[Lesson 3] Revealing your strengths + what makes you unique

Hi! Welcome back to Thriving as Fashion Creative!

Lesson three is all about revealing your strengths and what makes you different, so you figure out a unique way to pour them into your business.

Are you ready?

Your strengths + uniqueness are all yours.

Now that you know how important it is to own who you are, is time to reveal all of those fascinating + strongest strengths so you can put all of them to use.

Some people, sometimes, try to be someone who is not as we saw in the last lesson, and other people strive to focus on things that aren’t within the realm of their strengths. That makes them fight and struggle against something that frustrates + overwhelms + drains them rather than flow with what’s natural to them.

I see this all the time.

Designers who want to create their line by themselves from A to Z, when sewing + pattern-making aren’t their true strengths.

And illustrators who make it hard on themselves trying to draw realistically when that style doesn’t fit them, and when they only want to do it because they think that high-end magazines and brands will look at them.

The designer could stop striving to make something that she doesn’t enjoy that much, and instead she could focus all her time and energy on the design stage of her line + her concept + her branding + dream customers. And let the production stage to people whom strengths are pattern-making + sample-making + sewing.

And the illustrator could stop freaking out about drawing realistically, if that’s something she doesn’t really enjoy, because magazines and brands are looking for new + authentic + different.

I’m not telling you that you should stop learning and that you shouldn’t learn + practice + improve any other new skill along your journey. Learning + practicing are wonderful ways to grow personally and professionally. But, I’m telling you that you should stop doing what you don’t enjoy, what makes it hard for you to focus on the good things of your business, and what’s a real struggle.

It’s important to focus ONLY or MAINLY on your strengths because it’ll make everything easier + faster + more enjoyable to you.

Besides, your business won’t be all over the place if you’re trying to do something that isn’t your forté.

Of course, I know it’ll be harder to apply this when you’re just starting out, but it’s key that you begin acknowledging your strengths so that you can start delegating the things you’re not strong at and the things you don’t enjoy as you grow your business.

Let’s reveal your strengths

In this course, we’ll focus on both kinds of strengths: professional and personal.

 

Professional Strengths

As professional strengths consider each and every one of your talents and skills – I know you’re super talented + skilled, and it’s time you give yourself credit for your awesomeness, so don’t be shy and write down all your strengths.

Use your worksheets to dig deeper, and remember that surface answers don’t count, put your heart into it 😉

• I’m good as a fashion creative because:
• In other jobs I’ve been good at:
• I’m qualified to do:
• I excel at:

Personal Strengths

As personal strengths consider each and every single of your personality traits + qualities + quirks.

These personal strengths are what will give life to your business; they’ll add the human factor to your brand, and they’ll let your dream clients and fans that there’s a real person behind your business.

• Some of my best qualities are:
• Personality traits that I like + can use in my business are:
• Behaviours + habits that I receive praise for are:
• Qualities that I can start seeing with a positive perspective:

 

Your strengths in your business

Now it’s time to play a little with how you want to use your strengths in your business.

Maybe you’re awesome at photography, and you can run your own product photo shoots.

Maybe you’re fantastic with numbers, and you can take care of your financial stuff.

Or maybe you love inspiring and motivating people, and you want to create a stationery brand where inspiration + motivation are part of your values.

How do you want to use your personal + professional strengths within your business? How do you think these strengths can make your business different + unique?

What makes you unique

From your inner research of last lesson + today’s exercise try to synthesize what makes you truly unique.

• What haven’t you seen in other people? What differentiates from your family, friends, and other fashion creatives?
• What do you feel it’s your essence?
• How would you like to infuse your essence in your business?

For example, my essence as Karen is:

I love empowering people, I care about them + their dreams, and I always encourage them to love where they are while they create a better life for themselves.

That’s exactly what I’m determined to do here in Fashion Step-by-Step. As a fashion creative, I want to ensure my clients feel and know that I take care of them, and that their projects + plans are important for me. And through my work, there’s always a sense of loving the present (who we are) and working to be more (become the best version of ourselves).

Dig deeper

Follow the exercises and worksheets and dive deep into your strengths, what makes you unique, and how you can make your business stronger + more special by infusing it with your strengths + uniqueness.

You can dig deeper into your strengths by taking a personality type test, my favorite is the one from Myers + Briggs in the 16 personalities site. I recommend you to take the test AFTER you do the exercise in this lesson, and then compare the test results with your own insights.

Then, hop on the community, and tell us what you found out. And feel free to share your doubts + ah-ha moments + challenges.

LESSON 2

LESSON 4