by Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko
The moment you decide to start a business, understand that taking a conscious break will be impossible. A business has so many aspects to it that need your attention each day; so much so that taking a Saturday off is a sin. Imagine, a weekend day! You will feel bad for doing nothing all day, people will definitely contact you on that very day you are off; and you will want to speak to them. So ideally, taking a break as an entrepreneur becomes a struggle to pretend you don’t have work all day.
I have been begging myself to take some time off. Most of my clients know I don’t work on Sundays; but this has proven to not be enough. I still somehow need an even bigger holiday. All the little overtimes and late nights have become one big need to escape. I physically, mentally and emotionally needed time off; needed to regroup and refocus. But of course, there is never an ideal time to take a break in the day, week, month or year. It is Friday, Monday, Easter weekend, Heritage Day, then boom December; each of which are great opportunities for sales if strategized well.
Somehow God was tired of me lying to myself, I was forced to take a break. The problem with my breaks is they are always big and dramatic. I assume because at this time my body has been patient with me, but I keep failing. The first ever forced career break I had was a brain haemorrhage; it resulted in at least 3 months of doing nothing; plus 3 or more years of taking it slow. The current break came in the form of maternity leave! God was like, I will make you sit down, then also fall in an all new kind of love that will make you rethink your entire life.
And I did. I have been off work for approximately 7 weeks now; that is a long time in the fashion industry in the height of summer. So many events have passed, others are happening this week, and there are more to come. But I have had to sit and watch. In the watching I have had to review my work, the model, nature of it, and the effects it has had on me. Somehow, I have also had to feel each of these physically. I have been running Roka Roko for 5 years; strong, aggressively, present and sacrificially. I am done, honestly!
In the absence of all my clients and the operations that come with the business, I have realized the gains and losses of my business. The biggest one is the amount of people I have had to meet; lives impacted, things I have learned, and sharpening my skills greatly. The huge loss here is the amount of pain I have experienced from all these interactions in the form of attacks, misunderstandings, and mere bad energy. Everyone has an energy they bring to the room, and most of the time people came with anger, hurt and anxiety. They then took it out in that space and left it there. I can come out at someone suddenly hating an entire outfit after we have agreed on everything.
I have realized I allowed people to hurt me for my passion. I let people into my space and let them shift me in ways that will need time to fix. I have realized that maybe business owners also need regular therapy as married couples do. You need space and time to meet and speak your heart and soul. It is in the spaces of the minutes of sitting and staring at a new-born that I realize how much pain I have endured; and how much of it I allowed, and how much of it needs to change. So, now Roka Roko will change. It has to be physically, mentally and emotionally sustainable. I have to live with my business and its successes; I don’t want my business to be the end of me.
Brigette Mashile is the founder and creative force behind Roka Roko, a custom fashion design business based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company passionately delivers quality tailored and trendy fashion to make their customers happy, and specializes in styling women by creating unusual combinations with fabric, culture and style. Brigette has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Witwatersrand and a Fashion Diploma from Studio5 School of Fashion. She’s a former fashion buyer for a major retailer in South Africa, and an international direct selling company. She’s been passionate about fashion since the age of 10 and gained invaluable experience in the fashion world running informal fashion creation businesses until the day her own Roka Roko brand was born. Find out more by visiting the Roka Roko website www.rokaroko.co.za
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