270: From Laid Off to Fully Booked: How Bre Replaced Her Salary in Under 2 Years

Imagine getting laid off—and 18 months later, you’re making more than your old job and booked solid into next year. That’s exactly what happened to today’s guest, Bre Simpson. After a series of life-shaking events, Bre decided she was never going to depend on corporate again. In this episode, she shares how she rebuilt from zero to a thriving freelance business, the scrappy steps that landed her first $250 project, and the systems that now bring her 5‑figure clients. Her story is proof that even when everything falls apart, you can rebuild something even stronger.

About Bre:
Bre Simpson is a freelance performance and activewear designer who helps new brands launch smarter, not harder. With over a decade of experience at powerhouse companies like Lululemon and Aritzia, she brings deep industry expertise to emerging and small-scale apparel brands. Bre specializes in bridging the gap between creative vision and production reality—offering corporate-level execution without the in-house overhead.

Connect with Bre:
Visit her website
Email her at [e-mail]

Follow on Instagram 

Connect on LinkedIn  

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Creators and Guests

Host

Heidi Weinberg {Sew Heidi}

Heidi (aka Sew Heidi) is a self-taught freelance fashion designer who built a six-figure business without a degree, portfolio, or industry connections. After years of burnout in the fashion industry, she went freelance—and never looked back. Now, she helps other designers ditch toxic jobs, land better clients, and build flexible careers they love. Through her podcast, courses, and resources, Heidi has helped thousands of designers take control of their fashion path and finally get paid what they’re worth.

What is Fashion Designers Get Paid: Build Your Fashion Career On Your Own Terms?

This is a show for burnt-out fashion designers (and TDs, PDs, patternmakers, textile designer and beyond) who want more flexibility in their career while still doing work they love.

You'll learn how to build a freelance fashion business, so you can do the work you love 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]:
Imagine getting laid off and 18 months later you're making more than your old job and you are booked solid as a freelancer. That's exactly what happened to today's guest, Bre Simpson. But the road there was not easy. From grief and burnout to walking away from bad fitting clients, Bre shares the unfiltered truth about what it really took to build her freelance business. In this episode, she walks us through how she went from a $250 tech pack to five figure projects. The systems behind her success and and the mindset shifts that kept her going when nothing was working. Her story is proof that even when everything falls apart, you can rebuild something even stronger. You're gonna love this episode.

Heidi [00:00:36]:
Let's get to it. All right. Welcome Bre, to the podcast. I am really excited to hear all the details about your story and learn how you have are on pace, on track. We won't fudge the numbers cause they're gonna happen soon. It's the end of October. You have two months left to finish this year, but on track to out earn your previous salary, previous in house salary in your finance business in less than two years. So I want to dig into all of that.

Heidi [00:01:04]:
I guess to start out, can you give us a high level overview of like the pacing of like. I know, I know a little bit of backstory but like left your job building up your finance business took some time. Like give us a high level overview of the pacing of what it's taken to get to where you are in the last 18 months and then we can dig into some of the nuances and details.

Bre Simpson [00:01:25]:
Yeah, totally. So I was laid off in April of 2024 and at that time was a longtime listener. And then it took me about 10 months really to kind of like go from zero to having consistent income that felt safe and secure and predictable. And now we're a year and a half in and it's safe, predictable and booking into 2026. So it's taken a year and a half. Those first 10 months were really a grind. It was really throwing a lot at the wall, seeing what sticks, seeing what worked between April. I signed up for FAST in June of that year.

Bre Simpson [00:02:06]:
So that April, May, June, I was still like very avidly listening to your podcast and a couple other ones. And then I think it was one of your webinars where you were going through. I think it was like just tools to really help. And I was like, okay, I'll listen and I'll listen in. And it's something just switched and I was like, if I'm going to invest in something, I might as well invest in myself. And so, yeah, June, I enrolled, and now here we are, like, a year and a half later, and you are.

Heidi [00:02:35]:
Like, in an amazing place. Not without a tremendous amount of hard work and challenge and pain and I'm sure some failures along the way.

Bre Simpson [00:02:41]:
Definitely. Yes, absolutely.

Heidi [00:02:43]:
Okay.

Bre Simpson [00:02:43]:
Yeah, so. But there's room to breathe now.

Heidi [00:02:46]:
Good, good. That's an amazing place to be. Can we start talking about this first 10 months and that initial building stage? Like, what did that look like? What were you working on? What were you building out? Like, what was it that you did that led to some of those first clients along those 10 months to get to the point where you were like, okay, I feel a little bit comfortable. Like, not maybe so much like panic frenzy mode, or. Not to put words in your mouth, but I imagine.

