In this conversation, Christine Daal, CEO and founder of Fashion Angel Warrior, shares her journey from fashion designer to coach, emphasizing the importance of confidence, community, and a holistic approach in fashion entrepreneurship. She discusses her unique coaching methods, common mistakes made by fashion entrepreneurs, and the significance of adapting to industry changes. Christine highlights success stories from her clients, showcasing the impact of her coaching on their businesses. She also addresses the future of fashion, including the need to develop more workers for local apparel manufacturing and improving sustainability to keep up with global standards and consumer demands.
About Christine Daal
Christine Daal is the CEO and founder of the fashion consulting and marketing agency, Fashion Angel Warrior. Her experience spans over 20 years in the industry, reaching the position of VP of design and merchandising by the age of 30, and then starting her own successful fashion line. For the past 10 years, she has coached fashion printers on how to leave their nine to five and have a profitable business. Through one-on-one coaching, group coaching masterminds, fractional CMO services, online courses, retreats, manufacturing tours, and digital marketing services, Fashion Angel Warrior has become a one-stop shop for e-commerce brands.
Contact info
Website: https://fashionangelwarrior.com/
Email: info@fashionangelwarrior.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fashionangelwarrior
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FashionAngelWarrior/
Special offer for listeners: Sign up for a FREE 6 part Video Training Series
Get it at: fashionangelwarrior.com/glynis
Takeaways
- Confidence plays a direct role in building a successful brand.
- A holistic approach blends mindset, lifestyle, and business strategy.
- Build your audience and email list before launching any product.
- Don’t invest in inventory without first validating demand.
- Track key metrics like traffic, email list, and average order value.
- Choose coaches and service providers based on results, not hype.
- Know your budget and revisit it before making major decisions.
- Successful founders outsource strategically and focus on what they do best.
- Community support is essential for long-term growth and resilience.
- Sustainability and adaptability are no longer optional, but are expected.
- Moms can build legacy brands that create freedom, income, and impact.
Interview themes
What are common mistakes that fashion startups make, and how can they be avoided?
Christine Daal has seen too many early-stage brands go under—not for lack of passion, but because they spent their budgets in the wrong places or worked with the wrong people. Common mistakes include hiring the wrong agency, underestimating the power of community, and trying to do everything solo. Her biggest red flag? Founders investing tens of thousands in inventory before building demand. Christine’s first step with every client is to review their budget honestly and plan strategically. “Compliments don’t make you money,” she says. “Results do.”
How can you launch a fashion brand with no product?
Through her “no product fashion line method,” Christine teaches clients to flip the traditional launch model. Instead of designing and producing inventory first, brands build community—an audience and grow their email list before they release their first item. Some clients have ranked in the top 20% of Shopify stores for traffic the week they launched with no product on hand. The approach reduces financial risk and creates demand before production, setting up founders for stronger sales and sustainable growth.
What do successful founders have in common?
Christine’s most successful clients are committed, coachable, and clear on their strengths. Many are moms working late nights or early mornings, multitasking between life and business—but always willing to do what it takes. They don’t try to master every skill themselves. Instead, they focus on what they do best—like designing—and outsource the rest, whether it's accounting, analytics, or ads. They also tend to prioritize health, organization, and mindset—understanding that how you care for yourself affects how you lead.
How does confidence affect business outcomes?
Christine takes a holistic approach to coaching—blending business strategy with mental wellness and confidence-building. She’s helped clients unlock major growth just by helping them feel empowered to make decisions: hiring a seamstress, collaborating with a designer, or pitching to a store. When founders feel confident, they take bolder actions—and those decisions directly impact their bottom line. For Christine, mindset isn’t a side note. It’s a growth driver.
A client case study: from unprofitable to multi-7 figures
One of Christine’s long-time clients was generating $500K in sales—but spending $600K to get there. Together, they cut $100K in operating expenses and doubled the brand’s online revenue. The result? Profitability for the first time, and a six-figure month shortly after. Over the next few years, Christine helped him scale to 7 figures, overhaul his email strategy (growing email revenue from $2.5K to $10K per campaign), and increase site conversion rates to nearly 4%. He even let go of two other coaches and chose to keep Christine. “That was the ultimate compliment,” she says.
Where does Christine start when a founder says, “I need more sales”?
Christine starts by getting straight to the numbers: website traffic, email list size, social media following, and average order value. With just those four data points, she can calculate revenue potential and uncover what’s holding a brand back. She also helps founders shift from gut-based decisions to data-informed ones. Whether it’s pricing, product design, or inventory planning—every decision should be tied to a measurable stat. “Show me the numbers,” she says. “That’s how you grow.”
What should brands focus on as the industry changes?
Christine believes fashion entrepreneurs must evolve alongside the industry. That means shifting to community-first marketing, adapting manufacturing models (especially as tariffs and labor shortages rise), and taking sustainability seriously. Whether it’s building private feedback groups or learning to sew as a backup skill, Christine urges founders to stay flexible, use tech tools wisely, and listen to their customers early and often. The future belongs to brands that can pivot—and care.
Why does Christine love working with moms founders?
Christine lights up when working with women who are building something meaningful for themselves and their families. As a mom of two, she understands the juggle—and the deep motivation behind legacy-building. She sees business as more than income. It’s about empowerment, freedom, and impact. Helping a mom go from idea to income, or showing her child what’s possible through entrepreneurship, is what Christine finds most rewarding. “You’re not just growing a brand,” she says. “You’re changing your family’s future.”
