In basketball, there are five positions on the court at all times: the point guard (1), shooting guard (2), small forward (3), power forward (4), and center (5). While each player has a defined role, a team only wins when they move with awareness of one another — spacing the floor, covering gaps, making the right decisions at the right time. The best teams don’t just play hard; they play in sync.

 

Running a small apparel brand isn’t so different. The hats I wear daily are: design (1), marketing (2), operations (3), finance (4), and production (5).

 

Some days I feel like I’m stretching the floor, moving across all positions — sourcing fabrics in the morning, design meetings in the afternoon, and trying to make sense of margins and cash flow at night. It’s not always smooth. I’ll lose hours solving one problem and fall behind on another. But I’ve started to accept that this is just part of it. There’s no perfect balance, only constant adjustment.

 

Like winning in basketball, turning a brand into a real business means thinking beyond just design. You have to tell a story people care about, build processes that save time, think quickly when production snowballs, and stay on top of taxes and deadlines. Often, you’re doing all of it at once and wearing multiple hats.

 

I’m still learning how to get better at each role. I’m reframing failure as feedback and trusting that rhythm only comes with persistence. My goal is to keep showing up, keep improving, and stay in the game.