What if I make a mistake?

What if I make a mistake in running my business? 

The reality, we all make mistakes all the time and daily. The issue is not making the mistake. The issue is when you allow the mistake to stop you from moving forward. I often used this fear as an excuse to not track forward in this process. It took me time to slowly build the comfort around making mistakes, learning, and starting again. 

For example, our sizing chart. I did not study fashion. So putting together the sizing chart for a modest fashion brand was extremely stressful. It required studying and learning on my own and using available resources, like suppliers. I have a close supplier who has become a friend and often times she is my thought partner as I build this business. I also hired a sizing specialist to help put together the sizing chart to launch our business. 

Did we get the sizing of our tops right? In my opinion, not yet. As of the date of this blog, our shirt sizes are 1 size larger than the market. Some would say this is great, we all want to feel like we are 1 blouse size smaller. 

However, from a business perspective most people feel they know their blouse size better than the brand describes. If a customer purchases the wrong size in a blouse, we have several concerns: 

-cost of returns, refunds, and exchanges (not only money but the time it takes to process); and

-brand reputation and losing a customer purchasing our shirts.

 

Due to these challenges, we decided to re-adjust our sizing. Do we view it as a mistake? No, we view it as a learning experience. It is by moving forward, working with our customers, taking surveys and learning about our market that we were able to make a better informed decision. 

 

We will discuss the learnings from building our sizing chart in more detail in another #behindtheblouse blog post...Stay Tuned!