This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome to the last episode of the month, episode 2,708. It's also the final failure Friday of the month. Failure Friday is a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. This one fashion forward idea goes solo. Now we're gonna hear today from a woman who dreams of starting a fashion blog with a close friend, only to lose nearly six months to indecisiveness.
I have lost six months to indecisiveness at different points in my life, lots of areas of my life. I've sometimes been indecisive and that comes with a cost. So perhaps the lesson is don't wait on your friends to get motivated, the lesson in this case for this particular side hustler. But maybe somebody else out there as well, if they have been thinking about starting a business with a friend, sometimes that's a great idea. Other times it's a not great idea.
So let's hear how this person navigated it. I believe her name is Emma. How did this come to be what happened along the way? And of course, what did she learn? Which is the whole key point of these segments.
What did she learn? How is she gonna move forward more positively? And what might we learn from the process and her experience? All right, let's hear from her about the struggle. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up.
[Music]
Embarking on the journey of starting a fashion blog had always been a dream of mine. My name is Emma and fashion is not just my passion, it's my language. I envisioned a blog where I could share this love, explore trends, sustainability in fashion and inspire others. A close friend that I'll call Leela seemed like the perfect partner for this venture. We shared a similar aesthetic and spent countless hours discussing everything from vintage finds to the latest runway shows.
The idea of combining our strengths and visions into a collaborative blog was electrifying. However, as we began to lay the groundwork for our blog, I encountered an unexpected hurdle, Leela's indecisiveness. Initially, her enthusiasm matched mine, but as we delved into the specifics, blog design, content, calendar, branding, she became a lot less certain. Weeks turned into months with little progress. Our planning sessions, once full of excitement and creativity, became mired in hesitation and endless discussion.
The strain on our friendship became palpable. We were stuck in a loop of unmade decisions and the blog, which was our shared dream, was going nowhere. It was a period of frustration, confusion and admittedly some resentment. The realization that I might need to pursue this dream alone was both heartbreaking and freeing. After nearly six months of stagnation, I made the difficult decision to venture into the blogging world solo.
It was a conversation I dreaded, but to my relief, Leela understood. She admitted to feeling overwhelmed by the commitment and feared holding me back. We parted ways in the project amicably, both relieved to salvage our friendship from the brink. So with a mix of nervous excitement and determination, I returned to my fashion blog idea, this time as a solo project. I set up a new WordPress site, carefully choosing every element to reflect my vision.
This wasn't just about starting a blog anymore. It was about proving to myself that I could do this solo despite the setbacks. Sitting in front of my newly created WordPress dashboard, I felt a surge of motivation. The blog was a blank canvas, a fresh start and the embodiment of my journey. I was just beginning with no readers yet, but the potential of what could be was exhilarating.
The path to creating my fashion blog taught me the importance of self-reliance, the value of decisiveness, and that sometimes the best way to realize a dream is to pursue it on your own terms. - Emma, thank you so much for sharing the story. I'm so glad you've been able to move forward. And I always encourage people to pay close attention to the mutual motivation level when starting a business with friends. There are other things to pay attention to as well, but that's a key one that I think is greatly understudied or just not mentioned a lot.
People are always like, "Well, make sure you have a contract." Well, that's good. But maybe an equally important thing, let's say, is that you're both equally excited about the business. And sometimes it's one person that's like gung ho, and the other person's like, "Yeah, we'll do this when we have time." And that's not gonna work so well. So as I always say, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. You can always regroup from something.
So thanks to Emma for sharing the story. Listeners, wishing you well. We're gonna go into a new month tomorrow. I'm excited to share it with you. sidehustleschool.com.
Some resources, case notes for every episode. And of course, much more to come here on the podcast itself. Thank you so much for listening again. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
