When to GO FULL TIME with Your SIDE BUSINESS and Why it Can be Your Best Decision w/ Nikita Ladwa

Transcript

[00:00:00] Nikita: Well, so many times where I actually went in to the office with my resignation letter and I kept on backing away. I was like, Nope, not now, not now, not now. And then it got to a point where I was just so fed up. The directors that were appointed at the time, weren’t listening to me. What made me happy? And I just handed it in and I was like, I’m doing this. If I don’t do this now, I’m never going to do it. And it’s probably been the best decision I’ve ever made because one year ahead now doing this full time for one full on year, it’s definitely grown. Now. I’ve been in, I’ve been able to put that much, love that much care, that much attention. It’s the business, if I was working.

[00:00:40] Amardeep: Welcome to the Mindful and Driven Podcast, where we help you to not lose sight of what’s really important whilst chasing your dreams. Today’s guest is Nikita Ladwa. She’s the founder of the Naked Laundry. She built the company all by herself and she’s been featured in both Netflix and Pop Sugar. Her previous career was in marketing and she kept the Naked Laundry, the clothing brand as a side hustle until August 2020. She said that quitting her job is the best thing she’d ever done and she’s planning a future where she splits her time between London and Delhi. It was a pleasure to chat with her and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Welcome Nikita. It’s great to have you on here. We’ve been talking for a while, like in DMs and things like that, but it’s the first time we’ve actually got to speak somewhat in person.

[00:01:19] Nikita: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I’m super excited. Thank you so much for having me here.

[00:01:22] Amardeep: You’re welcome. So, the first thing that I tend to ask my guests is what’s some common advice you disagree with?

[00:01:27] Nikita: Oh gosh. I would say one of the common advice that I disagree with right now is always having one passion and only having one passion. I do think that you can have more than one passion, passions. Just follow it through as long as it makes you happy.

[00:01:45] Amardeep: What are your passions at the moment? So obviously you’ve got Naked Laundry and I can see you love that same much. What some other things you’ve got going on that you’re balancing alongside that?

[00:01:52] Nikita: Outside of my day-to-day job. I absolutely love running. So I try and run every single day. I don’t think I’ll make much of an athlete, unfortunately, but it’s something that balances me out big time. And so making sure that my health comes first, making sure my mental well being comes first, and also that aligns with what I do as my day-to-day job because with Naked Laundry being my one goal, passion. Everything else needs to compliment that. So when I say passion, it could be on a different level, but you could always say, make it work together as well.

[00:02:25] Amardeep: So, I guess there are different parts of the Naked Launch that you’re passionate about. So you might really love, I know you love going to your customers and to see them directly. So that’s one part you’re passionate about, but you’re also passionate about the design. So it’s one overall passion, but there’s lots of little bits of it that you enjoy too. Is that a fair…?

[00:02:43] Nikita: Yeah, exactly. So my background was actually in marketing, so digital marketing, social media marketing. So I still wanted to be quite connected with that in the business, but then again, fashion was my passion. Beauty was my passion. Running was my passion. So I’m just trying to put all these puzzle pieces together and actually just make it as a whole and that in itself is my day-to-day kind of routine, I would say.

[00:03:05] Amardeep: And one of the interest things I think as well, and some come, trying to come to terms with as well. So right now, have the podcasts, have the writing, you have all these other stuff, and you’re trying to get things to kind of have that cohesive, feel about them, where they’re putting in one direction and what I guess you’ve got for Naked Laundry, it enables you to do lots of things you enjoy under one brand name under one, like overall goal. And was that kind of something which encourages to do it, that you knew that you could be able to do all of these different things? Or is it a lucky coincidence?

[00:03:34] Nikita: I would have to say it’s a coincidence in, in all honesty. I think during the pandemic, so I actually went full time with a Naked Laundry around a year ago. And it was, it was because I wanted flexibility. I wanted my own space, my own time, my own management. So I wanted to work on things that made me happy and that allowed me to do that. So it was very much a coincidence, but it’s worked out to the best because I can, you know, work as early as I want, but then leave as early as I want. And although that would be an ideal scenario because about 24 hours a day, literally. It’s literally just trying to manage that and balance it out.

