Last year I learned so much, as I do every year while growing BadFish Wear. Starting an apparel and swimwear company from the ground up is not for the faint of heart. There is so much I would have done differently had I known, but nonetheless, I am so grateful for all the lessons and milestones I hit.
While I endlessly created content for all my social media platforms, I felt myself getting burnt out and exhausted. Just when I thought Is this even worth it?, my Good Girls Club shirt went viral on TikTok. It's just like how they portray it happening. I was working my back of house catering job, going on hour 11, sweaty and depleted. It was at around 9:00pm when the notifications on Shopify started pouring in. I couldn't believe it. By midnight, I had over 100 orders. It didn't stop there.
I was one person. Making shirts one by one. When I hit nearly 250 orders, I had to shut the website. There was no way I could keep up. After a grueling two weeks working from sun up to sun down, I finally finished packing the last of the orders and shipping them off to their new homes. During this same time, I was navigating a bump in the road in my relationship at the time. Everything felt heavy, but I still got it done.
A few weeks later, I started my graduate program full-time to become a therapist. I got my shit rocked to say the least. I tried my best to keep up with the social media demands, while transitioning back to school, and trying to make sense of my relationship. There was so much uncertainty. Will I be able to keep this up while managing school full-time? Will I look like a failure if I close down the shop for a little? Will people be mad? How am I going to manage all of this school work and run a business full-time when I am only one person? I was struggling.
It was after my first semester of grad school, after the holidays, and after I salvaged my relationship turmoil, that I decided that I needed to take care of my mental health. With a heavy heart, I knew that I had to close the shop to re-evaluate how I was going to manage everything so that I wouldn't burn out or end up hating my own brand.
It wasn't until I really looked deep at what was happening. I didn't feel behind in my own life, I was incredibly happy. I knew I lived at home, but I knew it was temporary. It was when I realized that I was comparing my own brand to bigger brands, that I was finding the most of my anxiety. I can't keep up with new drops every season. How are these companies doing it?
Having a vision for your brand is one thing. Planning and taking the necessary steps to get there is another thing. Having the funds the continuously produce drop after drop of collections, is an entirely different ball game. When you see other companies and other brands making it to the "top" faster than you, it is incredibly difficult not to compare. It made me sad and had me feeling hopeless, despite having such a success with the Good Girls Club! I was blinded by what I wasn't accomplishing instead of being proud of what I did, I forgot about small wins because I was busy comparing myself to bigger brands and bigger influencers.
If you have been here since I launched BadFish Wear, I am so grateful. I have truly put my heart and soul into this brand. I have learned some hard lessons, but also hit truly incredible milestones. I am so proud of myself for continuing and never giving up on myself. I am also incredibly thankful for my mom, who never gave up on me. My grandmother, who has allowed me to share space with her. My friends, who have helped me through all of this. And mostly, the BadFish Tribe. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you all.
As I continue to build the brand, and create samples, I want to be as transparent as possible in this process so you all can see the work that happens behind the scenes. Whether thats sampling new fabrics, meeting new seamstress, sharing new ideas I have been having, I want to share that because I think it is important to make you all feel you are a part of this with me. Because you are.
With that, expect to hear new ideas, see new fabric samples and designs, and hear lots about what I have learned over the years; including that, as a cisgendered heterosexual female, I had no idea our lady parts were so drastically different until a creator on TikTok complained about no bathing suits fit her "roast beef". When I tell you I had to take a complete step back on how I designed swimsuits, I was shooketh.
So come along for the ride, I promise to be as authentic as possible, no matter how embarrassing. Oh, and, welcome home.
I am so glad you are here.
xx
Ty