Do What You Love

03/31/09 1:03pm PDT

People have rated this: Inspiring (60) Useful (21) Funny (14) Total views: 2332

Everything I have ever worked at in my life is wrapped up in the wonderful little company I own. My love of fashion and background in art, design and weaving has led me to this place I love.

10 years ago I bought an existing company that manufactures an unusual and unique type of hand loomed ribbon jacket. When I joined the company 15 years ago, it never crossed my mind that 5 years later I would buy it and turn it into my own.

The story began back in 1995. I was recently divorced, working seasonally with a custom soccer uniform manufacturer, selling and designing uniforms for High School, College and Club teams.

I desperately needed more money. My electricity had been shut off in the small condo I shared with my 14 year old son and I was paralyzed. What to do? Shortly after, an angel, in the form of my best friend, told me about a small company that manufactured hand crafted sweater jackets. She had heard the owner wanted some help and worked to put us in touch with each other.

With great anticipation I set up an appointment and when I walked through the door of the company I was overwhelmed. It was color, texture, creativity, design and fashion all concentrated within the walls of the building. I knew I had found my home.

The first year was a period of learning. Many of the employees hated me - an understatement. I was surprised at the lengths they would go to make me look stupid and incompetent. But the owner had great faith in me and she gave me free reign. We both knew I was the one that ultimately would be running the company. I loved the concept of what we produced but initially there was nothing I personally would wear. Within 18 months I was designing and running the day to day operations of the company.

To my surprise there were great parallels between the production of an expensive soccer uniform and an expensive sweater. I was trading one high end item in the garment industry for another, but with essentially the same criteria. Both kinds of end users wanted something unique, a custom product crafted with complete attention to perfection and detail. My background with the soccer company gave me great insight into the manufacturing end and the similarities of challenges in dealing with suppliers, employees, sales and delivery.

In 1999 I purchased the company on a wing and a prayer. I had the backing of a small community bank who believed in me, a loan through the city and a carry-back with the previous owner. But I was woefully underfunded. When experts speak of companies who struggle, one of the major reasons for that struggle is lack of capital for growth. This was apparent from day one.

When I bought the company I thought I was prepared to take on all aspects of the business. The one thing I didn’t fully comprehend was the stress that came from being accountable for the financial end of the company. All payroll, all payables and receivables, all rent and taxes and the sales that covered those expenses were my responsibility. Theoretically I knew this, but emotionally I didn’t understand it. It sounds naive but true. I just figured things would roll along. I had a great product that stores and their customers loved. Why wouldn’t everything run smoothly? So what do I do? Plug away!

Little did I know what was in store for me. The first year all I wanted to do was maintain the business. It didn’t happen. I lost my only traveling sales rep who accounted for about 20% of my annual sales. So what do I do? Persevere!

Employee problems plagued me. This is a cottage industry. Most of my employees are paid on piece rate with many of them working on the same piece. Finding the right mix of workers was critical. I was in the middle of a toxic situation. I dealt with employees whose wages were being garnished for unpaid bills; I posted bail for one employee charged with child endangerment and went to court for a DUI (not mine) all in the second year. So what do I do? (I wanted to fire them all) Carry on!

In 2001 I thought I could get on with the business of producing a wonderful and desirable item of clothing that women all over the country love. Forget it… Now I was plagued with computer problems. First, I lost my private customer data base due to a huge virus that I didn’t know how to deal with – no big deal. I could pay someone to recreate it and did. Then my computer (which we thought was being backed up) crashed, and after spending over $1000.00 trying to recover data on my hard drive we had to recreate 3 years of financials and again the customer base. What a mess. My bookkeeper had a nervous breakdown and quit. So what do I do? Keep going!

Then of course, for so many of us, the ultimate misfortune happened – 9/11. The New York trade fair was cancelled, stores didn’t place orders, trunk shows were cancelled, studio customers disappeared, and the phone didn’t ring. So what do I do? Keep trying!

It was a lousy beginning with subsequent successes and some mighty failures. I always thought I would be so much farther along instead of just hanging on. Unfortunately there has never been the capital to market and expand. Instead I am just maintaining and that is NOT in my personality!

