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How to set up your own fashion shop like Victoria Beckham – what you need to

Victoria Beckham’s success and recent accolade as entrepreneur of the year will spur many people on to create and open their own fashion shop. Whether on the high street or online (or both!), many people are attracted to the fashion industry assuming it is full of glamour, sequins and fun, fun, fun!

But, if you are running a business and you want the profits to pay your rent or mortgage, it can mean hours of dedication and commitment – and this can be anything from packaging parcels to completing the essential paperwork, not the high end of fashion we see on the catwalks.

But, it can be done and, with this note of caution ringing in your ears, here are the first tentative steps in creating your own fashion shop, just like Victoria Beckham…

Is it really for you?

What you see in the papers and online is the social aspect of fashion; the parties, the glamour and surrounded by beautiful, creative people.

But, like all industries, running your own business will mean hard work, completing menial tasks such as steaming clothes over and over again; packaging them at 1a.m. ready to catch the first post the next day (after all, you promise your customer next day posting etc.) You may spend hours surfing the web, second-guessing the next big thing coming out of the fashion houses as well as surfing the web looking for wholesale clothing suppliers and top quality merchandise. On top of that, you have a family home to run, as well as socialising, eating and sleeping.

In order for your business to survive, you will need to eat, breathe and sleep your fashion empire if it is to be a success and, for many people, this is something that comes as complete surprise. If you are prepared to drive your online fashion shop in a fiercely competitive market, then this is for you.

For some is it exciting and energising; for others, it quickly turns in to their worst nightmare, hence you need to be clear, is running a fashion shop or online store the right thing for you?

What do you have and what do you need?

Just like Victoria Beckham’s business, there will be many different strands to yours but, you cannot, like Victoria herself, do all things on your lonesome. At the very start, you may have no option but to package everything, do all your paperwork and all the other necessary things to run a successful business but, very soon you will realise that you need help.

[Text Box: Running a business can see you initially being jack-of-all-trades but, as soon as budgets allow, consider outsourcing some parts of your business, from admin to marketing that free your time to concentrate on moving your business forward] [Business Graphics] So, you need to decide what you are going to outsource. This will come down to two things: money and skill.

Budget – every new, start-up business has cash flow issues that need managing but, it is true to say that the vast majority of new business fail due to lack of marketing and, when examined further this is because start-ups channelled their limited funds in to everything BUT marketing.

No one has a bottomless pit of money, so every penny you spend on outsourcing tasks needs to be money well spent – in other words, it needs to be working incredibly hard for your business. So, what can you afford to outsource and what do you need to outsource?

Marketing is an on-going task, from online campaigns across social platforms to offline marketing, which would be anything from adverts in local or national papers, to radio adverts and the like. There are plenty of people and companies out there who can help, with reasonable and competitive rates for new businesses, so make the effort to negotiate on the package you want.

Skill – however, you may feel you have a variety of skills but keeping on top of the all-important financial paperwork could be the problem, and so many people choose to outsource their finances to a bookkeeper and account.

But, this is really down to you and you could be in the best position to audit your skills and see where you are lacking. On one hand, running a business is tough but it has its rewards. As soon as you can offload some of the stuff you struggle with, it is always worth it; this will free up time so that you can concentrate on the aspects of business that needs YOUR input.

Something unique

Victoria Beckham’s business thrives on her celebrity status to a certain point and this is what gives her business its unique selling point. In such a competitive industry as fashion, every business needs to have something unique that it thrives on in order to become known to the customer.

You may choose to focus your fashion business on one particular key piece, such as coats and jackets, along with accessories or, you may decide to target a certain age group or style. It really is down to what you know best, but whatever you do, you MUST know your industry and garments inside out (no pun intended!).

Learning from Victoria Beckham

Spot a niche in the market and place your fashion business firmly in that spot Use online and offline marketing techniques to get your business known When budgets allow, outsource the parts of the business that you lack in skills

Market your business!

Enjoy it!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Trotter .