"I am good at these things bc they require schooling

in those fields

when i naturally excel at these things. I need to have gone to FIT or had an internship"

Fashion School is good but if you have the talent and the perserverance you can make do without. You just have to be VERY confident, VERY good, and VERY persistent. 

 

You have to rely on your portfolio, your attitude, and your achievements to get your foot in the door rather than the education portion of your resume. There are big designers who went to expensive schools, big designers that went to community colleges, and even some big designers that never went to school at all. More importantly though there are people that went to expensive schools that never got anywhere. School does help but if you can't afford it, as I know I can not, you can do it on your own. It's a lot harder though in every way. If you want to work for another company you need to have the best portfolio they see. If you want to work for yourself you better be well informed about everything in the industry when you approach the banks for financing orders and they want to know you know what you are doing. 

Personally, what I am doing is a few things. First I can not afford school so I have bought textbooks that are used at schools and am teaching myself. 

Second I have taken on a couple of mentors, one in the industry and one that mentors all new business people on various business topics. The industry one I found myself by being persistent and emailing as many people as I possibly could and posting on message boards until someone finally replied answering my questions. The business one I found through a local government run business resource centre.



If you can afford the continuing education courses then definately take them, they will help you out. There is a part time 2 year evening program here that I plan to take when I can afford it. I will hopefully already have started my company and therefore will know most of the topics they will cover but having instruction and criticism will help me grow and refine my skills. 

Take as many free or affordable  business seminars and workshops that you can, you'd be surprised how many are offered by local government business service centres.