Two of the most important components of the company are my employees and my customers. After many hires and fires I finally found a wonderful blend of employees who have an average of 8 years of employment with me. They do fabulously beautiful and meticulous work and take great pride in using their talents to produce quality items for our stores and their clients. My customers, whether they are the clients of stores or private customers, expect and deserve much from us as a company. Many of the women who wear my jackets don’t just own one; they own 3 to 4, each one different and unique. They are worn for social and business occasions, in dressy or casual settings. I listen to them carefully and try to accommodate their ideas and suggestions into my philosophy and designs.

For several years it had been suggested I change the name of the line to reflect a more youthful direction, something that is more identifiable with me. I had toyed with this idea for some time but had never come up with the right name. In a brainstorming session with two of my most favorite people, Hattie Bryant and Bruce Camber creators of the weekly television program Small Business School , http://search.smallbusinessschool.org we came up with the name Cici (a nickname for Cindy) and Bianca (the feminine Italian form of White). Hattie wrote about my name change on her blog. http://hattiebryant.blogspot.com/2007/11/choose-right-name.html Cici Bianca – hmm, sounds good!

I felt this was a great new beginning for the company and was anxious to expand the line into new markets with the name change. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I started to see a tightening in the stores by the beginning of 2008. In September, when I was showing at a trade show in New York, Lehman Bros. closed. A pall fell over the city. There were a few immediate and holiday sales, but almost no orders were written for the spring season.

I slugged away for the remainder of the fall and winter season with dismal sales at trunk shows and some consignment, but I watched as sales fell. I was devastated at the beginning of December when I was forced to lay off all my employees. Never did I think I would find myself in this position after ten years of being in business. My product is unique, unlike any other garment in the market. I felt it was recession proof. But, the very affluent woman who loves my jackets had tightened her belt, and like many other companies, I was up against something I couldn’t control. So what do I do? Pray.

And then of course an idea hits… It was spawned by my then pregnant daughter-in-law who suggested I design a baby jacket. Baby jackets? Oh no, that was not what I did. But as often happens, many good ideas appear in the middle of the night and I envisioned the darling little jacket. It was pink with a big bow at the neck. This was what I was going to produce. So what do I do? Diversify!

I made the first prototype around Christmas and showed it to family and friends with wonderful positive response.

In February I hit the road again with trunk shows. Sales were miserable – off over 50% from prior years. I gratefully sold to the wonderful customers that purchased 2 or 3 pieces at one time but, so few women came to shop. The bright spot at the shows was the baby jacket. Cici Bianca for Baby - I took it with me to trunk shows in Florida and received rave reviews and actual orders. I also met with the owner of an exclusive children’s store in Palm Beach and together we came up with some related items I could produce for the baby line.

It is now crunch time. I am mired in debt and there is no money coming in to pay either my personal expenses or those of the company. I have few orders for the Cici Bianca line and can only pull in one or two employees to do the weaving and finishing. I cannot afford to attend the trade shows that will put me in front of store buyers. And most distressing of all, I cannot purchase materials, manufacture or market Cici Bianca for Baby without an influx of capital. So what do I do? Seek an equity investor!

Realistically, in this terrible economy, it is a difficult but not impossible task to find an equity investor. Nevertheless, I have a fabulous company with a product people love. What a perfect time for expansion. Sales will come back. It just makes sense that while things are quiet, it’s a wonderful time to retool my company, develop international markets, delve into direct sales and pursue the Cici Bianca for Baby line. A Small Business Grant from Intuit would give me a start towards reaching my objectives and I’ll be able to hit the ground running when the economy picks up. So what do I do? Never, never, never give up!

Advice for others:

Tip: Avail yourself of every free business service out there. Work with your local SBDC. Take advantage of every city and state program available for free consulting. And, volunteer your company with your local Colleges and Universities for their business class projects. But most of all do what you love. Have a passion for it. This will help you weather the tough times and make all your successes that much more rewarding.

Do What You Love

Comments