A 13-Year-Old Business Owner’s 3-Step Summer Plan

Running a business from the ground up is hard, especially when you are only 13 years old and do not have any proper investment or any professional team. However, effort and trying things out definitely outweigh the effectiveness of a daydream of success. So, this is what I am planning to do with my business in the summer to hopefully clear the inventory.

Step 1: Spread awareness

The first thing that I plan to do is DM influencers on Red Note (the exact platform I am running my business on) to see if they are willing to promote my brand for free or perhaps for a small amount of money. There are quite a few bloggers on the platform that have around 1,000 followers, are taking footage of fashion (perhaps not professional fashion bloggers but more lifestyle and vlog-based), and will look good in the dress we made.

Instead of trying to make our account go viral like Skims or another international brand too quickly, we’re going to be focusing on building a smaller, niche community – groups of micro-influencers with their small but loyal fanbase. After we have gained trust and loyalty within the fanbase, we can then focus on expansion on a larger scale.

My business’s current Red Note account does not have a ton lot of followers that allow us to thrive, so it is essential that we find external support so that we can at least get more people interested in the concept of sustainable fashion and vegan textiles. Probably 90 percent of my screen time is occupied by Red Note, so if only I could use this time to search for appropriate vloggers to support my business instead of mindlessly scrolling…

Step 2: Step up my social media game

The second thing that I plan on doing is to film more vlogs on my personal channel. I have a personal Red Note account that I am currently running, and I sometimes post videos of me skating, my “digital diary” of my thoughts on some stuff happening in life, and some other content relevant to my work. If I post more vlogs and allow more people to see what is going on in my life, they may be more interested in the products I make, which is how I would want to let them be willing to buy the dresses. I have vlogged before, but that was for my YouTube channel (you can find the channel by searching “Unit-E Podcast”), and I kept ranting and talking so much to the point where one vlog was an hour long and the views were not as much as I thought it would be.

I need to make my videos concise and in line with the current trends on social media. This means getting familiar with script writing, makeup, lighting, shooting, and editing. Once I start posting those vlogs, hopefully I can get more people.

Step 3: Drive sales

The third thing that I plan on doing is to sprinkle out more discounts over the summer as more people will be out playing and enjoying their time, and they will probably be in need of getting more clothes (the biggest one of all would be before school starts, and that could be for a back-to-school clothes haul), so a discount is needed to get people attracted to our products.

I got extra inventory from our manufacturer before we officially launched our first product through my vlogs, but also posting plogs (picture blogs) of my life in the summer, OOTD and styling tip videos could be the “model pictures” of the product, and that would hopefully make the product seem more suitable to wear in everyday life. This was a problem for our current product because people think that it looks very casual, probably too casual, to the point where it looks like pajamas, but if you pair it with the right clothes, it elevates the dress so much more (you can visit Eco Apparel’s Red Note page for more inspiration). I even wore this dress for my Shakespeare monologue for drama class! It’s all about how you style it, and giving our customers suggestions can help them come up with their own ideas.

Running a business is hard, but with the right direction and methods, more people will know the brand, and more people would be interested in sustainable fashion.