Bre Simpson [00:03:11]:
No, it definitely felt like. It absolutely felt like a frenzy. Those first couple weeks right afterwards did have a bit of a panic energy. And then that first 10 months, yeah, like I said, just a lot of, like, small building blocks to get to where I was. So, you know, I. I will give credit where credit's due. I remember talking to my dad, and he's from a corporate background his whole entire life, and he was very emphatic about, like, get your LinkedIn together, because that's the first landing place people are gonna see you. Cause at the time, I didn't have a website, and my personal.

Bre Simpson [00:03:50]:
Like, my professional Instagram wasn't really up and running. So those two avenues where people are gonna see me first were pretty lackluster. So he was like, literally the first person I called after I, like, walked out of. And he was so sweet. And a real big thing that I think was helpful was I kind of. I texted everybody. I texted everybody I could. And then within those following weeks, messaged a lot of people I could to get recommendations.

Bre Simpson [00:04:23]:
Now, you can do it through LinkedIn, which is great. You can just message someone and ask them for a recommendation. But stuff like that, folks who are going to vouch for me with whatever came next, because, you know, at that time, I didn't know if freelance was going to happen. But I did know that I needed to kind of, like, collect these references and resources. So that was a huge one. I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn looking at what other people were doing that I really admired in two ways, like, who's the competition? And, you know, what's working for them. Yeah. And I did kind of spin my wheels on that.

Bre Simpson [00:04:59]:
I think a little too hard. It's a very vulnerable place to be to look at someone who's five years down the line and now you're, you know, 10 days in, that kind of thing. But yeah, the, the LinkedIn was, was pretty critical after that. It was all those building blocks of like, yes, I just left my job, but what do I want to do, who do I want to do it for and what makes it unique, like how am I doing it that makes me special to other people. Those first couple modules in fast, like when you go through seems so simple enough, but to kind of sit down and really fine tune those levers to find what works for you, what resonates with clients takes a minute. And then on top of that, just all the small things, setting up calendly, setting up proposal documents, setting up contracts, like getting comfortable talking to customers or clients. The client research too, very uncomfortable doing that. But it really helped.

Bre Simpson [00:06:00]:
So those first 10 months, it was messy. It was really messy because I felt like I didn't have, I shouldn't say that, like I, you get to know who you are through doing those things and every step brings more clarity. But yeah, those first months was really like fine tuning this picture of who I am as a designer, how I serve people and, and what do I really bring to the table in comparison to other designers. Not that anything's better or worse, it's just who's going to fit this dynamic.

Heidi [00:06:33]:
Yeah. And so what were some of those things that you kind of like discovered about yourself or figured out about like your customer, your niche and like that you kind of mapped out in those first 10 messy months?

Bre Simpson [00:06:45]:
Yeah, I'm very good at planning. I think coming from the biggest takeaway was I have come from this corporate background where I've worked inside these billion dollar companies. So what can I take, what can I extrapolate from that and help, help startups, help new and emerging brands feel like they're getting, not feel, give them this kind of like roadmap ahead that doesn't feel so messy. So where I am maybe feeling a little bit messy in my business, I at somebody else's and say like, okay, this is great, here's how we move forward. And I think being able to speak to that plan ahead really started to resonate with people in a strong way. And then the second side of that was just the visual representation of it because we can sit here and talk all day, but that takes time, that costs money. So the actual mechanics of those proposal documents, the website, the Instagram like just getting all of that really crystal clear so people know who they're talking to before. Before the zoom screen even opens.

Heidi [00:07:46]:
Yeah. Super smart. What was the source of those first few clients as you got started in those 10 months and when did they, when did you. They start kind of trickling in?

Bre Simpson [00:07:56]:
Yeah, it's, you know, I did come up against upwork and you know, those are my first couple of clients. Like, my first tech package was 250 bucks for a men's boxer. You know, it was fine, actually. I did a lot of men's boxers at first. I think because man made was coming out so strong in the market, a lot of people thought they could follow suit. So I did do about two or three menswear products to jump in. LinkedIn now is probably the primary source of my clients. ChatGPT actually has recommended me to some.

Bre Simpson [00:08:36]:
Yeah, Google search, one or two, not nothing short Instagram. And then, you know, Behance. I don't know if anyone uses that. Yep. So a couple inquiries through there, but nothing that really stuck. Like, usually it's, you know, they, once you approach them and say, like, let's set up a time, it never really converted, but yeah, LinkedIn chat sounds like LinkedIn are my top 10.

Heidi [00:08:59]:
Okay. I love that. And so those clients started trickling in. You spend a lot of time kind of figuring out who you are, what you're doing, setting up a foundation of assets, making yourself present online, building out all those recommendations. Sounds like initially when you were reaching out to people in your network, you were primarily doing that to just get the recommendation that you could put on your LinkedIn. Is that correct?

Bre Simpson [00:09:24]:
Yep, exactly. And I have like testimonials on my website and like, what can I, what clips can I like clip out, put on a cute graphic, throw on Instagram? You know what I mean? Like, what can I do to just like, keep the conversation going? Yeah.

