What Actually Happens When You Survive 5 Years as a Founder

Reaching five years in business is a milestone worth celebrating, and it also gives you plenty of reasons to pause, reflect, and take stock of everything you've learned along the way. In this episode, I'm reflecting on five years of building Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel and sharing some of the biggest lessons, mistakes, and pivots that have shaped my journey. From launching my own apparel line and realizing it wasn't where my heart was to learning the importance of trusting my vision, I'm sharing the experiences that have influenced the way I lead my business today. I'm also talking about building a strong team, simplifying our offers, learning to focus, and finally taking my own advice when it comes to tracking numbers, building processes, and creating a more profitable business. 📝 Today We're Covering: The biggest lessons I've learned after five years in business What launching my own apparel line taught me about being a startup founder Why fear-driven decisions can pull you away from what you really want to build The importance of hiring and building a team you can rely on Why simplifying and focusing can be so difficult for entrepreneurs The importance of knowing your numbers and using data to make better business decisions Why slowing down to build better processes can ultimately help you grow faster What I'm focusing on as I begin the next five years of Unmarked Street and the Business of Apparel Five years in, I'm realizing that building a business is an ongoing process of learning, adjusting, simplifying, and starting again when necessary. This episode is an honest look at the lessons that have shaped my business so far and the work I'm doing now to build a more focused, data-driven, and sustainable company for the next five years. ➡️ Your Next Steps: Order my book The Business of Apparel here! Say Good-Bye to $20,000 Apparel Brand Mistakes here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/goodbye Join The Board here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/join Get help with product development: www.unmarkedstreet.com/contact ‼️ Don't Miss These Episodes: Wholesale 101: https://youtu.be/lpezH1YwCyE Use AI in Your Apparel Brand: https://youtu.be/Dn9tjPNmfaw Grow a 7-Figure Apparel Business: https://youtu.be/rpQYDyo5Rao  🤝 Meet Rachel: Rachel Erickson is a Fractional COO, Apparel Industry Consultant, and founder of Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel. With 20+ years in technical design and product development leadership, she sat at the executive table of a $25M apparel line and helped scale it to $60M in one year. After decades working inside major fashion companies, she learned the truth behind billion-dollar brands, and it's not about chasing trends or pumping out endless products. It's about building clean processes, tightly edited assortments, and obsessively focused customer targeting. Rachel helps founders and CEOs of performance apparel brands: ✅ Build lean, profitable product lines ✅ Streamline operations for growth ✅ Replace overwhelm with executive clarity ✅ Create garments that fit bodies in motion Whether you're just hitting $1M in revenue or trying to break through the $10M ceiling, Rachel will join you as an embedded operations and product partner—running fittings, line plans, tech packs, and vendor communications so you can get back to leading. Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-erickson-pmp/ and visit her website at www.unmarkedstreet.com.