Secretly, we all start our businesses with wild aspirations about its success in an unrealistically short amount of time. How hard could it be, right?
Despite what you might think, running your own fashion brand is not a life of constant soirees, air-kissing celebrities and days spent casting fabulous models. Having your own fashion brand is trying to re-order fabrics on the telephone with an Italian mill where the only person who speaks English is on maternity leave. It is realising that your collection is due in stores yesterday and the factory is yet to send out the garments. It is about trying to understand why you have chosen a career where every day is more stressful than the last!
Truth be told, my days are peppered with self-doubt. The constant need to be creative squeezed ever tighter due to impending and never-ending deadlines. Even the fashion shows, which are the highlight of any designer’s year, are riddled with stress. Four months of work, anxiety and doom that seem to last forever, but in reality last about 10 minutes. I’m almost having a panic attack just typing this.
“Truth be told, my days are peppered with self-doubt. The constant need to be creative squeezed ever tighter due to impending and never-ending deadlines.”
At times I genuinely wonder whether it is worth it, but then I will see someone walk into a restaurant wearing a shirt that I made—a guy meeting up with a beautiful woman, and he picked that shirt because he wants to look impressive, he wants to feel confident. All of a sudden it does feel worth it. Like I have been able to add to the creativity and legacy of an industry that helps make the world a little more beautiful.
Success isn’t a straight and upwards trajectory. It’s a zigzag of small victories, dips and opportunities. Nothing successful can (or should) come easy—if it did then everyone would do it and the level of our creativity and experience would diminish. I’ve found that through the hard times, I have always come out a better version of myself.
Now 38, I am still learning and growing as a businessman and a creative person. You can read every lesson from every entrepreneur until you think you have the perfect formula for success but, I promise you, you’ll still fall short in moments that you didn’t plan for. It’s a day by day challenge that you have to learn to love and appreciate.
With the Holy Month of Ramadan upon us, we should all take a moment for self-reflection, self-understanding and consider where we fit in the world. Re-evaluating our goals and checking our progress as much as our aspirations. Ramadan is a time for breaking away from the hustle and zigzags of daily life. Granted, over the past year we have had more time to self-reflect than ever before, but perhaps this year we can use this time to appreciate the moments, the challenges and the obstacles that have in their own ways made us better versions of ourselves.
Babak Golkar is the co-founder and designer of Emperor London
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