You have NO business launching a fashion company! (and other interesting tales that have kept me on my toes as a first-time entrepreneur)

The last three months since ending the Sat Nam babe crowdfunding campaign and transitioning into figuring out how to run a company have been super eventful, to say the least, more so from Memorial Day up through today. A few of the entertaining stories captured here, as I launch my first company and manage the naysayers who want to be helpers (which only gives me more ammunition to work with, let’s be real here!)

June events came and went – a yoga festival in Cold Spring Memorial Day weekend, two small pop up shop events during toddler yoga and at a toy store, as well as the infamous Brooklyn Artists & Fleas. What did I learn from these adventures? Customers are insanely fickle people. They only want the harem pants I still have yet to have in stock, but ah we’re close! They don’t know any kids (come on, everyone knows some kid) or they may have a baby shower coming up in the next 6 months and will without the shadow of a doubt, buy something on Sat Nam babe for that shower.

Whimsical bug party pants + headband made out of recycled plastic bottles 

Yup, heard it all already, but the learning from these events is to pivot and spend more time building my Instagram and online following where I can sell direct to consumer from anywhere in the country (+ world). So besides Sat Nam Fest where I am pumped to be a vendor next month and surrounded by my kundalini peeps and potentially Wanderlust Brooklyn where we are on the vendor wait list (I will take it! This festival is SO worth it) likely slowing down the in-person events and focusing online, building a following and wooing people with the cuteness of our clothes.

Entrepreneur lesson learned: Taken right from the Lean Startup book – pivot early and often, when it makes sense!

Speaking of clothes – harem pants in particular – this experience of getting one pair of pants made properly has been the bane of my existence as a new entrepreneur. Ah yes they are so cute, BUT I should have taken the time up front to properly source suppliers in the U.S. to better manage the process. It’s nearly impossible to deal with the India factory with a 9+ hour time difference and I can only describe the situation of getting those pants out of the factory as a two month long dragged out hostage situation of sorts. It’s like a non-stop constant negotiation going nowhere. BUT this week, I decided, I’m getting those G**D*mn pants if I need to fly to India to get them directly. Yeah that’s been super fun BUT YES, so close to getting those pants done.

Entrepreneur lesson learned: Do not trust others, even when they have the best of intentions and are considered experts in their line of work, to manage any part of your business in the beginning. I took this recommendation from someone I trusted and should have gone with my gut to fully produce in the U.S.

Mindfulness from the youngest of ages leads to less stress, increased confidence, better focus + the list goes on!

Two interesting convos in the last 10 days. One with an investor who invests in consumer products. I’ll spare you the excitement of our phone call (the short of it is I need to work on a business model) BUT the one comment I found interesting is that this person almost expected me to be in a different place in my company, i.e. she called it a mom and pop shop right now. I totally agree, as we are just starting out, but how else do you start unless your last name is von Furstenberg or Armani? She essentially said I was on the right path, but I need a business model. Got it, yes!

Entrepreneur lesson learned: Be really proud of where you are right now. Launching a company is a process and a half and it takes time to scale and see bigger long term picture.

The last convo happened two days ago and I’m still scratching my head a bit. My friend told me to check out this mentor program here in NYC. I had a phone call with a guy who is a retired fashion industry executive. First off, within 2 minutes of the conversation, he deemed me not fit to launch a fashion company (“what business do you have launching a fashion company? You have no technical fashion background…”) When he wasn’t interjecting every 30 seconds with his own glory days story of working in high fashion, I managed to get in that I was a fashion design minor, worked at Saks for DvF (of course he knew her) AND come from a PR and marketing background. “Ok I feel better now, you have a marketing background. You’ll be fine…” Um, ok buddy…I’m sure things have changed a bit over the years of working in this industry.

Entrepreneur lesson learned: Take everything people say with a grain of salt and keep that thick skin to get through these interesting conversations!

I’m semi-joking throughout this entire post, but in reality, I have to make light of it and keep to the vision I have for the company. Yes, it’s going to take pivoting, time, resources and more, but I have grit and am willing to see it through within reason to see how high I can fly!

Visit http://www.satnambabe.com to see what we’re all about.

The Ethics of Fashion and What You Probably Don’t Know (Yet)

Wow it’s been a whirlwind 10 days. 50% funded for our Sat Nam babe crowdfunding initiative with almost three weeks still to go in our campaign. I’m so thankful for all of the pre-sale orders (can’t wait to see all of your kiddos in our tees and pants!!) and outright contributions that are truly so generous.

I’m going to rewind a few years ago to when I was working full time and in grad school (and yes, still dealing with the post traumatic stress of surviving that insane schedule!) I took a class called “sustainability in supply chains” and it literally blew my mind. Yup mind completely blown. A little over a month before the class started for the summer, the Rana Plaza fire happened in Bangladesh, killing more than 1100 garment workers. The complex was structurally unsound and the owners of the building knew this. Many global fashion brands that we all know very well were tied to this tragedy.

