I’m reading my favorite marketing book “Read their mind” by Sandi Krakawski (it gets you thinking like your customer). She talking about her story and it got me thinking about mine.
My story is a bunch of experiences that either didn’t work or worked for a while. There’s one thing I’ve been determined to do, fit these puzzle pieces/experiences together to make something that does works.
From the time this 7 year old saw a beautiful black women in a suit looking very important, I wanted that, I wanted to be in business. When in my teens we travelled to the States and I saw powerful women of God preaching, I wanted to do that too. These are my early memories and desires.
I have always had my hand and head in business. I would see and “get” marketing. I wouldn’t unconsciously watch advertistments and billboards go by, I’d study the placement, the message, the copy, the imagery and feelings it produced.
In my teens I had my own Consultancy Company – which was basically me having meetings and creating Marketing Plans for friends and friends of friends who had small up and coming businesses. It was so much fun. People had incredible results but I didn’t make any money because I found it hard to charge for advise as a teenager.
For all these years I would quietly pray “Lord give me a physical product that I can market.”
I loved marketing, I studied it and found jobs in that field (so I could get paid for it). I did Marketing and PR for choirs, events, churches, local government and loved it. I relished seeing what worked and what didn’t work, learning from it and applying all of that to the next project for even better results. But yet I would quietly pray “Lord give me a physical product that I can market.”
Always the lover of clothes, fashion and style I studied Business and Marketing at the London College of Fashion. What a fantastic combination! From there I honed my marketing skills into the area of fashion and started a label with friends that we worked hard on, enjoyed and learnt so much.
The thought of starting my own label was scary but I had always prayed “Lord give me a physical product that I can market.” I was recently married, had moved out of London and the label I created with my friends was getting harder to manage with the distance, being a newly wed and having to juggle a job.
The death of my dad gave me the push I needed to go it alone and start my own fashion label. It was exhilarating! There were no limits, I could do whatever I wanted to do and I did a lot, some was good, some didn’t work but I learnt so much (are you seeing a pattern) and refuse to stop. I went from creating a collection for Chealsea Fashion Week to having my first child to working with over 100 personal bespoke clients while selling a body shaper product on the side, to making one clergy dress for a friend and that one clergy dress idea has developed and is now a Limited Company shipping hundreds of clergy dresses and blouses per month around the world.
I’ll end this with my prayer of gratitude: “Lord thank you for giving me a physical product that I can market.”