What you might not be aware of is that shapewear can be used for medical reasons, as it’s used by many post-surgery patients either those recovering from BBL or other plastic surgery procedures.

In general, fashion companies are recognizing the benefits of having a powerful branding strategy especially as more customers align themselves with brands that champion diversity and inclusion. Examples of great comebacks include brands like Victoria’s Secret as well as emerging brands like Skims by Kim Kardashian.

One company that has made its first footstep into America, is deploying its methodology and values to close the gap between shapewear and fashion. Tributo is the first fajas (girdle) company that makes colorful and customizable fajas as well as other shapewear. Originated from Columbia which has an epicenter for plastic surgery clinics, they have managed to partner with some of the largest clinics and surgeons in both Columbia and America. Their brand champions partnerships that are in full alignment with what they believe in: diversity, inclusivity, and innovation.

This movement pertains to more than just positive ROI and brand trust, but its vision stretches to impact customers of all backgrounds and sizes globally, as well as pioneering ethical employment practices. 

Here’s how functional fajas are taking a storm on the shapewear market.

Customization is key to embracing all types of bodies

Traditional fashion follows standardized protocols for sizing. This may leave people frustrated when trying to feel good in clothes because they’re unable to find clothes that are tailored to their body type and curves. It can become an expensive endeavor tailoring every piece of clothing they have, or time-consuming trying to look for the perfect fit in stores.

Here’s how customization can be powerful. When a company is based on customizing their clothing to fit the person instead of the other way around, it exemplifies to the customer that they truly come first. Tributo introduced a seamless online shopping experience for their customers who want customization but don’t want to pay thousands of dollars for it.

Their products are not only aesthetically pleasing, but the hallmark is their bright colors that customers want to show off, instead of hiding. The material is designed to provide compression to snatch the silhouette. By being custom made, the faja is able to only give compression in the areas needed like the abdominal area. The compression helps shape people’s curves, flatten the stomach, and improve posture. It’s also extremely suitable for people recovering from surgical procedures. Viviana says, ”By creating custom garments, we send the message that there is no such thing as a standard body or standard beauty.”

Another demographic that is underserved is people who identify as non-binary and desire to achieve the hourglass shape. Through Tributo, non-binary clients can receive exceptional service and customization to their needs. This was so important to the company, that they recently released the Ken Doll collection to honor this specific community and want to be the first ones to bring it to the mainstream. 

Living by the same Values: Inclusion, Innovation, and Quality

Fashion has been around for centuries yet it’s not known for being the most inclusive nor ethical. Only recently have brands and advertising companies intentionally woven diversity and ethical practices into their marketing. The pivot to more inclusive fashion campaigns by brands such as Vogue, Victoria’s Secret, and the Gap, shows a cultural paradigm shift in fashion and values.

For Tributo, the quality of its product has as much to do with the quality of the company’s values as anything. The founder and CEO, Viviana Millán, takes care of her sixty and growing employees, treating it as an investment, rather than an expense. Besides refusing to open factories and restoring calm and beautiful houses for her employees to work in, she is mindful to negate the biases of gender or age from Tributo’s hiring process. Today, Tributo is a predominantly women-run company, with several single moms and immigrants in the workforce. 

As it comes to branding, Tributo generally tries to employ regular people in their campaigns and partners with real fajas-loving customers of all orientations and body types. Most recently, their Hot Pink Campaign featured a bionic model Marsha Elle. This served as an amazing opportunity to showcase their brand’s values of inclusivity, as Millan puts it, “Having Marsha represents a bold statement for inclusion since she has a prosthetic leg, and it is not common in the shapewear industry to display people with disabilities.”

The constant iteration and improvement of the fajas speak to Viviana’s innovative mind. “It’s programmed into my hard drive to always look for ways to improve,” Millán says. In part what makes the company successful, is its unwavering dedication to using the best quality for the fajas and their practice of ethical fashion standards.

Conclusion

The story of customizable fajas started small and humble in Columbia, but as word spread, it’s on track to becoming a fashion staple. Not only so, but it’s supporting a broader cultural shift for people of all gender and body sizes in fashion. Utility, a distinct brand message, and loyal communities are indications of a timeless brand in the making.

The post A Tribute to Adversity: Functional Yet Fashionable Fajas appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Regardless of the time period or what conflicts the world endured, sports has always prevailed as a universal unifier. 