[00:04:15] Amardeep: I know you mentioned before, like before we started the call, that you’re finding that quite difficult before you started The Naked Laundry, well, Naked Laundry was going on for a long time before you’re full time at Naked Laundry, that you’re struggling to kind of balance it on top of your day job. What was the process through when you decided to actually quit and make the big leap into doing your own thing, full-time? Was it easy for you or was it quite a struggle for a long time?

[00:04:36] Nikita: I think so. What had happened was there were so many times where I actually went in to the office with my resignation letter and I kept on backing away. I was like, no, not now, not now, not now. And then it got to a point where I was just so fed up. The directors that are appointed at the time. Weren’t listening to me. What made me happy and I just handed it in and I was like, I’m doing this. If I don’t do this now, I’m never going to do it. And it’s probably been the best decision I’ve ever made because one year ahead now doing this full time for one full-on year, it’s definitely grown. And I wouldn’t have been able to put that much love, that much care, that much attention, it’s the business, if I was working for someone.

[00:05:14] Amardeep: Yeah. So how long do you think you bent over the resignation? So when did you first write that letter? And how often did you kind of keep bringing it in?

[00:05:23] Nikita: It was with me for a good six months? It was, it was there at the start of the year, and I just couldn’t pick up the courage. I could do it because it wasn’t the fact that I wouldn’t be able to get another job, it was not having a salary. It was not having that comfort blanket of knowing that, okay, I’m going to get this month, this much and this month, and, you know, be able to know what I’m going to get. And obviously going into a business, having zero salary for yourself, it’s a very daunting, daunting challenge, I would say.

[00:05:55] Amardeep: And was it just to end the frustration where you decided that’s it, or was there anything else you did to kind of prepare yourself mentally so that when you did quit your job, you felt more secure?

[00:06:05] Nikita: Nothing secured me. I didn’t have backings. I didn’t have savings. I didn’t have anything. In all honesty, all my savings had gone into the business. All of my salary went into the business while working in the business and working for another company. So it was one frustration, but I needed that push because if I hadn’t walked into that one day where I was like, this isn’t for me, I don’t think I would have been able to do that. So it was quite important for me to have those emotions in play. Otherwise I still would have been in a full-time position.

[00:06:38] Amardeep: Did you consider at all doing part-time first before going to full time, or was that you just knew this is it I’m going to go full time or was it something you kind of questioned your mind that maybe I should stagger it?

[00:06:49] Nikita: It was something that I did question. I mean, I loved my job. I genuinely loved my job. I loved marketing. I loved the industry. I loved my position as a social media manager, but as a social media manager, your job in itself is quite demanding. So I don’t think I would have been able to balance that job and be the best version of myself for that. And also be the best version of myself for a brand that was somewhat thriving, somewhat peaking, some what was going in a direction. So it needed my full on attention in order for it to take it to the next level.

[00:07:22] Amardeep: And you quit last August, right? So do you think,

[00:07:25] Nikita: yeah, just over a year.

[00:07:26] Amardeep: Did the pandemic had any effects on your decision? Do you think if it wasn’t for the pandemic, you might’ve stayed in your job for longer?

[00:07:31] Nikita: Funny enough, it didn’t. It didn’t. Like, I was going to do it either way. I was going to leave my job either way. The pandemic, if anything helped us boost more brand awareness, more sales, more traffic to the website. As you know, a lot of the businesses were closing down. A lot of the major branches were closing down. So people were in this mindset to actually support smaller businesses, smaller, local businesses, more than anything. So it went from word of mouth to doing large campaigns, to being on Netflix, to being in magazines and workman, stylers, and then everything kind of just sped up the process and the whole [unintelligible]. Now, when I reflect back onto, I can’t believe it’s only been a year since I actually quit my job.

[00:08:12] Amardeep: This year just flown by, so. I can’t remember my day job anymore. It’s only been three months, but if it was like a different lifetime ago.

[00:08:18] Nikita: Yeah. I can’t see myself being in an office. I can’t. Like, this is me now. So, and I feel like this is, this is what works well for me.

[00:08:28] Amardeep: Like rewinding a bit in terms of when you started it, cause it’s been a long journey for you to get to that point where you handed in that notice. Was there any points that you ever considered giving up and how did you get through them? Build your confidence back up again?

