A Lesson From the Book I Never Published

A few years ago, I went to Bali and wrote two versions of a book.

I know, how obnoxiously “Eat, Pray, Love” of me.

My former co-founder and I had decided to close our doors at {r}evolution apparel (after completely burning out our relationship) and it was an impulse purchase I made with my portion of our leftover funds.

I left Boulder, CO, moved in with my parents in Boston, and a month later hopped a flight halfway around the world.

After the success of our Kickstarter campaign, people were constantly saying, “You guys need to write a book.”

“Write about your journey,” they said.

“Write about the success of your Kickstarter.”

“Write about the changes needed in the fashion industry.” The suggestions were endless.

So, with the mixed emotions of heartbreak and relief that happen when you walk away from a business that seems to have such a bright future, I went to Bali to write the book that everyone said we should write.

I booked a private room for $500/month on Airbnb and found myself two miles from the nearest town surrounded by rice paddies and oxen.

For 30 days I followed the same rigid schedule. Wake up with the sun, follow the dirt road into town for yoga, eat lunch at a local cafe, walk 30 minutes home, stop for a fresh coconut, sit out on my front porch — write 2,000 words.

bali-two copy

I reasoned that if I could average 2,000 words a day, then I would have 60,000 words by the time I left. And you only need 60,000 words for a full-length book.

The process was both grueling and therapeutic as I sifted through three years of memories.

Why we decided to start a clothing company.

How we got interested in sustainability.

An account of our first fight.

What we learned from botching our first prototype.

What it’s like to spend two months driving a conversion van around the country.

By day 15, I was ready to delete the whole file. Just burn it. Not a trace of evidence.

Instead, I opened a new document and started over.

bali-three copy

By the time I flew back to the States, I had written two 30,000 word drafts with no intention of either seeing the light of day.

Three years later, they’re still sitting on my old, mostly-broken laptop — without a backup file.

Now I’m not going to tie this all back into the importance of creating a routine to reach goals. Or a lesson on how goals change. Or how everything happens for a reason. I’m not a personal development coach.

But I do have something to say about the “journey.”

I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to expectations and outcomes. Most of us start businesses with the intention of making a living off of it.

Yes, passion and joy can be the driving motivators in getting started, but the desired outcome is to be able to support yourself off of that passion and joy.

The danger — the thing to look out for — is when you realize you’re only focused on the outcome.

Because that’s when you miss the journey.

About a year into starting {r}evolution apparel, I remember writing a post for our first blog – it was a letter to myself, and I’ll never forget the last sentence:

“You’re not going to be a 25-year-old bartender trying to start a clothing company forever.”

That sentence has been embedded in my brain for the past five years and as time passes, I find myself adjusting the words to fit my current age and situation.

You’re not going to be here, right now, doing this… forever.

bali-four copy (1)

It may seem painfully obvious, but I think it’s something that a lot of us entrepreneurs tend to forget.

Starting a business is one of the most challenging endeavours a person can take on — it’s a complete mind game, a lonely road, and can be uncomfortably risky. Are you going to enjoy every single moment of it? No.

But if you aren’t stopping every so often to appreciate what you’ve built, what you’ve created and what you’re going through — that 99% of the world never will — then what’s it all for?

When I look back at the month of my life spent writing a book, I can easily see it as time and money wasted.

Did I have big plans to pitch to publishers? Yes.

Did I have more realistic plans to self publish and sell it on Amazon? For sure.

Instead, I showed myself that I was capable of committing to a routine, to seeing a project through and being okay with a different outcome.

Entrepreneurs have to be courageous, committed and adaptable. But more than anything, they need to be able to see a vision for the future —

with an even greater appreciation for the present.

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H&M’s “Conscious” Collection: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Into the Hype

As soon as I walked in, I wanted to run out. All of the feelings of awkward adolescence came streaming back as the European house music blared in my ears and over-enthusiastic pre-teens bounced through the huge glass doors.

It was 2013 and I hadn’t stepped foot in an H&M store in nearly five years. Despite my unabashed dislike for the giant fast fashion retailer, its new “Conscious Collection” had recently launched and I wanted to know what all of the fuss was about.

Celebrities from Michelle Williams to Penn Badgley were donning “conscious” threads on the red carpet. Reputable media outlets were heralding H&M as the fearless leader in environmental integrity. So I wondered, could sustainable fashion finally be going mainstream?

I walked over to the first store manager I could find and a sprightly brunette in a faux leather jacket turned around to assist me.

“Hi, I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the Conscious Collection,” I asked.

“I’m not sure what you mean… ” she replied back.

“You know, the new line of organic cotton and recycled fabrics… the eco-friendly stuff?” I attempted to explain.

Blank stare.

“Remember? Helen Hunt wore that navy gown on the red carpet? The Conscious… Collection…”

I trailed off.

—

If you keep up with sustainable fashion trends (or are just a really big H&M fan), you know that the company recently released its 2014 sustainability report.

In the first few pages of the document, H&M’s CEO Karl-Johan Persson says:

“In order to remain a successful business, we need to keep growing – and at the same time respect the planetary boundaries.”

