Shutting Down My First Business

This one is just me, and it is a hard one to record. I am talking about Inspire Me, my first business, and why I am shutting it down. It has been with me since 2018, something very close to my heart. This was not just any business. It was profitable, Alhamdulillah, I never lost money. But things are not as simple as money. Life is more complex than that. So I want to share the whole journey with you, honestly.

The philosophy behind inspire me

Back in 2017 or 2018, I realized the power of writing. When you put pen to paper, you give words to your feelings and thoughts. That act of identifying what is going on inside you helps you resolve those feelings. Without it, you live reactively, in a very mindless way. Writing helped me respond instead of react. It helped me make better decisions and have better relationships because I was mindful of my emotions. I could identify them, validate them, and then resolve them.

At the same time, I felt consumed by social media. I was listening to what was outside and behaving based on that, rather than my own internal monologue. I wanted to create something that would help people sit down with their thoughts, journal, reflect, and be more in touch with who they are. I believe true inspiration comes from yourself, never from outside. If it comes from inside, it has full potential. That is the philosophy I built my business on, which is why I called it Inspire Me.

The products and the promise

I created planners and journals with self-reflective prompts and questions. My first project was the Positivity Planner. Then we took out a study planner and a daily planner. The study planner was designed to help students plan well, improve, progress, and be stress free at the same time. The daily planner was built around positive affirmations and how you want to spend your day. I had a bigger vision, a lot more I wanted to do with it. But I am not doing that anymore.

Why I am closing this chapter

Creating that product in Pakistan has been incredibly hard. Every single time, it took more than 100 percent of my time and energy. It took 200 percent to create the perfect product, and I do not have that sort of time to give anymore. I do not want to put out a product that is mediocre or not up to the mark. I am just not that sort of person. I want it to be completely right for the people consuming it. The content, the journaling style, the theme, the colors, the paper, the cover, the printing, the packaging, the marketing campaign. It is a lot of work. If I am not doing every tiny thing, it just does not come out that way.

There are other issues too. I know there is a solution, but I do not have the capability right now to look for it. It takes travel, time, effort, and money. I still have not been able to solve the production puzzle. The costs are already so high, and I have to think about how a customer will afford it. I felt that if I cannot do justice to it right now, if I cannot be fair about it, then it is not something I want to do. I do not want to create something inauthentic or mediocre. I do not want to give the consumer something that should be better, something they deserve.

Knowing when to let go

It is very important to know when you have to give up. Things have baggage, especially things with an emotional connection you have been doing for so long. But if you do not let go, you are not going to grow. That is how I felt with Inspire Me. I have a lot of opportunity and a lot of dreams, and this product problem I cannot solve was stopping me from taking up more opportunities. Sometimes you have to close a chapter to start another one. I have had a lot of perspective and growth since having my baby, and I felt that Inspire Me was something I needed to close down in order to move forward and do better as a person and as a businesswoman.

They say your first business is never what you end up doing forever. It is always a stepping stone, something you learn from. Anything I ever do from this point onwards will be because of Inspire Me. If this did not happen, nothing in the future would happen. I feel very proud, very happy, and very content with every bit of this. Starting it and ending it are the two things that truly matter.

A love letter to e-commerce and women

The e-commerce industry that has popped open in Pakistan, especially thanks to Instagram, has empowered tons of women to work from home and be financially independent. It has created these girl bosses and women-led business empires. If you have an idea today, you can start executing it tomorrow because you have the platform. It has given a great opportunity to the women of our country. I have done it, I have been through it, and it has been very hard. From the paper to the spiral to the cover to the design to the content to the marketing, it takes a lot. It is not easy, especially for women who have to go out and do everything by themselves.

But e-commerce has enabled women like me, and women not like me, women who do not have as much opportunity or privilege. Older women who have been housewives their whole life are now doing home chef services, knitting, and kapron ka kaam. Women with kids and babies who cannot leave home now have a way to have something of their own. It is wonderful to see where e-commerce is taking them.

What I take with me

I am so proud of myself because I gave this my all. The reason I am quitting is because I cannot give it my all anymore, and I think that is very fair to everybody involved. Fair to everyone who ever bought from me, fair to the employees who worked with me. I am really thankful to every person who believed in me, trusted me, and supported me. My husband Mizamil, Yusra who created content with me, Junaid who did all the packaging. It has been a long journey.

Failures should not be seen as failures. Truly, it is not. It is something vital. You cannot be successful without failures. It is a simple equation: failure plus failure plus failure equals success. You have to fail in order to permanently have that success, because if you are not going to fail, you are not going to learn. This chapter is closing, but something new will come. Right now, Happy Chirp it is.