[00:08:41] Nikita: Yeah. Giving up in terms of not having reservation, yes. I have had that because you just wake up and you, like, you are only battling it with your own mind. There is no other person where, you can talk about it or, you know, bounce a point is but then when you see customers that are super happy and they’re super proud of wearing your pieces, that’s what kind of pushes you to do bigger and better things. Giving up in the circumstance of maybe pushing it back a day, but not giving up for me. I don’t think I would ever give up on it.

[00:09:12] Amardeep: No, it was just great to hear because I think sometimes people have the things that they have on the side and they question themselves, like, can I make this, can I not make that? And it’s always just interesting to see how different people react to that and how they get through that so they can continue doing what they love.

[00:09:27] Nikita: You do question yourself a lot. You question your position, you question whether you can actually take on what’s happening, you question your abilities, your skillsets, but once you finish that project, once you’ve gone through those hurdles, once you’ve actually done what you need to do, and for us, we’re quite fortunate because our ideas come in real life, everything that I do, everything I say, it’s very much a tangible product. When you see it, you, you assure yourself that you are worth it.

[00:09:55] Amardeep: Yeah. And that’s an interesting thing in comparison to me, I guess, where obviously I [unintelligible] everybody does, but because my product is information in a way it’s sometimes you have this crisis of confidence moments, right? Because I don’t necessarily have something to say, look, I’ve made this and this is good. I’ve got to rely on like, critical feedback and people kind of enjoying it. So it’s nicer for you to have that physical product. And you said like you’ve gone into Netflix, you’ve gotten into different magazines. Was any moment of like, one thing that happened was like, I’ve made it now, like this is, this is going to happen, this is that tipping point, I can’t go back on this now?

[00:10:35] Nikita: I think as every article, in all honesty, so when we had that exposure and it wasn’t even to do with the business, it was about me, and I was like, hold on, someone wants to write a piece about me, me? Like this is a magazine that I used to read when I was a kid, so it was last year in Popsugar, but we had an article about The Naked Laundry and me and, you know, our journey. It made me believe that people do believe in this. I already knew I believed in it. I knew I had the motivation, but when you try and portray that to other people, you don’t want people to think that you’re completely bonkers, that it’s only in your head. Like you want them to know that, hold on, there’s a gap. You need this product. Otherwise, you, you’ll lose behind with it.

[00:11:20] Amardeep: It’s that a thing of like where it shouldn’t sometimes matter, but having, for me, at least having those kinds of people reach out to me. So being in wide or whatever like that, it makes a difference, right? Because it’s that external validation that you’re not crazy, that this is good. Like people want this. And I know some people are very purist and say, you shouldn’t need that. Like you should be going about your own dreams but then it does help I find, just to know that people are resonating with what you’re doing. Is there anything at the moment you’re struggling with? So I know you’re, you always seem very busy and there’s a lot going on, one thing that Nikita does is she always has her business life in our stories, on Instagram, I see the kind of chaos and how busy it is and how she is managing.

[00:12:03] Nikita: Every day is a struggle. In all honesty, trying to balance life, in all honesty. So for example, when we brought this session in, I had to cancel all of my meetings during the day, pushed it the day after, because I just don’t know what’s going to come up and as much as I try and plan to the minute, it never works out. It never, never, never works out. So just trying to balance work, life, eating on time, meeting everyone’s deadlines, because, well, there is just me right now. Back on India’s time zone, so by the time that I even wake up, India’s already five and a half hours ahead of me or four and a half hours ahead of me. So they are already wanting these answers, and by the time I finished that I have, my stock is chasing me. What’s happening with the new collection when some marketing campaign going out and then I’m moving on to the next collection. So it’s trying to prioritize, what’s important for what team at what time.

[00:13:03] Amardeep: At the moment, do you do it seven days a week or you’re trying to kind of protect some days?

[00:13:07] Nikita: Right now it’s seven days a week. It’s seven days a week, even when I am out and about and say, if I’ve got a weekend away, I’d have my laptop, and I have my phone because we have a live chat, so on our live chat, I need to be available when customers need me to be.

[00:13:22] Amardeep: The live chat isn’t 24 7, right? You let yourself sleep?

[00:13:25] Nikita: I mean, yes. I will have, you’d be surprised? I have some customers messaging just before midnight and some days I am up ’til two o’clock. So they’ve just caught me. At times saying they need something for the next day, so I have to be as accessible as possible. I hope that one day, someone else can take this over for me. So someone that works in the customer service team. That is the plan for me is to outsource people.

