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Startup business can be difficult. Many startups fail in the first year. It takes determination and a great knowledge of the market you are going into. The successful entrepreneur learns as they go along and adapts their business model into something that hits the right note with their potential customer. This can be a difficult thing to achieve.

‘Sexy Plus Clothing’ was started by Stephanie and has grown into something that is now a must-visit destination for plus size women who want to look and feel fashionable. Stephanie started the boutique and website in 2008 after being laid off by her marketing company. So many businesses are started because one person couldn’t find what they wanted and decided that the best way to make it happen was to do it themselves. ‘Sexy Plus Clothing’ is no exception to this. Stephanie wanted to be able to find great clothing for herself and her size but found it difficult to come by. She set up the website and offers a clothing range for all tastes.

When she was 25 years old she realized that this was the package that she was going to be living with for the rest of her life. She embraced her size and decided to live the life she wanted to live. It was time to stop worrying and get on with the one life she had been given. She takes this positive attitude with her to work and it rubs off on her customers. Her total body image mantra helps her customers to understand who they are and how they should feel. Total body mantra is about looking at the whole package, rather than focusing on one particular area of your body or your style.

It took Stephanie a while to build up the business but she’s not afraid of hard work. She actually started out by selling clothes from her apartment, with her bathroom as a changing room! It is this work ethic and determination to succeed that makes a great entrepreneur. She then tried flea markets but quickly learned that this wasn’t the place for quality clothing, or the place for her customers to be trying it on – the changing room was a shower curtain. After a while she joined forces with a store owner and they brought ‘Sexy Plus Clothing’ to the market in a big way. That has now meant that Stephanie can afford her own store where she now sells her own designs.

As you can see, Stephanie has travelled a long road to reach here and it hasn’t been a road without some issues. The small business owner has to stand and fall on their own choices. In fashion these choices can be critical. Stephanie has learned that just because she likes an item personally, this is no guarantee that it will sell. It can be a costly lesson. The days of regular monthly pay checks from her marketing job are long gone and the income when you have your own business can be more erratic, but Stephanie wouldn’t go back for anything.  

Plus size women have a place in fashion, but are too often ignored by big retailers online and offline. Stephanie has shown that there is a real market out there for her designs and can back this up with sales and social media interest. Stephanie uses a diverse number of plus size models for her website and the feedback from customers is amazing. By using real people in her marketing, Stephanie appeals to real people. This is why Stephanie fits perfectly into the ideals of FabUplus Magazine.

Stephanie cites her hard work, determination and ability to communicate as the reasons she has been able to grow her business from her own apartment to her own store in a matter of a few years. The advice she gives to anyone looking to start out in the plus size fashion industry is to “hustle, work hard and make use of as many free things as possible.” She practices what she preaches with a following now of 20,000 Twitter followers. It is by getting her name out there that Stephanie has managed to get a foothold in the market and promote her website.

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