We’re going right into it. What does level up even mean? Does it mean to gain more followers on Instagram? Does it mean you make more money? Does it mean your brand is just more popular?
Heck if I know, but i’ll just put it in my own terms. It became something more clear to me after my solo trip to Yosemite National Park that i’ll share about another time. Levelling up could mean something different to someone else, and that’s totally fine. Here i’ll share what that looks like in my books.
Intentionality. I may or may not use this term a lot but there’s something so complex and hard-hitting about it that kinda of changes my mentality in a good way.
“To live creatively and with great intention.”
This is a ‘mantra’ i’ve created that I wrote down somewhere in one of my creative sketchbook journal thingys and it’s sort of created to give guidance during times of uncertainty, when things are unclear.
“To live creatively'“ to me speaks on how intricate and complex life can be, how different we all are. To have a creative mindset not just to paint pictures, but to solve problems when they arise. Creativity is a bridge, it’s the connection between two or more ideas. Community is creativity, church is creativity. To live creatively means to build, bring people together, and stay fluid in these ever-changing times.
“with great intention” is the purpose driven portion. the ‘why’. I’ll leave this one pretty open ended and up to interpretation. But i’ve found that the ‘why’ is what pushes you and allows you to live creatively in the most pure way, with a clearer picture. with great intention.
So how does intention and creativity have to do with leveling up? It’s redefining what leveling up is, sometimes it’s scaling up, working faster etc. But sometimes leveling up means intentionally taking a half-step back and regrouping, learning from mistakes, so you can try again a second time but this time better. That’s leveling up. You’ve matured.
Lemme switch up the language just a bit. Fail faster. Yep. You’re probably a perfectionist eh? If you’re reading this you may be an artist or creative of some sorts and we all don’t like putting stuff out that’s not ready. I’ve come to terms that I will probably make every mistake there is, it just comes down to when. But when it does happen, i’ll make sure not to make that same mistake again. Does this mean go out and make mistakes on purpose? No, well you can do whatever you want actually lol. But what we should get from this is what follows, you end up trying, like really trying and that’s what matters. Take away the fear of what people might think and try.
So what’s Next for HOUSEOFDAKH?
Things are starting to get a bit more serious around here. HOUSEOFDAKH LLC is officially registered with the state, got my permits and all, and i’m now starting to work with more premium manufacturers! I’ve held off working with different manufacturers for a while now just because I feel like I didnt really need to but now i think it’s time.
Earlier in the blog I mentioned that sometimes purposely taking a half step back is a good thing, and that is something I will be doing here. It wont be anything drastic, but things have been pretty fast-paced this year. A lot of merch designing and production and less of what HOD started with. 1/1 pieces. I’ll be doing more of these as I feel like it was the core of HOD, just letting creativity flow without worry of post-production would look like. So i’ll be working on some more “Studio Made” pieces including cut and sew / screenprinting in house. I’m also working on the framework of the backend for HOD. Includes customer service / emails, production / fulfillment times. Me taking a half-step back i’ll reserve some time to really level up this department.
In this new season, i’ll be slowly transitioning into using a new Garment manufacturer i’m working with. Garment-dyed, Boxy Cut, Heavyweight, but still Breathable. To many of you this possibly comes off as boring stuff but to me this is pretty huge. This kind of opens up a whole new world for me as I navigate in this next level. And im stoked to announce that tomorrow (Fri Jul 22) i’ll be releasing something part of this new era.
PS. yall i’ve spent a good amount of time writing this, writing’s hard lol. I shouldve started with the future plans for HOD because i felt like I couldve explained that a lot better when I had more energy. Hey I tried tho
1 comment
how to find good manufacturers?