[00:13:50] Amardeep: How do you balance everything at the moment? So you said you tried to plan things to the minute. Is there any other kind of strategies you use to get everything done and to stay sane at the same time?

[00:14:00] Nikita: Yeah. I try and plan the night before. So one thing that I’ve been doing is a lot of like journaling, a lot of like notes, a lot of like bullet pointing, a lot of numberings, and making sure that I am only doing the things that are important to avoid last minute creative ideas. Now working in the creative field, you will have, oh, that spark moment. And you’ll be like, oh, I need to hop onto this trend. I need to do this. I need to contact this influencer. But it’s more so taking off the major projects, and then having these soft projects later to make you feel more fulfilled. I think that’s what I’m trying to balance right now.

[00:14:38] Amardeep: Hi everyone. I hope you’re enjoying the episode so far. I want to take a quick break to ask you to check in with yourself. There’s many people struggling with balance and it’s nothing to be ashamed about. It’s tips that my guests might share can hopefully help you along the way, but if you already feel overwhelmed or burnt out, it’s probably best that you ask somebody for help too. For some, this might be a friend or family member, while others might feel like they have nobody they can talk to. If you’re one of these people, check out the link in the show notes, it’s for United for Global Mental Health. They’ve got health plans all across the world, with people willing to listen on the other side. It’s important to let somebody know how you’re feeling. Now, back to the show.

Do you have any general daily routines? You said you wake up in the morning and it tends to be the India stuff at the beginning. Do you try to kind of block out time? So this, this hour in the morning is for this, this hour is for that, or is it, do you feel like it’s quite reactive at the moment? So how much of it do you get to control? How much is it, something that comes inbound and you’ve got to deal with it when it comes in?

[00:15:33] Nikita: Yes. So, I would say it’s quite reactive. So the first thing I would do is actually answer my, to my customers. If there’s people in the live chat, I message on the live chat. If there’s people in Instagram, direct messages that need products there and then, then I sort that out and then I move on to my team in India, what they need, if they’re waiting for something, if they’re waiting for measurements, styles, collection pieces. And then I move on to, by this time it was probably like lunchtime, so by then try and grab some lunch, and then I move on to my team in the UK, so if I’m working with an agency, what do they need from my end? Stockists customer orders, so I try and balance it that way, as best as I can.

[00:16:17] Amardeep: Have you learned any lessons from working with people, both from the UK and India, which like as you’ve gone through your business, which helps you manage that better in terms of relationships that listeners might be able to benefit from?

[00:16:29] Nikita: Communication is very important. Communication is so, so important. The way that my team in India work and just the nature of Indians in India, they work on a hundred miles per hour. So if you need to work at that pace, but also they definitely believe in a good, good relationship building strategy. So you need to be able to communicate with them on a friend’s level, as opposed to business, business, business. Because I believe that that is the key element of having a strong team whereas in London, A lot of us Londoners, we like to get shaped to the point where you just want the answer and then that’s it. So trying to make sure that your style of communication is different.

[00:17:13] Amardeep: Your team in India, how did that work for you? So is it something which you’ve flown out there a lot and you’ve worked with them directly to, or has it been all virtual and all remote?

[00:17:22] Nikita: So I just, before the pandemic, I went to Delhi and I interviewed loads of studios, I went to go see tons and tons of studios, checked out what their client bases were like, because I refuse to work with studios who work with fast fashion brands? I think that’s ethically incorrect. It’s not what I stand for, so I wanted to make sure who they work with and who would be able to do the best policy work for us. So that was important. Someone that is going to be there when I need them because what tends to happen is when you have international teams, again, communication can be broken down very easily, and so far all the studios that I’ve worked with have been phenomenal. They’ve been amazing. So I definitely did a thorough research, thorough interview process, did absolutely everything to make sure they’d be the right people for me.

[00:18:10] Amardeep: So you mentioned there about the ethical standards being quite important to you. Have you ever found any difficulties where, because you’re holding to your principles, has made it harder for you? And if there has been the case, like how did you get through that? How did you manage to maintain your ethical standards whilst continuing to grow the business at the same time?

