John Doe could be you.
In my previous blog, I stated how two coinciding events made me think of my book. Yes, the cover is meant to entice would-be Yellow and Blue supporters to think a little but that is not the point.
What happened to us can, did, and does happen. Such is business. However, when I visited this small business in Denpasar Bali it brought back tons of memories. The bolts of fabric, the makeshift cutting table, and the sewing machines were a throwback to our basement in Canada.
When we started our business, we worked out of the basement of our house. We had very little money at the time. My brother and I couldn’t have many of the things that the kids around us had. We had second-hand clothes, second-hand furniture, and so on.
But we built it up.
It was nothing but hard work, long hours, and determination. Looking back, sure we could have done things differently and should have had much better advice. However, you don’t know what you don’t know…
So, it was as it was, we plowed through it all.
When I walked into this disorganized mess in Denpasar, I was truly taken back 25 years. I looked around and all this heartache and familiarity came back to me. The machines, the cutting knives, and the fabrics were all so familiar, yet of a different time in my life.
I time-traveled.
I thought of the stress, the hard work, and all the late nights we spent in our basement. Mom, dad, my brother Gabor and myself. The many arguments my parents had, the arguments over the business, and how we tried to keep that out of our personal life.
All this came rushing back along with early morning deliveries and sleepless nights to meet deadlines. I referred to our relationship with IKEA as marriage. However, it may as well have been a life sentence since it was a 25-year-old relationship.
Learning from mistakes and of course the successes of our story, I will do my best to help this small business I have visited in Denpasar. I hope that my knowledge and experience will help them emerge from the hole that they are in now. Stay tuned for the update.
#ikea #sweden #homefurnishings #homedecor #sofa #chair #zsoltzsemba #interiordesign
Zsolt Zsemba 