Owl-Ways Fit low: The OWL-Ways Fit original artwork and replicated onto a fun tank top.
It can be difficult for small new businesses to get people to buy into their viability, but therein lies an untapped market
THERE’s a reason more than 95% of new businesses fail.
It’s a battle against all odds when you’re an entrepreneur as the hurdles will be life changing — for better or worse.
Many start up in their home countries, but when you’re a foreigner adjusting to a new country while building a business from scratch, the hills of obstacles are steeper and harder to climb.
That’s what I did one year ago after migrating to Melbourne, Australia and married my passion for fitness and drawing artwork to create Lady Bold. It’s a designer fitness clothing line featuring my artwork illustrated in bursts of colours and vivid patterns for people who love exercise and expressing themselves through art.
The clothing is exclusive and limited in availability. Each design takes three to four months to complete due to its complex detail.
Many are surprised when they discover that I’m not only the designer, but the photographer, model, photo editor, business developer and website designer. It’s a one-woman show as I have ploughed a large portion of my savings into the business and did not have a budget left for assistance. Doing everything solo was tedious but creating the website was the main reason for losing hair and sleep. Having limited finances forces you to stretch your creativity but you learn so much about persistence and self-discovery.
I sometimes miss enjoying the stable income and car I had in Malaysia, but now lugging around a suitcase containing the apparel and hopping on public transport makes me swallow my pride. I bring the clothing everywhere to present it to interested parties and it remains the most practical way to do it for the moment.
There’s a big market for fitness attire, but not many brands offer original and edgy artwork so I saw a little blue ocean within a niche market. But others were convinced that it would not succeed because they believed my designs were too excessive.
Some suggested I should stick to mainstream designs like other brands. But I wasn’t going to compete with larger labels that are already established!
It was tough to shake off the negativity and I was determined to create something entirely different and eye-catching that couldn’t be found elsewhere.
Due to the complexity of my designs, no manufacturer was interested because they’d rather entertain others who would place bigger orders and use pre-designed templates that made their work easier.
I hand draw the designs on a blank canvas so every pattern and line has to be explained with precise detail in order to be produced on apparel accordingly. After four months, I found a boutique manufacturer who understood my elaborate requirements for the design and workmanship, but because of this, I was charged a 60% higher rate per item for manufacturing. That’s the cost of quality over quantity.
What enervates me is when someone haggles for a discount. Please understand the amount of effort that goes into creating something with extremely limited resources. Yes, the economy isn’t doing well and everyone’s on a budget, but a small business feels the pinch equally when digging deep into its pockets to carefully create a brand that you will love and treasure.
I am grateful to have good contacts in Malaysia and this space to share my journey. In Australia however, I do the cold-call approach, only to get ignored most of the time. But after a relentless pursuit for several months, Lady Bold finally got itself a couple of small media mentions!
Like it or not, you have to assimilate and put yourself out there because you’re a stranger to all at the start.
It’s a twist of fate that I interview business owners as a journalist but now that I’m on the other side, I genuinely empathise and sympathise with them. We can relate to these new life skills that I’m trying to learn and master.
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