The numbers glaring across the scoreboards, ecstatic fans in a warm embrace, the blazing horns in the background. This visual encompasses what comes to mind when we think of the term, sports.

As one of the most coveted industries in the world, sports organizations have to regularly adapt to meet the growing demands of the increasingly technology-savvy fanbase. The past five years have witnessed a spike in venture capital investments in sports tech.

Technology can capture historical moments, such as the milliseconds before and after an athlete scores the championship goal. Experiential data like scoring a goal or the pompous VIP amenities are hard to describe with just words and photos.

Meanwhile, the income of a sports league, such as the New York Yankees, is dependent on three things: sponsorships, attendance, and merchandise. Sponsorships in sports teams accounted for 70% of the $15B total spent on sponsorships in 2016. However, did you know that up until the last five years, many of the biggest brands in sports were still pitching seven-figure deals within the confines of PowerPoint?

One technology has changed the whole game – revolutionizing how deals are being done in the boardrooms.

Its name: Digideck by Sportsdigita .

The founder of Sportsdigita is a powerful leader with several years of experience in both the financial industry and in professional sports leagues.

Angelina Lawton, the founder, and CEO of Sportsdigita got her vision for what is now known as Digideck during her time with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I saw these huge corporate brands coming into meetings and all we had were linear PowerPoints to try and impress them. I knew there had to be a better way.”

Today, Sportsdigita is the solution trusted by over 400 sports teams and enterprise brands around the globe. It combines personalization features, real-time analytics, and immersive technology to create beautiful and personalized presentations for any company.

Illustrating the numbers in a creative way

Visualizing data can help tremendously in how we understand it. Interactive tools drive engagement and increase value for the creator in the long run. Propping up your hard-earned statistics in a way that can capture a buyer’s attention is crucial, especially in a market as dynamic as sports. “In the financial industry, it was hard to bring the numbers, charts, and graphs to life,” Angelina comments. However, when I got into the NHL, the environment drastically changed to one that was dynamic and from there I saw a natural progression of how technology could be utilized to enhance the experience.”

Companies can easily plug their facts and figures into Digideck which can produce interactive graphs and real-time analytics. Digideck allows sellers to communicate directly with buyers at their convenience, which leads to better engagement and greater potential for more booked meetings.

Creating immersive experiences for maximum revenue

Research has shown that when people have better experiences with a product, they are more likely to spend more. With the dawn of the metaverse, many brands are pivoting towards using AR/VR technologies to boost their product interactions with customers.

Digideck allows companies to showcase their offerings, taking the buyer on an immersive journey through video technology and elegant interactive cursor buttons. Imagine getting a 360° view of what the President’s Suite looks like in your local sports arena, instead of just a flat photo. The experience sells itself.

Seamless distribution for efficiency 

With traditional presentations, you have to add a number of links that take you to other pages. The amount of times the user has to oscillate between the presentation and other weblinks is distracting and subtracts from the overall experience.

With Digideck, everything is integrated into the deck which removes friction and increases attention span. The deck can be distributed to every stakeholder in one link and can be viewed at the buyer’s convenience. This signals respect for people’s time— not strapping them down to a 30-minute pitch meeting for something they might have no interest in. Digideck empowers the buyer to make their own decisions by presenting the data in an appealing and easy-to-understand manner.

Conclusion

As technology and the world evolves, sports has to evolve with it. While much of the focus recently has been centered around the fan experience and athletic improvement, a crucial element that has been quietly revolutionalized is the end-to-end sales process. The adage goes, “People won’t remember what you’ve said, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel.” Presentation is simply an area that can’t be missed, and stellar technologies like Digideck can help companies build an elusive and irresistible brand that sells.

The post Game-Changing Technology: How Angelina Lawton Revolutionized the Sports Industry appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Studies and world-class examples show that passion remains an integral part of entrepreneurial success. Without it, entrepreneurs may find it difficult to overcome the long hours, as well as the turbulences that come with building a business from the ground up. A founder’s passion contributes to increases in buy-in rate from investors and the general public.

It was the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, that once said “People with passion can change the world for the better.” He attributed much of his success to dedication and passion for what he was doing.

It’s taking that first leap and getting started that is often the hardest. It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to fall ‘accidentally’ into their businesses. Many can turn their hobbies or side gigs into a full-time income. However, this requires a bit of fear elimination. Dismantling the constructs that prevent us from pursuing something, just because it seems uncertain. Becoming an entrepreneur not only takes passion but also grit and experimentation to find the right fit.

