How to make decisions for your small business

What it’s Really Like to Run a Fashion Business with David Peck

Today I’m excited to have a successful entrepreneur on the show who tells us what it’s really like to run fashion business. David Peck is a Houston designer who’s been on the rollercoaster of owning his own business and he is SO HONEST in this interview.

David’s pretty much done it all – he went to fashion school in Paris. owned a high-end sustainable clothing line in New York worn by Taylor Swift, purchased a factory in Houston that he still owns and operates, sold his collection to first-class stores including Tootsies, opened a retail store, sold millions and then went bankrupt only to rise again with his current business.

His story is FASCINATING.

What You’ll Learn

David’s unlikely journey to world of high fashion from New Mexico to Colorado to Cleveland to Paris to New York to Houston. Whoa.
The disconnect between what he learned in fashion school in Paris to actually starting a running a business that makes money.
How he started his second fashion business with 5 only dress samples in 5 different prints.
How things can go from 1.2 million in sales to bankruptcy and back again.
The constant pressure of meeting sales goals, employing team members, manufacturing in the US, sourcing fabrics, designing prints, serving customers, cash flow, and all the things a fashion entrepreneur does to keep the business running.
How David’s current business is different and why he’s running it very differently than before.

You can also listen on iTunes and Stitcher Radio

Quotes from the Episode

“I didn’t end up here in the most direct route. New Mexico, Colorad0, Cleveland, Paris, New York, Houston…it was unusual.” (04:29)
“I never imagined myself living in Texas. I basically thought I was going to come here to die. My fashion career was over.” (15:27)
“It was very very hard to break that idea of being a successful the “traditional way” because you’re so ingrained that you have a good PR company, you have to have a good salesperson, you have to have a seasonal collection and you have to be in Vogue. That business model wasn’t going to work for me anymore.” (33:41)
“I wasn’t in it for the ego anymore. No matter how humble you think you are, there’s a certain part of you as a creative person that wants to be recognized for what you do. But there came a point…if I’m going to do this again, it has to be a good business. It can’t be just be for the sake of being a designer. This has to be viable, legit business.”(41:05)

Mentioned in this episode

David Peck’s website
Jane’s Imperfect Action coaching program

Also…If you’re a fan of the show, will you do me a favor?

Take a moment to leave an honest review on iTunes. It really helps the show and I’d appreciate it!

Thanks for listening!

Jane

About David Peck: His official title here is “Head of Everything”.

Doubling Your Daily E-commerce Orders with Dana Jaunzemis (Part 1)

Scaling your business with Dana Jaunzemis

Today’s guest is my business hero. Dana Jaunzemis runs her e-commerce businesses in a completely different way than most people. She makes business choices based on what she wants, on the data and sales she sees, and on simplicity. Learning from Dana has changed my life – for reaalllzzzz.

When I first heard her speak I was like…holy moses, I can do my business any way I want to. I mean, I’ve heard that for years, I believed in it logically, and I preach it to my clients. But it wasn’t until Dana’s workshop that I truly understood what to do (not just talk about it), and even better, she showed me a model of how to do it.

Dana buys e-commerce businesses and typically triples their profit in the first year. Crazy, right?

The first things Dana does when she buys a business is 1) set an action goal to double daily orders, 2) focus only on high margin products, and 3) understand the customer. She is particularly focused on these 3 things.

Have a listen to Part 1 of this interview and I’ll be back with Part 2 next week.

You can also listen on iTunes and Stitcher Radio

What we cover in this episode:

How Dana and her team focus on doubling their daily orders
Reading through every single order she gets to understand the customer
Creating the right work style and life style for her
Data-based business and tracking what’s working
What metrics are truly important to track
How to avoid doing too much (and it’s so simple!)
Making business choices that make you happy
Google adwords, Google shopping, Facebook ads? What works for Dana…

Mentioned in this episode:

Dana’s blog, 44ideas.net
One of Dana’s e-commerce businesses, Home Health Testing
The conference where I met Dana, Sellers Summit
My Wife Quit Her Job podcast with Steve Chou

What do you think about this episode? I’d love to know your biggest takeaway so leave me a comment and let’s chat!

Thanks for reading and listening,

Jane

P.S. If you enjoy listening to this podcast and want to dive deeper into the topics we cover, check out my monthly coaching program, Imperfect Action.

Making Decisions and Sticking to Them

Question…

How much time do you spend in your business every day actually doing things that make you money? You know, activities that make sales?

Logically, we know that bringing money into your business is the overall #1 priority of a business. And yet I see SO MANY small business owners who focus on anything and everything to avoid it – I include myself in this group BTW.

It’s not that you’re not smart enough, or capable enough, or anything like that. It’s that we’re just too HUMAN. Our brains have the ability to make decisions, THOUSANDS of them on a daily basis.

Things can get a little crazy “between the ears” for entrepreneurs, especially creative entrepreneurs like makers, designers, and e-commerce store owners.

Let’s say you’re releasing a  new product soon and you want to send an email to your list.  Your brain is telling you…

“I should send an email about my new product and write a new blog post. Yeah, I’ll do that.”

And then, the brain takes it away…

Should I write a post or do a video?
Is my camera too crappy?
I should probably wait until I get my hair done and lose a little weight
So I’ll write a blog instead
But what should I say? 
Who’s my target customer, anyway? I should really dig into that before I waste my time writing
Should I write the post first or send the email first?
Do I put the same content in the email? Plus the link to the product? Is that too much?
Is my shopping cart working correctly? I should probably check my Abandoned Cart sequence
What about social media? I don’t want to “bother” people with the same info blasted everywhere
Oh geez, so much to do…
Where should I start?
Oh!! Looky here, the new season of “This Is Us” is on…

So you end up on the couch with ice cream and Netflix instead. 🙁

And then it’s like…I’ll just be here on the couch with my THOUGHTS about marketing and my PLAN to get sales but no actual execution that leads to RESULTS.

It’s the  overthinking that leads us to confusion and feeling overwhelmed.  So we don’t take any  action.

And no action means no sales.

Today’s podcast will help you make a decision and stick to it.

You can also listen and subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio

I truly believe that the #1 thing that RUINS a business is when the owner overthinks. We have great ideas and  plans to do stuff  about these ideas and then  we overthink what we should do  and get stuck. 

Has this ever happened to you? Let me know what you think of this episode in the comments below. And could you do me a favor? Which topic would you like me to cover next?

PLEASE VOTE!

A: Driving “qualified” traffic to your site or blog

B: Real-life productivity for creatives

C: How to create your marketing plan

Thanks for reading (and listening),

Jane

P.S. My mission is to get you focused on what’s truly important to work on in your business and into ACTION to execute. If you’re interested in going further with the topics we discuss on the podcast, head over to Imperfect Action.

My Family and Friends Don’t Support Me in My Business. What Should I Do?

Do the important people in your life support you in your business?

In this episode, we discuss what to do when people are just not “getting it”. Maybe they make passive aggressive comments, maybe they give you the blank stare, maybe they openly tell you you’re crazy to have your own business!

Does that mean you can’t love them and still have a great relationship with them?

Have a listen…

You can also listen on iTunes and Stitcher Radio

What do you think? Has there been a time when you didn’t feel supported in your business?

How did you handle it? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for listening!
Jane

P.S. If you’re looking for support, you should run, not walk, to check out my new monthly coaching program. The goal of the program is to get you focused and into action to make your business EXACTLY the way want it. Check it out now.