Playing the Game

My old school friends and I had a little reunion last week during our friend’s wedding. While talking about our careers and things we need to do to get to where we want, the topic of marketing ourselves came up. We talked about how difficult it is to indulge in “self-promotion”, as it is sometimes negatively referred to, but also acknowledged how important it can be.

I remember during one of my first few interviews for Brass Tacks I eagerly explained how I wanted to work with Indian textiles, re-packaging them in a language that young, urban women will find appealing, and how although I loved New York I really hated my job there. The article that was written afterwards painted a picture of a girl who gave up the good life in New York to come home and work for Indian craftsmen. Not entirely untrue, but not quite what I had said either.

I guess that journalist had a much better understanding of what sells and knew how to spin the story in a way that would get more readers excited. I’ll be the first one to say that press articles are the best kind of publicity anyone can hope to get- it gets noticed much more than an advertisement, and it costs relatively nothing. So over the years I’ve become a little savvier when it comes to marketing Brass Tacks and myself. I get asked about fashion trends, and where my answer used to be “Oh I don’t know, I don’t really follow fashion trends”, I now try to do a little homework and give an answer, because that might make me seem like a designer who has a pulse on fashion.

Dangerous things to admit, right?

It’s an interesting situation really. Readers look to fashion magazines and designers for advice and suggestions, and here I am trying to give answers that I think people want to hear. Or rather, I’m giving answers that I think will make readers respect my design sense.

The marketing game gets tougher as you are scrutinized. Clients ask for detailed advice on what shoes to match with a dress, and what hair style will go with an outfit- and it’s not that I don’t have the answers, but it does make me wonder if I’ll get into trouble one day for literally walking out of the shower with my hair in a knot and leaving it like that for the rest of the day. But here I am; part of an industry that is all about “the entire ensemble” with the matching outfit, accessories, make-up and hair-do (and even attitude). Most typical fashion blogs celebrate (indirectly, of course) the woman who wakes up an hour earlier than she needs to just to put her whole outfit together.

In the end it always comes down to business and what sells. Brass Tacks was created to re-articulate hand-woven textiles in the form of cosmopolitan silhouettes. If my market reads fashion magazines, spends time in large malls, and looks up to brands that are featured in glossy magazines, then I need to compete at the same level. I can’t afford to sit in my corner and say, “No, I am different, I don’t need to take the same mainstream route”. Wrong. I need to do just that, and although each step I take may not be completely representative of who I am, it may be good for the brand.

And you know I’ll do anything for Brass Tacks.

Infused with Tamil Pride

Two men from the Chennai Corporation came to my shop a few days ago and delivered some news that made my day, nay, my year. They told me the Chennai Corporation had a new regulation that all retail outlets had to abide by: store signs must have the name of the store in Tamil, and then the classification of that store in Tamil below that (i.e. hair salon or designer store or book store) and then finally below that the name of the store in the English alphabet.

Needless to say I was thrilled; it’s not everyday that someone throws you a little curveball just to keep you on your toes. And truth be told, I was planning on changing my sign anyway because it’s lost among all the other more colourful signs in that building, and it’s behind a tree so I need to do something different to make it stand out. This notice from the Corporation could not have come at a better time: my collection had to be launched today, a close friend who I’ve known since 3rd grade is getting married in Bangalore and I’m leaving town on Sunday, and the deadline for this new sign is 31st May!

I know, this is a very small issue in comparison to staff issues or low sales, which is why I choose to cope with a bout of sarcasm rather than starting a campaign against it. If this had happened two years ago I would have got worked up about it and fired off a letter under the Right to Information Act asking why private businesses can’t have creative control over their own signboards. Now, after many experiences dealing with uncooperative businesses and an unhelpful Corporation office, I know when to pick my battles and I don’t think this should be one of them.

Still, it’s sad that the government thinks changing a signboard is what will change people’s attitudes or their level of pride in the Tamil language. It’s also sad that this is at the top of the Corporation’s list of things to do in Chennai. It’s not providing clean drinking water or making roads safer or doing what they can to facilitate business and economic growth; instead if anything they are hindering small businesses that rely on their signboards as a marketing tool to attract customers.

At first I thought I’d be giving their illogical agenda too much importance by writing this post on my blog. But then I realized that if I don't speak out at all then I am not showing any form of resistance or at least reluctance. I hope that more businesses speak up- especially some of the larger retailers and traders. To have our creative license taken away from us for signboards that we pay for is unfair. And if it's signboards now, then what's next?

Gotta keep people's thoughts from focusing on their drinking water or their unsafe roads...

Calling Out for Help

Every week there is usually an event or a catastrophe that gets me all riled up and ready to write a blog post. Then, depending on how much time I have, it may or may not get written. These past few weeks have been different. They’ve not been free of crises, but some big changes in my life are once again allowing me to look at things from a different perspective.

My husband has temporarily relocated to Hyderabad for a one-year business school program, and in an attempt to busy up my life I’ve been trying to keep a disciplined schedule during the week. The early mornings and the kalari classes have been helping me gain some of the positive energy that I had lost along the way, and lose some of the cynicism that I have acquired in the last year. And then last week I re-realized something that I need to keep reminding myself of: I have so much support and help in running my business, and I’m really not alone in this. I just need to ask for help and when I do that, help always comes to me. Sounds like The Secret I know, but this is a little different.

When I set up my production unit, help in the form of a competent production manager, a talented pattern maker and a hardworking tailor came to me very easily. I must have subconsciously set those initial and easy steps as my benchmark for how long it takes to get something done because every little hurdle after that has left me feeling frustrated, stressed and sometimes really low. That’s no fun and it’s not a very practical way to go about things either. Those low moments leave me feeling that my world is unfair, that I’m left with all the work, and that no one understands my situation. But it doesn’t have to be that way- I often find that when I ask for help and ask people to take some of the load off me, my life does get a little easier.

A few weeks ago my staff situation at the store reached a point where I felt I couldn’t go forward unless I had a store manager, or better yet, someone who would own the store as a franchise of Brass Tacks (so I can be freed from all administrative and HR issues related to the store). Now after doing some homework I’m not convinced that I’m ready to open a franchise, but just asking around for a potential store manager or franchise owner sent some interesting people my way- people who are good to know regardless of whether or not they come on board.

Then I started asking around for sales staff. I need more assistants in the store anyway to keep it open every day of the week. I made a few phone calls to people in my customer database, and within a week I had phone numbers of candidates. Hopefully in a couple of weeks my store will go back to being open every day of the week.

This is an exciting time for Brass Tacks. I just bought a button holing machine so we don’t have to outsource that anymore (a real waste of time and petrol for the minuscule quantities we produce every week), I’m exploring an opportunity to outsource some of my production for when I start retailing in more locations, I’m working on a limited and inexpensive line of knitwear that will be produced at another factory, and I’m going to focus more on marketing and incorporating customer feedback into my design process this year. I need all the help I can get, and then some more.


*Thank you to all of you who sent me phone numbers of candidates and recruitment agencies- that was a huge help.