want online? If so, that's great! If not, then there could be a few things going wrong. Maybe your sight is not enticing enough, the products don't interest the prospect, your offer may not be strong enough, not enough new items or the classic, prospect is just not ready to buy.

If your're an artist/fashion designer and you've created your own web presence in any platform whether it's your own store or Myspace, Blogger, Facebook or even a classified ads, I want to share with you a cool tip that could help you bring in more dollars!

I want to discuss your website's personality in relation to sales. Is your site uplifting, energetic and happy or dull and drab? Sometimes we are so attached to the products that we've designed, marketing strategies, and just learning about the dynamics of selling online that we forget to take a breather. Step back and see if the work we are doing is shown in an exciting way that will entice prospects. I'm speaking from first hand experience if you can't already tell. A friend of mine who is a graphic artist gave me a list of things that I needed to change to make the mood of my site more happier and to reflect the company's name and my product. I listened, took notes and made the changes.

I must say that having others show you problems is a stepping stone to success. My advice is to survey your customers, ask friends and family for their honest opinions. You can only get the answers you need if you make the first step and ask! There's no time to overlook your site's mood. It's very critical to sales.

So, my tip for today is to re-evaluate your website. When you look at it does it make you want to purchase something right away? You could have designed the cutest dress or handbag but, if the mood of your site is dull and drab then, sales will be as well. The good thing about the internet is that it's only one click away to making a change. If you need assistance with web copy and graphics, you might just have to hire a professional. The whole idea is to have a site that says


WOW!!!!!

Take a look at your favorite sites and take note of the things that make you want to keep revisiting them. Of course, each site has it's own character, it's own product but, look at a site that's similar to yours that is one of your favorites and see why it is so enticing for you to keep coming back!

Best of Luck!
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