My name is Evan Carmichael and I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. My last post was: How to Hire, Be a Leader, and Empty Your Mind Like Dee Hock (VISA founder).

Today we're going to look at how a young entrepreneur had to decide between launching a fashion business or supermarket business. He chose fashion and created on of the most recognizable names in the industry. This is the story of Calvin Klein and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.

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"I think fantasies are for the birds. If there's something I want, nothing stops me." - Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein (born 1942) is an American fashion designer and founder of the company that bears his name. As a young child instead of playing sports like the other kids, Klein spent his time indoors teaching himself how to sketch and sew designs. He didn't have many friends and would often accompany his mother on shopping trips throughout the city on her quest for discount clothing.

After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Klein was practically broke, still working part-time at his father's grocery store, and decided he would take his $2,000 life savings and start his own business. He started by designing a line of coats. The company’s first major step to success came by accident a year after its inception, when a businessman got off the elevator on the wrong floor and happened to wander into in Klein’s office. This businessman turned out to be a coat-buyer from the major department store Bonwit Teller. After placing an order for $50,000 worth of coats, he told Klein, “Tomorrow you will have been discovered.” In its first year, the company booked $1 million worth of business.

In 2002, Klein sold his company for $400 million and $30 million in stock. Before the sale, Calvin Klein Ltd. had 900 employees and worldwide sales of over $3 billion.

Action Item #1: Be The Expert

If you're going to have success in creating and selling your product or service you better be really good at what you do. Take classes, sign up for internships, volunteer your time, take jobs, and get as much hands on experience as you can to learn about your industry before you start your business. The more you know going in about how your industry works, the greater your chances of success will be.

In order to succeed, Klein exposed himself to as much informal and formal training as possible.

Whether it was sewing lessons from his grandmother, shopping trips with his mother or an apprenticeship with the esteemed coat manufacturer Dan Millstein in the New York fashion district, Klein knew that if he was going to succeed in the fashion business, he was going to have to take advantage of every single learning opportunity that presented itself. The Millstein apprenticeship only paid $75 a week but it gave Klein first-hand experience in the fashion industry which proved to be invaluable.

According to Klein: “I learned a lot, because he threw me into the snake pit. It’s a fiercely competitive business, and Millstein was a perfect example of that world... People have done it without having formal training in design, but I don't hire people unless they've been formally trained.  I look for people who really are talented, creative, inventive, modern in thinking and hard working. Because we’re in a very hard, tough business.”

Action Item #2: Reach A Wide Audience

You never know where your next customer is going to come from and you don't want to make the mistake of picking such a small niche market that you won't be able to make enough money to stay in business. Make sure the market you're choosing is big enough for you to create a profitable company now and has room for growth into the future.

Klein rose to the top of the fashion industry by creating products and advertising campaigns that appealed to the broadest cross-section of the population. By not limiting himself to a certain market and creating a wide range of product lines to accommodate all segments of society, Klein helped solidify his position at the top of the American fashion industry. The key to his success was his attempt to attract customers from all walks of life. The ultimate attempt to broaden his appeal came with the launch of his fragrance line cKone, the first unisex perfume ever created. By allowing anyone to wear the same scent, Klein broke down all the barriers between his customers. Klein understood that if his business was going to sustain a significant market and have any kind of staying power, he had to create as broad an appeal as possible.

According to Klein: “Fashion is about selling clothes. I’m in a business where no one cares about anything except how well your last collection sold...You can’t advertise for one group. Otherwise, you end up having a very small business!... I want everyone I can get. Jews, Catholics, gays straights, you name it!”

Action Item #3: Stay Focused

Entrepreneurs are easily distracted. We see other people launching successful companies and it often raises doubts as to whether your business will succeed or not. Sometimes we just get bored of our businesses and want to do something else, often before we've given enough time to make sure our companies hit a critical level of success. The entrepreneurs who achieve at the very highest levels stay focused on their goals. They don't allow other opportunities to distract them and they keep working on their businesses until they reach what they set out to do.

From a very early age Klein's goal was to follow his passion for designing clothes for every American. Every step that he took along the way from attending fashion school to taking low-paying internships to launching his own business brought him closer to achieving his goal. Everything else he ignored. He wanted to live his life with no regrets and not be left wondering what would have happened if he gave his very best.

According to Klein: "The money is not that important to me, whether it’s $800,000,000, a billion or two billion... I think fantasies are for the birds. Anything I wanted to do, I did. If there’s something I want, nothing stops me.”

True Story

In the early days, when he was still working for other designers, Klein actually considered quitting the fashion industry altogether and going into the supermarket business. His friend Barry Schwartz had just taken over his father’s grocery store in Harlem and had turned it into a successful venture in his first six months. Klein was becoming increasingly frustrated with his jobs and when Schwartz offered him full partnership in his supermarket, it was hard to decline. Klein had worked at his own father’s supermarket for numerous years so knew what he would be getting into.

But, a conversation over dinner one night with his father would change Klein’s life forever. He had gone to his parents to ask for advice, expecting them to agree with his decision to go into the supermarket business with Schwartz. Instead, Klein says, his father shocked him. “‘I think you would be making a tremendous mistake,’ he said. ‘I don’t understand what you’ve been studying all these years, but whatever it is, I don’t think you’ve given it enough of a chance.” Klein’s father warned him that if he didn’t continue what he was doing, he would regret it for the rest of his life. Klein stuck to his vision and stayed in fashion.

More Quotes

"I think fantasies are for the birds. If there's something I want, nothing stops me."

"You can’t advertise for one group. Otherwise, you end up having a very small business!"

"Doing everything as well as possible meant survival."

What Do You Think?

Are you an expert in your industry? How do you stay focused? What part of Calvin Klein's message impacted you the most? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!

Evan Carmichael

To learn more check out my list of Calvin Klein articles or my website, EvanCarmichael.com.