Young Entrepreneur Reveals Secret to Making a Profit In Year One

Few businesses make a profit their first year. Most fail in five. There's no shortage of "entrepreneurial secrets" but what's the secret to being an entrepreneur who makes money?
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Few businesses make a profit their first year. Most fail in five.

There's no shortage of "entrepreneurial secrets" but what's the secret to being an entrepreneur who makes money?

Twenty-year-old Alejandra Viana of Leg Candy Apparel did just that when she made $50,000 in her first year of business. How did she do it?

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The Secret To Making A Profit

"All of my success comes from people," says Alejandra.

In 2009, Alejandra traveled to Hong Kong. Printed leggings were everywhere. Back in the U.S., the trend hadn't arrived and only a few companies were selling them. Alejandra saw an opportunity.

Bringing the Idea to Life

"When I told my mom my idea, she said 'I'll fund you, now go out and do your research.'" Alejandra went and brought her vision to life. It wasn't easy.

"My biggest challenge in the beginning was finding the right fabric," she says. "People didn't take me seriously. I walked all over LA with my swatches. I was 20 years old and I was trying to do business and I looked really young. Simple things like purchasing fabric and hiring contractors were difficult. They were skeptical when I would walk in." Alejandra was persistent.

"I just kept going. Obstacles don't dictate my life. I kept knocking on doors. I kept walking around LA, meeting new people and networking in the fashion district. I went to the LA Textile Show and talked to a lot of people. It took me almost a year before my first collection was produced."

Finding Places to Sell

Alejandra promoted her collection everywhere. "As soon I finished production, I was doing events, knocking on boutique doors, setting up booths.

"I was extremely active my first year, networking and getting my name out there. I would have an event or two booked every weekend, street fairs, boutiques, pop-ups, you know, just a set-up somewhere, anywhere, and everywhere I could give out my card and say, 'Hey, let's do something.'"

Promoting the Brand

"Some of my best connections came from other people who were just starting out. I would reach out to models and ask if they were interested in collaborating with me. This was really good for getting the word out. I would give leggings away so they could tell their friends. Doing that and meeting people in the fashion industry, I would even do networking events, was really good for my brand because later they would invite me to their events to set up a table. Sometimes I wouldn't even have to pay for a booth."

Making Sales

"Setting up events takes a lot of work, packing everything, unloading, reloading, setting up everything, standing there, selling, talking to people, it's a lot of work. And I was the face of the brand so it's not like I could just sit back because I was kind of selling myself too."

"You can see when someone is kind of interested in a legging but when I introduced myself and said, 'I designed this, I made this', it attached more value to it. They would say, 'Wow, you designed this, you made this?' and you can tell it made a huge difference in how they reacted to the product."

The Next Chapter

Alejandra has moved on from Leg Candy. "Designing and selling my own fashion collection was a childhood dream and I did it. I'm proud to say I accomplished it and I was successful but I'm ready for what's next."

"I helped a friend start a jewelry line and another friend start a business. I realized I really love helping people and mentoring. So I started a consulting business called Cura where I help people who have ideas but no idea where to start. I'm also putting together a team to design and build a fitness app. I'm good at putting the pieces together and getting things off the ground."

Be Open to Anything

"My success came from just being out there, and being exposed, being open to anything, like even if it has nothing to do with what you're doing right now, you never know. Like maybe the guy who fixes your car, maybe his daughter is into fashion and she is interested in my line, so she buys from me, or he buys something for his wife. I would get a lot of that, like this person knows this person, pass my card along. I think what helped me in my first year of success was being exposed to anything."

"People get stressed about rules, or people judging them, or people getting upset with them. Things come and go. People come and go. Opportunities come and go. I knew what I wanted to create and I was going to keep working until I made it a reality."

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