One entrepreneur drew inspiration from throwing her son’s first birthday party and turned it into a multi-digit full-time entertainment business. Arisineh Hoonanian is the CEO of Little Artist Party. The Los Angeles-based party planning company attracts the likes of well-known names such as the Kardashians, Jessica Simpson, and Lily Ghalichi.

Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to cultivate their passion and don’t be afraid of using creativity to inspire their future businesses. You never know where it can lead to.

Identify your Passion and Become Meticulous About It

Let’s assume your passion is sports. You desire to create a career that has something to do with sports. Now, go attempt to find a job with that in mind.

The fact is, you’re going to have a difficult time because you’ve failed to narrow down your passion to something tangible. What is it you enjoy about sports? Is there a particular sport you favor? Is there a specific element you want to influence? 

Start by identifying something that brings you joy, that you have a fair degree of aptitude in, and most importantly brings value to others. Now your goal is to become the best at it. And to become the best at something, you need to be meticulous about the details and not let yourself become a ‘generalist’. 

Little Artist Party went from throwing one birthday party per weekend to now being booked for 20 on average. This monumental growth didn’t come overnight. A lot of the success, Arsineh attributes to long hours and meticulous preparation. Despite having an entire event planning team, Arsineh ensures every single detail is executed to her standard of quality for every party. 

It’s this level of dedication to quality and customer satisfaction that has driven countless testimonials and allowed the company to expand its services. If Arsineh didn’t have the passion for kids and cultivating the best experiences for these precious years of their lives, it would have been extremely hard for her to pull off this level of execution. It wasn’t just parties she wanted to plan, these were niche parties catered towards challenging the creativity of kids.

Let your Passion be Showcased in the Branding

People will often buy into the entrepreneur, more than they do the product. Don’t be afraid to showcase what you’re passionate about and what you’re working towards. Social media can help business owners establish a more genuine connection with their audience. 

Your passion can be embodied through your branding and messaging. For example, the Little Artist Party website is exuberant with bright colors, images, and headings that reflect creativity, joy, and trust. Its logo is a paint palette reflecting its value of letting kids express their innermost creativity through play. 

“Focusing on marketing is also a big part of expressing my passion. Without having a platform to show our creativity and events, it would have been difficult to present our vision,”, Arisineh comments.

Find the Right People that Align with Your Passion 

It takes a village to build a successful business, but if that village is comprised of the wrong fits, it might come down like the Jenga game.

When you’re ready to take that step to bring on people to assist you in building your company, make sure you’re explicit about your passion and outcomes. People that share your vision are more likely to be more loyal and have higher performance than those who aren’t. It also reduces potential conflict and tension in the workplace if everyone is aligned on the same goals.

Allocating responsibilities can be difficult for an entrepreneur, but is necessary for growth. As Little Party Artist grew, the additional staff and event planners brought on helped monumentally in sustaining the level of quality Arsineh wanted for the parties. She’s especially keen on taking the time to find the right people for the task.

Conclusion

Betting on passion alone won’t get you to the finish line of starting a business, however, it can give you the fuel to persist in the long haul. Passion can also help entrepreneurs identify what they value and set up standards for their businesses. These standards can be reflected across their branding, marketing, to their teams, and final product. The more you hone down on your passion, the greater quality you can produce for your customers, and the more likely you will achieve successful outcomes for your business.

The post Personal Success Tips from the Go-to Celebrities Kids Party CEO & Mom appeared first on Grit Daily News.

There are thousands of materials and books on the subject, yet the world is still ridden with the same problems.

The disparity amongst humans, corruption, environmental destruction, and countries at war are nowhere closer to being resolved. 

One problem appears to be that leadership is hierarchical and separates the decision-making powers between regular people, and the few at the top. This discourages people from taking responsibility and making impactful choices because they feel stifled from the decision-making system.

To combat this, the focus must be pivoted towards seeing how we can improve access to the economy, and accelerate cultural impact as a collective. This may be our only sustainable solution of giving hope to the future of leadership.

Leadership is a journey. One where you must lead yourself before you lead others. To Kiri-Maree Moore, CEO and Founder of Decision Velocity Global known as a Global Advisor, Strategist & Investor – International Speaker,  “becoming obsessed with patterns” was her way of connecting awareness in leadership culture and helping leaders across the globe take ownership of their decisions.

