Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / GEMS: The Harsh Truth with Lillian Ahenkan AKA Lil Flex
Transcript
- 0:08Being where you are now, having gone through the ups and downs of this thing that was just a merch thing that turned into a business that turned into a bloody empire. What is your advice to other entrepreneurs who might not have it all figured out just yet?
- 0:25It's tricky because I feel as though I was given a huge shortcut, which wasn't necessarily a shortcut. I really worked for my audience and I built the audience as intended. But I think, you know, with the way that we're socialized to express our business wins and losses, people are...
- 0:41expecting a business experience probably isn't going to happen for them. Like the stats don't lie. Your business probably won't do very well. So the least you could do is start out being as intentional as possible. I think when people first start their businesses, they want to do it in a vacuum. They want to pretend that they won't be affected by
- 0:58the external factors outside that also dictate whether or not this business will be a success. So they want to keep it hidden until launch. They don't want to tell anyone they don't want to let's know you need to be getting feedback and validating your ideas. Quick smart. Like it's just so crazy to me how people can assume, especially when they're making products and they aren't their own target demographic. What do you know about product you're selling? Like, yeah, you've got some ideas, but you need to understand if there's even a need for this.
- 1:25I just feel like now more than ever, it's so expensive to reach your audience. Like, I don't think people understand how much it can cost you to reach someone, to just even look at your product, let alone buy it. That most, I don't want to say most, but a lot of the ideas that people have just aren't viable for more reasons than they can even consider.
- 1:45Like the fact that you can't afford to actually profit of what you're doing or there's no market for all the markets to saturate it. Like if we see one more Australian making a common bikini brand from Bali, not using not not even creating for plus sizes, not even creating for smaller busts, bigger busts like.
- 2:04We don't need more stuff. So if you're going to do something, at least be solving a problem. At the very least, solve a problem. Make sure there's a need. And if you can't really prove to someone why there's a need for your product, then there probably isn't one. And you should bow out gracefully until a better idea comes to you. I think that...
- 2:24Though you should be mindful of how many of your ideas you share before you've even created the idea, I think that it is worthwhile going to those who have done it before and studying them. I just feel like it's an expertise for a reason. It's a skill for a reason.
- 2:42Not everybody is fit to run a business. Just because you're creative doesn't mean you can run a business. Just because you're good at financials doesn't mean you can run a business. And do you have the skills and capacity to hold your business down until you can afford to get assistance? More often than not, you don't. Also, figure out the actual skills you need to run your business properly, not the things you're just excited to do. I see that everybody is really focused on the aesthetic of their businesses and,
- 3:09I want a really cute logo. I want my brand colors to be on point. But like you've really rushed on the sampling. You've like spent no time marketing. You're not building databases. You're not doing any strategic thinking. Everything's just like vibes and aesthetic, vibes and aesthetic. Vibes and aesthetic will send you broke.
- 3:30And the best thing you can do for yourself is back up those vibes and aesthetic with stats, facts. And if you don't have them, go get them. I hear people saying, well, I don't have access to my target demographic to go survey them. We'll figure it out. You need to know how you're going to reach these people. If you're going, if you're clicking launch and don't even have an email database, you're not ready yet. You're not ready yet.
- 3:54100%. I love it. The hard truths. I think like as well. And I want us all to win. So just be prepared. I think, yeah, 100%. We all need to win. I think the thing is, is that a lot of people forget that entrepreneurship is A, being good at sales and B, being a good problem solver. Because all the other stuff is like so easy to replicate, right? Everyone can have good vibes. Everyone can have good aesthetic. Everyone can have something that looks pretty. Yeah.
- 4:22But if you can't figure out how you're going to sell something and find customers and solve the problems that come up and be able to keep going the next day, then you've lost.
- 4:36Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
- 5:01And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
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