When I was pregnant with our first child, a daughter, I became obsessed with finding something for her to wear to show her pride for her daddy, who is a Firefighter. I could find nothing, absolutely nothing for the daughters of Firefighters. I became obsessed- how could there be NOTHING? I kept talking about it and talking about it and my husband was like "seriously, shut up and do something about it". So I made up the word Firedaughter- like Firefighter, but with daughter instead of fighter. I thought it was pretty much genius. And so Firedaughter Clothing was born. I never had any intention of making anything other than clothes for the daughters of Firefighters. I was pretty sure I was going to put up my website and instantly be a millionaire. I thought Firefighter wives everywhere with daughters would clamor for my product- I would be able to retire for sure in like a year. And then....reality set in. I had no background in marketing, and we had no money for any kind of advertising- Facebook wasn't around yet to help spread the word. I floundered for a few years, selling just enough to barely break even, mainly to people I knew who felt sorry for me. Now, when I say we had no money, I mean we had NO money. I had stopped working when our daughter was born, and my husband made a healthy salary for a Firefighter, but all of the bills were 100% on his shoulders now, including my student loans. Despite the fact I wasn't bringing in any income, my husband was very supportive. I was dealing with some pretty severe postpartum depression, and he knew that Firedaughter gave me a sense of importance that I desperately needed at the time. About two years into FD I still wasn't close to making money and I was pretty ready to give up. We now had a second child and another round of PPD that was worse than the first. I was ready to quit.
This is me, doing my thang on my presses.
I was talking with our neighbor Penny one night, telling her how my concept was just not taking off and I felt like there was nothing left to do but quit. She looked at me and said "Samya, you have to expand your demographic, yours is just too narrow." I was appalled! She was telling me to sell out, to abandon my vision! I told her that, and her straight-talking lawyer self then said "that's stupid." She asked me if I had any other passions aside from being a Firefighter wife...and she knew the answer. Fitness. I have always been in great shape, aside from the year I was in an abusive relationship and hated myself, I had always worked out- I taught spin for several years and had even met my husband in a spin class. After my daughter was born and I couldn't afford spin classes (or a babysitter to go to spin classes) anymore, I turned to running. It was free and I could take my daughter with me on my runs. And as it turned out, I was good at it. I fell in love with running. Running was my other soul mate. When I ran, it hurt like hell, but it hurt so good. I could run all the crap out. When my daughter was 6 months old I ran my first half-marathon, and when my son was 8 months old I ran my first full marathon. In only my second marathon ever I qualified for Boston- and when I ran Boston, it was one of the proudest achievements of my life. Even though I collapsed after I crossed the finish line and had to go to the Medical tent. It's a good story, at least ;) At any rate, I digress- the point is, I work out. I rock at working out. I am a natural at NOTHING, but I am the hardest worker you'll ever meet. And I work my ass off in the gym, and on the streets, and on the canal, and anywhere else I can. So it was FITNESS. Firedaughter's focus changed to fitness, and that's where it remains today.
I conceived the original concept for FD while on my daily runs. Generally NOT in full hair and makeup like I am here ;)
The Firedaughter view on fitness is very specific. My shirts tell the story of my fitness life, and my outlook on fitness. There are a billion fitness cliches- check out a Fitness page on Pinterest and you'll see so many cliches you'll lose count. To me though, fitness is not a cliche, and I'm not interested in cliches. I'm also not interested in being better than you. You will never see a shirt in my shop telling you that my workout is superior to your workout. I don't need to be better than you, I just need to be the best ME. Firedaughter women are the women at the gym who are in amazing shape but who aren't trying to intimidate you. You can go up to a Firedaughter woman, in all her beauty and in all her fit-ness, and you can ask her how to use a machine. And you can ask her what she does to look like that, and she'll welcome your questions and she'll answer you warmly. Firedaughter girls don't need to tell you they're better than you, and they don't live by cliches. They do what works and they're grateful that they are blessed with lives that allow them to take care of themselves. Being in shape, living a fit life- it's not easy. It's the opposite of easy. But easy isn't rewarding, and easy doesn't make you feel joy and beauty. FD 4eva
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