An old approach to leadership was to emphasize having one person at the top. The new approach is where humanity recognizes “if every one of us does their one percent, then together we can shift the dial forward from problem to solution, ” Kiri-Maree states. The kind of cultural impact where we add value, not take away

This article discusses how when we disrupt old patterns, take a new approach, and view leadership through a “humanity as stakeholders” lens, it can create space to serve a new generation of global leaders.

Humanity as Stakeholders

Humanity means you and I, where the stakeholder is a measure of value. Looking at leadership using “humanity as stakeholders” as a lens means when you make a decision, you either add value to the human race or subtract from it. Kiri-Maree believes if we were all to do this then it would help to shift the dial in the right direction.

Things like conditioning, restrictive social norms, and distrust through biases must be eliminated. Permission at the table needs to become a non-negotiable where every human has a seat. All distinctions are welcome where you add value and are able to give voice to the change needed across the global leadership landscape.

This is exactly what Kiri-Maree means when she holds a vision of hope for the future of leadership. “The old approach has got us this far but the new approach will narrow the gap between where we are and where we need to be,” Kiri-Maree affirms.

Humans need to be proactive about rewiring old patterns in their brains, to make better decisions and to form effective behaviors that help shift humanity forward. This needs to begin in a leadership culture where leaders know the power of a leader who evolves.

Instead of defaulting back to the old approach based on the archaic principles of leadership, where leaders are stuck in a hierachy, we use the new approach which creates space for new conversations, different questions, and where we learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.  “Patterns help us be more effective, to disrupt old systems and processes that are not working anymore”, Kiri-Maree says.

It’s a science and an art to rewire our brains. To achieve effective and sustainable solutions, we have to master the muscle of Human Intelligence (HI) and disrupt the patterns that are no longer serving us.

Exercising the Muscle of Human Intelligence (HI)

Technology continues to advance and time is moving at a fast pace. Leaders need more than ever to know how to make the right decisions, fast. Learning the secret advantage of exercising the muscle of HI is no longer just an option, but is essential for any leader.  Human Intelligence is as simple as the data you gather from the environment and what you choose to do with the data.  

Like any muscle, when the brain is underutilized— it atrophies, becoming less effective over time. Unfortunately, if leadership continues down the same pathway, it prevents from building a culture where it is encouraged to think for yourself, do things differently, and lead. It all begins with awareness, recognizing patterns, understanding the opportunities, and the willingness to make shifts to adopt better solutions. 

Away with the Old Approach, onto the New Approach

Instead of shielding everyday people from making what has been known as top-level, executive decisions—why constrain these abilities to a few around the table. Rather, a new approach gives the opportunity for different leaders to come to the table, navigate decisions through a different lens and add their value to help give impact to the final decision. If we stick to having the same people around the table with the same patterns of thinking, we will always end up with the same outcome. This shift is crucial for evolution.

Moving away from a competitive, zero-sum mindset requires us as individuals to see the problem beyond our own limiting lens. Learning from others, either within our own industry or outside of it, gives us the perspective and skills needed to make better decisions and take action to move humanity forward in a better direction.

Kiri-Maree has always done everything with her vision in mind. Her vision involves helping people across the globe to know there is always a solution to any problem if you are willing to find it. To her, to equip people with access to resources and strategies allows every human the opportunity to have a voice at the table. 

Conclusion 

All in all, leadership that shifts humanity in a forward movement requires the need for a new approach. Assessing our decisions through the lens of humanity as stakeholders creates the space for a new culture of innovation, where leadership can pioneer a new pathway to bring sustainable solutions.

This environment should empower leaders being able to make smart decisions, be able to exercise the muscle of HI,and to add value to humanity going forward.

Find what requires us to build out an ecosystem that offers value on a universal scale. The more value we can add to humanity, and others; the closer we will become to narrowing the gap between problems and solutions as a society.

The post The Future Of Leadership: Humanity As Stakeholders appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Not to dissuade promising entrepreneurs, but to reiterate that; being part of the 10% that succeed is no child’s play. There’s the need to work smarter and harder for your startup to achieve success. 

Remember, a startup often tests assumptions and ideas that haven’t been tried before, and even if those ideas do exist, a new startup in the ecosystem aims to do better than existing ones. Looking at this need to be different, one can understand the primary reason why most startups fail— no genuine and long-lasting demand for their products and services.

