Song of the day: Dog days are over- Florence & the Machine
When I picked this song I had no idea whether dog days were good or bad. And I like it that way, because the period of time that is over for me can’t be easily classified as good or bad. It was the best of times and worst of times. In terms of love, friendship, laughter, joy- the best – and in terms of fear and insecurity driven by financial troubles- the worst.
So I’m happy to say my days of unemployment are over and I’m back in San Francisco. I couldn’t be happier to be here, it feels much more “right” other than the sad fact that Lauren’s family is so far away. I’ll keep working on them to move, but in the meantime, we’re back to our long distance partnership, which is what we’re used to anyway. With both of us working full time, its time for Charmone to transform. The question is… into what?
The truth is, we don’t know. All we know for sure is that we like designing shoes. We love the creative process, and together we’ve tapped into something that I certainly didn’t know I had… although I bet Lauren knew she had it all along. My ideal situation would be to find someone that wanted to handle marketing and distribution, but needed someone to crank out designs and go to Italy twice per year to have the shoes made. We could easily do that while working full time (believe it or not!). Overall I’ve found that doing marketing for someone else is fun, but for some reason doing it for myself… not so much. It just doesn’t feel right when it’s a product we’ve made ourselves. I know that sounds backwards but it’s almost too personal, its like hawking your own baby. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.
A lot of entrepreneurs, especially in fashion, won’t admit to working full time. For me, it’s oddly freeing. I can be creative without pressure. I can create a bunch of things that don’t work in order to find the one thing that does, and I can be more patient. Not so when you don’t have income coming in. A lot of people will tell you to commit 100% to your business and quit your day job so that you’re forced to work harder to succeed. I get that, but lack of security didn’t really empower me, it scared me and made me feel paralyzed. I got more freaked out and afraid to take risks, and that’s just not good when you have any business, particularly a creative one. So if you’re a struggling designer or artist of any type, don’t feel like a sell-out if you have to work full time. That’s life. The benefits in working for someone else go far beyond income- you learn so much more and gain a broader perspective on things than when you isolate in your own little entrepreneur/artist world. And you never know who you’ll meet or where your job will take you - it was "working for the man" that led me to meet Lauren and I can't imagine life without her.
So embrace it, and “make it work people”!
A fun night with "The Abominable" at Green Drinks in NY- at the now closed Tavern on the Green!