Heidi [00:09:38]:
Okay, cool. And so you started out, that very first project, and I love pointing this out, was $250 for a tech pack on upwork. Yeah, like in the grand scheme of things, probably didn't really compare to what you were making at your day job.

Bre Simpson [00:09:54]:
You know, I, I think, how did I price it out? I think what I did is I kind of estimated how many hours it would have taken me to do it at my desk job and then just divided my annual salary by an hourly rate and kind of went from there. You know, looking back, absolutely. Like, not, not how I would do it now, but it was great to kind of like, you Know, especially with these smaller projects, it's nice, it's okay to be messy in that space.

Heidi [00:10:26]:
Yeah, I think that's really smart. And one of the things I always talk about is like pricing is like learning how to sew. Like at some point you just have to like start and those first things are messy and maybe you have to like tear the fabric out and you just, you kind of don't know what thread or what stitches or what needle to use, etc. And it is like you learn by doing. Even with all the strategy and support and templates and coaching and resources, you still really learn by doing. And so I love that you started with that and kind of got your feet wet. You have since graduated to maybe even larger than the number I have here, but projects upwards of $10,000. The biggest one I have on my list here is a $13,000 project.

Heidi [00:11:04]:
I don't know if you've had any ones larger than that since, but just to show the growth over that time. Not in those 10 months necessarily, but in the 18 months since you've been freelancing since you left your job.

Bre Simpson [00:11:15]:
Oh yeah, totally. So for comparison. Yeah. That first tech pack, 250 bucks. Now, looking ahead now, I think it was you who was talking about mle, so your minimum level of engagement. So that starts at 2,500. And then I think the most long ranging project I have right now is it's in a couple phases, but yeah, it is in about the 20k range and that's over like a 16 to 18 week period because we are covering quite a range of products.

Heidi [00:11:48]:
Sure.

Bre Simpson [00:11:49]:
But yeah, yeah, like I said, it's predictable, it's stable, it's, it's getting there.

Heidi [00:11:54]:
Yeah, that's amazing. Talk a little bit more about LinkedIn. Are you like, what's your strategy there? Are you posting regularly and then brands are reaching out to you? Are you finding brands and then connecting in the DMs? I'd love for you to walk through, like what's really working there for you.

Bre Simpson [00:12:12]:
Yeah, absolutely. I've been pretty quiet on LinkedIn at the moment because I am kind of fully booked and I hate not being able to give people a spot in the calendar. What I found that worked really well was continuous posting. The big thing I found once client work kept coming through the door is I didn't want to make work. So at the beginning I was really spinning my wheels of creating these carousels because that was big last year. It was big. What was it? What was one of them like 10 ways to make your brand eco friendly. And then another one was like the five stages of product development.

Bre Simpson [00:12:48]:
And I was spending a lot of time just actually creating the posts. And then once that time, you know, was being replaced with paid work. Now the thing became like, okay, what can. What's a snapshot of what I'm doing right now? A big thing. And I think it was you who said it is your clients really want to see themselves reflected in what you're currently doing. So I have now a big part of what I ask my clients at the beginning is, are you comfortable with me sharing snapshots of things on Instagram and on LinkedIn? Because then it works twofold. I can kind of shout them out and then people can kind of see like, oh, here's some mood boards, here's some sketches, here's a tech pack. And really engaging LinkedIn in what I'm currently working on.

Bre Simpson [00:13:30]:
And I think that's been a big thing. And then of course, I used to do this thing of like every now, like, you know, sharing your wins. Right? Wins on Wednesday. So I have my own graphics. So I'll slot in like a good text message, a good email that's just like really celebrating the work that's happening and then posting it on LinkedIn. So, yeah, and again, like, anytime there is a win to share, like a product launch or I recently did a photo shoot just for myself, like, just these things. It's like, like I said, like, keeping that conversation going, keeping that engine running. I found that my big long posts weren't really performing.

Bre Simpson [00:14:06]:
And that's fine. The things that performed the best at the very beginning were hand sketches and they would get a couple hundred likes. And then I put so much work into doing some other sketches and then nothing. But just because since I pulled away from posting consistently, I'm still out there, like commenting, reposting. I'm a big, like, celebrate thing on LinkedIn. So I. I feel like I've got like big cheerleader energy personally. So I really try to just project that outwards, like commenting, really posting, liking all that kind of stuff.

Bre Simpson [00:14:47]:
So, yeah, just like staying relevant, staying in. Well, to be fair, staying in the algorithm.

Heidi [00:14:53]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. And whose stuff are you engaging with? Like, are your brands present on LinkedIn or is it other freelancers or what?

Bre Simpson [00:15:01]:
Yeah, a lot of people from the fast community, if I'm being honest. A lot of people within the Vancouver community. Vancouver has a really robust fashion scene. There's a couple fashion schools here, so really engaging in that space. And then not so much brands, but the folks behind the brands. So when I'm looking for new folks to follow on LinkedIn, I mostly follow founders, entrepreneurs and then obviously like folks within the industry. But I'm trying really hard not to make it a feedback chamber because I want to reach more people than my professional community. Obviously I want to reach my professional community, but I do want to reach outwards.

