Mindset For Successful Apparel Entrepreneurs

A Growth Mindset

Since you are an entrepreneur or an aspiring entrepreneur, we are sure you have heard other people, books, podcasts, or blogs mentioning this topic. We’ve worked with hundreds of brands, and this is what’s the most common factor in the brand owners that make massive progress. They all have a growth mindset. 

First, let’s look at what mindset actually is. 

It’s basically a set of beliefs, assumptions, and notions that you have about your world and the way you operate. But your beliefs are shaped when you were little, in your childhood, and in the way you were brought up. The society, your parents, and the culture you were brought up in have shaped who you are and what you believe in. Depending on your upbringing and what limiting beliefs you have, this can really limit you and eventually your business. The good news is, you can change that!  In this post, we are going to talk about how. 

You know the saying – if you change nothing, nothing will change? Well, it’s the same with your mindset. Psychology is one of the biggest parts of running and excelling at business. 80% of the actions you take and the output you create, depends on your mindset.

One of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurs succeed, or don’t get anywhere, depends on this exact thing: their mindset.

We are going to cover 5 simple actions for how you can shift into a growth mindset. This shift and the following actions you take based on your new growth mindset can result in massively successful apparel business and life.

A growth mindset is actually what has helped us achieve the things we have achieved in our businesses. Running 3 companies, writing a book, doing the podcast, writing all the content, showing up every single day, and putting in the work. Also, way before Apparel Entrepreneurship, this is the exact mindset that’s had Ana win world championship medals when she was competing nationally in military pentathlon. When she got into tailoring school when she was way under their acceptance age. When she graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York and starting and running businesses instead of closing the safe route by being an employee.

Klas accomplished great things in his track and field career. He later left the comfort in Sweden and moved to France to study. He later graduated from a prestigious engineering university in Stockholm and Paris. Plus Klas quit his job to go full speed ahead with our business.

You know Ana’s background story, We’ve talked about it several times. She moved to Sweden from Romania when she was 11 because of the dictatorship with only 2 suitcases. They left everything behind. Her parents’ mentality was that: we’ve got this, we will find a way. Their mentality of always finding a way, has been in her core since she was a kid.  

In Sweden, they lived in an immigrant camp for over 2 years. Both her mom and my dad have fought cancer. Life happens and can either be a victim or chose to take action every day for a better life for oneself.

While in Sweden, they had nothing. They had to build everything up again from scratch. They had to figure things out, learn a new language and culture. In Sweden they have this saying that one is fed with a silver spoon for people who are well off. She wasn’t handed a silver spoon. She doesn’t need one. We don’t want one; it would take the hunger and drive away. 

With all this background and all the experiences, we’ve learned how important mindset is to succeed in life and in business.  

The biggest barrier that stands in the way for you and your success is YOU. You just need to get out of your own way to build the business you dream of.

Mindset shifts can be applied in many areas of your life, not just in business. It will positively affect your entire life, family, and community. 

Maybe you want to quit your day job and launch your own brand, or you already do run your own brand. 

You can’t have the mentality of an employee and you can’t be in the backseat of your business. You need the mentality of a CEO. You are the one in the driver’s seat, making sure you drive safely and on time to your destination, and that’s the metaphor for your apparel brand. 

Hold that vision, hold that passion. Hold that feeling and that goal, but you have to be flexible with how you will get there. 

You didn’t sign up for easy; you signed up for entrepreneurship.

And that’s why you are here, reading this post! Because you are determined, you are committed, and you are hungry for more.

Now, let’s dive into the 5 action steps you need to take to develop a growth mindset:

Step nr 1 – Know Yourself

In order to move forward, you need to know where you are. This starts with a self-evaluation. What is your mindset like at the moment? How do you operate and think? 

How are you feeling, what’s going on in your life? How are you mentally and physically?

Be very honest with yourself. Think about it but the best thing is to write it down.

Do a massive brain dump. Write what you believe and what you think is possible or not for yourself. 

Step nr 2 – What do you need to change?

What is your biggest mindset problem?

Is it money, is it having a victim mentality, is it the feeling of not being good enough, is it that you are afraid, and if so, what are you afraid of?

What is holding you back and what is blocking you from actually doing everything you want to do in your business and life?

Get it out so you can evaluate it. This is going to be the first step to actually doing something about it. Find the problem areas. 

Step Nr 3 – Take control

The idea of starting an apparel business came to you for a reason. It means that you already have what it takes to do this. The universe wants this for you! 

That you are meant to do this, now you have to look for solutions on how to.

Be very honest with yourself, find the areas you need to improve, and get on to finding the solutions. 

The biggest mindset issue many entrepreneurs struggle with (and many don’t even know they do) is having a victim mentality. 

