“I’m an entrepreneur” “i run my own business” “i’m a fashion designer”. All statements true and i should really own them. So why do i feel like a fraud when these words actually leave my mouth? Is it because i’m not confident? Absolutely not, i can confirm that my 40’s have brought me more confidence than ever. So why do i feel like an imposter?
It’s been exactly 8 years since i launched my baby brand Freya Lillie, although it feels like yesterday. It has definitely been a roller coaster since then. I have battled Brexit and lost many European customers, the world shut down with Covid. Although our sales went through the roof at first while everyone was home online shopping. It was the aftermath and realisation that no one was going on holiday any time soon. Let’s face it, Freya Lillie is like a luxury resort wear brand for little ones. So we were screwed!
Then the cost of living crisis and to top it off, Trump decided to add a nice big whopping tariff on all UK parcels entering the US. Guess which country is our biggest customer after the UK…yep, it’s the US!
We’ve had years when we’ve made big profits and years when we’ve made losses.
Anyway i digress, what i am trying to say is there has been a lot of problem solving, changing directions, scratching my head and wondering what the hell i was doing. But we are still here and among the lows are the highs.
We’ve been approached by retailers such as Harrods and Selfridges. We’ve had celebrity customers such as Molly Mae and Amanda Holden. And honestly, it’s when a customer sends a photo and tells me how many times they were stopped to ask where the outfit was from. That’s where i get my real buzz.
Now don’t even get me started on instagram. Bring back the days where pretty flatlays got you hundreds of likes and a great engagement. I think some of my imposter syndrome comes from the tiny squares (although they’re rectangular now). If someone had told me 8 years ago that to run a business i had to be a content creator, i don’t know how i’d feel about this. Instagram changes the rules so much that it has my head banging or rather i bang my head off a brick wall.
I am becoming more comfortable in front of the camera, do i enjoy it? Not particularly. Does it bother me when i spend time on content and get very few like? Yes it annoys the life out of me but then i get over it and look at how many people i have reached that month. I mean this past month over half a million views is actually something to be super proud of. So i am learning to not get caught up in the ‘likes’ because the other thing i have learned is that i may get 500 likes and no sales and then the next post 20 likes and 6 sales. It’s crazy and i will never be able to work it out.
Whether i feel like an imposter or not, 8 years later, pretty much every morning i wake up motivated and i absolutely love what i do.
One thing i do miss a little is teaching so i am actually (very excited!) putting together an online half day course for my other brand Sustainable Atelier. I really want to help other women start their own fashion brand and hold their hand and guide them through the ups and downs. It took me years of figuring out and learning along the way, so i’m happy to pass on my knowledge and experience. We need more female business owners so i am on a mission. Bring on 2026!!!! Feel free to email me if you fancy yourself as a fashion brand owner info@sustainableatelier.com
If you have read this far, thank you so much. It’s been years since i have written a blog post and i have actually really enjoyed it. So watch this space, more blogs to come.
Michelle xx (ex imposter syndromer)