The need to start a blog for Yoshi started forming in my head around December time, The business side of things was still fairly new and like a freight train I was grappling with the sudden realization that we were, in fact, doing well and being recognized.
All while I was still sitting there dumbstruck.
I titled our first post Don’t follow your dreams, chase them. Because when I decided to take the plunge and resign from my 8 - 5 job working at Hertex and start this grand new adventure of starting my own Business. The main reaction from others that I spoke to, people I was inspired by was that of “Once you follow your dreams everything will just work out because you will be on the right path.”
( I won’t pretend I wasn’t lucky and very well supported )
And in some ways yes this is true, I do believe that everyone has a path in life and once you find it, you will be fulfilling your life purpose, or however, you want to look at it. But its just simply not as clear cut as that, sure you may find your path but its extremely hard to stay on it.
Let me elaborate, you see in a world where everything needs to be faster, people want things quicker and in larger quantities but for a lot less. Being a business with the ideals of Limited handmade products, made locally with love, and that doesn’t hurt the environment or animals was harder received then you would think considering that for the time being “slow living” and “eco-friendly” seems to be trending.
You see when you tell people about your business and the ideals on which you want to build its foundation, everyone becomes an expert. I heard a lot of “Oh that's nice, but you not going to make money that way, the money lies in China, you have to bring in cheap products that you can bulk buy and resell.” “You should try to sell to big chains, don’t worry about building your own brand so much as you should bulk sell, maybe even allow them to place their own branding. Just be a supplier.” All well-meaning meddlers.
If I had R1 for every time I had to reply with my standard “ Yes, great advice, but I think you not quite understanding the direction I am trying to go.” I would be rolling in a sea of hard silver.
I got a lot of direct messages and emails from people when I started doing well, about how I was inspiring them and so I guess that's why I wrote this as my first post. Because I want everyone who may be experiencing this to carry on chasing that dream. Despite all my well-meaning meddlers along the way I was still extremely lucky in that I was supported from the start.
To everyone who messaged me I support you!
My advice for chasing your dream:
Don’t be swayed from your initial goals and ideas.
Be patient, it honestly doesn’t happen overnight and there are going to be days in which you want to give up. But DONT!
Love yourself, no matter what happens, even if you don’t succeed. You did something a lot of people didn’t and that's try. You will always regret the things you didn’t do.
Be bold, be brave, be boss. You got this.