Ce Ce, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Ah resilience, it’s an essential characteristic and also a practice! My mother always emphasized “stick to it-ness” when I was a kid, and she meant that one needs to “stick to it” in order to see results. This discussion came up when I was doing dance as a kid, and faced challenges with learning techniques and routines. Also this came up with studying for exams and writing college essays. So early memories of developing this quality laid the ground for this in my professional and entrepreneurial career. When faced with uncertainly, I make lists of previous challenges I overcame in the past. And the helps me remember how much power I have to “stick to it”, and what rewards have results because of this.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m investigating the new platforms where customers can witness the creative journey of the designer, and contribute along that journey. Kickstarter is a fully realized and perhaps over saturated example of that, and there are new digital communities that is making that more fluid. With footwear design, I have made independent bets on colors and sizes based on my intuition, but that can be a highly risky operation with inventory. So now I’m researching how to leverage my current following to weigh in on design, and help support the production choices.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1). Start small, however small. Make a few, post about your creations and try your best to sell them. Through this process, you’ll understand who gravitates to your product and why. 2) Consider the early process as “prototyping”, and be flexible. You might learn that you need to tweak and refine your product along the way. For example, I’ve made many fit changes on my shoes since I began in 2018, even though many of these changes might not be evident to the naked eye. I have learned what my customers needs, and have catered the focus to their preferences. You might also learn that certain colors perform better than others, and this informs your future presentations and inventory planning.
3). Know your financials. Also businesses need a cash cushion up front, so prepare for that. And understand your profit margin- this can be painful to learn that incidentals really add up, or that interest rates are rising. So what you thought would be profitable at the beginning might be different after all the money is reconciled. It’s okay to have a low profit as long as you can learn how to make it more profitable. But get granular with the true costs. Knowledge is power.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Oh let’s just put it out there that I’m looking for a business partner who can invest in growing our outreach through digital channels. I’m very involved with product and manufacturing and I understand wholesale channels very well. My current challenge is “cutting through the noise” on the social medial platforms. I’ve hired digital consultants to various degrees of ROI/ROAS, but that landscape keeps changing. So now I feel I need a full time partner with proven experience in that area who wants to invest in Babos: restorative footwear made from upcycled leather.

Read the original interview on Bold Journey....