I didn’t expect my job search process to take so long. I didn’t even expect myself to go through this process because I thought I would go straight into full time Real Estate salesperson work since I got my license last July. Nonetheless, I began this journey, and am now still deciding if I want to enter the Fashion related industry or go back to Real Estate… It will more or less depend on what the results of my last interview is, in two weeks times. I still continue to trust in God to provide the best way and career for me. đ
I have been home most of the time during this holiday, if I am not out meeting my friends for lunch, coffee and movie or church related activities.
Recently I began to watch documentaries on Youtube channel “My Shocking Story” and have been so inspired by the families and individuals who didn’t let their handicap or disabilities let them down! I am so inspired to want to live my life to the fullest as well.
I have also been doing a fair bit of reading. I’ve finished reading and or gleaming through a handful of books on Emotionally Intelligence. Did you know that we first FEEL in our brains before we THINK and rationalize? That’s why every decision we’ve ever made was first based emotionally before rationally. And therefore it is important to let ourselves cool down and take time to think through before we make big decisions in life. Also, when we are in conflicts, to breath deeply to allow our rational mind to think clearly before we act or react based on our emotions which often can be reckless.
Recently finished reading this handy book based on the life of young Thai businessman who is the founder of Tao Kae Noi, a famous fried seaweed brand. The book and his life is inspiring because he is innovative, saw every problem as an opportunity to overcome and develop his business to become bigger.
It is stories like his that inspires me.
I want to become someone like Tao Kae Noi founder, but there are also many things holding me back, fear of failure, lack of resources, fear of lack of discipline, consistency and perseverance. That is why I want to first overcome all these fears with work experiences and gain the network and experiences and successes before I will embark on my own business and projects with hopefully the right partners that God will send.
Giorgio Armani, the man touted to be both a brilliant designer & businessman.
For the last 3 years I’ve been studying Fashion Marketing and Management in LASALLE College of the Arts, under the degree title BA(Hons) Fashion Media & Industries.
When people ask me about what I study and I reply “Fashion Management (sometimes adding & Marketing)”.
They will almost always react with a “Wow! ?!”
And followed by, “So what is that?” or “What exactly do you study?”
Well, so my blog post today is to answer and clarify what Fashion Management and Marketing Studies is exactly! This way, you also have a better idea of what I have been doing for the last 3 years and where my skills, knowledge and specialization lies. đ
Usually I will answer in a nutshell that Fashion Management & Marketing is the basically Business Marketing studies but specific to the Fashion industry and we also study Fashion theories, history, trends, creative direction and graphic design.
But to be more specific, the modules I have taken in the last three years include:
Marketing,
Advertising,
Cultural and Contextual Studies in Fashion (Fashion theories, history, academic research and writing),
Branding,
Integrated Marketing Communications,
Visualization and Presentation (both digital and traditional, i.e. drawing by hand, softwares like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign),
Finance (Budgeting, Financial Proposals)
Visual Merchandising,
Entrepreneurship,
Project Management,
Product Development,
Fashion Retail,
International Fashion Marketing
& Studio for putting our soft skills & knowledge into practical proposals such as Concept stores and Brands.
It is tough to define what Fashion Management and Marketing is exactly, but I have googled and found two pretty decent answers:
Fashion management is the promotion of apparel sales and involves all of the tasks necessary to deliver the clothing requests and meet the needs of potential customers and designers. Developing campaigns, displays and advertisements, directing manufacturing and marketing, and creating sales strategies are the various parts of Fashion management. Credits here.
Fashion marketing is much the same as product marketing. Integrating brand into the product is something always popular in the fashion world for many popular retail fashion wares. Basically fashion marketing is marketing to either fashion conscious consumers or to distribution channels such as retail franchises and so forth. Credits here.
So you may ask, why did I decide to study something as specific as Fashion Marketing and Management?
The reasons are simple, I love Fashion and I discovered after JC (Junior College) that I was more interested in the Business of Fashion rather than design. Also I really love branding, design and marketing. Also back then, after JC, I thought I wanted to be a Fashion Buyer. But over the last four years I have changed my mind.
I am not exactly sure yet what I am going to do or be in the near and distant future, if it will be directly related to Fashion or not, but I am quite sure that the skills and knowledge that I have picked up over the last 3 years will still be relevant wherever I may be.
You may also ask, so what are the Career prospects of Fashion Marketing and Management studies?
The typical ones will be, but not limited to:
Retail Manager
Stylist
Visual Merchandiser
Fashion Buyer
Public Relations Manager
Human Resource Manager
Production Manager
Fashion Journalist
Entrepreneur of Fashion Brand/Label/Marketing firm/Fashion related business
So now that you have a better idea of what Fashion Management and Marketing is, you might wanna check out the works I’ve done in Year 2, from August 2011-April 2012:
National Achievers Congress 2012 was eye opening to say the least.
