Miles to go Greg’s 15 tips for entrepreneurs
Posted November 10th, 2014 by miles to go
1. Anyone who tells you to fake it until you make it hasn’t made it.
2. Work harder than everyone else.
3. In the beginning you will be pulling double duty working and starting your business and you have to be willing to put in really long days. Too bad, we’ve all had to do the same thing.
4. Don’t spend all of your money on your first run of products. Things always change from what your first idea was and you want to be able to have money to make new things.
5. If it sells out, you can always make more.
6. Date someone who is inspired by your work ethic and understands it, not someone who views it as a detriment or point of contention.
7. Getting feedback and constructive criticism is always good, but the final decisions need to be made based off of what you think is right.
8. Pursue a business that will keep you inspired and is true to you. Honesty in what you do is recognized.
9. Be willing to say no to opportunities that are too big for where you are realistically. Going broke producing something you can’t afford to make is a bad idea. Get their contact and follow up when the time is right.
10. If you are trying to chase a fad, you’re already too late.
11. Don’t be afraid to cold call. Some of my largest accounts were landed by picking up the phone, sending samples and following up after.
12. You will have some pretty big failures and you need to learn from them and keep moving forward.
13. Stay humble and share your knowledge with others.
14. Every market is oversaturated. The people in it for the wrong reasons weed themselves out quickly, so don’t concern yourself too much unless your competition is hungrier than you are.
15. If you ever think there’s nothing to do, you are wrong and being lazy.
ps. I know there's a ton more to be said, but figured this was a decent start.
dig.
-greg / miles to go
http://milestogo.clothing
2. Work harder than everyone else.
3. In the beginning you will be pulling double duty working and starting your business and you have to be willing to put in really long days. Too bad, we’ve all had to do the same thing.
4. Don’t spend all of your money on your first run of products. Things always change from what your first idea was and you want to be able to have money to make new things.
5. If it sells out, you can always make more.
6. Date someone who is inspired by your work ethic and understands it, not someone who views it as a detriment or point of contention.
7. Getting feedback and constructive criticism is always good, but the final decisions need to be made based off of what you think is right.
8. Pursue a business that will keep you inspired and is true to you. Honesty in what you do is recognized.
9. Be willing to say no to opportunities that are too big for where you are realistically. Going broke producing something you can’t afford to make is a bad idea. Get their contact and follow up when the time is right.
10. If you are trying to chase a fad, you’re already too late.
11. Don’t be afraid to cold call. Some of my largest accounts were landed by picking up the phone, sending samples and following up after.
12. You will have some pretty big failures and you need to learn from them and keep moving forward.
13. Stay humble and share your knowledge with others.
14. Every market is oversaturated. The people in it for the wrong reasons weed themselves out quickly, so don’t concern yourself too much unless your competition is hungrier than you are.
15. If you ever think there’s nothing to do, you are wrong and being lazy.
ps. I know there's a ton more to be said, but figured this was a decent start.
dig.
-greg / miles to go
http://milestogo.clothing
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20 Comments
Matt Borchert said about 6 years ago
Sushilove said about 6 years ago
ExaltedByMark. said about 6 years ago
Great GREG!
miles to go said about 6 years ago
Matt Borchert said about 6 years ago
http://www.mattborchert.com/blog/2014/10/17/gaining-financial-independence-as-a-designer
dbdesign said about 6 years ago
Great post, Matt.
I have been also seriously considering leaving my full-time Creative Director job, next year to pursue freelance full-time. Owning a brand new house and now having a wife to also consider,it's been a tough decision for me, if I were single and in an apartment I would have quit my job 2 years ago. But I think the time is fast approaching.
Matt Borchert said about 6 years ago
Yeah, I'm fortunate (if that's the right word haha) enough to live in a small and cheap apartment, with not a whole lot to provide for aside from myself and my girlfriend.
dbdesign said about 6 years ago
I wish you the best man - much respect!
miles to go said about 6 years ago
Random said about 6 years ago
zamboaga said about 6 years ago
JoeBaronDesign said about 6 years ago
That was a good post, Matt.
Integral said about 6 years ago
I actually wrote a blog article awhile back when I felt like my brand was headed in the wrong direction and your statement:
"7. Getting feedback and constructive criticism is always good, but the final decisions need to be made based off of what you think is right." really reminded of what I wrote a few months back.
I felt like I was waiting for approval from my customers on what to release, what will be hot, but ultimately I was scared to fail and not take bigger leaps.
Here is a quick quote
-----
"Every year we add a new goal or a way to push ourselves as a brand. In 2014 we wrote on our goal board to “Scare Yourself in 2014” When I wrote that, I didn't know what that meant, but I do know what it DIDN'T mean.
In the past we spent a lot of time posting teasers and sending out designs to members of the other organizations to confirm if a new item would be a hot seller. It definitely helped understand other organizations and their need for more fashionable ‘nalia, but it also told us that we did not trust our brand and direction.
Don’t get me wrong, we still need to run new ideas by our informal DGRK Street Team of supporters, but we also need to TRUST our knowledge of the industry, greek fashion and what our customers want to see and wear. We started this company knowing we wanted to be the PHIRST (excuse the supergreek spelling) greek ‘nalia company to BRAND itself and not the organizations letters themselves. It took some time but we are now at the point where we can take on bigger projects and apparel items that WE want to wear.
----
I also tried the full time thing when I moved from one state to another, I did it for about a half year, my wife and I found out we were expecting so I had to get a full-time, but I am currently looking to drop down to part time, something in the art industry and keep working on the brand and kids. It's a wild ride but like you said at the end of the day it is definitely worth it.
GNARZILLA said about 6 years ago
Also this
miles to go said about 6 years ago
brand owners have to be the art director, bottom line in our industry. too often, we say, what color, hows this, should i print this, etc and a clothing brand gets its feel and overall look from the owner, or at least it should. i hire a ton of totally different style artists, so my job is to use art direction and color selection to make it miles to go at the end of the day.
had i made this clothing specific, one of the top ones would have been that as a brand owner, even if you are not the artist, you need to be familiar with basic skills in the adobe suite to mock things, do color overlays to test print colors, resize, etc. not everyone needs to know how to do color seps of their own work, but the majority of art i get needs a little bit of tidying up before it goes to print and mostly with people who work only in traditional media and aren't as well versed in making their work digital. when i helped out doing customer service at my local print shop, i couldn't believe the large majority of "clothing brand" owners who had no fucking clue how to do anything with their art. blew my mind. thats our responsibility to learn.
MrSnake said about 6 years ago
Please make a post about the horrors you saw at the printshop.
Thanks for the great list. You should add, "Grow a thick skin."
rich-priority said about 6 years ago
MattisGentle said about 9 months ago