[00:18:28] Nikita: I would have to say our minimum quantity levels. So if, as you know, if you go down the fast fashion route, you’re, you essentially are producing thousands, thousands, thousands, and essentially your cost per unit goes down and you have a better margin. For us, our units are very small. We may have small units, but they get sold out very quickly, which means then we have to do another restock and another restock. But for us, we want to be ethically responsible because one, we don’t want to waste fabric and two, we don’t want, and in an ideal situation, this wouldn’t be great, we don’t want two of the same girls walking into the same wedding, having same clothes, because that would be a disaster for, for them because I’ve been in that situation. It’s not been a good feeling. So for us, it’s been more so keeping the standards high. So right now I can’t go to India, but I know what’s happening in the studio. I get video calls every single day. I get to see, you know, my merchant, my pattern cutter. I get to see it. I know who is doing everything. So understanding that is, is a bonus for us.

[00:19:32] Amardeep: Is the plan for when things go back to a bit more normal, when flights are open for you to kind of split your time a bit more, or is it a good balance at the moment where you’ve realized, because you haven’t been able to go that you can trust the team out there, so you don’t miss her need to go as much. Or maybe you just want to go there just to meet the team because you’ve talked to them so much.

[00:19:51] Nikita: Ideally, I do want to split my time. I do want to. I want to be able to do a few months here and a few months in India. All together, it would make it so much more easier as well. So when it comes to our collection deadlines, having that back-and-forth, whereas it adds three days or five days for policies to come to me, for me to analyze. It could easily be done in India. So ideally when I have bigger deadlines, it would be when I’m in India.

[00:20:15] Amardeep: Interesting. So in terms of like your ideal lifestyle in terms of the business, you’d want to be a few months at a time in India and a few months at a time here?

[00:20:23] Nikita: Yeah.

[00:20:24] Amardeep: And have you done that before, like living abroad for a few months at a time and how that kind of impacted you mentally as well?

[00:20:31] Nikita: Never. I’ve never done that, but I’m hoping next year allows me to do that. It is a plan towards the beginning of the next year to hopefully be there for a few months and come up with a better stronger strategy for us to, you know, rely on and then come back to the UK, and by that time I hope I have a team as well. So I’m not doing all these, all these crazy things all at once.

[00:20:55] Amardeep: I’m just thinking from a life perspective of, for example, when I’m abroad sometimes, I get a bit of FOMO about what I’m missing out on back home. And if you’re planning to live out. India for months at a time, do you think that’s gonna be a kind of a struggle for you and you think you’re just very excited about the prospect of that?

[00:21:09] Nikita: I think I’m quite excited. It’s been in the pipeline for quite some time. It’s been one of my dreams to do that. I’ve always known that I don’t want to settle in one country as right now. In, in my younger years, maybe later. Who knows? Maybe not. Maybe I might turn around and be like, hello, hold on, Delhi isn’t for me anymore. I’m coming back to the UK. But for me, it’s more of a dream that I want to fulfill.

[00:21:34] Amardeep: Yeah. So is it Delhi you were thinking about being based in?. And if you’ve been there a lot before, so you kind of know the lay of the land already?

[00:21:40] Nikita: Yeah. Yeah. So Delhi is actually where my studios are, so everything currently works in Delhi. My family are still out and about everywhere in India, so it might mean that I live with my grandparents for a little bit, I live with my aunties, but right now the aim is to be in Delhi for a bit

[00:21:56] Amardeep: It’s interesting because it’s this nomadic kind of lifestyle, right. It’s where if you don’t necessarily need to be in one place, then it’s kind of been popularized by different people about, you can have the laptop lifestyle where you could just take a laptop to India and work from there and somebody else can manage the stuff that’s happening in the UK. Would that kind of be a regular thing? Do you think it’s a one-off thing? You’ll live there for a few months or would it be, let’s say every quarter you change your location?

[00:22:19] Nikita: I hope It’s a regular thing. I think when I have a strong team in India, it’s only right for me to be there for them. It’s it’s, if anything, it’s harder for me to be here because they are waiting for my answers and, you know, we need to speed up the process and also be a supporting hand for them as well. So for now, and probably for the next foreseeable few years, I would hope that that is the plan.

