I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ Do that every single day & soon you have a wall.” in Small Business Startup Journal - The Journey To Starting My Own Brand of Travel Clothing and Handbags

“You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.”
— Will Smith

This quote has helped me over the past week.

I have had some unfortunate news about my prototypes, The quote I received to have all 4 of my prototypes made for my line of bags was quoted at being about $4500 AUD. That was about February 2021.

Unfortunately, with all the back and forth of closely defining what it is I want, and the fact I will have so many materials and features, the price has blown out to triple that cost.

The prototype quote for each bag includes 2 makes of the model, so it works out to be about 1500 AUD per prototype, but that being said, I just don’t have the funds.

This also completely changes my plans and timeline for 2022. I was planning on not only launching my entire collection on Kickstarter, but also exhibiting at the Reed Gift fair in Melbourne - the biggest Retail expo in the southern Hemisphere.

The increased cost for these prototypes now means I will have to launch each item one at a time on Kickstarter, and plan to exhibit in 2023.

I did start to rush and plan, think how I could launch one back and my scarf I am designing on Kickstarter before July/August 2022 and then take up the offer of a small entry space at the exhibit. The small introduction space at the expo is the tiny 2 x 2 space with tall walls that you can hang your items.

I then just decided to sit with it and listen to my intuition and instincts, which is something I am learning to embrace and not ignore.

After about a week, I knew that the right thing to do for my business was to push out my plans another 1.5 years. It’s a major disappointment, as I had been working so hard, planning, researching, adjusting budgets etc.

I so desperately wanted to compromise and launch something next year, even if it meant not following my original plan for my collection and how I wanted to display my exhibit.

But then I thought of that quote by Will Smith. And if I want to build a wall, a sturdy reliable wall with good foundations, I have to start with one brick at a time.

So here I am, using my end of year break after having a few days off dedicating all the time I have to planning how I am going to lay each brick, as perfectly as each brick can be laid.

I can’t wait to see this time next year how my wall looks.

xxx Miss J