Dear ASDP Board

President's Message

12/01/2015 6:59 PM | Anonymous

I hope everyone came home from conference rejuvenated, inspired, and motivated. If you were not able to attend, hopefully the contents of this newsletter will motivate and inspire you to set aside the time and money to attend our next conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Now it is time to close out 2015 and make plans for 2016. What will you do to move your business forward? How will you do it? As the board makes preparations for our annual Strategic Planning meeting, I have asked them to read two books, "Getting Things Done by David Allen and "The Trust Edge" by David Horsager. I challenge anyone to find anything in these books that is really new! Still, the authors present the concepts in their own voice and that is what makes them new and worth the read.

As dressmakers, tailors, alteration specialists, designers, purveyors of goods and services, etc. we are not doing anything new. Rather, it is our voice and how we do it that makes what we offer interesting and valuable. It has been suggested that we are part of a dying trade. Maybe. But, unlike the blacksmith who lost his livelihood to the advent and popularity of the automobile, people still wear clothes, as well as need and use many other sewn products (i.e. pillows, curtains, tents, etc.). What has changed is how people get their sewn goods.

Even so, in spite of the “casualization” of dress and outsourcing of sewing to cheaper labor markets, there remains a population who have unique desires and needs and who want customized/unique goods with personalized service. Furthermore, they have the resources to pay. To this population, we offer the breadth and depth of our skill and talent, our “voice” if you will. They will find it interesting and valuable - if they can find us.

May 2016 find you with great books on your reading table, interesting projects in your studio, extra profits in your bank account and an amazing “voice”

Written by Debra Utberg, President

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