The Designer CEO Podcast
by Mod. Merchant
Thinking about launching your own brand? Feeling confused about how to get started and what to do first? Wondering how the fashion and retail industries actually work? Wishing you had a partner to take care of all the “business and strategy stuff”?? Or are you ready to scale your line and take it next level? Welcome to The Designer CEO Podcast!Each week, host Sarah Ferrence aka Mod. Merchant, brings you brand and retail strategies, merchandising how-to’s, organization and productivity tips, and business and professional advice simplified for Designer CEOs who are ready to launch the line they’ve been dreaming of Sarah shares her experience after working as a buyer and product manager, for Fortune 500 companies including Kohl’s and Harley-Davidson, and now as a coach and consultant. Along with sharing proven business strategies, sales tactics, and how-to’s, she’ll invite a few of her friends along the way to offer their own insider tips including industry execs, entrepreneurs,
Episodes
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5 Things You Must Do Before Selling Online with Laura Huebner
So you want to sell your fashion brand online, do you? You’ve got the brand vision, your designs are in the works, and now it’s time to build that website so you can start selling online. Just add your logo, a quick About page, a few images of your soon to be styles, and watch the sales start...
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How To Prep Your Fashion Brand’s Inventory For The Holiday Season
Is your fashion brand ready to not just survive this holiday season, but thrive? Is your inventory prepped to drive those sales while still maintaining a healthy profit margin? We are quickly approaching the holiday timeframe and all the craziness that comes with it. You’ve been planning your...
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Blogging for Beginners - For Fashion Brands, With Kristin George
Are you blogging yet for your fashion brand? A blog strategy is one of the best ways to create brand awareness and in time will generate sales for your fashion business. Blogging increases your search engine optimization, improves conversion rates, and supports content through additional channels...
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How To Be Holiday Ready - For Fashion Brands
It may seem like the fall season is just getting started, but that means the holidays are quickly approaching. Are you and your fashion brand ready for the holidays? Do you have a strategy and plan in place to fully maximize all your sales and profits? Have you created a product, merchandising…
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Business Loan Basics for Fashion Brands
Not sure how to get started with your fashion brand’s business plan? Or scarier yet securing that financing or a business loan? (gulp) On today’s episode I’m chatting with Bako Rambini - former finance expert turned fashion brand strategist and Founder of Fashion Cross Functional. She’s an...
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Trusting Yourself To Know What's Right For Your Fashion Business
Do you trust yourself to make good decisions for your fashion business? Are you confident in all the decisions you make each and every day? Yes, of course you are trying to make the best decision possible for your fashion business and its growth. You’ve been dreaming about your business since…
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Getting Started With Your Content Strategy With Sara Meadows
I’m so excited to be chatting with Sara Meadows - Founder of Match Point Consultants, a copywriting and content strategy boutique and co founder of The Edit Effect, which are tools to help small businesses simplify content, copy planning, and creation. For 17 years, Sara has teamed up with...
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Building A Fashion Brand Based in Passion & Intuition with Katherine Gramann, Designer CEO of Lake Effect Co.
This episode I am chatting with fellow ladypreneur, nature lover, and spirited soul - Katherine Gramann - Designer CEO of Lake Effect Co. Katherine and I met about a year and a half ago and we quickly connected over our mutual love of retail and the great outdoors. As she told me Lake Effect Co....
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Networking For Introverts: Expert Tips from An Extrovert
Imagine with me for a moment... You are surrounded by complete strangers in a room where everyone seems to know everyone else, chatting merrily and exchanging business cards. You however, are clinging to the bar taking in your surroundings and people watching, studying each of the different…
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When to Take Customer Feedback
Have you ever received unsolicited feedback or criticism about your fashion brand or collection?…. Maybe it was from a customer sharing how the style they purchased wasn’t exactly what they were hoping for and that they wished X,Y, & Z could be incorporated because THAT would make it absolutely...
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How to Get You & Your Fashion Business Organized
Are you struggling to “do all the things” and get everything done on the daily that it takes to run your fashion business? Or you are so passionate about designing and creating that it feels like you can’t quite get ahead of all the OTHER things you have to do to run your fashion business? Maybe...
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The Brimful Life Podcast - Interview with Sarah Ferrence CROSSOVER EPISODE
Since I launched The Designer CEO Podcast, I’ve been sharing advice on the business of retail and fashion and offering how-to’s, strategy ideas, and interviews for fashion brands and Designer CEOs but I haven't told you too much about myself or my own journey. And I’m so excited to share this...
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How to Manage Your Fashion Brand’s Inventory AND Maximize Your Profits
What to do with your extra and old inventory is an issue that EVERY fashion brand has to figure out. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or are an established brand, inventory management is always an issue. So many fashion brands struggle to know how much to buy, when to deliver, and...
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Sacrificing for Sustainability with Laura Bavlnka, Designer CEO of Bavlnka Brand
Laura Bavlnka and I met recently at a local fashion event in Milwaukee and I absolutely loved the story of her and her brand. She is a fashion designer and textile artist and until very recently was designing girls’ clothing for the brand Jumping Beans at Kohl’s. In June of 2017, despite being...
