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This is a show for burnt-out fashion designers (and TDs, PDs, patternmakers and beyond) who want more flexibility while still doing work they love. As a freelance fashion designer, you can build your fashion career on your own terms. Freelancing in fashion is the only way to get freedom in your day (instead of being tied to a desk). Whether you want to earn extra money on the side, fund your fashion brand, or replace your salary, the FDGP podcast will help you get there. Listen in for actionable tips and strategies to kickstart or grow your career as a freelance fashion designer, build your confidence, and create the life you want. Hosted by $100k+ fashion freelancer Sew Heidi, the show features interviews and strategy sessions with successful freelance fashion designers from around the world who've ditched toxic fashion jobs and taken control of their own destinies. This is the only place to get REAL insights from REAL freelancers who have built REAL careers on their own terms. (Formerly the Successful Fashion Freelancer podcast.)
Heidi [00:00:00]:
Did you know that you can build relationships with factories so that they funnel clients to you on autopilot? We have many fast students who've done it. This is a quick clip from a strategy session with one of our fast track students, Marco Bruni, who had just gone back from a trade show where he connected with a bunch of factories. He wasn't sure he should follow-up with them right away because he didn't have any clients that needed their services at that exact moment. But I told him he should absolutely follow-up and start building the relationship. We walked through exactly what he can say in an email to them, how he can ask for work without asking for work, and use what I call the backdoor brag strategy. It can work really well. If you are connecting with factories, there's no reason you shouldn't be building those relationships and potentially getting work from them. Here's how you can do that.
Heidi [00:00:44]:
Quick disclaimer on this recording is I was doing this when the middle of my cross country move, and I did not have my nice microphone set up for the strategy session. But I know their conversation was so valuable. I still wanted to share it on the podcast. So you might notice the difference in my audio quality than what you normally hear on the podcast, but I think you will still find the content worth it. Cool? Cool. Let's get
Heidi [00:01:06]:
to it. Alright. Do you have a plan, like, follow-up with all these people and, like, connect and etcetera?
Marco Bruni [00:01:12]:
Yeah. I did a few with some of the people that I've, I connected with. There was also, like, a brand that was there, one of the brands that I talked to, and they just happened to be based at Vancouver also. So I reached out already. I'm waiting to to get, like, a connection request from that yet. Mhmm. And then there was, like, there was a few, like, factories that with this current client that I need to release or kinda settle down with. I did look at a few things with them just to like it also helped me because I was, like, this factory isn't, like, the factory that my current client has isn't very good.
Marco Bruni [00:01:48]:
They don't know how to do flat bot teams very well. So for me, it was easy to just go to sourcing or to go to the factors and be like, hey, like, how do you actually do your flatlock seams? Like, how do you do this? How do you do and it was even if I'm not necessarily gonna give this client that information which I should, it's good for me to, like, have that in my back pocket. So I might not reach out to those people immediately, or what do you think? Is it worth it? Or
Heidi [00:02:15]:
Why would you not reach out to them immediately? I have some thoughts.
Marco Bruni [00:02:19]:
That's a good okay. My But I don't want to walk. Because like I don't The reason why I would use them is if I can schmooze this client to look into them, like, how do I how do I put this? The way that I would no, but I should still make a connection with them. I was gonna say yeah.
Heidi [00:02:45]:
It doesn't mean you shouldn't connect.
Marco Bruni [00:02:47]:
Okay.
Heidi [00:02:48]:
So Okay. Like, I my guess would be that they might remember you as, like, the guy like, nobody remembers people's names because they talk with so many people. Right? So they might remember you as, like, the guy who talked about the flatlock same problem. Right? Like, that's kind of a specific enough thing. And if you talked about anything else really specific with them, then you could bring that up in an introduction message as well. But what I I mean, I would I would do, like I've referenced this before, but, like, a backdoor brag, like, Jenna from 30 Rock.
Marco Bruni [00:03:30]:
Okay.
Heidi [00:03:30]:
And I would if you're familiar, I would email them, and I would say, like, hey, so great to chat with you. We talked about this and this. Like jog their memory. And then be, like, the client I'm currently working with the client that's currently having this issue, you could fabricate
Heidi [00:04:00]:
some reason that feels true enough as to why
Heidi [00:04:02]:
they're not currently gonna move to them. Like, you know, we we can't we're not we can't really afford to interrupt production right at the moment, but we're keeping you in mind. And I'd love to keep you in mind for future clients as well. For reference, I I wanted to send along one of my tech packs, so you can see how I spec everything in regards to the flatlock seams, etcetera.
Marco Bruni [00:04:27]:
Right.
Heidi [00:04:29]:
And then my guess would be that perhaps they might write back to say something to the extent of, like, great. Thank you so much. Also, really great tech pack. Like, I'm sure your tech packs are way better than a lot of tech packs that they see.
Marco Bruni [00:04:45]:
Yeah.
Heidi [00:04:46]:
Right? And then or I'm trying to think, like, in that first outreach. I'm I'm not sure any type of, like, call to action on their side, like, to them of, like, oh, by the way, if you ever have clients that need tech packs, like, I don't I know I'm not sure that's gonna feel right. It's gonna feel like, oh, that was the whole angle of this email.
Marco Bruni [00:05:14]:
Totally. Like a sale. Yeah.