Chapters
00:00 Building Confidence in Fashion Entrepreneurship
02:41 The Journey of Fashion Angel Warrior
05:51 Holistic Coaching Approach
08:43 Signature Coaching and Marketing Framework
11:38 Common Mistakes of Fashion Entrepreneurs
14:46 The Importance of Community
17:23 Full Spectrum Solutions for Fashion Brands
20:25 Client Success Stories
23:20 Growth Metrics and Revenue Increases
26:30 Mindset and Habits of Successful Clients
29:19 Navigating Online Sales Growth
32:12 Adapting to Industry Changes
35:16 The Future of Fashion: Trends and Sustainability
38:16 Empowering Female Founders
41:07 Advice for Fashion Entrepreneurs
44:06 Upcoming Programs and Promotions
47:02 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
Transcript
Christine Daal
We've had a lot of different success stories. Even just aside from e-commerce, going back to the confidence side, again, because I'm so holistic and I like to look at your mental health and your mindset and confidence and all this different stuff, even on the confidence side, we had a brand that she finally felt the confidence to start hiring more seamstresses and expanding her team. And then that allowed her to now take on more orders because she was turning away business because she wasn't able to fulfill orders, but she didn't have the confidence to think that she could actually hire a good seamstress. So even just having a confidence increase, right, can affect the remainder of your business.
We had another client who was literally part of our Soar Mastermind program, she connected with another designer. She didn't feel confident in her own design capabilities, believe it or not. So she wasn't really a designer by heart, but just wanted to start this business for other reasons. And so she connected with another designer, hired that designer to be her designer and now she felt like, now I have actually really good designs, which then gave her the confidence to start reaching out to stores, which then she got her first wholesale order. So even just having that boost in confidence can really help your bottom line, which people don't think about or want to talk about maybe, but it does affect the bottom line of your business. So that's also been amazing to see, just people's confidence go up.
Glynis Tao
Welcome to Chase Your Dreams, a podcast for fashion entrepreneurs who want to build a purposeful and profitable clothing business so they can make a living doing what they love. I'm your host, Glynis Tao, an apparel business consultant and SEO specialist with 20 years apparel industry experience. I'm also a mom to a wonderfully energetic little boy named Chase.
Christine Daal is the CEO and founder of the fashion consulting and marketing agency, Fashion Angel Warrior. Her experience spans over 20 years in the industry, reaching the position of VP of design and merchandising by the age of 30, and then starting her own successful fashion line. For the past 10 years, she has coached fashion printers on how to leave their nine to five and have a profitable business. Through one-on-one coaching, group coaching masterminds, fractional CMO services, online courses, retreats, manufacturing tours, and digital marketing services, Fashion Angel Warrior has become a one-stop shop for e-commerce brands.
Welcome, Christine. It's so nice to have you here today. Thanks for joining me on the podcast.
Christine Daal
Hi, Glynis, it's so nice to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Glynis Tao
You've had an incredible journey from fashion designer to coach and agency founder. What inspired you to start Fashion Angel Warrior? Was there a gap you noticed in the market?
Yeah, so I think that first of all, I felt called to do this probably because of two main things. I've always loved fashion and I've always loved helping people. And so I kind of just put them together, right? And that's how I started the coaching side of the business. But at the same time, I really saw a need and a gap in the market and I saw a lot of injustice happening. So when I had my successful fashion line, I experienced with one of my manufacturers, they actually tried to take advantage of me.
And this was, you know, at the time I had already 12 years of experience in the fashion industry. I wasn't a newbie. I kind of knew what I was doing. And so it just became really apparent to me right out of the gate that if these newbie designers don't have someone in their corner kind of fighting for them and helping them, who's going to help them navigate this, right? And avoid having these manufacturers take advantage of them. So I had a personal experience, right? That kind of shaped my desire to start the business.
And then just the industry itself, for those who have been in it, kind of know it's very secretive, it's very competitive. There's a lot of this whole devil wears Prada nonsense going on where people are really just pushing each other down to get ahead, right, to make themselves feel better. And I just don't agree with any of that. And so I wanted to do the opposite. I was like, can I be the angel who wears Prada? Can I be the one lifting people up because there's way too many people, you know, pushing people down.
And so when I started my business almost 10 years ago now, I was like, okay, we need to have the vision that people are serving one another and helping each other and collaborating instead of competing. That's like one of our core visions and values, right? And so I always say for the fashion industry to survive, it can't be survival of the fittest, right? We all need to really work together. That's really what drove me to start Fashion Angel Warrior.
Glynis Tao
Okay, that sounds great. Okay, and like, I was also curious about the name and it sounds like now it makes sense. You are the angel versus the devil who wears Prada.
Christine Daal
Yes, yes, yes, that was part of it, yes.
Glynis Tao
I love it. Your mission is to help fashion printers turn their passion into profit. What does that transformation usually look like for your clients?
Christina Daal
So the transformation can look like a lot of different things. I always tell people my coaching approach is really always two things, holistic and customized. So I believe in looking at the whole person, not just your business model, right? So what are your values? What are your interests? What are your goals? What are your strengths, your weaknesses, your budget? That really takes a huge factor, right? If you come to me and say, have a $5,000 budget versus a $200,000 budget, my advice is gonna be very different, right?
Even your lifestyle, if you're a working mom, if you just got divorced, you know, all of these different things, I like to incorporate into my coaching approach and strategy. So I like to say I go beyond the typical business strategies and I really like to incorporate your soul, body and spirit into everything that we do. Right? So I always say mental health and confidence are just as important as having a marketing plan, for instance.
And so I also like to take a very long-term approach. So yes, I can teach you what's popular right now on Instagram, right? But let's look down the road. Do you want to be doing Instagram in two years, in three years? Is this really sustainable for what you're doing, where you're at with your life, your lifestyle, your preferences, right? Or do you need something else that's more evergreen? That's not going to be, I have to post every single day and show up and that sort of thing. So, that's kind of my approach to coaching and the transformation can be anything. I mean, I've seen people go from a confidence level of two to a confidence level of seven. I've seen people go from zero to a million dollars in sales in their very first year, which is crazy, crazy success. And then everything in between, right? So the transformation really spans the gamut.
Glynis Tao
Okay, so we're going to go deeper into your coaching approach and some client success stories, but just want to ask you, how has your background in both corporate fashion and entrepreneurship shaped your coaching approach and how do your services differ from traditional marketing firms or generic business coaches?