If you plan to establish a startup, here are a few things that can save you from crashing hard into failure.

Understand Your Target Audience; Is There Really a Need for Your Startup?

Don’t create products and services that no one wants, or that is based on the rave of the moment. Always aim for long-term relevance. 

A startup’s goal ought to be creating a scalable business model and understanding who and what to build for. On the contrary, some startups ‘blindly’ create, and hardly take time to evaluate what people really want. They are often so ‘obsessed’ with their idea and vision that they don’t realize that their proposed audience may not really need what their business is offering after all. 

According to Eren Legend— professional athlete, world champion, and celebrity fitness trainer; when you understand your target audience, your business begins to fall in place, and things become less challenging for you. “Trying to please every kind of audience will only burn you out, and it also poses as inconsistency. As an entrepreneur, it is paramount to understand your audience. Things will begin to fall in place once you determine this,” he advises.

In September 2021, Epic Games announced the shutdown of its HouseParty app, which also included the ‘Fortnite mode’ feature. HouseParty allows people to talk and play games with others and create that ‘house party’ feeling. It is justifiable to say that HouseParty had increased relevance because of the pandemic and the lockdown that came along with it. People were confined to their homes, and they had a lot of time on their hands to interact on social media. 

Houseparty recorded 50 million new signups at the height of the lockdown, but as the pandemic gradually wore off, other video chat apps came into existence and gained more ground. And according to data from Apptopia, the number of signups has continually declined since the pandemic rally. And now, HouseParty has finally closed the curtains. 

Creating a product or service that stands the test of time and that your audience would need in the long run is essential to the success of your startup.

Research Into Your Existing Competitors: What Have Startups Done Before You?

It would be best if you don’t underestimate market research.

Always carry out preliminary research before you dive into establishing a startup. Research cannot be skipped. It is very essential, especially if your idea is not new and you’ve already got existing competitors. You need to know what others have done before you, and how your product or service may place you in the front row.

Proper market research must be done to understand your (proposed) target market. Knowing and understanding the needs of your (intended) customers can help you meet their needs better and even in a more proficient way than existing startups. Also, this research can give you insights into untapped opportunities in the niche, identify consumer problems, and maintain a competitive edge in your industry. And in the long run, this helps to boost your sales and business growth. 

As Canada’s first-ever Physique World Champion, Eren Legend exemplifies how he did thorough research before deciding to pursue his career as a high-level professional athlete. “At the time I began my career as an amateur, I had seen a void that needed to be filled. No natural athletes were emerging in Canada, and there wasn’t even a conversation at the pro level of what I had been pursuing. I realized that I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pave the way and cement history. The inclusion of the men’s physique division was new to the world of competition; therefore, there was an exceptional opportunity to make history,” he recalls.

However, keep in mind that you can’t just research at the beginning of your startup (or career) alone. You’ve got to do some research at various stages of your startup life cycle, as this will provide you with a sound understanding of your marketplace as things evolve.

Build the Right Team

Teamwork makes the dream work. And just like Andrew Carnegie once said, “Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” 

Let’s face the reality of it; you can’t build a startup all by yourself. To bring your startup idea to life, you’d need a team to help you take action and implement it. Even if it’s a team of 5 people, it’s much better than trying to do all the work by yourself. 

However, this is where some business owners get it wrong; they don’t build a team that embodies their vision and mission. Startups need direction and a clear idea of the short-term and long-term goals. To achieve this, your team needs to have a sense of cohesiveness and harmony to achieve the startup’s ultimate goal. 

“Teamwork is important. Throughout my life and career, I can attribute a lot of my success outside of athletics and in the world of business; towards having the right team and systems implemented and in place,” Legend agrees. Values like teamwork and staying faithful to helping people achieve better body awareness, have made Legend a go-to fitness consultant, wellness coach, and celebrity trainer. He has been able to train actors such as Harley Morenstein (Epic Meal Time), Pablo Schreiber (Halo TV series) & Ricky Whittle (American Gods TV show).

Wrapping Up

In summary, these are essential and foundational tips to help your startup get on track while also saving it from failing fast. However, these are not the only factors that would decide the success of your startup. Others may include sufficient funding, appropriate branding & advertising, building customer satisfaction, among many others. 

By having these tips within your grasp, you’re a step ahead already.

The post Here’s Why 90% of Startups Fail appeared first on Grit Daily News.