As an entrepreneur, you will need to keep up with industry trends.

1. Focus on selling

Before you start with anything I recommend you concentrate on selling. Just because you're a very good fashion designer, inventor or financial wizard won't do you much good in the early stages. They can be useful later when you already have a good starting capital.

For the moment, the only thing that will help you to start up will be knowing how to sell. Without sales, there is no business, although some leave that task for later, and concentrate their efforts on creating their business plan or on a minimum viable product to get investors. This is not an easy or assured route. In the long run, without sales, there is no business.

Therefore,

Understand the business you're in. If you don't know it, spend time understanding it before you start.

Sell. Try to understand people's needs and how to meet them. Which does not carry the following advice

2. Attend footwear conventions

Luckily, one of the most important footwear events in Latin America, SAPICA (Leather and Footwear Exhibition), takes place in Mexico. Even where it is possible to contact more than 3,000 national suppliers of high fashion, casual, sports, clothing, children's, cowboy and leather footwear; as well as international suppliers.

It takes place every year in March and October in the city of Leon, Guanajuato.

Going to these types of events will help you:

3. Educational opportunities. It doesn't matter if you are new or have experience in the business, we can all learn. Working in a small business can often be isolated, and without exposure to a variety of viewpoints, we can miss out on new ideas and trends that can affect future results. The educational aspect of a conference can expose you to new ways of running your business and help you be more productive.

4. Networking with your peers. Industry conferences provide a great networking opportunity. Often, competitors from other regions of the country can become valuable resources for referrals and best practices. Avoiding peers for fear that others will discover your competitive advantages can limit your success. Collaboration is the way to approach networks. While there are those whose intentions may be suspect, most people can help each other discover ideas and generate inspiration when they meet on a personal level.

5. Find new vendors and suppliers. Too often, people avoid the exhibition hall at conferences. They are afraid to talk to the vendors, but these industry suppliers are some of the best people for you to know about the current business climate. You need to discover innovative products and services for your business to stay competitive in today's fast-paced world. Also, these suppliers who sell to your industry fully understand what is going on within your competition. Invest time with the sponsors at the event and make them your friends and allies.

6. Position yourself as an expert. When you are active in your industry, you can develop a reputation as an expert for your peers and your customers. Those with long-term commitments are often asked to speak at events and write articles for their industry publications. Like it or not, others like to partner with experts in any industry. Clients feel good about doing business with those who celebrate their peers. If your strategy is to be the best-kept secret in your business community, a valuable opportunity will be lost.

7. Have fun. Being in business should be rewarding and fun. All work and no play can age quickly. Industry conferences can add a layer of pleasure to managing your career growth by mixing a social aspect into your learning and industry branding efforts. Many events have fun activities such as parties, golf and tours of the local area where the event is held. Taking an extra day at the beginning or end of your trip to explore or visit friends in the region is also a great way to maximize your travel investment - never underestimate the power of a little fun mixed with some interesting people!

8. Define your participation

However, getting into the shoe business is going to depend largely on exactly what you want to do in the shoe industry, as a retailer, wholesaler, trader, manufacturer.

Retailer.

Wholesaler.

Footwear manufacturer for third parties.

Make your footwear brand.

There are specialized platforms in b2b business-to-business transactions that I share with you, at the end of this post, to make your job easier there you will find manufacturers and distributors that will help you to start and enter the footwear business.

9. Write a business plan for your shoe line

Now that you have a better idea of what you want to accomplish, we can get to the step of creating a business model. There are almost no businesses that do not require a business plan. Any serious entrepreneur who intends to make a profit from his business and then ensures that a proper business plan is prepared is vital before investing his hard-earned money and time in the business. A business plan will guide you and give you a clear idea of what you intend to achieve by starting the business.

Having a business plan is not just about having a business document in place, but it will assist in the development of strategies that will help the entrepreneur to effectively manage and operate the shoe line business. The business plan should cover strategies on how the initial capital will be generated, how it will attract customers and how the scope of the business will be expanded. These key components should not be missing from the business plan.

Other key components that should be included in the business plan are

An executive summary that clearly states what your footwear line business will be about, the company's corporate culture, sales and marketing strategies, marketing objectives, the target market and perhaps what distinguishes you from your competitors It is also expected to express your company's vision statement, mission statement and the areas you are likely to want to cover.

Finally, other key components such as product or service offering, SWOT analysis, sales and marketing analysis/strategies, pricing, costing and financial projection, advertising and publicity strategy, budget and initial capital generation should be available in the document.

10. Market research

Posting the waiters you want to market on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram can be an excellent start to conducting a field study on the designs you want to resell so you can check that you have a market for your footwear styles. Remember to keep in touch with the latest trends to keep customers looking for you.

Designing your brand

Also, you should develop the following topics. But the list goes on as long and as specific as you want to make it.

Concept, you will need, something outstanding that will separate you from the rest.

Designs of your shoes. Whether it's drawings of your shoe models to communicate your ideas with the factory.

Sales and distribution plan. The difficult thing is not to make them but to sell them. Determining this can facilitate the style of the footwear or your marketing plan.

Choose your supplier or manufacturer.

Define your final customer.

The main tennis brands, such as Nike and Adidas, we can notice that they do not own the production factories of the shoes they sell. Determining this may depend on the style of the shoe or your marketing plan.