Relevant Today, Nobody Tomorrow

What a day it's been. It's 10pm in New York and I finally have a minute to sit. We had our Leonard & Church + Blacklist event all day and I ran off to a photo shoot right after. I took a break for lunch at 3pm but it's basically been non stop. I haven't had time for dinner and I still have more work to do so I'll probably post this and then grab a bite before I finish up the day.

Today was quite overwhelming but also exciting. Thank you to all the people who took time out of their busy day to come out and say hi and support my company! I can't believe I got to make a watch for a hit tv show and it was so cool to see everyone so excited about it! We had a great response from the people at Sony, NBC and all the fans. Who would have thought our tiny company would get this much attention?

Small but mighty. 

This is the second event I've had to plan for Leonard & Church and I can honestly say, I've learned a lot. Any type of business is hard and filled with obstacles. We've been working on Leonard & Church for years and haven't made any money we can take out. Smaller businesses especially struggle because we're essentially competing against multi million dollar corporations with almost nothing in the bank.  It sounds like an impossible task. But good things take time and hard work eventually pays off. So we keep on going. 

But it's interesting to see the people who show up.

You see, when you're successful or relevant, everyone's around and then when things slow down it's like crickets. I know this because the last few years when I was on Teenwolf and there was a lot of buzz, everyone was calling to hang out and what not. But the second I left the show. The phone stopped ringing. So funny how quick it changes when people think you're irrelevant.

I know this sounds harsh but it's the truth. 

This industry is rough. You're relevant today and nobody tomorrow. That's just how it is. Up and down. To stay sane, you have to be aware of it and accept that reality. Your value & worth can't be based on your popularity or the number of likes you get. It doesn't matter if 2 people like your photos or a 100. It matters if you like it. If the foundation of your identity is rooted in something so fleeting, like the approval of others, you're never going to be happy. You'll also never be satisfied and eventually crash and burn. Chasing something like that is running a race that has no finish. You can't really measure the level of success or fame, you might be the most famous person to someone and irrelevant to another. You might also be the richest person but also the poorest. 

We started Leonard & Church because we had a vision and a dream to bring the best quality watches at the fairest price to our consumers. What I've learned along the way? People think expensive is better - it's not. People think what bloggers post is better - they're usually paid to post. People think the party with influencers is cool - but they're all usually paid to be there. Very little is authentic anymore. Everyone is so easily influenced by social media. I feel like a lot of people don't even know what they like, they just like what they think they should like or what they're told to like. 

We're a baby company taking baby steps. It's just 3 of us, working nonstop. Doing the best we can do. But we are growing and I'll definitely remember the people who stuck by us and believed in us.

I'll remember the people who showed up when we didn't have any marketing budget or fancy gift bags.

I'll remember the influencers and actors who showed up and supported when we had no budget or rate for their time. 

I'll remember the friends who insisted on buying a watch and supporting. 

I'll remember John Cho, I look up to him greatly as an actor and a human. We're not super tight friends, we don't hang out on a regular basis. But when I mentioned what I was doing with the company and shared a watch with him, he happily shared and supported on social media before I could even ask. Definitely took me by surprise. 

Anyways, I'm always surprised by the ones I think will support and then the ones I never expect to support that actually end up supporting. Has this ever happened to you? You hit rock bottom and the friend you reach out to doesn't give you a hand while a stranger does? This has happened to me many times in life and I think it's an interesting lesson.

I think struggles are good, you learn to ask for help and you see who your true friends are. Sometimes you need to weed out the bad ones, you don't want them around when you really start to bloom.