The Single Most Important Lesson I Learned Working In the Fashion Industry

I spent 16 years working in the fashion industry and unfortunately I can’t say I learned a ton about style, but I did learn a lot about money. And that has little to do with being the CFO.

I had a front row seat and a backstage pass. I could see what was conveyed publicly, as well as the truth behind the facade.

The people I worked with were wonderful and full of passion. But a lot of them had dysfunctional relationships with money.

They were under pressure to portray an image, regardless of what their wallets contained.

Which meant a lot of debt and paycheck advances, as well as the never-ending belief that they didn’t have “enough.” Which snowballed into a lot of stress in an already demanding industry.

This isn’t unique to fashion, as we’ve all been conditioned to “keep up with the Joneses.” But it certainly was magnified.

And it opened my eyes to this truth:

What appears to be wealth is often inner and outer poverty.

And here’s why:

• Just because we see someone with nice things doesn’t mean they own them. Anyone can find a willing lender, but the cost is greater than just the interest.
• They may own the nice things, but if they are fearful of losing them or unsatisfied and always wanting more, they are experiencing internal poverty.
• If the desire to have nice things comes from a place of feeling unworthy and a need to prove something to someone, they may rack up emotional debt.

This lesson motivated me to dig deep into how our beliefs and emotions around money impact our ability to build lasting wealth. And led to my second realization: Wealth begins within.