Bre Simpson [00:15:43]:
So it's more if someone's sharing something that they're branded, I'll comment on them, not necessarily the brand. Does that make sense?

Heidi [00:15:50]:
So not the brand as a business, but the person that's running the brand as a person.

Bre Simpson [00:15:54]:
Yeah, the person who's sharing it, you know, that kind of thing. If it's. Yeah. There's a color developer for I think Yeti and anytime she posts something like I love it, I come, I spend some time in color. So I'm always celebrating that. Some print developers for like anthropology, like I'll always celebrate their work, that kind of stuff. Yeah.

Heidi [00:16:16]:
Now are your clients, if, correct me if I'm wrong, it sounded like at the beginning that your clients tend to be more small, independent startups and you just mentioned anthropology and Yeti, so I'm just trying to understand. Yeah, yeah, you know my question.

Bre Simpson [00:16:32]:
Yeah, no problem. So I work primarily with new and emerging brands, so almost exclusively startups. And I think the real attraction there is like we were talking about before. I've come from that corporate background where I've been inside of billion dollar businesses. So I can really kind of take that framework and apply it to someone who may be feeling a little bit lost in a new industry. And yeah, I really like it. I work in performance, performance and activewear, so I get a lot of really cool function first clients where we do have a specific niche we're going after we know the end use. And I love it.

Bre Simpson [00:17:15]:
Yeah, there's some really cool projects that have come my way. But yeah, I have my two. In the new year I'll be working with my two first established bands already and I'm very excited. And again, in that space they are both function forward brands. So it's kind of nice to kind of step back from developing a business with somebody and jumping into a business that's already developed and being able to focus on design and production specifically.

Heidi [00:17:41]:
Yeah, and just really focus on the product itself. And so to some extent these folks, the person behind the brand, the founders of the brand are hanging out and engaging on LinkedIn. You're finding and. Or enough that they're finding you on LinkedIn at some point?

Bre Simpson [00:17:57]:
Yep, totally.

Heidi [00:17:58]:
Yeah. And so it sounds like everything's kind of inbound, like you're creating all this content, you're having all these conversations, you're engaging, playing with the algorithm, and then what happens? People land in your DMs or they reach out via another path?

Bre Simpson [00:18:13]:
Yeah, mostly DMs. I get a lot through my website as well, actually. I'd say primarily through my website now. A couple things will come in through LinkedIn now and I usually redirect them so they can like take a look, set it up. It goes. When they submit all the contact stuff, it auto it automatically in the background, like they can with Calendi.

Heidi [00:18:34]:
Right.

Bre Simpson [00:18:34]:
Like they book their own, their own meetings. It auto prompts them to fill out this intake form, which gives me a bit of a profile on what they want to do. Anyways.

Heidi [00:18:42]:
Yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:18:44]:
Yes. There was one other thing I was going to share. I have. Okay, so cold calls. I have done some cold emailing and, you know, those first couple months, it didn't work at all. At all. At all. And then once I had an established presence, I did have a couple cold emails work almost immediately.

Bre Simpson [00:19:01]:
In one case, I sent a guy a message and I was just like, hey, you popped up another Canadian brand. And I just wanted, I just wanted to say, like, I love what you're doing in the Canadian activewear space. If you're ever looking for some support, like, I'd love to chat. And he called me like 10 minutes.

Heidi [00:19:16]:
Later, like literally picked up the phone and called you.

Bre Simpson [00:19:20]:
Yes. Yeah, like on the phone. So intimate.

Heidi [00:19:24]:
What century are we in?

Bre Simpson [00:19:26]:
Yeah. And, you know, we talked back and forth. We really went through what he was looking for, what I could do to help.

Heidi [00:19:33]:
Yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:19:34]:
And they are very. They're in a transition in their business, so it's kind of been left on the shelf. But that conversation is still open.

Heidi [00:19:41]:
Yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:19:41]:
And then in another case, it was another brand that was looking. It was just kind of like a one off where I saw on LinkedIn that they were looking for something and it kind of lined up with what I had done in the past. I shot them an email and just said, like, hey, I know you're looking for xyz. This really lines up with blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'd love to chat if you have a minute. And within the week we were chatting. I sent them a proposal and I think my proposal was maybe too high for what they were looking for. But you know what? Like, in those, in those circumstances, it's not so much cold emailing, where it is like you're ready to provide something of value.

Heidi [00:20:20]:
Totally. You mentioned that those first, like once you had your presence more established, you started getting replies more quickly to those emails. Was that. So you. Were you reaching out over email or LinkedIn DMS?