Christine Daal
Yeah. So I think having a background in both corporate and entrepreneurship has really helped to make me a well-rounded coach. I have a very broad understanding of different levels, of different avenues, and things that brands can explore. And so it helps me to understand, for instance, common mistakes that a brand might make. For instance, typically if you've worked in corporate fashion, you are going to start your fashion line thinking, well, I can just do what the company that I just worked for did, which maybe they sold, you know, 10,000 unit dress orders, right, on a daily basis and so their margins were maybe only 11% versus you, you're now a startup business, you can't have an 11% margin. You're not selling 10,000 unit orders. You're maybe selling two or three or five or 10, right? And so you really need to have that minimum, what I always say, 65 to 70% margin, which sounds really high if you're used to coming from a corporate background, right?
That's, I think, kind of what helps to make me a little bit more well-rounded and trying to be able to look out for those typical mistakes, common mistakes that people might make coming maybe from a corporate background or something like that. I also like to make sure that everything that I do is customized, right? I don't want to give you advice that's cookie-cutter. We have an amazing program. It's our Soar Mastermind group coaching program where we have eight different brands and I work with them for six months straight.
During that program, I create a marketing plan for each member. And so it's crazy to me because each marketing plan will look very, very different. One brand, I might tell them, hey, I think you should be doing PR. And the other one, I might tell them, I don't think you should waste any money. Please do not do any PR, right? So it just kind of depends on what the brand is, again, what their goals are, and what they really want to achieve.
Glynis Tao
And what types of fashion brands do you typically work with?
Christina Daal
I work with all different types of products, even non-fashion products. Everyone is like, well, I'm doing a medical product or I had a lady that was creating covers for dentist chairs, right? So things that are not even a typical fashion product, if you're making any kind of sewn product or even a non-sewn product, I mean, we've had people that were just starting like a stationary business or candle business, right? It's not anything to do with fashion or apparel, but it's a product that they're making, right? And now they want to sell it primarily online, but also wholesale.
So the majority of our customers would say 99% of them all want to sell e-commerce. And then I would say at least 50% of them want to do wholesale business as well. And so we work with both startups, meaning you have nothing, maybe just an idea, all the way to brands that are already doing six and seven figures and helping them scale from there.
Glynis Tao
So we're going to move into your coaching approach and services. Can you walk us through your signature coaching or marketing framework and what does that client journey look like?
Christine Daal
Yes. So let's talk about the signature coaching method first. We have a method that we've developed, what I like to call the no product fashion line method. And so basically we'll teach you how to start building your audience before you even have a product. Everyone seems to want to do it the reverse. They focus on building the product and building the website and then they launch and they hear crickets and they wonder why. And I'm like, that's because you didn't focus on the marketing.
And so we'll teach you how to drive traffic to your website, build your email list, grow your social media following all before you even have a product. And literally we have clients that are launching their Shopify stores in the top 17 to 23% of all Shopify stores ranked for traffic the same week that they launch because they're following our system and they literally have no product. So they're launching without any product and they're still beating out the other 90% of stores on Shopify. So it's really amazing to see that it does work and I can see that you're laughing Glynis because you know this is how all these brands are right?
Glynis Tao
I know that's way most typically how most brands do it right? Yeah, and I just yeah, that's what I love about you and how you know you have no product launch process, right? Yeah, I've seen brands make that mistake all the time. They like invest in so much inventory before they've even validated their business idea
Christine Daal
Yeah. I cringe every time I see it happen. So I always tell people like, do it, give yourself at least six to nine months, if not a year, to really build up that traffic before you launch. And trust me, once you have customers dying to get what it is that you want, you're going to be in such a better position than if you didn't do it that way and you did it the reverse. And so if you want to learn more about our no product fashion line method, at the end, I'll tell everyone how to get a free video training that explains it in detail. So that's kind of our signature coaching method.
On the marketing agency side, again, our signature framework, I would say, is just being holistic, right? When it comes to digital marketing, I like to say that it all works together, right? Kind of like trying to lose weight. If you went to the gym, but then you ate pizza and chicken wings and hot dogs and all this horrible junk food all the time, right? You're probably not gonna lose as much weight just by going to the gym. But if you ate right, if you got good sleep, if you weren't so stressed out, right? All these other things, they all kind of work together for the whole, right?
So my approach to digital marketing is that same thing. I want to see everyone, if possible, do as many things as they can. Social media, email, SMS, blog writing, SEO, live shopping, paid ads, PR celebs, influencers, UGC. Let's do it all if we can, if we have the time and budget resources. If not, then we can at least pare down and see what's going to be the best strategies for your brand, at least in the beginning, until we can see what works. Because again, what works for one brand may not work for another brand for various different reasons. And so that's kind of my marketing approach when it comes on the marketing agency side.
Glynis Tao
That really makes sense to take that tailored approach because not all businesses are the same. What are some common mistakes that you see fashion entrepreneurs making when they first come to you?
Christine Daal
Yes. I have seen so many mistakes. I've seen people waste so much money, like tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And unfortunately, sometimes they come to me and it's too late because now they're out of money, right? So hopefully you haven't made a lot of those monetary mistakes and we can really help you. But I would say if I had to narrow down maybe the top three mistakes, I would say the first one is they waste a lot of time and money on the wrong coach or the wrong agency, right?
So I always say try to work with a coach who actually gets you results. Compliments are nice. We get compliments all the time. Christine, your webinar was so informative, or I really liked how you strategically laid it all out. Those are really nice things, but compliments don't make you money. Results make you money right at the end of the day. So make sure you're working with a coach that actually gets results. Make sure you're also working with a coach who has the experience of where you want to go. So did they have their own line?
Did they work in the industry? Different things like that, right? And then just watch out who you're taking advice from to make sure that they're not biased, right? There's a lot of people who maybe they started out as a manufacturer and now they offer coaching on the side. Well, their main business is manufacturing, right? So when you come to them and you say, have $50,000 to start a fashion line, they're going to easily tell you, well, great, spend $40,000 on manufacturing, right?
