When the going gets tough, persist

There is no growth without the challenges, the failures, and the mess ups. We’ve heard Common Room co-founder Roma Agsunod talk about this before when she looked back at the 17 years of building Popjunklove and Common Room with her sister, Maan Agsalud. Specifically, it is when we overcome these challenges, when we learn to pick ourselves up from our failures that we build resilience and inspire change that leads to growth.

This International Women’s Month, we look into the creative and enterprising journeys of several female makers and the challenges they had to (or continue to) overcome and how they keep trying. Struggles in life are obviously not exclusive to women. Though, through centuries, women have faced their ample share of it. We only got most of our rights—to vote, to own property, to earn equal wages, to take out business loans without a male co-signer—during the 20th century (the last item only happened in the Philippines in 1995). Even if we’re no longer stuck in that era, there are still certain challenges as we pursue our respective careers, dreams, vocations. And these are the ways that help us persist.

1) Stop caring about what other people think.

In a digitally-connected world, it’s easy to get immediate (though often unsolicited) feedback on your work, brand, or business (comments, likes, and shares!). While feedback can be useful in certain scenarios, when it becomes the only consideration that guides you, particularly when you’re struggling, it can do more harm than good. 

As Camille Santos of Outland Creatives and Sidequest Candles learned from her friend and fellow maker Elly Ang of Danger in Design, “You shouldn’t really care what other people think." The self-confessed overthinker shared in a previous interview. "We’ve learned that we should really just make things for ourselves. People who like your stuff will find you.” 

If you’re going to care about someone’s opinion, care about what you think—about what you’re creating or the decisions you need to make. How do they align with your goals, with your values? Those questions are more important to sustain you in your craft when you’re facing challenges.

2) (And) Have the fortitude to take in criticism.

You were persistent enough to finish what you started, brave enough to put it out there, and now that it’s out, understand that not everyone will love it or get it. While it’s good to remind ourselves of the previous words of advice, we know it’s not always easy. When you look into what people think of your work (from your enamel pin designs to how your plushies are made), take both positive and negative feedback in the same manner. They’re not the be-all and and-all of your work or art. They do serve a  purpose.

As Jen Horn, co-creator of Ugnayan Cards, explains, “Once you’ve put that out there, if you’ve had the courage to share it, you also need to have fortitude that whatever response you get from your product will serve as lessons or learnings. Maybe it’s not going to be for everyone, but then maybe you find out who it is for, or you figure out what it is that [you] actually want to put out there.”

3) Turn to mentors.

When you’re struggling, one of the best ways to find a way through it is to turn to others who know more about what you’re dealing with: mentors, teachers, fellow makers and entrepreneurs with expertise in your field. 

During the pandemic, as businesses either closed or had to pivot, Lala de Leon of Simoy ng Haraya learned about DTI’s Kapatid Mentor Me Program for micro and small enterprises. It was a mentorship program that partnered Lala with a mentor in the same industry. While she had expertise in advertising and marketing, she knew she needed to learn more about the other aspects of business like supply chain production, accounting, etc. “There were 42 entrepreneurs, we learned from each other. If I had a problem, I’d go to them and they’d do the same.” When Lala applied what she learned from the mentor program, she shared that’s when her business started to grow—even if it was in 2020, during the height of the pandemic.

4) Scale down.

Not every moment of growth means going big. If you have your own business, scaling up is often seen as the natural progression, but what if the business is getting ‘too big’ for your own liking? What if you’re a one-woman venture and you’re already burnt out? 

It’s important during difficult times to look back at the main reason why you started your brand or business and to assess where it’s heading and how it all aligns. While for many, the answer may be to scale up (eg. expand operations, hire more people), scaling down is also an option some makers consider.

When Camille started to feel creatively drained, she realized she didn’t want to push herself to create new pins for Outland Creative. “I decided to scale down on things that were overwhelming me.” Give yourself some grace. When things are tough, you especially need it.

5) Recognize what's working.

When there are challenges or you feel like you’re in a hole, it’s easy to keep fixating on the things that are going wrong. But as Roma and Maan have shared with us in this Common Room YouTube episode on their recent small business mistake, “At the end of the day, you also have to recognize the good things that are happening and the insights that you are getting from your experience or from your small business.”

Opening Mess Studio became a challenge for Common Room, for example. Maan explained, “It’s easy to say, maybe they’re not earning so let’s just close it.” As much as looking at the numbers is important in any business, recognizing that there are factors that data won’t fully capture is also helpful. “The intangible things are important,” said Maan. “It reminds you why you even started your business, maybe it challenges you to be a better entrepreneur so you can stay on your mission and realize your vision and why you set that up.”.

6) Follow your own timeline.

When you feel like you’re buried in tons of problems and success seems a distant dream, don’t compare your journey with others. As Danger in Design’s Elly, in the same interview with Camille, explains, “It’s not a competition. People succeeding in their goals doesn’t make me feel bad about my own goals.” Your success (however you define it) might not come at the same time and in the same manner as your peers and that’s okay.

When Anya Lim started Anthill Fabric Gallery, the social and cultural enterprise that provides sustainable livelihood to their partner artisans across the country, she reveals that the hardest part of it was community development. She invested the first five years of Anthill in building trust with their partner communities, who had “their own stories of trauma, of transactions, that they were deceived,” she shared. As such, trust building entailed “a lot of field visits, it took a lot of listening to really understand the realities that they have,” recalled Anya.

Five years focused on community development can be daunting for a business, even a social enterprise, but Anya understood that it was time needed to sustain what they envisioned for Anthill.

There’s a proverb that goes, “be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.” When the challenges and the mess ups happen, persist. It can be in the way these makers have done it, it can be in your own unique resolve. Know that every step (or inch) you take is a sign that you’re trying and oftentimes that is enough.