Transcript
If you’re going through a hard time and you’ve just faced a problem, some terrible news came up to you. My first advice, and that’s how I also tend to deal with other problems as well, is to talk to people. Again, especially if you were the only one and you are, you have nobody to share every day your news with whether it’s an up or it’s a down, you were the one who has to, has to digest all this information every day.
So if it’s something that’s really hard that hits you really hard, make sure you talk to other people. Maybe call your family, talk to your close friends, but let it all out. Why? Because first sharing helps. You feel [calmer] more calm. Then also, it makes you feel that “Oh, actually yeah, there are alternatives. There are solutions, there are ways to go”.
When something happens, really talk with your close ones, talk with others. Afterwards, of course, once you’re ready back in your feet, talk to other people who founded businesses, talk to people in your industry. Actually, I personally prefer to talk to people in other industries, so founders of other industries because they help you to be more creative than solutions of founders who are in the same business category, the same industry. Reach out to founders, reach out to other friends who have started some kind of side projects and businesses and see what they, um, what they would think.
My second advice, in general, is to also meditate and not only [at] in this moment, also on an everyday basis, but especially in this moment because it really helps you, makes you breathe, makes you feel more in control and make you feel more grounded. The third advice I would give is to remind yourself in those moments about your achievements. And it doesn’t matter how far you, you got like do you, did you already, how many, I don’t know, your sales. Maybe you’re just at the very initial stages, writing your financial plan and looking for the, for example, in my case, looking for the factory to do it, it took me so long. It took me months to find a factory that really, um, worked in [an] the ethical way with the same mindset, the same principles as I have and I’m putting into my business.
Already [at] in that moment, I was reminding myself that, well, I already went so far. I already, like, I spent months of writing the financial plan and I wrote it like this is one of the toughest parts. Many people don’t even get there because they just get so scared of doing it. So, remind yourself of all the achievements you’ve got and where you are at the moment. Of course, with [the] time that is already the next level entrepreneur, you start to see problems as opportunities and really this, once you get there, this is the best part because you don’t feel the problem so hard. They don’t really touch you so much. If you can do it from the very start, amazing. If not, develop this, stay flexible, um, that’s also something that, especially in general, but especially in these times, don’t say, don’t be negative. Don’t say no to an idea. Try things, try to see your problems as opportunities, actually.
I can say an example of myself. I released two collections last year and halfway through making the collection, my factory told me that they have to shut down due to financial problems. That hit me really hard. That hit me the hardest because not only the time was, I was really stressed from all the overwhelmed by all the work. I, I also didn’t know, I didn’t have a plan B, I had to release a new collection because [the] fashion business is very seasonal. So after the spring, there must be autumn. And then again. What was also worse is that I basically, I was on the verge of losing the close connection that I feel over this time with the factory. And I really didn’t have time at the moment to just leave everything here and fly to Armenia and try to figure it out.
It was very tough. What I honestly did is I first focused on what I had to do, at the moment, I just completely forgot that I have no factory for the future. I put it aside and I was like, okay, now I have this summer collection. I need to work on this. I need to make it happen that this becomes a success. And afterwards, I’ll think about it. And as the time happened, I actually thought, uh, I actually realized that maybe taking this time off and not having a collection will be an opportunity for me to [take] make a pause to reevaluate what I’ve been going through. Look into my financials again, look into my plan, my marketing, my, again, looking through the customer feedback once again, how I can, what else can I improve, how can I get better?
That’s exactly what happened. Now looking back, I am so thankful, tackled it in a way to see that opportunity. And I’m really happy that, in the end, the factory didn’t fully shut down. We found a way that they continue to work. In the end, everything worked out.