They know they can suck you into that versus spend $40,000 on coaching or something like that. So because we're a one-stop shop, I think it's really easy for me to not be biased. And that's one of the reasons primarily that we offer so many services because I want to make sure I can give you that unbiased opinion. I can tell people, hey, I don't think you really need one-on-one coaching. Maybe you need to put your money into influencer marketing, or maybe you need to put your money into social media, or whatever it is because we now offer all of these services. So that's, think, the first number one mistake.
Second one is, I think, undervaluing community. So yes, having a coach is great, but a coach is one person. If I have a community of other fashion brands that are all on the same level or even a greater level than I am, right, I now have multiple people's advice that I can now take in versus just one person's advice, right? Because I'm only one person. I only have one experience, one background, one set of perspectives, right? But now I have 10 people's perspectives. So it's so great to be in a community. Can bounce ideas off each other. You can get feedback on designs. You can see what marketing methods are working for one versus the other. You can do co-branded giveaways and shoutouts. It's literally a game changer. So see any way you can be part of a community. Everything that we do, all of our programs all have a community aspect and that's why.
And then the third mistake I would say is trying to do everything yourself. I think people in the beginning, they want to save money, maybe they don't have a huge budget and they're like, I'll just do everything myself. And I found after working with probably close to over a thousand brands at this point that sometimes it's better if we just handle some of the things for you, right? And so that's why we wanted to become a full service marketing agency because sure, I can teach you what to do on Instagram, but if you don't have the mindset for it, if you don't have the time for it, it's sometimes easier and faster for me to just do it for you, right? I have a team, they have our system in place, they know what to do. It's just 10 times easier for us to kind of handle some of that stuff and for you to focus on what you do best, which nine out 10 times is usually the creative side, right?
Definitely try not to do everything yourself.
Glynis Tao
I think that's really great advice. Just to recap the three things that you said, the three comments that you see are like, first one is they're spending way too much money, maybe on the wrong thing. Secondly, not having a community of supporters behind them. And then thirdly is that they're trying to do everything themselves.
Christine Daal
Yeah, definitely.
Glynis Tao
And so you also offer production and design services and marketing. Like, why do you choose to provide such a full spectrum solution? And you sort of had already talked about this, but just maybe if you want to elaborate.
Christina Daal
So again, we like to say that we're a one-stop shop, and it's so that we can remain unbiased. I want to make sure that when you come to me, you are spending your money in the right places, because as we just discussed, not having enough money, or I should say running out of money, is the number one thing that I see all the time that prevents brands from succeeding.
So I want to make sure, and that's why every client I work with, whether you're a one-on-one client or you take one of our online programs, the very first step is budget. Like we need to talk about what is a realistic budget for you. Look at your bank account, right? If you have someone helping you, your parents, your husband, this, that, whatever, right? How much are they really realistically looking to put in, right? You're taking money from your job. What on a monthly basis can you contribute, right? And where do you need to be to walk away from your job? Because nine out 10 times, most of the people do have a full-time job and their goal is to eventually walk away. And so people think, oh, well, you know, I make $100,000 in my job, so I just need to make $100,000 in my business. Well, that's actually not true because you need to make yourself a salary of $100,000. If your business made $100,000, you're not taking a salary of all that money, right? That's the gross, not the net. So we really need to see how much does the business really need to produce, right, in order to pay yourself that salary.
And so, yeah, it's just the number one reason is so that we can remain unbiased. And I've just found so many other marketing agencies and companies that just all they care about is their own bottom line. They don't really care about helping other people. And so they'll steer you in the wrong direction. They'll, you know, show stats that are a little bit tweaked, you know, to make it look like everything's going really great. Meanwhile, that's not really what's happening in the back end.
And I'll be clear that we don't do everything in-house. So we do partner with some other marketing agencies or service providers like yourself, Glynis, right? We partner with you for SEO because I know if I have a resource that's the best in the business, I'm just going to go to that person. Why would I start my own SEO service when I already know Glynis is the person for SEO? I'm going to send everybody to her.
Right? So we don't do everything in house. I would say probably 70% we do in house and then the other 30% we outsource to other agencies and other providers like yourself. But a lot of it we do in house because it's the control factor too. I like to make sure that my clients are well taken care of and they're treated well and everything is going to go smoothly.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, because at the end of the day, it's all your reputation that's on the line. Right? That comes back to your name, your brand, your business, and even it matters to which referral partners that you work with as well. Cause you want to make sure that they will deliver and stand behind, you know, your brand's name and quality. So that's what I really love about you. then
Christine Daal
Exactly.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, the fact that you have an unbiased view and you're really looking out for the best interests of the client and what's best for them.
Christina Daal
Yes, because at the end of the day, if they succeed, I succeed, right? If you do good, you only make me look better. If you don't do good, I'm not going to look so good, right? So it's kind of I'm shooting myself in the foot, if you don't succeed. So it is in my best interest to help you succeed as much as possible.
Glynis Tao
So let's talk about some of these clients' success stories. Let's dive into one of your client case studies. Can you share a case study that you're especially proud of? And can you tell us about a brand you helped, where they were before and what changed after working with you?
Christina Daal
Yes, absolutely. So one of my favorite case studies is a long-time client of mine. I started working with him back in 2019 and at the time he was making $500,000 in sales, so pretty good. But the problem was he had $600,000 in expenses. So he was in the red, right? He was not profitable. And so the first thing I wanted to do was we got to make you profitable like before we even tried to increase your sales. So we reduced a lot of his operating expenses literally by $100,000 working together. And then at the same time, we actually were able to double his online sales. So he was doing wholesale and online at the time. So we doubled his online sales. And then that essentially put him in the black, which was amazing. And he was profitable for the first time he ever was in his business.
Even better was one month after finishing working together, he had a six figure month, which was his highest earning month that he ever had, you know, after implementing all the strategies that we taught him. And so we've been working together off and on over the years back in like 2020, 2022, we did a lot of digital marketing services for him. We helped him really grow his IG. I think his IG is up to like 14,000 now.
