Let’s be honest, in today’s era we’ve seen most things before and therefore if you look at things in that way – every industry and job role is highly saturated. The key going forward is to diversify your offering. But how do you do this without appearing like a Jack of all Trades? Use what you actually know! In other words, use the qualifications, experience and knowledge you’ve acquired and perfected over the years.
This article is the third part of our four-part article series. Here are the first 2 parts again, in case you want a reminder:
Quite often when we first enter the fashion industry either from another industry or as our first taste of professional life, we try really hard to build new contacts and embrace every new opportunity we receive.
On the one hand, I advise that you do enter the fashion industry open-mindedly and absorb new knowledge and experiences as you go along, don’t forget about any previous contacts and skills you’ve acquired beforehand.
Before I worked as a fashion stylist/editor and blogger, I ran a language translation company. This was my first real business that I had set up myself and managed. I spent years running this company and I learned so many skills along the way, not to mention the number of clients I acquired. During the years running this business, I built a big circle of fellow linguists, small independent business owners, NGOs and I connected with employees working in big media organisations. I think most people would find it difficult to make any connections between a fashion blogging business and a language translation company, specialising in legal translations – and they’d be right but you need to look for the opportunity to connect the two where possible.
So instead of just being “yet another fashion blogger”, I am known as a bilingual fashion blogger with a background in fashion styling/editorial, with many professional contacts all over the world who have worked with me before and are happy with the quality of work I provide.
Of course, not everybody needs to know this but when it’s important people will remember this and it helps me to stand out from the crowd and be recognised as a highly qualified professional in my industry.
I decided to keep my old clients and colleagues in the loop about my change of career path and it has had amazing results! It’s worth remembering that it’s much easier to resell to an existing client or convert an existing contact than it is to obtain new ones. So if you have old clients from another business or from your previous job and are allowed to contact them, make good use of them!
Some of my translation contacts ended up becoming styling clients of mine because they wanted to improve their professional appearance. The media contacts I had were more than happy to fill their editorial planners with stories of how I transitioned myself between a corporate and creative career, as well as how I set up a successful fashion blogging business and got it earning money within just weeks, and I’ve since worked with some of my past clients again but on different projects.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to tell everybody you know about your new business venture. I used to get really embarrassed when I first started telling my friends and family about my new blogging business, I think it was because it’s a passion project and it is so important to me. But now I tell everybody about what I do: friends, family, colleagues, old colleagues, people I meet by chance, old school friends, etc. because quite often they will check out your website and follow you on social media and you never know if/when they might need your services.
Think about it, you’ve already passed the getting to know you phase, so it’s just about them knowing what you do and needing your services.
Finally we’ll be looking at Bridging the Gap and Utilising Every Possible Income Stream and I’ll introduce you to a summary of the four types of buying behaviours.
