By Design - October 2022

AN UNEXPECTED OUTCOME COVER STORY

I remember thinking what is wrong with these people? They don’t even extend the courtesy of a response! But you know what, the zero response was a response. It told me I wasn’t a fit for them, and they weren’t a fit for me even though I wanted to believe they were. And to be honest, deep inside, I didn’t

some help. I also reached out to mentors for guidance. I was willing to try anything. I even had it in my mind to shut down Zine because I didn’t want to keep going into debt. I figured I’d eventually get a job somewhere, but needed to cut my losses now. So I was willing to do whatever it took. I had nothing to lose.

When did you begin to form a vision then? Looking back, I would have to say that, funnily enough, it was when the business was so bad that I started looking for a job. I think it was 2016. I set up my personal webpage, kiaarian. com, for employers and realized I needed some core values. I put

Because once you “do the next thing you have to do” you have to figure out what the next thing is. And then you find yourself just doing, doing, doing. And even if you reach your goal, there is just more doing on the other side of it.

really want a different job. What I wanted was relief from the stress and pressure I was under–from the crushing debt, the burnout, the uncertainty. I didn’t want to do that anymore and I was looking for any way to escape it. That’s interesting. You left a 9-5 job because it felt like a prison. Now here you are, 8 years later, feeling trapped and looking for an escape. Yes, that’s exactly right. I was reaching for anything to escape– get a job, find new clients, new projects, do different marketing, change something, anything, with my business. My husband got a job with the Fairfax County School System–that provided

that website together in a couple of days. And I think I wrote the Core Values page in less than an hour. It was fast, because they came from within. It was all true, unfiltered, and just flowed out of me. That was on my personal webpage, I didn’t make the connection to Zine until later. What happened with the job? Crickets. But, it was meant to be. If they had offered it to me, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. I submitted that application with every marketing principle and persuasion tactic I knew. I even sent a beautifully appropriate shock & awe package. I swear that thing was a masterpiece. Still nothing.

Obviously, you didn’t close the doors to Zine. What changed? I guess being in a place of “I have nothing to lose” is a double edged sword. Typically, it means you’ve lost everything you could possibly lose. It’s a dark place to be in. But it also means you have new courage to do things you’ve never done before, because, heck, what do you have to lose, right? I had made incremental changes to the business that were getting good results, but my mind was still in “hustle and struggle” mode. I prayed a lot. I made the mental plans for closing Zine, how I would liquidate, what to tell my clients, and what to do with my employees to make sure they were taken care of.

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19 The Results-Driven Life by Design

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