And then in 2023, he hit seven figures, excuse me, and we started working together again because he had hired an outside marketing agency and he wasn't happy with them. So he came back to us. We started doing more digital marketing for him and literally his site conversion rate was at a 1.3. It went to 3.96, so almost four, which is incredible because average site conversions are really only one to 3%. His abandoned cart rate dropped. He was at 65%. It went to 47%.
His AOV increased, his repeat customer rate increased, and his sales were up by 127%. So again, more than double. And that literally was all within four months of just doing a little bit of coaching and some of our digital marketing services. So that was really, really amazing to see that transformation, right? Here was a customer, had a horrible experience with another marketing agency. We came in, we took over, right? And the numbers just drastically changed.
But I think the best part, the cherry on top, was that in the beginning of 2024, he had hired three coaches, so myself included plus two other coaches. And we were all kind of a little bit overlapped but a little bit different backgrounds and experiences, right? Don't ask me why he hired all three of us, but that's what he wanted to do. And by the end of 2024, I was the only coach left, meaning he had fired the other two. And I took that as a really big compliment.
Because for someone to say, you know, I had three and now Christine's the only one left, right? I was like, that has got to be the highest, you know, praise and testimony that I've ever received from anyone. So I was super, super proud of that and just awesome. I love working with him. I love seeing the transformation. We're still working together until this day, six years later, right? And it's just been amazing to see his business grow the way that it has.
Glynis Tao
Oh, that sounds amazing. I love that story. Do I know this client?
Christine Daal
Yes. You were part of that success.
Glynis Tao
I feel so good. Yeah, that client was great to work with.
Christine Daal
Yes, yes, he's amazing.
Glynis Tao
And he really takes the recommendations that you give seriously and you know, will do all the things.
Christine Daal
He's coachable. He's coachable and willing to learn.
Glynis Tao
He is coachable. And that's important, right? Yes. a coaching client as well, like they have to be coachable. Do you ever turn people down?
Christine Daal
Yes. If they just happen to be, if they're not the right thing. Absolutely. I will. I will tell people, you're not listening to what I'm telling you. I don't know why you're paying me. You should just let us do it, like either hire us to do the digital marketing stuff ourselves or, you know, we need to cut our ties and that's it because otherwise I'm just wasting your time. Like you're spending money but you're not even listening to what I'm telling you to do. So you're never going to succeed. And then again, you're going to make me look bad which defeats the whole purpose, right? Yeah, I have definitely turned clients down or stopped working with them because of that reason.
Glynis Tao
So you share a little bit of details in terms of growth metrics, sales, revenue, not exactly revenue numbers, but conversions and stuff. Can you, it's up to you if you want to share specific results such as sales growth, wholesale deals or e-commerce metrics that show the impact of your work.
Christine Daal
Yeah, definitely. I think the biggest one, obviously helping a brand go from zero to 1 million in one year was by far the biggest jump, right? That's obviously not normal. Everyone should not expect those types of results,
Glyinis Tao
Is that possible for everybody?
Christine Daal
No, it is not possible for everyone. She did have a huge budget to start out, right? I was also responsible for putting together the entire team of people, right, from the designer to the pattern maker to the sales rep, like everything I put together for her. And a large part of it was wholesale, so it wasn't just online sales. Now, I will say as far as online sales, we've definitely helped double people's revenue. We've helped triple people's revenue. In just like two months, I helped triple one customer's revenue.
We have brands that went from $100,000 to $300,000 in just a year. As far as other stats, I have a client that went from having a repeat customer rate of maybe 40%, which is already a really high repeat customer rate. Like I always tell people, if you can have a repeat customer rate around 20 to 25, you're doing pretty good. She already had 40, which was amazing. She ended up having 80,000 by the time we were done working together. I mean, 80%, excuse me.
So she doubled her repeat customer rate, which is the highest I've ever seen. I've never seen anyone get 80%. I think the highest conversion rate we helped a client get was 6%, which is also super high. What else can I share? We had one client that got a $30,000- $40,000 increase in revenue just from one pricing strategy that I gave her. Like one little tip, one little tip that I gave her and she was like, oh my gosh, we just increased our revenue in one month. $30,000 to $40,000. I was like, that's amazing.
Email sales. People don't talk a lot about email sales, but I always tell people, your email needs to be making you money. When you send an email out, an e-blast out to your list, it should bring in dollars, right? And so we had a brand that was averaging $2,500 per email that she would send out. She went from $2,500 to $10,000 per email. That was a huge, huge increase.
So yeah, we've seen a lot of different things. I talked about abandoned car rates dropping, site conversion rates going up. We've had a lot of different success stories. Even just aside from e-commerce, going back to the confidence side, again, because I'm so holistic and I like to look at your mental health and your mindset and confidence and all this different stuff, even on the confidence side, we had a brand that she finally felt the confidence to start hiring more seamstresses and expanding her team. And then that allowed her to now take on more orders because she was turning away business because she wasn't able to fulfill orders. But she didn't have the confidence to think that she could actually hire a good seamstress, right? So even just having a confidence increase, right, can affect the bottom line of your business.
We had another client who was literally part of our Soar Mastermind program, she connected with another designer. She didn't feel confident in her own design capabilities, believe it or not. So she wasn't really a designer by heart, but just wanted to start this business for other reasons. And so she connected with another designer, and hired that designer to be her designer. And now she felt like, now I have actually really good designs, which then gave her the confidence to start reaching out to stores, which then she got her first wholesale order, right? So even just having that boost in confidence can really help your bottom line, which people don't think about or want to talk about maybe, but it does affect the bottom line of your business. So that's also been amazing to see, just people's confidence go up.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, so besides just the numbers, sales, revenues, but also you get the benefit of, like you said, building the confidence as well, which really does affect your bottom line in terms of how much confidence you have with your business and brand.
I want to ask you, what do your most successful clients have in common in terms of mindset or business habits?
Christine Daal
That's a good one. So mindset wise, I always like to say my key phrase is do whatever it takes. And I would say my successful clients definitely have that attitude, right? They're willing to do whatever it takes. If they have a newborn baby, they're staying up till 3am, you know, after they put that baby down, right? And they're working on their business, right? Or they're breastfeeding while they're working on their laptop and watching a YouTube video or something, right? So they have that mindset that they're willing to do whatever it takes.