I’ll be honest, I had to re-read that sentence a few times. My first thought was:

On what planet can you continue to produce 600 million garments per year and not exceed ecological boundaries?

The success of H&M is dependent on a strategy of planned obsolescence. Fast fashion can never truly be sustainable because the business model itself is inherently unsustainable.

If Persson is upfront about the company needing to grow (undoubtedly to keep shareholders happy), then all of the “conscious collections” in the world can’t do a thing for sustainability.

As long as the fast fashion business model remains the same, any attempt at a more sustainable future is simply a wash.

As Marc Bain of Quartz points out, “a landfill overflowing with organic cotton is still an overflowing landfill.”

So, why bring this up now when I’ve already argued this point before?

Last week, H&M launched a film campaign with actress Olivia Wilde to debut its new “Conscious Exclusive” collection for 2015.

And I’m here to say, don’t buy into the hype.

In an article from Fast Company, writer and editor Ariel Schwartz highlights an alarming study about consumer perception.

When over 1,000 people were asked to name the single most socially-responsible company they could think of, Chik-fil-A, Wal-Mart, P&G and Apple made the top 20 list.

That’s all to say that millions of dollars go into creating brands that communicate a certain consumer assumption — despite what’s actually going on in the supply chain and behind the scenes.

H&M’s “Conscious” print campaign is running the same month as the second-annual Fashion Revolution Day campaign and its film push with Olivia Wilde is starting the week leading up to Fashion Revolution Day on April 24. Coincidence?

If H&M wants consumers to categorize it with a global fashion revolution that is pushing to make change in the industry, then they’re doing a really good job. That kind of positioning isn’t happenstance.

In the past, H&M has been given international ethics awards, despite manufacturing about 25 percent of its clothing in factories in Bangladesh, where the minimum wage is the lowest in the world.

It’s been named one of the best companies to work for despite 850,000 of its textile workers not being paid a fair and living wage.

And although H&M is one of the largest buyers of organic cotton, it still only accounts for 13.7% of its total garment production.

In 2015, H&M will produce over 600 million new garments. That’s an increase of 50 million articles of clothing from 2011. It will expand its physical locations by 10 to 15 percent every year, requiring the use of energy-intensive resources.

Each week, H&M will debut a new “season” of trends catapulting the old fashion calendar of 2-4 seasons per year into 52 micro-seasons.

All the while, the average American will continue discarding over 68 pounds of clothing into landfills annually.

Critics of mine will say, “Well, at least H&M is doing something. We can’t fault them for trying.”

To that I say:

If H&M was truly serious about sustainability, then it would focus on changing its business model — not on making more clothing under the guise of a feel-good name.

Market45

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Launching a Fashion Kickstarter? Consider this.

Raise your hand if you’ve seen more fashion Kickstarter campaigns than you can count and you’re feeling kind of “over it”…

Considering that I dedicate an entire module of Factory45 to teaching entrepreneurs how to launch successful crowdfunding campaigns, I’m sure it sounds weird for me to say that.

But I’m going somewhere with this.

I regularly get emails from people who want me to share the news about their upcoming Kickstarters. Oxford button downs, dresses for the working woman, lingerie, kids clothes, you name it.

The problem isn’t in launching a Kickstarter.

I think crowdfunding is awesome – it reduces the risk of production, alleviates startup costs and provides free marketing and customer feedback.

The problem lies in the way the story is being told.

For the most part, the sustainable fashion projects going through Kickstarter aren’t saying anything different from the last one. The majority are riding the same wave:

  • We manufacture in the USA.
  • We use only the most sustainable fabrics.
  • We say ‘no’ to fast fashion.
  • We believe in a better planet.

Sound familiar?

As the same thing is being said over and over again, do you know what’s happening?

Consumers are shutting off and becoming numb to the same “our fashion saves the planet” mantra.

 

We’re now in a time when being asked to support a Kickstarter is becoming more common than contributing to the neighborhood kid’s bake sale (yum, do those still exist?)

If you’re going to ask people to support, share and back your campaign, then your story has to be unlike anyone else’s.

Yes, consumers are now more willing to pay a small premium for ethically-made products, but saying so shouldn’t be your marketing tactic. It should be an afterthought.

Kind of like, “Well yeah, of course our company manufacturers ethically and transparently.”

Or:

“Well yeah, of course we’re always pushing to use the most sustainable materials possible.”

The ethics and sustainability of a company should be embedded into the business model as a non-negotiable, not a strategy for saying: “Aren’t we so great? You should pledge to our Kickstarter.”

As the fashion industry becomes more and more accessible to new designers who want to launch their own collections, there is going to be more competition in the market.

As I tell my Factory45’ers, the best way to stand out from the competition is to say something new — something memorable.

Here are a few examples of Kickstarter campaigns that are telling a different story about ethical and sustainable fashion and are doing it well:

VICTOR ATHLETICS

Organic, vintage-inspired athletic wear for men & women, made by small-town American factories and delivered directly to you.

