We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madison Clark a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Madison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?

I was apprehensive to answer this question because as a business owner, and human in general, it is often difficult to highlight when you have made a mistake or failed at something. However, it is important that we, as humans and business owners, learn from our mistakes and failures and use them to push us even further. Personally, I believe I failed at balancing going to college full-time while running my business once life ramped back up post-Covid. It worked for a while as I was still doing classes remotely, but as things started to come back to being in-person, the slope kept getting more and more slippery. Ultimately, I decided I needed to prioritize school and graduate on time, but this was no easy decision. While in undergraduate studies at The University at Albany (SUNY), I studied to become a social worker and I am now currently working towards my Master’s degree, which had been a dream of mine since I was a junior in high school. Maddie Styles Fitness had to take a backseat during this because it was my newfound passion in 2020 and I wanted to make sure that I was always able to give it my all. I never wanted to put out sloppy collections, minimize my customers’ experiences, or potentially ruin the reputation of the brand that I was building, which is what led me to walk away from it for the time being. While some people reading this may not see this as a failure, when I was making that decision that is all I felt like, because I was walking away from something I had just started building momentum for. All I could think about was losing the trust of customers I already had and the customers that I could have potentially had.

Madison, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Madison Clark and I am the CEO of Maddie Styles Fitness Clothing LLC. I started MSF in September 2020 after falling in love with fitness during the lockdown period of the pandemic. Like most of us, during this time I felt a huge sense of loss and fitness helped me feel good about myself and made me feel like I truly had a purpose. The birth of MSF came after I struggled to find workout clothes that truly flattered my body. I was tired of tight waistbands that created rolls where I didn’t usually have them and sports bras that either had too much coverage or not enough. I often avoided mirrors while I worked out because I didn’t want to see myself in my gym clothes until I was closer to my physique goal. I wanted to change that for myself and others with my brand, and I wanted to do it in style. When MSF came about, my ideas were centered around “where fashion meets fitness,” where I focused on cute styles for all body types that women can feel good about themselves in. The quality and affordability of my clothing have always been equally important and at the forefront of all of my designs. After reaching over 100 orders in under a year of business, I knew my mission was being received and that mission is for everyone to feel confident in MSF, even if they are just wearing it to run errands. While MSF includes gym accessories as well and will continue to expand beyond clothing, the goals of this brand will always remain the same. I plan to continue to uphold the core values of MSF when it relaunches in May 2024, and beyond.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding a business is always the hardest part, and it is something I still struggle with today. The initial capital I used to start my business included two things: a private investor (thanks Mom!) and my own checking account. At the time that I started my business, I was fortunate enough to have been working a decent remote job while attending college full-time remotely, and not having any bills. This led me to be able to use my paychecks to fund Maddie Styles Fitness, and because I have no employees, all I needed was enough for inventory, website expenses, and marketing. Please note, this is not sustainable for a business! However, this was my first rodeo and it was smooth sailing in the beginning. Once inventory increased, the world was starting to open back up, and I got laid off from my job, I was unable to fund my business how normally would. At this point, I probably should have taken out a small business loan, but instead, I used my credit card. This is not always a bad idea, but it is a bad idea when you (1) do not have a business credit card and (2) do not make enough money to pay off those expenses. The biggest advice I can give anyone, including my 2020 self, is to always separate business and personal finances. Even if your profit is as small as $0.50, it is still wise to have separate accounts, credit cards, loans, etc. Learning how to efficiently fund your business is such an important learning point and I wish more black business owners had the accessibility to gain the knowledge before starting their business and learning “the hard way.”

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new customers for me has been social media. I believe building a presence on social media is the smartest marketing tool anyone can use in this new world of influencers. Anyone can build a significant presence on social media just by being consistent and engaging in trends. TikTok and Instagram Reels are a great, free way to reach a larger audience. You can also reach out to influencers that already have a large following with good engagement and pay them to promote your product, which is another great way to reach more people.

Contact Info:

• Website: maddiestylesfitness.com
• Instagram: @maddiestyles.fitness

Image Credits
Hector, @moving.pictures