“If you have an audience that follows you, no matter what you sell, they’re gonna follow you.”  -Joanne Jarrett

If you’re thinking about doing a Kickstarter campaign to fund your clothing line, read this. If you like to hear stories of incredible personal growth and perseverance, read (and listen to) this.

Can you imagine getting funded on Kickstarter (yay!) only to have delay after delay after delay with your manufacturing. 

Basically, you would take people’s money – pre-orders for your products, actually – and then you don’t deliver for 6 months. Then 1 year. Then 18 months. Then it’s just shy of TWO YEARS. And you’ve had their money the entire time.

How in the heck would you keep your donors informed and happy? 

That’s exactly what Joanne Jarrett shares with us today on the podcast. 

Joanne was a physician with an idea for a fashion product but had absolutely no idea how to start a clothing line. Where do you even start? Getting through medical school was hard enough.

I first met Joanne Jarett when she took my fashion startup course, the New Designer Program.

Joanne is a former family physician (on her 17th year of maternity leave) and is now an entrepreneur, blogger and podcaster. She’s the owner of Shelfie Shoppe, a line of loungewear that looks good enough to hit the streets in, she also has a blog called Cozy Clothes Blog, and is the host of the Fancy Free Podcast. 

She’s one busy mompreneur and it’s been a roller coaster ride ever since she came up with the idea of starting her line.

In this episode, Joanne explains…

• How she decided to launch her own line and how taking my New Designer Program course set her on the path for success and became the best student ever.
• Why she decided to do a Kickstarter campaign and the reason she got the funding
• All the problems she faced.
• How she dealt with the angry comments after people had waited 2 years.
• The reason her backers supported her even after all the delays.

Have a listen…

You can also listen on iTunes. Spotify, and Stitcher Radio

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Resources:

• Joanne’s online store Shelfie Shoppe – use JANEROCKS (all caps) to get 10% off your purchase
• New Designer Program Jane’s fashion startup course that Joanne took
• The Fancy Free podcast (you can listen to Jane’s episode here as she “exposes herself”)
• DG Expo Fabric and Trim Show
• Jane’s interview with Lana Hogue: “The 3 Main Difference Between U.S. and Offshore Production”
• Lana Hogue’s website, Garment Industry 411
• The crowdfunding course Joanne took with Shannon Lohr of Factory 45
• Jane’s interview with Shannon Lohr: “How to Use Crowdfunding For Your Fashion Product”
• Kickstarter
• The Membership with Jane (for established brands)
• Build Your Following From Scratch online workshop

I hope you learned something new today and had as much fun listening as we did creating this episode!

Jane