I think they also have the mindset that again, they know they can't do everything well, right? A good, successful business person knows their strengths and their weaknesses. And so if I know I'm really great at design but I'm not really good at numbers, well, then I better outsource all the number stuff, right? I better hire a bookkeeper and an accountant and somebody to look at my Google Analytics and all the nitty gritty back end of my ads and dashboards and all this stuff because that's not my strategy. That's not my strength, right? It's doing all of that kind of stuff. And so I think that they have the mindset that I do what I do well and the other things I outsource because yeah, sure, you can take the approach that you can strengthen your weaknesses, but the amount of time and effort it would take for you to get good at something that you're not good at, whereas you could just outsource it, you're gonna be far further ahead, right? So much faster if you just simply outsourced it. So I think they kind of have that kind of mindset for sure. And what was the second part of your question? What mindset and what?
Glynis Tao
Habits.
Christine Daal
Habits, yeah, kind of the same thing. Guess habits would be willing to wake up early, willing to go to bed late, taking care of yourself. I think again, having that holistic approach, most of them work out or do some type of exercise because they understand when you're getting the blood flowing, your brain's gonna work better and you're gonna be more effective at your job or your work, right? So I think they have a very holistic approach to how they take care of themselves and they prioritize self-care. right, knowing that, this is going to affect my business, right? They maybe, you know, have a very organized workspace or, you know, a home that's not super cluttered, right, because they understand that that clutter is not going to affect their mind, which now affects their work, etc., etc. So I would say, yeah, those are probably the things that a lot of my successful clients have in common.
Glynis Tao
And when a client says, I have no idea how to grow my online sales, where do you usually start?
Christine Daal
That's a good question. I would say I usually start by telling them and explaining to them that it's a numbers game, right? So everyone's seen the movie, you know, Jerry Maguire where he's like, show me the money, right? I feel like I'm Jerry Maguire, but I'm like, show me the numbers. And so I tell people like how much website traffic, how many people are visiting your website every day, how many people are on your email list, how many people on your social media following, right?
I just need those three stats, basic, right, to then be able to tell you how much revenue you're making. And of course, your average order value, four stats, right, is all I really need. And I can tell you how much revenue you're going to make, right? So it is a numbers game. And I think when people start to understand the more left side brain, analytical side of things, number side of things, versus being so right brain and criteria, then they really start to see like, this is actually kind of like a game.
Like we can have fun with this, right? Like let's see how high we can get our website traffic. Let's see how high we can get our social media. Let's see how high we can get our email, right? Can we increase our average order value? And all you have to do is just play around with the numbers a little bit, right? And you can see how drastic your revenue will change.
We've created this amazing spreadsheet. It's literally called the How to Leave Your 9 to 5 Spreadsheet. That's literally what I call it. All you have to do is plug in those three numbers. It's got all the stats and everything else, those four numbers with your AOV and it will tell you how much you need to make in order to leave your 9 to 5 job. And it's not 100% foolproof, of course, but it's interesting to just play around with it and see, you don't really want to be on social media? Great. Well, then let's focus on email and website rather than social media, right? And just tweaking a couple of things here and there can drastically increase your revenue at the end of the day.
Glynis Tao
It's really unique, I think, with what we do in terms of working with mostly creatives, designers, who I find a lot of them are scared of the numbers. Yeah. Don't really want to look at the numbers. Yes. A lot of the time I find they just go by gut feeling, which is not good, right? Like, how do you feel about that? So I think you and I are similar in that way in terms of what I call it.
I call myself a logical creative in which I have this balance of left brain or right brain. And that's how I'm able to do SEO because I can, you know, still have the creativity. Yeah, technical, but also requires some creativity at the same time. And this is the stuff that I love to do. And so you seem to be very numbers oriented as well, but you're also a designer. So do you find that to be challenging?
Christine Daal
Yes, yeah, it's simply challenging with clients because they are typically designers by heart, right? That's what motivated them to start their line. Yes, they probably want to make money too at the end of the day, right? But you can make money with anything. You could go make money with real estate. You could go invest in the stock market. You could do Bitcoin. You could do it, right? They chose this industry because it's their passion. It's what they love to do because they are creative people. But numbers can be creative. I agree with you on that side of it.
Glynis Tao
So yeah, we were just talking about balancing left brain, right brain, technical, with the creative side of things. Because I know with like my work, SEO, and a lot of times like when I talk to brand owners and designers, they know it's important, but they're afraid. And they're like, when I talk about the technical stuff, they kind of just freeze up and they don't know what to do about it. And they're kind of like, yeah, well, I'll just think about that later, which is necessarily a good idea for them. I'm like, yeah, you know, as a business owner, if you want to just strictly design and create products, you can go work for somebody else. That would be your sole job. But as a business owner, you do need to know both. Yeah, you have to be creative, but you also need to know the numbers.
Christine Daal
Exactly. And the business owners or most successful business owners, I will say, make decisions based on numbers, right? Not based on, I just have a gut feeling that everyone's going to want this bright pink fuchsia dress of mine. It's like, no, did they buy anything else from you in the past that looked like that? Did they buy anything bright pink before? Did they buy any bright colors before? we all, every decision that you make as a business owner should be based on some kind of stat or data. Otherwise, you're just throwing spaghetti at the wall hoping something sticks. I mean, how is that going to help you achieve your success, right?
Glynis Tao
Exactly. Yes, I agree with you. So the fashion industry is changing fast with AI, sustainability, DTC shifts. What do you think fashion founders should focus on right now to stay competitive?
Christine Daal
Yes, so there is a lot going on. We have a lot of disruption with the rising tariffs, labor shortage shortages, the sustainability, environmental pressures. And really, we also have a very, for people that aren't familiar with the fashion industry, we have an antiquated manufacturing model that literally hasn't changed in over 80 years. So there's a lot of disruption going on, but I always say disruption equals opportunity, right? If you're willing to adapt and pivot, you can take advantage of so many things during the disruption.
