Fashion Business Owner Musings: Don’t Worry About Business Copycats

spacerWhenever I speak about the importance of putting yourself out there before you even have a product created, I inevitably get asked about business copycats.

What if someone copies my idea?

What if I share what I’m doing and someone beats me to it?

Isn’t that a huge risk?

Here’s the thing about copycats: they can’t do it how you do it.

Take it from me. I have had many people in the field of “business advice for independent brands” copy exactly what I do and say. Honestly, the amount of Instagram posts alone that copy the words I say, in the format I say them, and attempt to mimic my voice, is laughable.

I say “laughable” because no one can be me. Just like I can’t be anyone else. And if I started to try to mimic my competitors, my fashion business would crumble. Because whether you like me or don’t like me, it’s your feeling about me that determines if you want to read my blog posts, receive my emails, or join my membership community.

And this is true for you too.

Unless you really have a patent-able product (most fashion products do not fall into that category), no one can really “steal” from you. They can’t copy your brand, your business, and your overall personality successfully.

That’s why I talk about the importance of having a brand personality and using it, always.

Because this is the thing that makes you, you.

It’s the thing that makes you more than just another fashion brand.

And it’s the thing that makes it so totally impossible for a copycat to steal your potential customers.

Customers are attracted (or not attracted) to your brand as much as they are (or aren’t) to your product. When you use your brand to distinguish who you are and what you stand for, business copycats become irrelevant.

Because once they try to start copying that, they become that person who always agrees with everyone and never has an opinion of their own. That person with whom friendships never last because it’s impossible to make a true connection.

Let the copycats be that person if they want to. You be you.

And watch whose business is the one to thrive.

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!

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