One of the projects that I am working on is a graphic clothing company called Hold Fast Army with my two partners Cam Kallos and Cory Monteith. We started designing t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and womens underwear about two years ago, and have had some success, but with little structure to the business. We took a break from it for the last six months or so, but have gotten back to business recently.
Last week I arranged a meeting to show some clothing samples to the manger and buyer for a store called Freedom in Victoria BC. The meeting went well, and the store picked up five of our designs. For this run of shirts we pulled from our own pockets to pay for the stock, but in the future, once we've show some profitability, we will approach investors to cover our costs.
This brings me to my next point. Back when I had first started exploring the world of clothing design and manufacturing I had started writing a business plan to help give our business some direction. The plan creations got set aside when we took time away from the business, but now that we are rolling again getting a solid plan on paper seems even more essential.
I read an article today in Entrepreneur magazine about whether business plans are still needed or valid. The author argued that in a study of 800 business start-ups, just as many failed with a business plan, than without. I think the real focus should be on following through with plans and objectives, whether written down or not. For us and our business, I am going to take my chances on a written business plan, but one based more on tangible plans and goals, rather than just financial projections that are often nothing more than educated guesses and estimations. I will hopefully be done the plan in the next few weeks, and may post parts of it on here.
That's all for today.
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