Heidi [00:05:17]:
Like, you just, like, turn the sale around on them. So I don't think any type of call to action is gonna feel good, but I think but I think especially since you specifically referenced you're having trouble with flatlock seams, which is a specific technical call out and construction component that, like, you showing them, like, this is how I have it called out, and this is how I have a spec in the tech pack. So you can see it's very clear and, you know, I just wanted to send that over for reference. And then if, you know, they might come back, you you might just get the conversation started. You know, in a dream world, they come back and they're like, oh my gosh, your tech cards are amazing, and then, you know, conversation gets started, and they're like, we are some of our clients have horrible tech packs, like, you should help them or something. Right? Like, that would be a dream. That may or may not happen. But I I don't see any reason not to go in quickly with, like, hey.
Heidi [00:06:14]:
Thanks so much for chatting and your time. I really appreciate that. You know, I'm chatting with my current client, and we'll definitely keep you in mind for future clients, etcetera. Like, insinuating.
Marco Bruni [00:06:27]:
Yeah.
Heidi [00:06:28]:
You can always insinuate that you're bigger than you are. Right? And then dropping that tech pack in there, you know.
Marco Bruni [00:06:35]:
It's big.
Heidi [00:06:36]:
Okay. It's a backdoor brag.
Marco Bruni [00:06:38]:
Yeah. I like I like that. I did and I did I did watch that that, the video that you that you did with that and that's such a good point. Like you're not literally saying hey, look at my sick tech or tech bags, something else, then they just literally see that. That's brilliant.
Heidi [00:06:54]:
Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I that's what I would do. I see no reason to not reach out.
Marco Bruni [00:07:03]:
Okay. I'll do that then. I have I have my I got a free little bag these people gave me, and this is where my this is where my business cards and things are right now. Perfect.
Heidi [00:07:12]:
And I
Marco Bruni [00:07:13]:
wrote a little notes down for each one to remember them by, So I
Heidi [00:07:16]:
Okay. Great. So you have, like, specific talking points. Okay. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I I would follow-up with everybody.
Marco Bruni [00:07:24]:
Okay. I
Heidi [00:07:25]:
would find a reason to follow-up with everybody.
Marco Bruni [00:07:29]:
Okay.
Heidi [00:07:29]:
Even if nothing else just to say thank you.
Heidi [00:07:31]:
It was nice to chat with you about this thing.
Heidi [00:07:34]:
And I really appreciate your time, and I'll keep you in mind for future needs with my clients or something like that. And then I would also be mindful that, like, your signature, if you're reaching out via email versus, like, a LinkedIn message, connection request with a message, which you could also do. But if you're reaching out via email, I would be thoughtful about what your email signature is. Right? Like, there's your opportunity to, like, have a call to action. It's not a call to action. Right? Like, freelance, technical designer, specializing in I don't know. Like, we can, you know, we can bounce through that back and forth right now if you want. Because I know you haven't fully refined that, but, like and you can name it you you can even get a little selfish with, like, oh, I know they work with lifestyle and brands.
Heidi [00:08:33]:
So you could be, like, for instance, technical designer for lifestyle and activewear brands. Right? Or, like, you know, they if you think there's, like, an in her tech packs, you I mean, you know, you can switch it up a little bit to kind of cater towards, like, within reason, you know, you're not gonna be like, oh, a freelance knitwear designer. I know you're not a knitwear designer, but, like, you know, I think you can. And if anything, like, you know, crazy scenario, like, if anything ever comes out about it because 2 people get in the same I mean, they're not gonna that's never gonna happen. But, like, people I feel like would worry about that. So, right, it's just sort of like, well, oh, you know, I was just kind of still figuring my niche out, and I was changing it up here and there. Like, it's nothing.
Marco Bruni [00:09:16]:
Yeah. That makes totally sense. That total sense.
Heidi [00:09:18]:
Yeah. Right? Yeah. So you
Marco Bruni [00:09:20]:
So then, like, each email, like, each person that I reach out to in a sense have, like, a slightly different, email signature in a way.
Heidi [00:09:29]:
It doesn't have to. It doesn't have to, but it could. It could if you think that one angle might work better for this factory versus this angle might work better for that factory.
Marco Bruni [00:09:42]:
Okay.
Heidi [00:09:43]:
If I mean, that's, like, a real tiny nuance. But I would definitely have in there, like, freelance technical designer, and then, like, you know, maybe, like, the 3 things you're doing, like, with a they call it the pipe in between. It could be, like, tech packs, pipe, pattern, drafting, and grading pipe. And then I don't know, like, what the, you know, what the third thing might be. Something to think about, you know, product development. Right? Because then if nothing else, you're telling the factory or the contact on the other side that you do these things without telling them that you do these things, you know?
Marco Bruni [00:10:22]:
Totally. I love that. I love that. That's so good. So good. And it's such a good way of not, like like you said, and, like, the big thing I feel like, like, if I didn't if I wasn't part of this, this community, part of you offering this advice the whole time that I would be thinking about like offering services, I would just think about I'm selling myself and as a person that's being sold to, it's frustrating. It's annoying having people constantly down your throat. So seeing this in, like, a different way where you can do it without throwing it down is huge.
Heidi [00:10:54]:
Mhmm. Yeah. You're not, like, pitching the factory, like, hey, if you have any clients that need tech packs, like, that's not the fucking email they wanna get. They, you know, wanna hear that they've you appreciated their time and and ideally, it would be great if you could get your client to move over there. Like, sometimes that is a little bit out of your control for sure. But maybe it does wind up being a really great factory, and you do ultimately have a client or 2 down the road that you can pair up with them, then that's that's an awesome win win for everybody. But I think, like, the initial contact, like, you wanna lead with value for them.
Marco Bruni [00:11:36]:
Yeah.
Heidi [00:11:37]:
You wanted to feel valuable for them and that, like, you're doing this for them, not for you.