Launching That Initial Business Idea & Sticking to Your Brand Identity: Podcast with Ashley Freeborn
Picture this: you’re either in school, or in a career that you know you don’t want to stay in for much longer. You’re looking to launch that business idea that’s been on the back of your mind, but so many questions are running through your head.
How do you do it? Where do you go for funding? How can you turn nothing into something?
On Leave a Legacy’s most recent podcast, we chatted with Ashley Freeborn, founder and CEO of Smash+Tess, a size inclusive romper and loungewear clothing brand. Ashley turned her life around when she decided she didn’t want to continue teaching and wanted to be her own boss as a startup founder.
Turning a Business Idea from Nothing Into Something
Ashley had this idea since before she left her teaching career. As she mentions in our podcast, one day she just had to decide what she really wanted to do in her life, and go and do it. She quit teaching, got a temporary job in finance, and then went to a fashion college to learn the basics for her clothing business.
Everything Ashley started was from scratch. Her brand was technically co-founded with her mom, so the both of them bootstrapped all the funds necessary to start everything.
She also made sure her time spent at the fashion school was being used properly. She kept in touch with her mentors and advisors there. She went to them when she needed to with all of her questions.
Another thing Ashley mentioned that was very important to her success was going to her stepdad with all of the little things that she needed to remember when starting a business. This included the not-so-pretty things that you may often forget about, such as trademarking and incorporating.
After some reflection, Ashley mentioned that if she had thought more about these little things, maybe her product would’ve gone to market sooner. Her way of starting her business was quite “scrappy”, as she put it, but it still did the job.
Even if you don’t have every detail of your business laid out, that’s ok! Ashley has shown us that you don’t need to have everything figured out. Just start! You’ll figure things out as you go along.
Sticking to Your Brand Identity
One really hard thing to do is keeping to your morals when your business is growing. Why did you start the business in the first palace? What do you want people to see when they see your brand? How do you want people to feel when using your products? All of these things can become a little blurred once things get up and going.
Many people have gone through this. Ashley tells us that it’s definitely not easy, but at the end of the day, what you invest into the brand is what you’re going to get out of it. She asks herself ‘is that on brand?’ If you want your brand to be recognized as a vegan brand, then you do have to make the time and effort to incorporate that into each step of the production process.
That being said, no one’s perfect. You can definitely stay committed to the cause without being flawless in every aspect. Some good advice Ashley gave was that you can always better yourself. No one ever will be perfect, but knowing this will help open your mind and continue to better yourself.
Going Forward With the Idea
Yes, at the end of the day you’ll always have doubts. There will always be little details about your business idea that won’t be perfect, but that shouldn’t stop you from achieving your goals!
If Ashley were to give one piece of advice from her experience, it’s to just do it (like Nike😉). Don’t wait for a catalyst to push you. Don’t wait for a sign. YOU have to do it.
Running a business is HARD, don’t get us wrong. Ashley says it’s one of the hardest things she’s ever done, so make sure that if you do it, you work for it. However, even if it’s all hard work, starting is the hardest part. If you get through that then you can definitely do the rest!