I’m realising there are points within this process that I find myself slowing down further and further and further still, before I get stuck. It’s not a conscious slowing down, it’s more like things are becoming muddy and difficult and heavy. Things aren’t feeling right. What gets me out of these ruts? I’ve learned I have to pivot. A sharp change in approach or direction is the antidote. I guess the challenge of starting a business is having the energy and the creativity to ‘stay pivot-ing.’ It can be exhausting because it means something isn’t going the way you planned for it to go and this basically happens to me every few months if not weeks at this point.

Let me stop writing in metaphors and make this tangible. I’m trying to finalise terms with my manufacturer. A big decision for the first batch of garments I produce is exactly how many to produce. This is a tough question because I have multiple products in multiple prints available in multiple sizes. Then there’s the cost component, the more you produce, the cheaper it is. There’s also what I like to call a, ‘time of day component.’ I need to work with a manufacturer who will give me time of day based on the (relatively) small quantities I’d like to produce for a first run. I’ve had to sit down and be real with myself. I’d rather have a lower initial production quantity, pay a higher price on it, make very little money on those initial garments, but establish the fact that people want to buy Mummy’s Muse clothing. The last thing I want is to be stuck with loads of inventory after a very expensive initial outlay and realise that one particular garment is getting little or no love at all.

I realised I had to widen my net when it came to the sorts of manufacturers I was looking at, both in terms of pricing and country of origin. This was my latest pivot. Since I’ve made this move, I feel my momentum picking up again. I’ve decided a key skill I’d like to acquire within this process, is to get a better feel of when that dragging is beginning and learn to pivot a lot quicker in response. I’m sure people that run successful businesses and organisations are experts in pivoting and not wasting time in a rut.