So I would say there's three things to focus on. The first thing a brand should focus on is personalization and not the kind of personalization that you're probably thinking of, but personalization through a community first type marketing. So rather than focusing on, just need to acquire customers, as many customers, keep them coming, more, more, more, more, more, right? Focus on building that community within your customer relationships, right? Focus on keeping that customer as a long-term customer and raising your lifetime value versus just getting a one-time transaction, right?
So I want ongoing relationships, not just that one-off transaction. And so helping them feel, you know, emotionally invested in your brand, whether that's through your identity, your story, your successes, turning those customers into co-creators, right? Can they help you create and design the next line? Of course, they're going to be fully invested. If they feel like, my gosh, I helped design their next t-shirt. I picked that color or I picked that print or I did this or whatever it is.
And so really helping them be part of the process and then using real-time feedback loops, right? So how can I get my customers telling me what they want, what they like, what they don't like before I have to go and invest in all this inventory and all this production and all this stuff, right? So almost having a live focus group, 20. And that can just be through like a private Facebook group. It can be through your SMS. It can be on IG. Like, you can do this very easily. It doesn't take a lot of, you know, time and effort. But it always stood out to me because we've done a lot of case studies. They're all on our YouTube channel where I've studied brands and what made them successful. And a lot of the times, 9 out of 10 times, I would say a lot of them listened to what their customers wanted and then they just gave it to them. So if your customers want blue, just give them blue. I don't care if your favorite color is pink. Your customers want blue. You better give them blue, right?
So that's gonna be your way to success. And I think that personalization, community first type marketing is only gonna increase, right? We've seen like live stream shopping and all this stuff take over in China. It's only a matter of time before it really, really becomes mainstream over here. And even utilizing AI and 3D design and CAD tools and all these different things, right? There's so many tools out there. You can predict trends. You can predict your customer shopping behavior. There's so many new AI things out there. We even have a whole online course on how to use AI. can tell everyone about how to get it at the end. But I think that connection with your customers is gonna be super, super important. So that's number one.
The second thing I would say is changing the way you manufacture. I think the number one thing everyone's coming to me right now, my gosh, is my manufacturer in China or my manufacturer's in this country and the tariffs are going up and I need to move, right? And so even with this whole manufacturing model that we have, it's just very antiquated. Like I said, it's been 80 years, we still do it the same way. Think about how fast your phone changes. And we still make, the way we make clothing hasn't really changed in 80 years, right? It's been a long time.
And so I think there's going to be a rise in new ways of manufacturing, whether that's on-demand manufacturing or some other type of new way. I don't necessarily think it's going to be robots, even though there are some snowbots out there already trying to do some stuff. Pre-orders are still going to continue, of course, but I also think it wouldn't be a bad idea if people started to learn how to sew because there's a shortage of laborers, especially sample makers.
No one right now is teaching their daughter. I'm not going to teach my four-year-old daughter. You know, you need to learn how to sew so you can grow up to be a seamstress, right? That's not like an aspiring job that anybody really wants. And unfortunately, because American manufacturers are not paying their people, you know, high wages, they're paying the minimum wage or slightly above, they're finding that they can go to other industries like the weed industry, right? They can pick weed on a weed farm for $30 an hour versus getting paid $20 an hour to sew. So we're losing all of our laborers.
And so great that you want to bring American manufacturing back to America, so do I. But if we don't have people to sow the stuff, how is it happening, right? So it's a problem. I used to tell people, you know, 10 years ago when I first started my business, you don't need to learn how to sew. You can just hire a sample maker, hire a manufacturer. But now, in 2025, I think it is going to be important that people learn how to sew. And I think it's going to be a much more valuable skill as a business owner in case anything happens with your factory. So I would say that number two is changing the way you manufacture.
And then the third thing I would say is really getting serious about sustainability. I think that it's going to start to move away from a trend. Now, sustainability has been very trendy. Oh, I'm a sustainable brand and who knows what sustainability even means. There's like a gazillion different, you know, ways to look at your brand being sustainable or not. But I think it's going to start to move away from a trendy thing to literally a mandate, especially when it comes to Europe. Europe has already been ahead of us as far as food regulations and things like that. And I think they're going to be ahead of us as far as the sustainability regulations.
And because we're so far behind on reaching all of our goals, the sustainable goals that were set for, I think, 2030 was the year they wanted to hit all these, you know, sustainable goals. We're so far behind reaching all those goals that I think at some point it's going to become like a mandate. Just like you can't I mean, I live in the New York City, you know, New Jersey area and I can't go to the grocery store and get a plastic bag anymore. You have to use a reusable bag. It is now forced. You are being forced to use reusable bags because they've realized plastic is bad for the environment, so on and so forth, right? So it's now become a mandate. And so I think that for fashion, it's going to eventually become a mandate.
So I think US brands, even though you're US-based and not Europe-based, need to start adopting this a little bit early on because then they're going to have an advantage and they're going to have an advantage globally. So I would say those are the three things that brands should really focus on right now.
Glynis Tao
That sounds great. So you've built a business that empowers so many female founders. What's been the most rewarding part of that journey?
Christine Daal
There's so many rewarding things. I always tell people I love what I do and I have to pinch myself sometimes that I get to do what I do because I really do truly love what I do and not many people can say that about what they do for a living. But I would say definitely helping brands feel confident and whether that's through helping them achieve success, helping them make money, helping them overcome negative mindsets, right? Seeing someone's confidence level go up is really, really rewarding because again, it's about their soul, right? It's about like, what really makes them who they are
I also really love working with moms. I think one, because I am a mom, but also two, because it's great to be able to show your children, hey, you can do something that you love too. You can start a business from scratch. You can take a risk. You can do something that's not ordinary, right, and achieve something great. And now, not only are you doing it for yourself, but you're leaving a legacy for your kids, for your grandkids, like if your business takes off, they can now take over eventually when you pass on, right, and continue your legacy for you. And so you're changing your family generation to come. Like, you're literally leaving a legacy, which is, I think, one of the most amazing things.
