Birth of a Journal – Relationships matter

Birth of a Journal – Relationships matter

The Journey

Finding manufacturers for a product can be one of the most daunting and overwhelming experiences. Thus in my last blog, I called it a journey, because that is literally what it felt like. A few steps at a time, then no steps for a while, then giant leaps. Usually, I am a very specific and detail driven person ,so I had an exact idea of what I wanted the journals to look like, including a product sample from a brand I love. I just had no idea where to search for a printing company. but as I had learnt, I had to do something and move towards my goal. I looked locally, and found the industry too limited, then I searched in neighboring countries and found it too expensive. Finally, I looked at my favorite brand and saw that they printed in China, but they obviously did not share who prints their journals. I tried searching on Google without much success.

A thousand steps to nowhere.

On paper China sounded like a great idea, but how on earth was I going to find the specific printing company that made the products I wanted? I thought a great place to start was Alibaba, but the products were too many and the printers were overwhelming. I searched Alibaba and ended up narrowing down to whoever had the best command of English. No matter who I spoke to, no one could offer me what I really wanted. Though I waned to get the samples done, I was not willing to compromise on the quality I was aiming for. Eventually, the search frustrated me so much that I gave up and shelved the journals. I did not realize at the time, that waiting was the right thing to do.

John Smith

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to build relationships with people in all kinds of fields. Though it is difficult, I try my best to maintain relationships even through hardships and differences. One such relationship was with a long time friend of mine who has amazing business acumen. For the sake of this story, we will call him John Smith. At some point in his business ventures, John started going to China. I called him, and he promised to link me to his Chinese friend who works as a salesperson. The best part was that his friend has a great command of English. The last thing John told me, was that he would forward me this salesperson’s contacts as soon as we hung up the phone. I felt like I was one step closer to

One more step

I waited for the contact, and guess what? John was so busy that he forgot to forward the contact. Shortly after my call with John, I lost contact with him altogether. So I went back to the drawing board and I ended up choosing the printing company that had great pictures on their website. We discussed samples and they quoted me a price so high, I decided to put the journals on the back burner for a while.

No steps

Almost six months passed, and one day out of the blue, John sent me a message asking me if I had spoken to his friend in China that he referred me to. Shocked, I reminded John that he had not given me the contact. In his next text, he forwarded a WhatsApp number to me. I decided to take this as a sign that it was time to pursue the journals again.

Half the Journey in one step: Coincidence?

As soon as I contacted John’s friend in China, I asked for a sample. And guess what sample pic he sent? A picture of my favorite brand of journals, the same one I had been buying for years. John’s friend is a salesperson for the specific printers that I was looking for. What are the chances of me finding exactly him? I do not believe that this was a coincidence at all. I am not sure what you believe in, but I believe in God, thus I believe that God ordered my steps and has a definite plan for my life. All the planning and working and waiting led to this. That is my belief.

You should know, first steps

Relationships are key to your success. The most important step you can make for yourself, is build genuine relationships. I had known John for close to 15 years when he gave me this contact. For you to understand the significance of this, it is important to know a few things. Firstly, when I first met John, he was working a full time job at a company he did not necessarily like. I had no idea at that time, that one day he would quit his job, get into several business ventures that would lead him to China. I definitely had no idea that his friend would be a representative of the company that prints my favorite brand of journals.

Secondly, when I met John, I was not even into journaling. The most I would do was would write down my thoughts and dreams on random papers and file them, but I had never even owned a diary. God knew though. I believe that God knew I’d be unemployed, and looking for a specific printing company, 13 years after I met John. He knew that by the time I would need a Chinese contact, I would have figured out a way to pay for the journal samples. The waiting time had also given me time to work enough on the journal samples. Therefore, at this stage, I now felt comfortable enough with my first drafts to send them to the same printers who made my favorite brand of journals.

Two things

Two things were mainly at play for me here. Timing and Relationships. I believe that I got the contact at the right time. The relationships I had, got me to where I was. One friend took me under his wing and taught me enough to make a sample, another friend had the specific contact I needed. A contact who was literally a needle in a haystack at the time.

Take away.

Though my journey is different from yours. I find that God works the same way in all our lives. Like I mentioned in the first blog of this series, time and chance happen to all man. This was the right time for me to get the contact and the finances to get the journal samples done. But was it the right time to launch the journals? I will talk about that in my next blog.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Ecclesiastes 3 verse1 NIV

To be continued…