LEARNING TO SLOW DOWN WITH A START UP

molly on taking things slow, getting inspired, and falling back in love with her business.

This year, Desmond & Dempsey turns 5. They say that most new businesses fail within the first five years. Specifically, the Small Business Association says that 50% of them won't make it to their sixth. Brought up an optimist, I have always had faith that we would make it. Perhaps dangerously optimistic, I even believe that we will be part of the 44% that makes it to their 10th.

Let me assure you, my confidence doesn’t always stand so boldly. Six weeks ago, I would have been the first to point out the flaws in our business and show you the incredibly long and twisty road we needed to meticulously follow to ensure success.

But today, I am writing this after a month in Mallorca. I am back in the studio with a fresh trim, new stationery and that sense of start-of-term elation. A jumble of nerves, excitement, creativity and inspiration. A feeling that gives me butterflies in my stomach.

A month in Mallorca was Joel and my shared goal for 2019. Travel has always been important to us. Joel is English, I am an Aussie, we met in Canada and fell in love in Madrid. We travel for work with the prints on our pyjamas telling the tales of our adventures. And we travel for me to go ‘home’.

A month in Mallorca though. A month to be still. A month just for us. We were petrified. First, we floated it by the team. Next, a mentor and investor of ours. Then came the parents, both sets of whom provided for their families by physically being at work. Parents who, while wholeheartedly supporting us, couldn’t believe that we had built a pyjama business on our love of Sundays and that travelling to Mexico and the Caribbean had a positive impact on our bottom line.

Perhaps they too had watched Micheal Moore’s documentary Where To Invade Next, or were inspired by the Italian lifestyle of “La Dolce Vita”, because we got their nod of approval and off we went. We booked a little casa in Biniaraix and boarded our flight.

While we weren’t going totally topless for our first European summer, we had committed to taking Fridays off and not looking at anything work-related over the weekends. In the beginning, we worked more. Wanting to prove, mainly to ourselves, that we were available. Keeping pace with London, I was dedicated to having MAJOR creative breakthroughs. To do: Think of 500 new ideas that will revolutionise the pyjama industry. I had the space for strategy, right?!

Slowly though, we started to sway to the rhythms of Spain. An hour-long coffee sipped slowly, a swim in the afternoon, a problem solved in the sun together, the occasional siesta after lunch.

Our pyjama revolution didn’t come, but perhaps more importantly, we slowed down enough to fall back in love with our business. We would be shunned if the start-up world read this.

How could you not LOVE your startup? they would ask. How could you miss having a boss and a 9-6 routine? In the startup world, one must always be buzzing and boasting and balanced. You can talk about your struggles, but only if there is a Guy Raz happy ending.

We had both been so focused on strategies and systems that we had let go of all the little bits of the business we loved the most. I love being on the phone to customers. I love storytelling and planning photoshoots and pop-ups. I love painting the office and building desks. I love booking flights and finding restaurants. I love cutting and pasting with glue and scissors! From taking this step back, we finally realised that we loved the day-to-day tasks of running our business, and that our strategy was simple. It was just the same as it was five years ago: make the BEST pyjamas and celebrate Sundays.

So we stopped and we swam and we enjoyed the scenery and ate patatas bravas and pimientos de padrón. Spain had given us a new rhythm, and dancing to that beat gave us back our love of what we do. So when the time eventually came to leave, we looked forward to coming home and launching a big winter season. To me, that is the magic of travel.

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