The reason I signed up for the course was to hear Robert Kiyosaki speak, as did most of the crowd. I will side track a little here. The author of âRich Dad Poor Dadâ, the financial self help book that has liberated thousands of children from the âPoor Dadâ mentality to achieve the âRich Dadâ mentality. I am one of them. I was recommended by my real estate mentor to read the book so that I will be motivated to own my own business instead of working for others and the book definitely served that purpose. I would definitely recommend everyone to read this book as one of your first steps to financial freedom. It might be common sense to most people but he does have some unique insights that will blow your mind.
There were a total of 17 speakers and I attended about 11 of their talks. See http://www.nacsingapore.com/speakers/Â for the full list of speakers. For the price of $37 (discounted price) for my stall ticket, I would say it was definitely worth it, to hear some of the worldâs best speakers talk about their life and business, and gaining the wisdom and experience they imparted.
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Some of the best takeaways from the 3 day congress:
Bill Walsh World Renowned Speaker⨠– Successful Entrepreneur⨠– Marketing Expert –  Venture Capitalist and Business Coach⨠– Radio, Internet and Television Celebrity
Schedule your success or you plan your failure.
Figure where the worlds going and get there first.
Focus = Follow one course until successful.
Busy = Broke. Billionaires delegate everything.
People that chase money stay broke.
Tips for a 30 seconds introduction:
Don’t talk about yourself. Let the experts talk – learning not just listening. And then follow these steps:
1. Pay a genuine compliment.
2. 90/10 rule. Them vs You.
3. Create value first and expect nothing in return.
4. Deliver.
Goal is to get them to ask you what you do, so they develop an interest in you.
Nik is the founder and CEO of Financial Freedom Institute, Money Masters Global, The ThrillionairesÂŽ and iCoach Global. He is a global wealth strategist, successful entrepreneur, international speaker, astronaut, high adrenalin adventurer and best-selling author.
If you do not start to make plans or goals for your future, you will automatically fall into someone else’s plan.
Investor is someone who knows ROI (return of investment) upfront on day one and is thus not a speculator.
Stock market is a platform to transfer wealth of uneducated to the educated. (This is such a sad but true fact.)
Deborah Patel Deborah Torres Patel is Asiaâs Leading Voice & Presentation Coach and expert trainer on Singapore Channel 5âs “Villa Wellness” reality programme and guest star on “Spirit of Service”. She began singing, dancing and acting professionally at age 4 and shared the stage with celebrities like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, Kool & the Gang, the legendary Platters, and the late Sammy Davis Jr. & Milton Berle.
Change focus from making money to serving people. Serving people makes the money come in. (My mentor has this to add, the money may or may not come in if you do what you love, at least you love what you do.)
Ability to make simple engaging conversation makes the difference from good to great communication.
Eve Michaels Professional image consultant. She has got to be one of the best looking grandmothers around and doesnât look her age (60) !
Change I got to – to – I get to – from an attitude of Drudgery to an act of love
âA strong leader is both hard headed and soft hearted.â – Dave Packard.
Commit to be a Top Performer
Remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of success goes to 20 % of people.
It’s not what job you have but how you perform that matters!
Integrity is your foundation
Always strive to do the right thing.
Commit to do what you say
Successful business is built around trust and reputation. It’s a huge part of success.
If you like, you can download the full set of notes I took here:Â NAC 2012 Notes.
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No doubt a lot of them came across as infomercials rather than informative talks. Obviously I didnât cite them in this post, I only took notes for those that were constructive. The norm would be about 15 minutes of introduction followed by 45 minutes of speech with a handful of interesting information and then 30 minutes of course or program promotion with a list of recommendations to boost their credibility and popularity.
It was pretty heady to see the response from the crowd when some the more successful or popular speakers are able to garner hundreds of responses from the 3000 strong crowd to sign up for their extended courses priced from a range of $1400 to $3000. It was obviously their spectacular marketing skills put to use and yet it seemed that some of crowd was oblivious they were taken in by all the glitz and show. No doubt some of the courses would be useful to their companies and careers but spending a few thousand dollars on course is no guarantee that that will boast your sales or revenue. Well unless, said business is raking in by the thousands and possibly millions than I reckon the fee would be a reasonable/affordable sum.
For a more detailed explanation do refer to this blog authorâs post titled “National Achievers Congress, A Scam?” here.
Nonetheless, for 5 students (I went along with 4 other peers) with little or no income at all it was a pretty surprising and oddly impressive sight.
My take on attending Finance/Self help courses would be this. Only pay for it if you are clear on what you will receive and if you feel it is of value to you. If you have doubts, then donât go for it. Although the onus is on the trainerâs side to provide what they deliver, sometimes certain things are left intentionally unclear, like loopholes and it is also the consumerâs responsibility to be discerning.
In summary, don’t let anything stop your life long education journey. Keep on learning, reading and exposing yourself to new ideas. Absorb like a sponge and then take time to process the information and decide what to take action on! (:
