The fashion industry is diverse with many sub-sectors within its value and supply chains. The more famous sub-sector is fashion design. Wherever God has called you, the following steps are critical to planning, organizing and managing your Kingdom fashion business to ensure good success.
Meeting God’s Need
The first and most important factor to be critically aware of is understanding how to meet God’s need. You’re not in the fashion industry to make a name for yourself, though your name will eventually be known. Neither are you in the fashion industry to become rich, though you will get rich.
You’re divinely called into the fashion industry primarily to meet God’s need. God’s need is the establishment of His Kingdom, will and righteousness in the earth.
But seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
Your primary purpose is to establish the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then your name will be great, your brand will flourish and you will receive power to get wealth. Many Christians struggle in their fashion business because they want to be like Gucci, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Nike or any of the other big brands in the world. God has His own success template for His children.
The principles of the world will not work in the Kingdom and trying to mix and match will also result in failure. You can’t use some Kingdom principles and some worldly principles and become a successful brand. What is required is that you master the Kingdom principles.
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. (2 Timothy 2:4-5 NIV)
The person who doesn’t know the laws, keys and principles of success in the Kingdom, will work hard like a donkey and still not achieve success. Life is not just about working hard but working smart by understanding the laws (keys) of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 16:19).
Settle it in your mind first, that you’re not an ordinary human being and you’re not here to run an ordinary business. You will need the help of the Holy Spirit every minute of your business operation. He is your senior business partner. Success in the world is very different from success in the Kingdom.
In the world it’s all about amassing stuff, the abundance of things that you own, whether it’s wealth, fame or influence. That’s the end goal. Not so in the Kingdom, wealth, fame and influence are but a means to an end. Dr. Myles Munroe said, “success is the fulfillment of the purpose and assignment for which you were created. Life is measured by why God created you, not what you’ve done.”
Success is not what you have done compared to what others have done. Why, because you’ll always find someone better than you and lower than you. Success is what you have done compared to what you were created to do. God measures success based on Jeremiah 29:11, the predestined future and mark ahead of you that you’re supposed to reach.
You’re called to be apostolic in your fashion business (pioneering and on the cutting-edge), you have to be prophetic (able to travel into the future and pull it to now), evangelistic (fashion is a platform for winning people to Christ), pastoral and apt to teach (fashion is a powerful tool to teach and disciple the nations. Satan knows this and has exploited the fashion industry to destroy many souls. It’s time to turn the tables).
The Example of Moses
To reproduce heaven on earth is our big mission. As it is in heaven, so let it be done on earth. When God wanted to institute a means by which His children would worship Him on the earth as it is done in heaven, He gave Moses the blueprint for the tabernacle as it was in heaven (Exodus 25:9).
Part of the blueprint was the dressing that was to be worn by the high priest and the other priests in service to God and men before the tabernacle. There are several points we can glean from that story.
- There is a protocol to dressing.
- You don’t dress anyhow and appear before God.
- There is a dress code in heaven.
- God was the designer of the clothes worn by the high priest and the other priests.
- There are design inspirations that only God can give.
- Clothes are more than a covering for nakedness and provision of comfort and security, clothes are designed based on divine purpose and identity of the wearer.
- As a person called into the fashion industry, you must first find out God’s need that He wants to meet through your Kingdom fashion business.
Have a Clear Vision
That idea that you have in your heart and mind, it is God’s vision and it needs proper and clear articulation. It is God who is at work in you both to will and to do (Philippians 2:13). Your work is to cooperate with God and to do your part. God has the blueprint of what He has called you to do. You receive it and work it out with fear and trembling because all of our works will be tested by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13-14).
Your work is to diligently seek Him in order to understand the vision and put it down in writing. Your vision may be clear from day one, or you could receive it over a period of time. The important thing is to engage God about it in prayer, research more about what you already know, meditate about it. Put it down in writing as you receive understanding and then take time to go over it and re-organize what you have written in a logical sequence – in other words, make it plain.
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Habakuk 2:2)
Don’t be scared to write the big thing that God has shown you. It doesn’t have to make sense to your mind. All that’s required is that you record whatever God has shown you, understanding will increase like the brightness of the rising sun with time.
Perform SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis is important in helping you to understand your current status and what you need in order to get started. Here, you will analyze your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14:28)
Strengths: Most of the time we underestimate our strengths to our detriment. Sometimes we don’t even realize we have a particular strength until someone mentions it to us. It is important to know the gifts and talents that God has bestowed upon you. After all, it’s your gift that’s supposed to make room for you and bring you before kings. If you don’t know your gifts then how will you mine and refine them to profitability?
List down your strengths and also note how you can make use of them in your business. Are you gifted in design, sewing, customer relations, marketing, management, strategy, fashion forecasting, fabric design and sourcing, merchandising, image consultancy and styling, fashion journalism, etc.
Weaknesses: These are areas where you need the strengths of other people. They’re not really weaknesses but an opportunity to benefit from other peoples’ areas of expertise. You can’t work out every aspect of your vision all by yourself. You may be the visionary like Moses and need the craftmanship skills of Bezaleel and Aholiab to make the garments and the other articles (Exodus 36:1-2).
List the skills gap that you have so that you know what kind of people you will need to hire or work with as you start and continue to grow your business. For example, if you’re not very good with marketing, you may need help with social media marketing, website design, branding, etc.
Opportunities: Opportunities often come dressed in overalls and we miss it. Believe you me, there are opportunities all around. There are those that are obvious and there are those that are hidden. There are those that are easy to get and there are those that require an extra effort.
You can start with the low hanging fruit. These ones don’t require much effort and still bring you returns. When you’re starting out, the small business victories serve as motivation and learning opportunities to test out your systems and structures.
Always be on the lookout for the various types of opportunities. It is here that you may strike success by discovering a niche that’s not crowded – a blue ocean reserved for you. When your skills are well refined and the opportunity presents itself, you enter the convergence zone where you become a principality in that area.
Threats: Never ever have the arrival mentality. Many businesses have faltered and failed because the owner(s) thought they had reached the pinnacle and became careless. In business, there’s always the next level through innovation.
Stay on the cutting edge of the developments taking place in you, around you and globally. Stay alert spiritually and in constant fellowship with your senior business partner. The Covid-19 pandemic caught many of us unprepared. There should not be a repeat of that again for you.
There’s an enemy on the prowl and he manifests his wickedness in various forms and avenues. Threats can include an illness, supply chain disruptions, theft, changes in law governing your nation or the business sector, undermining by competitors or unjust staff member(s), new competing products/services, technology disruptions, changes in buyer behavior, etc.
Stay ahead of the curve and adapt earlier or faster. You can also be the disruptor who brings change in the market with a new innovation. Be ahead just like you’re called to be the head and not the tail. Remember your senior business partner is also there to show you things before they happen.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:13)
Systems and Structures
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4 NIV)
Systems and structures are what you use as a wise master builder to guide your business to growth and posterity. Structures are the various human resource capabilities that you will need to manage the systems. Your human resource act as pillars in your business ensuring the organization stands firmly through an effective governance and administrative system.
Systems and structures are necessary from day one of your business even if you’re the only employee as you start out. Some systems can be automated so that your time is freed up to focus on your business core. For example, having an ecommerce website can help you in marketing, sales, payment processing, customer service and communication, among others.
Your SWOT analysis will guide you in knowing the kind of skilled personnel you will require and the kind and level of systems you’ll need to effectively manage and run your business. These things when done early and in the right manner will save you time, money and a lot of headaches from issues that arise.
When you have standards and procedures, onboarding new employees become easy, production delays are minimized, customer conflicts are resolved faster and expectations are clear for all parties from the onset.
Start
Nothing happens until you get started, it’s that simple. There’s no magic in the Kingdom, even miracles are worked. You have your part to play that nobody can do for you, not even God. So, start where you’re with what you have, even if it’s a pen and a notebook. After all everything starts from an idea.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:22 NIV)
Kindly note that, you will experience plenty of setbacks and challenges but as long as your faith in God is intact, then all things will work together for your good (Romans 8:28). The peace of God will guard your heart and mind (Philippians 4:7). This will require you to build your faith and live by faith daily. You must have an unwavering trust in God and lean on Him especially when the challenges come.
Take the advice that God gave to Joshua in the book of Joshua 1:8 and you’ll surely enter into your promised land, defeat the giants and enjoy the milk and honey.
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HELP
In case you need help in articulating your unique God-given vision, we offer an affordable consultancy service to help you gain clarity of vision and the custom action steps you can take to work it out. Find the details here.
Remember, you’re here to meet God’s need first.
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