Bre Simpson [00:20:35]:
Yes, yeah, reaching out through my person so I would find their email and reach out through my email. It has like my email signature with, you know, my website. Like, like, you know what I mean?

Heidi [00:20:46]:
Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:20:46]:
That like social proof of like. Yes, this is who she says she is and she does xyz.

Heidi [00:20:51]:
Okay, gotcha. That's interesting that you noticed. Sounds like once you had that signature where they could then click through and see the validation of your online presence both on LinkedIn and your website. Sounds like that almost became a tipping point.

Bre Simpson [00:21:05]:
The website was a huge tipping point at first. I like, stuff was coming in enough without the website. And I think as much as I don't think it's critical to have it. Just personally, my experience has been that really was when momentum started to build.

Heidi [00:21:20]:
So are people like, if I know Chat GPT is recommending you, which is amazing. Are. Do you know that people that come in from the website, are they finding you on LinkedIn and then going the website, are they finding you on Google and then going the website, are they finding you on Chat GPT or maybe a little bit of the above? All the above.

Bre Simpson [00:21:38]:
That's a good question. Yeah, probably all the above. Like, I, I will say this. I. I really wanted to hit as many platforms as possible and not so much to have a ton of stuff out there, but just so that my name is across multiple platforms, I will say, like, my best friend is a copywriter whose background is in SAS and SEO optimization. So she's been this like secret agent in my back pocket. And that was a big recommendation of his. Like, as much as you can, as many platforms as you can access.

Bre Simpson [00:22:17]:
Sometimes that helps with backlinking and your visibility on things like ChatGPT and Google. So, yeah, the Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, my own personal website, Behance. I don't know if upwork does backlinking, like, if that works, but I think there's an option.

Heidi [00:22:36]:
You can make your profile publicly searchable, like in the Internet as a whole, versus just searchable within upwork when someone's logged in or something like that.

Bre Simpson [00:22:45]:
Yeah, I kind of think of it as this. Like, you know, you're. If you're casting a net, you're building a spider web to like Bring people to you? Yeah.

Heidi [00:22:56]:
And so did you really spend like those first 10 months, did you spend building a lot of that foundation out and slowly started getting some work and then at that 10 month point you're like, okay, now it's, I'm getting some consistency and some stability or has all of this. I mean, because I think the reason I'm asking is because I think someone who is listening, who wants to get started or maybe like has a couple clients, wants to grow, all of those things is a lot of work. Right. And I think it can feel like really overwhelming to be tasked with like, okay, well now go create presents on all these places. And so was that something slowly you've kind of done and added over the last or the first year?

Bre Simpson [00:23:36]:
Ish.

Heidi [00:23:36]:
Maybe.

Bre Simpson [00:23:38]:
Yeah, those first couple months. So trying to think it was a bit of a slower build because I did have that time. Like, you know, thankfully I had a severance. Canada has a really robust social service network. And it was also summertime and it was the first summer my husband and I were married. So we did take some time off. Like the whole month of August I took off to go camping. So it wasn't a full grind.

Bre Simpson [00:24:10]:
The biggest thing I found was my communication with clients. So how am I presenting myself? I sent, you know, I had this big proposal deck and I showed it to a couple of friends and they were like, it's just a wall of text. It's so much text. Like, you have to break it down, you have to break it up. So that was some great feedback. Like, it doesn't matter how many pages it is. Like, just buffer it, make it pretty, make it digestible. And that was a huge, a huge piece of advice.

Bre Simpson [00:24:40]:
Like, because in my mind I'm coming from this corporate place where I'm like, okay, let's get it set up. Here's how it's going to work. Here's how much it's going to cost. Here's your calendar. And people are like, invite them in. Like, invite them, break it down. Each page should be its own thing. And so that was, that was great.

Bre Simpson [00:24:58]:
And you know, I didn't have money for photo shoots, so I, my, my girlfriend works at an art studio. So she let me come into her art studio and another friend was a model and we took all the photos with my camera, my phone, my old, old iPhone, using like a broken iPhone tripod. So the photos that are currently on my website were all taken in that, like that first couple months. I've since now recently done a shoot where I can kind of update some of that. Yeah. But, yeah, like, it was, it's, it was scrappy, very scrappy. I built my website myself, so, you know, some things are a little rustic. The edges are a little bit sharp.

Bre Simpson [00:25:40]:
Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, I've got it and I did take a lot of it. Looks good. Oh, go ahead. Sorry.

Heidi [00:25:45]:
Yeah, no, go ahead. You did take a lot of what.

Bre Simpson [00:25:48]:
I. I took a lot of, like, it's probably like the fifth or sixth website that I built because I kept building it and not liking it and building it and not liking it. I wouldn't publish it. I wouldn't publish it. And then one of the manufacturers that I partner with, they wanted to promote me on their LinkedIn, on their site. So that was a real ticking time clock. Right. Like, okay, I've got six days to have a presence because once that goes up, I want again, I want something that's going to feed back to what I do.

