As a fashion designer, you need several skills. You need to know how to pedal a sewing machine, you need to know how to buy materials at the market, you need to be informed about trends in fashion as well as unique styles that stand out, you need to be daring; be willing to take a risk with a style, you need to have great communication skills and you need to know how to manage people.
Not everybody can claim to have all these skills in their grasp. Even if they do, most fashion designers, like other members of the service industry, find it difficult to deal with the demands of their clients. Why because they forget that customer care is a key aspect of their business, of any business for that matter. Let me tell you a story.
THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT
I made a traditional Nigerian attire for a client of mine. I had taken my time on it and it looked good. I took it to the dry cleaners and it was washed and starched then pressed into creased and crinkling perfection. Because I like to make my clients satisfied, I took the clothes to the client myself.
I met with him at his office and I presented the work to him. He loved the shirt; it fitted him and the design was cool and appropriate; I patted myself for a good work. When he tried on the trouser, he had a complaint; the calf of the trouser was too loose. He wanted a tighter fit than I had made it. I told him I could take it back to my shop and get it fixed but he refused. There is a tailor close to his office, he said, I could go there and make the necessary adjustments.
LEARN! LEARN!! LEARN!!!
Now, there was a time in my life when I didn’t know how to cut clothes material into shapes in preparation for sewing, not to talk of sewing proper. Then I still went about taking measurements, getting my tailor to sew according to my specification and bringing it back to the client; I was basically a middle man. Most of my clients thought I made the clothes myself. I didn’t try to correct their wrong impression because I needed the money and the business paid me. This was before I decided to go into the fashion industry full time.
The question that came to my mind as I and the client walked to the lady tailor’s shop was; what if I was still at that stage of a middle man? What if the client had said let’s go to the tailor’s place and I didn’t know how to sew, what would I have done? If you were in my shoes, what would you have done?
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Learning is a continuous process. It never ends even when you are done hustling and you are now a multi billionaire industrialist, eating someone’s paycheck for a year as lunch. I decided to go beyond marketing the finished product. I decided to become part of the process of creation. I decided to learn everything I could about the process of creation because I didn’t want to lose relevance. I didn’t want to be faced with such a scenario as I did on that day, with no preparation or plan to save the day.
MIND YOUR BUSINESS
We sometimes ignore certain aspects of our business because we think that it is not relevant to what we are about at the moment. But we forget that life has no rules, that change is constant and that preparation is a paramount path on the road to success.
I could have left sewing alone and focused on selling the finished products but I probably will not be where I am today. In my place there is a parable that says; ‘if you wan chop ogoro, chop big one.’ (If you want to eat a frog, eat a big one). This means if you want to do something that you know will cost you, go for the best one. Don’t do it half way. Don’t invest some of your time; invest all of your waking hours. Pour yourself into the things you feel will bring you success and you will get rewards that will be justified.
On steemit, I read chats of people complaining and worrying about upvotes and price of sbd to the US dollar. I came here to have fun. I was already servicing a demand in my community before steemit. I was already doing something I love. Steemit is not an end in itself but a means to an end. But this does not mean that I will just make posts and walk away… No! I intend to learn and understand everything I can about block chain technology, cryptocurrency, Steem, Steemit, Discord, Steemit chat, bandwidth, upvotes, writing, commenting, whales, dolphins, minnow, redfish, bots, downvotes, flags… everything I can. Why? Because I do not know when that knowledge will make the difference between an upvote or a downvote or a flag or even a contact with a client somewhere on the other side of the sea. lol
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Anyway, I went with the client to the tailor’s place and I sat behind her sewing machine and made the proper adjustments to the trouser, then I told the woman to get oil for her sewing machine as it was stiff. She had not added oil since she bought it and she didn’t know she had to add oil.
What did I gain from that? I gained the confidence of my client. He knew now that he had a service provider that knew what he was doing. He knew now that his work was being handled by a professional who knew the in and out of his business. Will he return to me for another work, oh yes, he will. I guarantee it.
So what am I saying in essence? I am saying that if you are hungry for success in your chosen career path, in your business, then mind it. Try to know as much as you can about it and use that knowledge. If you do this, you will be able to stand when others are falling. The bible says my people perish for lack of wisdom. Be guided.