Almost four years later, as I launch Sat Nam babe, this story continues to resonate with me and inspires me to simply do better. I understand after taking this class that if an item is “a deal” more times than not, some piece of the supply chain (aka a worker in Bangladesh making $68 a month) is being squeezed. It’s those people who are still the most marginalized who are being taken advantage of, so these global brands can maximize profit margins and shareholder value. These brands may boast about how they are “giving back”, showing employees planting gardens and spending time at soup kitchens, but in reality, when you peel back the layers to a fundamental level, are these companies really doing good?

SoHarlem with our Sat Nam babe pattern and sample maker

For me, doing good means understanding my supply chain as much as I can and doing as much as I can from day one of our company’s inception to feel good about our choices. I know the areas that I would like to consciously improve upon down the road (i.e. sourcing suppliers in the US for our harem pants, but they are in very good hands in a great factory in India for the time being) but it will come with time. And we will also find a very tangible, impactful way to support kids around mindfulness, yoga and its amazing benefits from a young age. I have some ideas but it’s too early to share. We are SO proud as part of our crowdfunding campaign, to be supporting Rosie’s Kitchen in South Africa. I got to spend some time with Rosie when I was there and this woman is on the ground, doing the work and feeding many kids each day. We will be making a contribution to her selfless work once our crowdfunding campaign ends March 31.

One thing that I’m really excited about is applying for B Corp certification, which is basically a stamp of approval (and written into my company’s legal docs) that says that our main goal is to not always maximize shareholder value, that the social good piece is very important to us as well. The certification involves taking a very lengthy assessment and asks everything from how many women owned companies are we supporting to our carbon footprint. We’ll be getting the ball rolling on this certification later this year once this one-woman show (aka me!) has some time to come up for air!

One comment in particular stuck with me months ago, when I was in the early stages of forming what Sat Nam babe would look like. I was talking to a lot of parents (mainly moms) and this one mom shared with me: “I would never be your customer. My kids grow way too fast to spend a lot of money on clothes.”

I get it – I get kids grow fast and the cheaper option may be the winner 9 out of 10 times right now. But I’m trying to change that mindset. Perhaps consuming less and being a more conscious consumer can work, even for purchasing kids’ clothes. There are amazing companies out there, such as Eileen Fisher and Patagonia, who are doing their supply chain the right way. I believe it’s Patagonia that actually encourages its consumers to buy less, yet their business is booming. I love that! How inspiring.

Exciting week coming up, as I will likely be placing a big fabric order for our yoga leggings, so our printer can get started printing those cute bug party and blue chevron prints on some pants! And we are creating our hangtags. And approving our harem pants final fit, picking up patterns, meeting with another yoga studio for retail opps, locking in our cut and sew vendor here in NY and so much more that will keep me running from Brooklyn to Harlem to the Bronx and everywhere in between.

I can’t thank you enough for your support thus far. PLEASE PLEASE keep those pre-sale orders coming in. We still have a way to go to reach our goal in less than 3 weeks even though we’ve been rocking it so far. And contributing on our ifundwomen page is VERY easy. Please if you have any questions, just ask me!

https://ifundwomen.com/projects/satnambabe

Here’s to a great week!

xoxo
Jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beauty of That Leap of Faith

The day has finally arrived. In less than 12 hours, I will launch Sat Nam babe, the company that I’ve been working on bringing to life for the past year.

When I think about what I want to share on the most important day to date for Sat Nam babe, so many angles go through my head. What haven’t I covered in past blog posts that could maybe inspire you or perhaps have you think about life a bit differently?

It’s so simple. It all goes back to living life with wide open eyes and being relentless and utterly fearless about finding happiness, whatever that looks like to you. Every move I’ve consciously made in the past year, from quitting a job to deciding to take a leap of faith and launch a company all stem back to how sweet this one life truly is. There is this constant energy that I gravitate toward, that tells me to be fearless, to keep moving toward my dreams and to not settle for anything less than happiness.

Losing a parent at a young age is the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with in my life thus far. I wonder how my life would be different or better with my mom here. But her legacy inspires me 21 years later. She passed away at 44. She never got to travel abroad. Or see retirement. Or see my brother and I graduate from business school. Or spend more time with my dad. It’s unfair, but it’s what keeps me moving every single day and she’s my number one inspiration for thinking outside the box of how society tell us to live and going after my dreams in this one life, right now.

So don’t delay planning that trip. Or launching that business. Or whatever other dreams you may have been sitting on. We all deserve to live our best lives and not let fear get in our way.

What I hope you’ll see by following our journey, is that this company has heart. And soul. Our wish for all kids from the youngest of ages, is that they stay true to their dreams in this lifetime and live out their destinies, because the world is waiting for us all to show up with our best selves. Even if you don’t choose to support this particular company (which of course I hope you do!) perhaps you’ll become a more conscious consumer. Consume less (yes, even for kids, I know they grow fast but still!) Buy local where the company can confidently tell you that the clothing you are wearing was not made in a subpar, unsafe factory. And perhaps we can inspire you to live outside your comfort zone a bit and be a little more fearless, whatever that may look like for you in your own life.

So thank you – thank you for all your support, encouragement and love so far. And thank you for coming on this journey with me, it means so much. Crowdfunding launch and pre-sale coming TONIGHT, 8:30pm EST!

Follow our journey on social media @satnambabe and receive weekly updates on what it takes to launch a company at www.satnambabe.com