Here are some pointers to evaluate if you have a victim mentality:

• You let people or situations affect you negatively and have a hard time changing your state.
• You tend to blame things that happen in your life and business on other people or circumstances.
• You need to have people’s approval or permission to do things.
• You let your past define you and stop you from doing something you genuinely want.
• You feel sorry for yourself.
• You let the negative side of you talk down on yourself
• You complain about things you can’t change or do anything about

We bet that when you read this, you go…. oh oh …. 

The first thing to do about it is to just STOP!

We know it can be easier to blame others than to take responsibility and accountability for your actions and outcomes; we’ve all been there. 

Take control! What did you come up with in step nr1 and 2? Check those lists and see how you can find solutions: for example, you feel that yes, you do have a victim mentality, and you always use your background and your past as a reason not to do things. 

Stop making excuses! We’ve talked about how limiting they are. Here are some examples of excuses we’ve heard over the years:

• I can’t do this because I don’t have enough money.
• I’m too old.
• I’m too young.
• I’m don’t have a background in this industry.
• I have a family.
• I don’t have time.
• I don’t know how to design.
• I am not a business person.
• My situation is different etc., etc., etc., – we have heard sooo many.

Recognize any of these? 

These are limiting beliefs, and limiting beliefs are always tied to FEAR. 

And this step, nr 3, is where you turn I CAN’T into, HOW COULD I DO … 

Yes, it might take a long time, yes you will have to step out of your comfort zone, yes it might require a loooot from you, yes you have to put in the work, but remember, we’ve said this before, running a business is like a marathon, not a sprint, you are in this for the long run. There is no rush, because if you hustle and turn into a workaholic you will eventually burn out. That’s not what we are striving for here.

Step Nr 4 – Tangible action

To develop a growth mindset, you have to implement habits and rituals in your life. When it comes to a growth mindset, there is no end date; you are never done. It’s a constant work in progress.

You have to get into becoming intentional with your actions. Make deliberate decisions every day. Because remember you are the captain of your ship!

Now let’s mention failure because failure is part of this process. It’s a necessary step towards your success.

The important thing here is to see failure as part of the process. Pls, don’t take it personally, if things go wrong (and they will) YOU didn’t fail, the thing you did failed. That’s a big difference. Make sure you analyze the problems and adjust your course. And most importantly, learn not to make those mistakes again and move on.

Some things that help massively are visualization, time management, and recharging. 

• Visualize your goal and put it in front of you. Create a vision board, or write it out, state in some way what your vision is. Make it clear and put it somewhere where you can see it every day to remind yourself of where you are going and why you are doing what you are doing. 
• Get intentional about your time and start managing it; it’s your most valuable possession. You need to keep track of your time and what you spend your time on. The same goes for your energy and focus. You only have 24 h a day, and you only have a certain amount of energy every day. Make sure you optimize those!
• Recharge and get inspired and motivated. What lights you up? How are you recharging? What motivates you? 

When you think about yourself having FULL potential, how does that look, and who are you as a person? 

Step nr 5 – Learn from your mistakes

This step ties back into the first two steps and your awareness.

Journaling helps hugely. When you write down your mistakes and what you could have done differently, it will be easier for you to go back to your journal and eventually make sure you implement strategies never to do that mistakes again.

Learn, tweak, is it working great, continue, is it not working, then change. This never stops; you will never be done.

One last thing that we didn’t put into any of the steps but that can completely change the way you see things is gratitude.

We do a gratitude exercise every day. In the evening, when we lay in bed, we go through 5 things we’re grateful for that day. Some things are small, some are huge. This makes us grounded and brings our awareness to how far we’ve come, to how many fantastic things we have our my life. It gives us a positive boost, and it makes us energized and motivated to get back to “work” the next day.

All the tools you need are already available to you. You’ve got everything you need in the AE Membership Program, our podcast plus you’ve got Google and YouTube, right?

But if you don’t have the confidence to do this thing, the tools don’t matter!

We see from the hundreds of brands we work with how impactful a strong mindset can be. We see in the entrepreneurs we work with how they achieve massive goals but also the ripple effect it has on their success with their business, but also their family life, their relationships with their friends, their entire communities. Because these things spread! People can SEE the changes in the way you show up. In the energy you bring and in your actions. It influences people!

OK, we would like to end this post with an action. Because it doesn’t matter how much you learn if you don’t implement what you learn. 

We challenge you to take one hour and do this exercise. Do the questions and really think about this deeply. 

When you have done it, we would love to hear from you. Either DM us, post on our Facebook page, or send us an email with your top 3 things you commit to changing in your life and that you are going to follow through for at least 30 days. 

Be it a habit, be it affirmations, or a new way of working, fears you let go of, whatever that comes up for you. Let us know so that we can cheer you on! 

Being an entrepreneur is challenging, and there are ups and downs. It’s not easy, but remember we are all in this together. We are here to support each other. 

Now, go, do some magic!