Fashion Business Owner Musings: Beliefs Are a Choice

spacerI recently read this quote from good ole’ Marie Forleo: “Beliefs are a choice and choices can be changed.”

I’m into it.

You know why? Because I think that so many of the current and aspiring entrepreneurs that I interact with every single day struggle with the belief that they can actually do this.

It’s not always obvious but doubts about ability plague a lot of people who are launching and growing their own businesses.

Don’t believe me?

Listen to the things you say to yourself, whether out loud or in your head. There’s a good chance you’ll see a pattern there. You’ll see that you are doubting yourself in big and small ways.

“I didn’t go to fashion school.” = “I may not have the design chops to make this happen.”

“I didn’t go to business school.” = “I can’t really get a fashion business off the ground.”

“I’m not good with money.” = “I can’t possibly keep a business afloat.”

“I’m a bad writer.” = “I can’t do this whole content marketing thing.”

“I don’t have enough time.” = “I’m not capable of prioritizing and focusing.”

These statements, and so many more like them, are beliefs that you have formed. And these beliefs directly impact if and how you launch and grow your fashion business.

If you let these beliefs stick around, you are inviting yourself to give up. You are giving yourself all the reasons why your fashion business won’t work. You are also ingraining in yourself a habit of believing the worst to be true.

But, if you take Marie’s advice and remind yourself that beliefs are a choice and choices can be changed, then you start to believe that yes, you can actually do this. You start to realize that all the things you believe you can’t do, can be done. You start to figure out how to do the things you need to do, rather than allowing yourself to believe that you can’t do them.

Your beliefs about yourself are one of the most powerful parts of reaching your goals as well as accomplishing more in life. If you can remind yourself that you get to choose what you believe, the impact on your life will be mind-blowing.

Lots of love and encouragement,

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Nicole Giordano

Nicole is the founder of StartUp FASHION, an online resource and community supporting for independent designers around the world with building their businesses. A deep love for the craft of fashion paired with an adamant belief that success is defined by the individual, led her to found StartUp FASHION, where she helps independent designers and makers screw the traditional fashion business rules, create their own paths, and build businesses they truly love. More than anything else, she’s in the business of encouragement and works every day to remind makers and designers that they have something special to offer the world and that they can, in fact, do this thing!