Have you checked in with your goals since you wrote them waaay back in January?

When you check in with your goals throughout the year you are more likely to achieve them because you are keeping them top of mind and front and forward on your to do list.

So what do you need to do NOW to check in with your goals and maximize the rest of 2020? A goals “check in” !!

Jane Nemis, Designer CEO of Echo Verde, a sustainable clothing line joins me in this video. She set goals in January as part of the program and has done a fantastic job of growing the e-commerce side of her business seeing a +209% sales increase! Learn how she did it and what she’ll be focused on for the next 6 months to continue her success!

The official kickoff to the holiday shopping season is almost here - is your fashion brand ready to reach those big time sales goals? Everyone is competing for a piece of the Thanksgiving pie so how do you make sure your customers see YOUR brand amongst all the clutter and noise? Here are 13 last minute tips to grab your customers’ attention and crush your Thanksgiving Weekend sales across Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

Creating a Pinterest strategy is a great organic marketing tactic for your fashion brand because when done with a little planning and consistency, you’ll increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and generate more sales. But I often hear from clients that they are hesitant to start a Pinterest strategy for their fashion brand because they are worried about is being able to create enough content to keep the Pinterest engine moving. Here are 7 ideas to re-use the content (that you are probably already creating for your fashion brand), and start maximizing it as part of your Pinterest strategy.

As a retail buyer’s wholesale partner, it’s important for designers to understand why buyers think the way they do and identify opportunities to bridge commonalities. By understanding a retail buyer’s business perspective and expectations, you’ll know how to create and cater the perfect pitch to land those wholesale accounts.

So I'm breaking down the top 5 common personality traits of retail buyers so you know what you can expect and what that means for you and your fashion business when you pitch or partner with them.

Not developing a customized replenishment program for your business - whether it’s brick or mortar, online, or a combination of both - is an absolute miss for your business. You are leaving sales and margin on the table.

This week’s post is going deep on replenishment – What is it? Why you need it? And how to get it launched to start rolling in the dollars.

Every business owner and entrepreneur has to learn how to how overcome that annoying and constant feeling of being uncomfortable in their role and decisions. 

It never goes away fully but there are ways to minimize this feeling and to turn it into a motivator.

Join us for this week’s vlog where we discuss "Mastering the Art of Being Uncomfortable".

Subject: Want To Maximize Your Email Campaigns?

To: Email Campaign Novices  
From: Your Favorite Gal for Business Driving Tips

Watch this week’s vlog where we discuss email campaigns - how to get started with developing your email strategies, what works and what doesn't, and what we've learned during our own campaigns.

Cheers!

Mod. Merchant

It's so easy to get distracted in the weeds of your everyday business and life. Emails, phone calls, meetings - they all add up and can take away from your focus on the big ideas, strategies, and next moves that will make meaningful strides to your bottom line. 

This week on the vlog, Lauren and I discuss the common distractions that everyone encounters and how to remain focused on what really matters and that will make big changes in your business with an episode entitled "Keeping An Eye On The Big Picture".

As many of you know we go live every Tuesday at 1:30 CDT on Facebook Live. While Lauren and I try to make it look as seamless as possible, it took quite a bit of research and a LOT of practice before we were ready go LIVE. On this week's vlog - "Facebook Live 101" we share what we've learned so far and how it can help your business!

Being an entrepreneur is a challenging and sometimes lonely gig. Having a support system is key for getting you through those tough times and keep your business moving forward.

This week on the vlog, "How to Quit Your Full-Time Job", we get real about our own experiences, share tips to help you prepare, and even a few "what not to do's" to keep in mind if you decide this is the route for you.

This week's Insights shares key points that will provide you with a fresh perspective on building & strengthening your business relationships, as well as motivation to start (or continue) connecting and networking, and a simple reminder of the importance of reaching out to say "hi".

This week's vlog is focused on everybody's favorite/terrifying/fun/anxiety inducing topic... NETWORKING!! We share our favorite networking techniques; where to go, how we tackle the initial introduction, and a mindset change that makes networking WAY less intimidating.

Blogs are powerful marketing tools that businesses leverage in a myriad of ways to drive sales for their business, and retailers and wholesalers are no exception. 

This week's vlog episode "Content Marketing: Deep Dive Into Blog Post Creation" features our discussion on how to come up blog ideas and how to manage their creation. 

On this week's vlog episode, "Negotiation 101", I took the reigns and shared my negotiating experience and expertise with Right Hand Business Coach.  Find out why negotiation skills are critical to your small business, how to overcome THE biggest challenges of negotiations, and the MAJOR mindset transformation for successful negotiations. 

Your business is made up of and encounters so many different types of people but do you know how to make the most of your meetings to communicate effectively with all of your stakeholders? Watch last week's vlog "How To Adapt Your Communication Style To Your Audience" and listen in to our own experiences and tips for improved phone, written, and face-to-face communications.