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Negotiation 101 For Designer CEOs
It’s something you do every single day and you probably don’t even realize it. It affects every one of your partnerships including those between you and your employees, 3rd party business partners, and even the one you have with yourself. However many Designer CEOs hate the idea of it and often...
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How To Make Your Fashion Brand Irresistible To Retail Buyers And Get Your Line Bought
If you’ve started reaching out to fashion buyers you probably are realizing they can be a bit hot & cold. One day you’ve seemingly got your foot in the door, are furiously emailing back and forth, and maybe even working on scheduling that first big appointment and the next day...nothing…
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Competitive Shopping 101 for Designer CEOs
How much time are you spending shopping? I know that question may be a little unexpected and maybe even ridiculous. You’ve got a lot going on - creating a brand, designing a line, building your empire - you don’t have time to go shopping even if you wanted to! Well I’m here to tell you that as a...
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From Side Hustle to Bride Hustle with Amanda Ergen-Jennings, Designer CEO of Love Lives Here Bridal
If you’ve been dreaming about quitting your 9 to 5 to start you own fashion brand but feeling hopelessly frustrated that your dream may never become a reality - then listen up. I’m thrilled to be chatting with a good friend of mine, Amanda Ergen-Jennings, Designer CEO of Love Lives Here Bridal....
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Q&A: Building an Authentic Connection with Your Customer, Defining Whitespace, and How Brick & Mortar Can Compete
I recently had the opportunity to lead a panel surrounding strategy, merchandising, and marketing with a room full of attendees just like you - Designer CEOs. I was asked so many amazing questions that I noticed got a lot of attention, head nodding, and discussion surrounding fashion brand...
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How To Contact A Retail Buyer To Get Your Fashion Line Purchased
Does that idea of reaching out to a retail buyer and pitching your line sound overwhelming to you? Or maybe even a little scary? “How do I approach retail stores to sell my products?”, is hands down one of the questions I get asked most frequently by Designer CEOs because there’s a lot of…
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16 Ways to Boost Your Creativity
We’ve all been there. Every creative person knows that some days you are cruising through your work, ideas are coming from every direction, your vision is just popping and clicking right along, and you are feeling so excited and passionate about what you are creating. Those days make you love the...
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Getting Started With Manufacturing With Kelly Mutsch
Finding a manufacturer and handing off your fashion line to a 3rd party can be one of the most exciting and terrifying parts of the evolution of your fashion business. You are trusting another to bring your brand vision and designs to life and it’s a huge step in your business’s growth. There are...
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How Designer CEOs Build Strong Business Relationships To Take Their Brand Next Level
It’s impossible to successfully launch, manage, and grow your fashion business alone. There will be things that you need to learn and people you need to meet in order to start and scale your fashion brand. So it’s pretty safe to say that tackling your fashion business without support is not...
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Q&A: Opening A Brick & Mortar, Getting Started With Instagram, & Defining Your Competition
I recently co-hosted a “How To Start A Line” speaking event including a Q&A session. We had so many fantastic questions from Designer CEOs that I had to share. On this episode, you’ll hear answers to the questions that you’ve been wondering about including… As a designer is it worth it to open a...
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How to Create A Design Strategy That Your Customers Will Love
What would it feel like to design a fashion brand that is not only a manifestation of your design talent and vision but will also sell and increase your profit margin? Today’s topic is one that I’m so excited to share because it will help so many Designer CEO’s out there with the “how-to” of...
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How to Know If You Have Lost Sight of Your Customer
For this episode, I’m going to share what’s becoming a common and devastating problem that I see more and more frequently in today’s retail marketplace. Its effects have lead to huge retailers and brands declaring bankruptcy and closing down and even fostered the phrase, “retail apocalypse”, or…
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Welcome to The Designer CEO Podcast
Welcome to The Designer CEO Podcast! If you are: Thinking about launching your own brand Feeling confused about how to get started and what to do first Wondering how the fashion and retail industries actually work Wishing you had a partner to take care of all the “business and strategy stuff” Or...
About this show
Thinking about launching your own brand? Feeling confused about how to get started and what to do first? Wondering how the fashion and retail industries actually work? Wishing you had a partner to take care of all the “business and strategy stuff”?? Or are you ready to scale your line and take it next level? Welcome to The Designer CEO Podcast!Each week, host Sarah Ferrence aka Mod. Merchant, brings you brand and retail strategies, merchandising how-to’s, organization and productivity tips, and business and professional advice simplified for Designer CEOs who are ready to launch the line they’ve been dreaming of Sarah shares her experience after working as a buyer and product manager, for Fortune 500 companies including Kohl’s and Harley-Davidson, and now as a coach and consultant. Along with sharing proven business strategies, sales tactics, and how-to’s, she’ll invite a few of her friends along the way to offer their own insider tips including industry execs, entrepreneurs,
Hosted by
Mod. Merchant