Bre Simpson [00:26:19]:
So that was, to be honest, that was like a major tipping point in terms of like, okay, you have to do this now.

Heidi [00:26:25]:
Yeah, there's nothing like a good deadline imposed by someone else.

Bre Simpson [00:26:31]:
Honestly, it's like, I wish it would happen sooner.

Heidi [00:26:35]:
I was just talking to someone the other day, this is on a little off topic, but kind of on topic about pitching, and she was like, but wait, I have to like finish my portfolio first because what if they ask to see something? I'm like, then you scramble and you get it done because otherwise you're going to spend a million and a half years on it. And it's a very comfort zone activity. And, and you're gonna over tweak it versus, like get yourself out there. And then you scramble and you make it happen. Let someone else make the deadline for you. This is amazing and so phenomenal. And I know that it has not come without a tremendous amount of hard work, which I can already clearly tell you've put in, but also like challenge and failure and personal struggle. And before we hit record, you shared some stuff with me and I, I'd like you to open up to some extent about some of the personal stuff you were going through in that initial journey of starting your finance business first.

Heidi [00:27:27]:
And then I have some other questions after that. We'll start there, though.

Bre Simpson [00:27:30]:
Yeah, totally. Yeah. So, you know, I'll start this off by saying everyone's okay, but yeah, that first couple of months my husband and I were married, so like 2023 into 2024 was pretty rough. Like, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She's fine now. My mother in law also went through breast cancer. The business my husband had had equity in, the investors decided to sell the business and then unfortunately, my husband was hit by a car when he was riding his motorcycle. He's good.

Bre Simpson [00:27:59]:
And then three weeks later, I was laid off. And then three days later, my husband was laid off. So within nine months, it really, like our whole life just kind of imploded. And it was tough. It was real tough. But, you know, now that we had this time to heal and rebuild, you know, it's. We are probably on a course that more aligns with the life we want to live than maybe we were before. But it did take a while to kind of like grieve that loss.

Bre Simpson [00:28:30]:
Like, I loved being a corporate designer. I loved, I loved it. I was, I was so proud. So. And I still am. That doesn't take that away. I was really proud to be at places like Lulu and Aritzia and Kitnace and, and see. And see those things.

Bre Simpson [00:28:45]:
So. So yeah, having to. And I did pursue, like, I, I didn't come out of that, actually, I did. So I did tell my husband, I bless his heart. I did say, like, I'm going to, I'm going to make this work freelance because we're never going to be in this position again. Like, I never want us to worry like this again. But I did pursue a couple other corporate jobs in that, in that time frame, and a couple that I absolutely would have said yes to. But yeah, it was a lot of hard work.

Bre Simpson [00:29:19]:
And again, with freelancing, it did offer a lot of opportunity to be there with my husband, go home to my family, take a month off and just kind of heal and reconnect after such a hard year. So, yeah, it's been a really rough journey, but I'm, I'm so happy for where we've ended up now. Yeah.

Heidi [00:29:40]:
Had you considered freelancing at certain points along the way?

Bre Simpson [00:29:45]:
Constantly.

Heidi [00:29:46]:
Okay.

Bre Simpson [00:29:47]:
And what, I mean, it was a big reason, like. Yeah.

Heidi [00:29:50]:
What stops you from.

Bre Simpson [00:29:53]:
Yeah, I mean, the whole reason I started listening to this podcast was because of that. And I'd done it kind of on and off through the year for small projects really, depending on how litigious who I was working for it was at the time. And you know, it's, it's just the security that was a big one. And you know, once that was removed, then there was no hurdle to stop. So. Yeah.

Heidi [00:30:18]:
Okay. Again, removal by someone else makes it sometimes easier to go after.

Bre Simpson [00:30:25]:
Yeah, that's life.

Heidi [00:30:27]:
It is okay, so you on a personal level, had a really rough start. I'm so glad everyone's okay. And the last 18 months, and certainly the first 10 months of building your freelance business, not everything has been perfect. I have some notes here outlined from one of the posts you made in our community about some of the challenges that you faced. Because you literally made a post that said the ups with a bunch of bullets, the downs with a bunch of bullets, and then the stuff that warms my heart and the plan ahead. And so I'd love to talk through some of the downs and specifically related to building your finance business and some of the fails or hard lessons or just bad experiences that you've had. What have some of those looked like that you'd like to share?

Bre Simpson [00:31:10]:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, let's talk about it. Oh my gosh. I mean, the highs and the lows are like equally matched. Right? What are some of the lows? You know, like, I think there was one contract that I was very excited about and obviously they were too. Unfortunately, that client had some life changing events and we had to pause and it's been a year and unfortunately they haven't been able to pick that back up. But that's okay. Like we got through creative design, we got through design Design and we were like really ready to take that next step.