We got so much great feedback from our first "Tools & Systems" episode that we wanted to bring you more! Last week Lauren and I featured episode, "Part 2 of Tools and Systems". We discussed our favorite systems that we use in our business. You'll find out how we manage our email, blog content creation, and accounting.

During last week's vlog episode entitled, "How to Get and Stay Organized" Lauren, of Right Hand Business Coach, and I discussed how we got our businesses (and ourselves) organized and why you need to get it together for the sake of your business and your sanity. 

Relationships are EVERYTHING in business but creating strong business to business relationships can be tough. It takes time and dedication to build a relationship but the benefits are immeasurable for your business. 

This week's vlog episode "Building Your B2B Relationships" features our discussion on why business relationships are so critical, what you can do to build your relationships, and how to maintain them over time.

The best indicator of a “best seller” in your fashion brand’s line is the results – increased sales & profitability. However achieving those results for your fashion business through product and style selection is not as simple as it seems. This week’s Insights gives you the questions you should be asking yourself, and the answers you should be looking for to get your next big product win.

To kick off our new vlog series we featured a 3 part mini-series entitled, "How to Tackle Strategic Planning: Learn the Why, the How, and the What", where we chatted with Right Hand Business Coach about strategy and the many wonderful, but sometimes challenging aspects of developing strategies. 

Forecasting your Open To Buy for the entire year can be a daunting task even for the most seasoned fashion brands and retailers. A little pre-planning and deliberation will make this process as seamless as possible and ensure increased profitability and sales throughout the year. Here are 9 aspects of your OTB that you want to strategize before you start your annual forecasts. 

The official retail holiday countdown is here and there is still time for a few quick last minute initiatives that you can begin implementing today to keep your customer hungry for more. Focus on creating engaging advertising and refreshed merchandising strategies, making it fun and simple to shop for exactly what your customers still need to finish up their holiday lists. 

For much of the retail world the thought of competing with Amazon, Walmart, and Target can seem overwhelming and for a small, independent retailer it can seem straight up impossible. As unbelievable as it may seem, there are strategies that you can use to compete with the Big 3 and level out the playing field. Try putting these into action and see how you can stand out and drive more holiday sales.

The official holiday kick off and shopping trifecta, better known as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are right around the corner. Each day is different and requires a unique approach that you need to fulfill and execute if you intend to maximize your sales and set yourself up for a successful December. In this week’s Insights, we examine a few critical final points that need to be reviewed one last time before you head into Thanksgiving’s big weekend.

Being productive from the start of the day is key to building and maintaining a thriving business. Maintaining productivity throughout hectic periods is accomplished by creating a daily morning routine (and sticking to it diligently no matter what!). Taking the time to create an effective routine – is the most common roadblock that prevents people from beginning. To help accelerate you into picking up this great habit, I’ve put together a simple 20 minute daily morning routine for you to try out.

This blog is Part 2 of 2 in a series and is focused on the advantages Brick & Mortar has over the ecommerce world through creating deeper connections with their customers.  This week we focus on Engagement Marketing and how to develop an integrated strategy with the Lifestyle Marketing concept.  See last week's post, It’s Time for Brick and Mortar to Get a Life to get caught up.

In the first of two posts, we examine how a Brick & Mortar retail store can gain a competitive edge against the e-commerce giant by developing and executing a lifestyle and engagement marketing strategy.  Why is lifestyle marketing so powerful and how can you adapt for your own retail business to drive sales and reach new customers? 

Do you believe that intuition is ALL you need to grow your fashion brand and that if you can find the "right" flow, your business will take off?

Are you happy with the results you are currently getting?

So many fashion designers don’t realize that they are missing other NECESSARY elements that are the KEY to their business’s growth and success. So what ARE those other critical elements that you need to get real results for your fashion brand?

Here is the equation for your fashion brand’s success and growth.

Creating a Pinterest strategy is a great organic marketing tactic for your fashion brand because when done with a little planning and consistency, you’ll increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and generate more sales. But I often hear from clients that they are hesitant to start a Pinterest strategy for their fashion brand because they are worried about is being able to create enough content to keep the Pinterest engine moving. Here are 7 ideas to re-use the content (that you are probably already creating for your fashion brand), and start maximizing it as part of your Pinterest strategy.

This time of year is the absolute game changer to ensure a successful 2019 for your business and if you aren’t taking advantage you WILL miss out on sales, margin, and growth. The next few weeks are so critical to your business because they are the difference between having another average year, (if you’re lucky), and having a mind blowing year. 

So what is it exactly about this time of year that makes it a game changer for your business and that will lead to significant growth? 

It’s your Competitive shopping activities and analysis. 

Why leave the safe predictable job, with health insurance and 401(k), for the scary unknown world of entrepreneurship?  