What they do well:

  • The organic materials of their new athletic line is mentioned briefly in the description, but the story focuses on the small-town American factory as the victor.
  • They created a hero or protagonist to pull for.
  • They’ve made organic cotton and made-in-the-USA “sexy” with appealing visuals and a brand aesthetic that isn’t crunchy, hippie or rustic.

victor

FLINT & TINDER

A premium sweatshirt built for life, designed for a decade.

What they do well:

  • Jake Bronstein has done multiple Kickstarter campaigns for his company, Flint & Tinder, but this was the most successful. This is Kickstarter’s only fashion project that raised over a million dollars.
  • The story is focused on a hooded sweatshirt that will last 10 years. If it doesn’t, you can send it in to be mended.
  • Fast fashion thrives on the idea of planned obsolescence which is exactly what this campaign is combatting. What Jake did really well was put the focus on the consumer’s desire instead of the same old fast fashion story. Who wouldn’t want a sweatshirt that will last 10 years?

10-year-hoodie

SWORD & PLOUGH

A quadruple bottom line bag company that works with veterans to repurpose military surplus fabric into stylish bags.

What they did well:

  • The labor story is focused on military veterans who are employed to make the bags.
  • The materials story is focused on surplus military materials that would otherwise be wasted.
  • Most compelling of all is the story of two sisters, one who is in the army, starting a business together.

sword-plough

—

If you’re getting ready to launch a Kickstarter campaign or are thinking about it for the future, this is the best advice I can give you: say something new.

If you do that, I’m certain you’ll get a better response from potential customers, from the press pitches you send out, and from the industry at large.

 

 

 

crowdfunding cta

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Coming Out as an Entrepreneur & How to Deal with Critics

A while back, I wrote a post about entrepreneurship and the real downfall of failure.

I argued that it isn’t the act of failing itself that’s the most terrifying, it’s the external connections we make to it.

If we fail, we’ll lose our dignity.

If we fail, we’ll lose our life savings.

If we fail, we’ll lose our home.

While these are extreme examples, I know our thinking can often go to “worst-case-scenario.”

I remember a conversation was brought up by one of the entrepreneurs in this year’s Factory45 program. She wrote:

I’m looking for advice: Having just finished my master’s degree, it may come as a surprise to some family and friends who don’t know about my project yet that I’m going the entrepreneurship route. Anyone have tips on how to introduce a significant career change to family, friends, and/or even an employer (I plan to keep my full-time job for a while)?

This got me thinking about the “pre-failure phase.”

Before the fear of failure is even an option, first there is the fear of getting started.

It’s the fear of taking the plunge. Of not knowing what’s going to happen. Of worrying what your family and friends are going to think.

The greatest inhibitor to becoming an entrepreneur or pursuing a great idea or moving forward with your true life’s work is — never getting started in the first place.

When we make it public and declare our idea to the world, we simultaneously have to face the feeling of being seen.

Being seen means you open yourself to critics, you open yourself to the doubters, and you open yourself to vulnerability in a way you probably haven’t before.

Throw in the visibility of the modern-day Internet to the mix and the stakes get a whole lot higher.

I’m no stranger to critics. While the supporters in my life far outweigh the cynics, it doesn’t make the occasional negativity sting any less.

I’ve been called an asshole, a “self-aggrandizing bitch,” a piece of shit and other equally flattering names (I don’t read the comments section of The Huffington Post anymore).

I’ve had outsiders call Factory45 just another “expensive online course” (I won’t even dignify that with a rebuttal).

And year after year, I’ve faced family and friends at Christmas parties, dinner parties and happy hours, wondering when I’m going to get a “real job.”

Over the past five years as an entrepreneur, I’ve had practice dealing with the “gremlins” (yep, you cross me, I dub you a gremlin).

While an off-putting email or comment can still throw off my day at times, I can tell you it does get easier.

If you’re one of those people, who is tinkering with a great idea, a new business or an alternative career path, remember this:

The critics, the doubters, the cynics only have power if you give them the power.

As hard as it may be, you can consciously accept that there will always be some degree of negativity coming at you, but you can also consciously choose how you react to it.

Power is energy. And you get to decide where to put that energy. It can either be your demise or… your strength.

Like I said, I loved some of the other responses from this year’s Factory45 crew, so I want to close by sharing a few pieces of their advice in opening yourself up to getting started:

  • Stay close to those who support your dreams and let you blab on and on, even though they don’t understand what you’re talking about.
  • Speak from a place of vulnerability. Don’t predict the reaction you’re going to get, because it will come out in your tone.
  • At the end of the day, our opinion is the only one that matters. It really is. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your life.
  • I feel that when I do get the occasional negative reaction, it’s usually from people that have never tried to make their own dreams a reality.
  • Walk into the conversation with the knowledge that approval is not the goal – information is. You want those around you to be part of the vision, to be in inquiry with you… and I would recommend making it a two-way and engaging conversation.
  • “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs

If you’ve been a Factory45 reader for a while you know I’m a big fan of Dr. Brene Brown, who is a researcher on vulnerability and shame.

You may know her from her two viral TED talks. She did another talk that’s not as well known called, “Why Your Critics Aren’t the Ones Who Count.” It’s a must watch — even if you’re the most confident guy/gal on the planet.

 

 

 

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