Bre Simpson [00:31:45]:
And so that's tricky in terms of like that's. It was, you know, a five figure contract that is no longer accounted for, but I had left that time in my calendar because that was the work that needed to be done. So that was a bit tricky. Yeah. Another one was like kind of level setting with another client. It was a manufacturer and just kind of like some of the exploitative pricing that they were expecting, that was pretty tricky and really short time frame. So, you know, eventually I did have to kind of break up with them, which was tough. I think I had also made a post about it in fast, but kind of like holding those boundaries in terms of what's acceptable, what's an acceptable expectation.

Bre Simpson [00:32:31]:
You know, this client was expecting 52 tech packs for five grand. Well, that's, you know, $96 a tech pack. And they also wanted it within five weeks. Well, that's not humanly possible. So, you know, that was kind of tricky because we already had had a long running relationship of like these quick turnaround projects that I was like happy to do because I obviously wanted that income coming through the door. Unfortunately it didn't work out and that's okay. And then just those conversations where you think they're going somewhere and then they fall flat. That's just kind of par for the course.

Bre Simpson [00:33:10]:
I can't remember if it was you who said it, but anytime someone says no, it's also leaving room for a better fitting contract to land. And I'd much rather continue to land contracts that are more aligned with what I do, who I am and the people I like to work with. Versus kind of like forcing these contracts that don't feel good. Yeah, yeah.

Heidi [00:33:32]:
That's such a good and hard lesson to learn that I think we continually learn for life. At least. I am always over and over. My dad always says, how many times you have to hit your thumb with the hammer to be like, this hurts. Stop doing this. And sometimes it's many, many times.

Bre Simpson [00:33:50]:
Exactly. I recently stepped away, stepped back from a contract too. You know, we got a couple of conversations in and the scope of the work kept kind of shifting and changing and new people were being brought in and nothing was signed. Like, we were still in the conversation of what, what this project was going to look like and eventually. And it was, it was, I think, actually, I think it was another 13k project, but a separate one. But that's what I was coming through the door with, was like, this is what my time and experience is going to be worth. Yeah, yada, yada, yada. And I think they were trying to kind of like fit.

Bre Simpson [00:34:25]:
Fit pegs into a place with different freelancers to kind of hit their budget. And eventually I just said, like, listen, I like what you're building. I think what you're doing is great. I just don't think I'm the right fit right now. So I'm going to take a step back. And if you want to work together in the future, like, my door is always open. It's just. It doesn't seem like that's going to work for us right now.

Bre Simpson [00:34:46]:
And that's okay too. Like they understood. Yeah. Also a big risk too, that, that, that calendar space and that financial space has now since been filled by much better fitting projects.

Heidi [00:35:01]:
It takes a lot of bravery and leap of faith to like, I'm gonna let go of this and know that something else is gonna fill that. Especially when you have like financial and time blocked for that. Which the time is one thing, but, like, financially we all need money to survive and like, that can be a really hard pill to swallow.

Bre Simpson [00:35:28]:
Yeah, absolutely.

Heidi [00:35:29]:
Yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:35:30]:
Yeah. I mean, I have the benefit of, you know, it was a couple months off from that start date, so I did have the benefit of a bit of an eight week Runway to fill that space. Okay. So yeah, you know, had the situation been different, had I did not not had that completely different, I would have said yes. We would just would have pushed ahead.

Heidi [00:35:47]:
Yeah, that's amazing. But it sounds like saying no to things that really aren't great. Match has really served you in a big way. Even though it's a scary moment. And to say no to that or cancel the project.

Bre Simpson [00:36:00]:
Yes. I mean it's those lessons, right? Yeah.

Heidi [00:36:05]:
You mentioned a couple times now working with manufacturers. Can you talk a little bit about is that something you're doing a lot of or has just been a couple random one offs and what does that look like for you?

Bre Simpson [00:36:16]:
Yeah, definitely. So one manufacturer, it was like a production platform. They reached out to myself. I think there's a couple other people on fast, they're also on it and that's been great. Honestly, they send me maybe like one or two clients a month.

Heidi [00:36:30]:
That's amazing.

Bre Simpson [00:36:32]:
They don't always hit like, I think at the beginning I was getting a lot from them and then once they realized like what my area of expertise was, then it's a little bit more like boutique selected who they. So that was great. And then another manufacturer, they were based out of Victoria, which is right by myself, and I did a bit of copywriting for them and I never really was able to land a project with them, which kind of sucked. But yeah, it's just kind of nice. It was nice to kind of like get in conversation with manufacturers. So I think on my roster I work with about five, five manufacturers and then a couple agents. And mostly I'm farming them at work, but I do get a couple inbound ones from them too.

Heidi [00:37:26]:
Wait, what do you mean when you say you're farming them out work? Explain that.

Bre Simpson [00:37:31]:
Oh, sorry. Yeah, so I do like the creative design through to tech packing and product development support. And then I kind of work in a little triangle. So there's myself. And then I'll recommend them to some manufacturers and then sometimes the manufacturers will send clients my way.