This week’s Insights share MY WHY - WHY I decided to leave corporate behind and WHY I haven’t looked back since.  

With the direction of the retail market over the past few years, direct to consumer has continued to gain steam as wholesalers are seeing the value, and profits, of this model. This week’s Insights analyze and breakdown the reasons you need to get a DTC strategy in place.

Today’s private brands are no longer the basic, low priced substitute for national brands. Instead they are an investment in your future via your own brand, with a story to be told, and a customer to be developed. This week’s Insights examines the evolution of private brands and the necessary strategic changes that need to be made to keep your private brand competitive and relevant, while increasing your customer’s brand loyalty.

Struggling retailers share one thing in common – failure to evolve. Nobody ever said change was easy, but the first thing you must do is actively work on changing your mindset. Start by reconciling the old complacent mindsets you have - the assumptions that you “always knew” and still grasp to.

This week’s Insights provides perspective on market and customer advancements, distinguishes between old complacent mindsets and modern mindsets, and can be used as a guide for the change in mindset required for you to stay relevant and get results.

“Retail isn’t like it used to be…it used to be fun…” is a statement I've heard countless times throughout my career.

And I couldn't disagree more - retail hasn’t been this exciting SINCE the "good ole days". 

This week’s Insights examines the changing retail landscape and why it should be inspiring you and reigniting your passion for retail’s future. 

You've read our great content and watched our Facebook LIVE vlog week after week but what do you really know about Mod. Merchant? 

This week's vlog "Get To Know Mod. Merchant" gave me the opportunity to share a little bit more about myself, why I started Mod. Merchant, and how I can help your business.

Creating New Year’s resolutions for your business is a simple way to identify a few additional goals you want to achieve and with some strategy and commitment can have big impacts on your business in 2018. Here are five New Year’s resolutions that will be key game changers in the retail industry for the upcoming year and that you can commit to instantly.

There are a few topics most buyers simply won’t discuss with a vendor, no matter how strong the relationship is. If you want answers, you’ll need to be more strategic gaining this intel.  To help prepare for your discussion with a buyer, let’s closely examine the 5 most common topics buyers aren’t willing to discuss – as well as why they are so hesitant to share and what you can do to stay ahead of the game.

It’s really tough out there for retail.  Today’s retail market can feel like it is getting smaller every day.  Major players have had double-digit downtrends for multiple years.  Inventories are unstable, open to buys are tight and stretch plans are basically non-existent.  So in this market, how do you, your sales team, and your product stand apart and actually see growth?  The relationship between you and your customer is more important than ever and strengthening this relationship is the best way for your company to separate itself from the pack and start getting results. 

All brands should be paying attention to Trader Joe’s, which is why this week’s post breaks down the – what, how, and why, along with the takeaways to apply to your business or brand. 

Inclusivity is more than a mere buzzword – it’s a movement in the fashion and beauty industries, and we’re seeing it lead to huge sales results everywhere at retail. It’s a huge opportunity for brands to build excitement and emotion as so many unrecognized customers finally begin getting the attention that is so long overdue as brands create strategies and experiences that will set the foundation for brand loyalty and sales. Executing a successful inclusivity strategy truly is an investment but with quick action will deliver a significant return. The customer is hungry for inclusivity and shows no signs of slowing down. 

After years of rumors, weeks of speculation, and a few final days of chaos - The Bon-Ton is liquidating the entirety of its 256 stores. Since the company's fate has been determined, I recently asked a remaining employee, and good friend, if they would share their thoughts on the bankruptcy, specifically how The Bon-Ton got to this point, what this whole experience has meant to them, and reflect upon what they feel could have been done to avoid this this terrible fate.

In this week's Insights we are "Talkin' Shop" with Miki Utnehmer. Miki is an experienced retail product manager but more recently a graduate of a Masters in Sustainability Leadership from Arizona State University. We discuss what sustainability means in retail, who is getting it right, the future of sustainability, and how you can get started.      

In this week’s Insights I'm "talkin' shop" with Kelly Mutsch, Chief Creative Officer at Ontal. Kelly has over 10 years of experience in retail and wholesale and offers a unique outlook on today’s retail landscape and the paradigm shift that traditional retailers have to make if they want to compete. 

During NYFW designers strive to set themselves apart, but every so often there is a message found during fashion week that transcends a single designer or trend and communicates a unifying theme impacting the entire fashion community.  Did you notice NYFW’s message this season?

Retail is a dynamic industry with changes occurring daily so it can be hard to keep up. To help you out, we’ve identified a few key trends that we see leaving big impressions and even bigger opportunities for retail in 2018. 

There are always shocking headlines coming out of New York Fashion Week but this year something even more exciting was happening. It was the body inclusive models walking; curvy, pregnant, transgender, and athletic shapes strutting down the runways. So how are you going to capitalize on this trend?