[00:22:44] Amardeep: So what’s one thing that, for example, cause I just wanted that choice I got to make, right. So I don’t have to be in a particular location. So a lot of people were telling me like, why don’t you become a nomad? And for me, the, I guess I’m at the kind of stage of life where a lot of important events that are happening with my friends. So let’s say you went to India for three months and four of your friends got married in that time, or there’s kind of four big birthdays, whatever it was. Would you try and like flip back and forth, or how did you kind of manage that personal side of things? Do you think you’d find that tough at all?

[00:23:14] Nikita: If anything, we’ve been tested virtually, it’s crazy what we can do virtually right now. Of course, I would love to be there, but I think my friends and family know that this is on the horizon. They know that Nikita is going to be moving soon, and that is what she wants to do and we can’t stop her. So I’ve been quite fortunate because one of my friends, she actually lives in Canada and she left seven years ago and we have a really strong relationship. So for me, relationship in terms of keeping in touch with people, I don’t think that will be a problem.

[00:23:48] Amardeep: Right. So it’s good news, isn’t it? What’s one mindset shift you think people could make who are listening now that could make a positive difference in their lives?

[00:23:56] Nikita: As cheesy as it says, just reach for the stars. Honestly, there’s nothing stopping you. If you’re listening to this podcast, there’s a reason why you stumbled across this podcast. It’s, the stars are aligning. Something’s happening. It just, just think really positively and not only think positively, but believe in it, because what tends to happen is when people start businesses in the business world, they won’t see sales for the first year or even two years, and they’re like, okay, I’m done. Wasted 10 grand. I’ve completed it. It’s done. Believe me, I made no sales in my first six months, and then things started speeding up. And it’s only now where I could say quite comfortably that the business is in an alright position, but it takes at least a minimum of three years alright position. Yeah.

[00:24:47] Amardeep: Yeah. High praise for yourself there.

[00:24:49] Nikita: So for me, I would definitely say like, just don’t give up. Don’t give up as. As crazy as some may say your ideas are, just don’t give up.

[00:24:57] Amardeep: What you did do there as well as that you had your, your stability and your base as well, that allowed you to kind of build it on the side and then it’s just knowing the right moment like you did. To when to make the leap and to take it full time and it’s just, yeah, the timing of that, if you can get that right, you can keep doing your day job for as long as you want until you feel comfortable. Right. And it took you several years and it takes lots of people several years. Some people, I know, some people who’ve got like businesses, like worth millions of dollars, but they don’t quit their day job because they’re scared about losing the salary is like, but it’s just an interesting balance of how different people’s minds work, isn’t it?

[00:25:31] Nikita: People will also see your passion as well. Passion in itself, the word passionate is so underrated. Passion, meaning like your emotions, how much time you invest, what kind of outcome you have, what kind of, what kind of energy you’re putting into whatever you’re doing and how you’re channeling that. That in itself, people would definitely sense it, even till this day, when customers see it, they’re like we know how hard you’ve worked and it’s only because they understand the real concept behind the brands,

[00:26:05] Amardeep: It’s been a pleasure to talk to you Nikita. Where can people hear more about you and your brand The Naked Laundry?

[00:26:11] Nikita: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you guys can follow us on Instagram, The Naked Laundry. Follow us on Tik Tok, The Naked Laundry. Definitely give it a shot as well at thenakedlaundry.com

[00:26:22] Amardeep: And the final thing to finish up on is what’s one small thing that’s brought you joy recently?

[00:26:27] Nikita: Getting back into my Yoga. That’s been a good feeding recently.

[00:26:31] Amardeep: Yoga’s something you’ve done for a long time? Is it like a big, one of your other passions in life I guess.

[00:26:35] Nikita: It’s something I enjoy. I wouldn’t say I’m the best at it. It’s not something I can vouch for, but it’s been an on and off kind of thing. It’s a, I think it’s a mental state. Like for me personally, I only want to do yoga where I am clean mental state, where I’m not quite chaotic to actually sit down and, you know, really be in my thoughts and understand everything. So for me to get to that level has been accomplishment in the last few months.

[00:27:09] Amardeep: If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, I’d love it If you could leave me a five star review, it really helps get the message out further. Wherever you’re listening, it would be awesome If you could subscribe and share in your social media channels. If you want to see more of my work and advice, you can find all of the links in the show notes.

Thank you again for listening and I hope you have a lovely day.