Heidi [00:37:53]:
Okay, so you have like five manufacturers and a couple agencies that you work with your clients to do the design and the creative and the tech packing and then get them into good hands for product development and manufacturing. And then sometimes that's a bidirectional relationship where those people that you send your clients to for production then refer clients back to you. I see.

Bre Simpson [00:38:15]:
Yep. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, that was confusing.

Heidi [00:38:17]:
That's okay. Yeah, it's amazing what you've built. What are your plans for the Future. I know we're just kind of wrapping out 2025, wherever we are in time. And you're booked out, starting to book into 2026, which is amazing. Do you feel like you're in a good spot? You're like, I'm just gonna. I'm not just Ginu, but I'm gonna keep rocking and rolling where I'm at or other plans for the future? Yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:38:42]:
I thank you so much for asking. I love talking about this. I, you know, I'm a big fan of, like, speaking your goals into existence, and I. I want to have so much work that I get to hire my friends, and so that's like a big goal. Into 2026 is kind of like finding. Finding a couple other friends. And, like, like I said, Vancouver has a really robust fashion scene, so I'm really trying to, like, really reinvest locally in the community here. So, like, finding those folks that I feel like we can work really well together because unfortunately, there are contracts that I can't take, but I'd love to be able to, like, make sure somebody does.

Bre Simpson [00:39:24]:
Yeah, that sounds weird, but, yeah, like, I don't want to say no to work. I'd rather have it come through the door and be able to farm it to folks. So really, like, really, really investing in that community in 2026, doing some travel with some clients coming up. We're in conversation of that, which I'm really excited for, and then really setting my sights on some larger projects, like, people I really want to work with. So rather than just waiting for clients coming through the door, really focusing on a couple folks that I'm like, okay, you're my sites and I want to get to you. So that's kind of what's coming up. And a couple other small things too, like building out a couple resources for folks where if my price point isn't workable for their current budget, what can I offer them that maybe does work? People always want to know the basics. How much is it going to cost? How long is it going to take? So building out some of those resources, just a couple of guides, things along the way that people can invest in and feel like they're getting that guidance, and then when they're ready, they can come back and we can work together.

Heidi [00:40:28]:
That's amazing. You have now spoken it out to the world, so we will wait for it to all fall into place, which I just feel like is how these things roll for you. Not in a. Not to discount the work that you've put in. I often Say that. I believe luck is a result of taking risks, putting yourself out there, doing the scary things, and being prepared and being knowledgeable.

Bre Simpson [00:40:59]:
Right.

Heidi [00:41:00]:
So you're setting yourself up with the right knowledge, the right strategies. You're putting yourself out there, you're putting the work in, and then that just increases your chances for luck and putting yourself out there to the world. I love it.

Bre Simpson [00:41:10]:
I like to think so. If there's any baseball fans out there who know Hazel May, please send her my way. I love her. She's who I want to work with.

Heidi [00:41:17]:
Yeah.

Bre Simpson [00:41:17]:
Okay.

Heidi [00:41:18]:
Let's put it out to the world. I love that it's been amazing to chat with you, Bre. I'd love to ask you the question I ask at the end, which is, what is one thing people never ask you about being a freelance fashion designer that you wish they would?

Bre Simpson [00:41:29]:
We just talked about it. What's coming up next? I love talking about what's coming up next.

Heidi [00:41:33]:
Okay. And people don't ask.

Bre Simpson [00:41:36]:
Yeah, people always want to talk about the work you're currently in. They want to talk about who you're working with. But, like, future focused work. Sometimes people don't really ask freelancers that. They're just kind of like, oh, so you're good. Like, I think people think there's this, like, unstable nature of freelance itself. But, like, I don't know. I work out of a studio, downtown Vancouver and all.

Bre Simpson [00:41:58]:
Like, I have to say, like, the freelance lifestyle is alive and well for a lot of people. Like, I've never seen some of these people be busier.

Heidi [00:42:09]:
That is so amazing and warms my heart to hear on so many levels. I'm really impressed with what you've built. I can tell you've worked really hard and not without some challenges, personally and professionally along the way. Where can everybody connect with you and find you online?

Bre Simpson [00:42:24]:
Yeah, you can find me on all the socials. Bre Simpson. And if anybody wants to chat more details, and I was happy to. My email is presimptourfutureinfashion.com which is the longest email. And I didn't really think about that at the beginning, but I'm stuck with it.

Heidi [00:42:41]:
That's all right. My URL is successful fashion designer.com and I'm learning that that's a mouthful and a lot to type. So, you know, these things happen. We'll link everybody in the show notes up to that so it'll be really easy for them. They want to type anything. Thank you so much for joining me and sharing your story. I really appreciate it, Bre.

Bre Simpson [00:42:59]:
Yeah, happy to. It's so lovely meeting you and great talking.