And then I would say it's also really rewarding just, I think, as a Christian to be able to weave my own faith into my business and to be able to share about Jesus and just what he's been able to do in my life and different things. It's been amazing to be able to work with other Christians. I think a lot of people are drawn to me who are Christian. They want to work with a Christian coach. So I do get a lot of Christians working with me. And so that's kind of a blessing as well, to be able to just weave my faith into what it is that I do.
Glynis Tao
What's next for Fashion Angel Warrior? Do any upcoming programs, events, or new service launches?
Christine Daal
So we have, I don't know, we always have a lot of stuff going on. I feel like I can barely keep track. But we definitely have some amazing promotions that I wanna share. I don't know if you want me to share them now or I can share them at the end. So that's up to you, Glynis.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, you can share them at the end because I know you had mentioned a few different things and maybe some offers, but I guess maybe sort of what if you want to just kind of tell us about what's coming up for you, anything exciting on the horizon.
Christine Daal
So I think our business, Fashion Angel Warrior, has also gone through its own transition and pivot over the last couple of years. I'm now a mom of two small children, which is a lot to juggle. And they're ages four and six, although my son will be seven soon. And it's a really great time period in their life that I don't want to miss. And so I didn't really fully enjoy the baby years. It was a little difficult and challenging for me. And so now that they're not really babies and toddlers anymore, they're actually a lot of fun to hang out with. And so I've kind of been taking a lot of time off, honestly, from Fashion Angel Warrior because I do want to spend it with my family. I do want to really focus on them.
And so the great thing is I do have a small team in place that can handle a lot of stuff. It's not like if you email us, you won't get a response or something, right? We're still here. We're still active. We're still going. But if you've noticed on our Instagram, we are not posting on Instagram anymore these days. I have taken a very slow media approach and I really, I think value the information and just we've had so much client successes that I feel like I've kind of reached the status that I don't need to give away free information.
There's over 150 blogs on our website. There's over 100 different YouTube videos. We've done over 100 Facebook lives that are all recorded and available for people to watch. We have free webinars. We have free cheat sheets. We have so many free things out in the interwebs that I've kind of reached the point that I don't really care about producing more free stuff. I know that that's what content creators are telling you you have to do. And to be a thought leader, you know, you have to constantly pump out more information.
To be honest, it doesn't fit my lifestyle anymore. And so we've kind of taken the approach that what we have to offer is really valuable. If you see the value, you'll see the results, you'll see the value, and you'll want to hire us and pay us. And that's kind of been our approach. And so we've kind of scaled back on a lot of our digital marketing. We've scaled back a ton on social media. I'm not even traveling as much to do trade shows or really that much anymore.
And thankfully, you know, we have a steady stream of clients and income coming in that I don't really need to do all that stuff anymore. So I'm kind of, you know, I'm kind of enjoying my kids and kind of taking a little bit of a break and, you know, just focusing on myself and my family and that sort of thing.
Glynis Tao
And you be. You did a lot of work in those early years building up your business and now it's time to reap those rewards. You deserve it. Yeah. Finally, what's one powerful piece of advice you'd leave with our audience of fashion entrepreneurs today?
Christine Daal
Yes, one piece of advice, this is always tricky, right? Because there's so many areas I would love to tell you about. But I think for right now with everything going on and just the fact that the future of fashion is changing, I would say you've got to change, otherwise you're going to be left behind. The best brands, the most successful brands, always learn how to pivot or adapt or change when there's any kind of disruption, recession, right? Whatever is going on, the pandemic. And so just keep growing, keep changing, and never stop learning.
Learning is so, so important. I am a lover of all things learning. I loved school. I love taking online courses. I love learning from other people. Even you, Glynis, I watch your videos and your podcasts, right? There's so much to learn out there. Never think that you know it all and you're done learning because there is just so much to learn out there and it's exciting. So yeah, that would be.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, never stop learning. I'm a lifelong learner myself. And I learned so much from you today, Christine. I mean, we've known each other for years now. I can't even remember.
Christine Daal
Been a while, yes.
Glynis Tao
It's been a while. And I just feel like I've learned so much about you today by talking to you. Yeah. Yeah, this is. Yeah, it really is. It's just nice to connect with another business owner and fashion professional. So where can people find you if they want to get in touch with you?
Christine Daal
Yes, so the best thing, you can always email us. That's the best method. I don't check DMs very much.
So email is always best info@fashionangelwarrior.com
But then we also have a bunch of different promotions. If you go to fashionangelwarrior.com/glynis
Just for all of you podcast listeners, we have a bunch of different things. I mentioned some of them briefly. You can grab our free six-part video training series that explains in detail our no-product fashion line method.
You can grab our online course, How to Use AI for Fashion Ecom Brands. Literally, it's going to save you like 10 to 20 hours per week learning all of these different AI tricks. It's normally $129, but just for the listeners, I'm going to give you $50 off, so you pay only $79. And then if you are a startup, meaning you have not yet reached $100,000 in sales in your very first year, we have our all course bundle, which you can learn more about. That's an amazing hybrid group coaching program.
Normally $2,495, but I'm giving everyone $1,000 off. And I'm going to throw in four bonuses, including two private one-on-one sessions with me valued at $1,000. So I typically charge $500 an hour for coaching, as you can see, based on the results. So that's why I charge that much. And I'm going to give two private one-on-one sessions included with that and $1,000 off. So you're basically getting $2,000 for free by signing up for the all-course bundle.
And then if you're an established business, you can always sign up for our group coaching program. The Soar Mastermind, it's literally the only intimate group coaching program specific to fashion brands that exists. And so all that information is right there, fashionangelwarrior.com/glynis
Glynis Tao
Okay, awesome. And we'll put that link in the show notes as well as your contact information on your website and email address. So thank you, Christine, for sharing your knowledge, wisdom, and behind the scenes of what it really takes to grow a successful fashion brand with us today.
Christine Daal
Thank you, Glynis, so much for having you. It was so fun chatting.