Storytime: Adriano’s Road to Independence

Mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam. Or, a thousand roads lead men forever to Rome. I set myself the goal of helping people with their projects and am exploring multiple ways of doing so. You’re about to learn about the latest one – storytime. Learning by listening to others and taking in their wisdom. That is actually happening both on my instagram and on this blog, so stay tuned for some helpful content.

For starters, I want to tell you the story of Adriano. Who’s that? He was a fellow student doing the International Management & Economics programme at the Lucerne School of Business. He is also self-employed and sells amazing bespoke suits. And he has been doing that for a few years now. But how did another last-row student have the guts and energy to pursue his dream while the rest of us were mostly just skipping classes?

Adriano was doing a commercial apprenticeship when the financial crisis hit around 2008. Maybe he was lucky, as apprentices are protected from the mass lay-offs that happen when times are tough. Other employees in his company were not quite as lucky. Among the fired workers was a highly experienced individual who’d been working there for more than 30 years. More than 30! I still have 1 1/2 apprenticeships to go until I even turn 30. And he got sacked anyway. It wasn’t even like he was an unproductive employee.

His co-worker’s fate made Adriano think. What good was loyalty when it was one-sided? Even after such a long time, an employee remains just a cog in the machine. It’s fine while it’s well oiled. It’s quickly over when it’s not. It’s not even a human machine. He came to the conclusion that loyalty doesn’t pay off. And he had no intention of sharing his older colleague’s fate. That was when he decided to become self-employed. Reads like a hero’s tale so far, doesn’t it?

Adriano had no clue what he wanted to do. And the decision to become self-employed was made for good. This is around the time he finished the apprenticeship. He’d long been interested in an uncle’s business as a  self-employed tailor. That was where he started. Reaching out led to the opportunity to learn and grow until he was ready to get into the business himself. Not the same business, mind you. The same industry. So, that’s how it began.

He started out selling bespoke suits around the time he started his bachelor’s at the Lucerne School of Business, where I first met him. Honestly, I had no clue that was happening until the second year. And he was busy finding his feat, for it was hard at first. I imagine it’s still hard. In any case, he told me that he didn’t know where to begin. He was lacking customers and expertise, he had everything to learn – and he did. I guess the challenge at it’s core was that he came from a commercial apprenticeship and did not have much to show for in order to convince people that he was an expert of his craft. He recently shared that it was difficult to be taken seriously. He got mixed feedback at first and had to work hard to convince people of his expertise.

That’s a tough spot, isn’t it? Not comfortable. Our instincts tell us to avoid that kind of situation. And yet, it’s at the heart of entrepreneurship. If you survive, you can live your dream. This story has a happy end, of course, so don’t worry about Adriano.

If it’s tough to acquire strangers as customers, it makes sense to start a little bit closer to home. At first, Adriano’s customers were mostly friends. The nature of this particular business was suitable for such an approach as it is a quality product that isn’t sold en masse – every piece is an attempt to perfection. And he’s a nice guy, which was part of the reason why I happily joined in the circle of friends who bought a suit from Adriano’s Attire, as he called his young company. I had bought it for the graduation ceremony, this summer I’ll wear it to my brother’s wedding. Seems to be an investment beyond my plans at the time. Alright, I’m here to tell Adriano’s story, not my suit’s.

Establishing a circle of loyal customers was not the only challenge he was facing. He told me that it was difficult to maintain a high level of energy. Nobody tells you to work hard, to complete your tasks in a timely fashion and still do them well. You depend completely on your intrinsic motivation. And that’s quite obviously tough when the sunny day’s are over. Nobody holds you accountable when that inner voice tells you to netflix rather than putting in that evening shift. It’s simply easier to be employed.

It was a mindset shift for Adriano. It had to be, otherwise this would be the story of how he attempted to go into bespoke suits after a commercial apprenticeship and why he failed. He had to motivate himself over and over again. Looking back, he knows that becoming sluggish is a real danger. Now he knows that you have to get up and have goals for the day. You need that to be (and stay) self-employed. Evidently, he achieved some of those goals and grew into the role.

He also told me that he didn’t really have that mindset in the beginning. And it’s difficult to become that person. But he did it. So, don’t worry if you are lazy now. You can learn to be more responsible. Intrinsic motivation helps – can you find it? By the way, you do not need to be alone for the search.

If you are curious about Adriano, find him on instagram. He’s also happy to answer questions regarding his story.

Source header image: http://www.adrianosattire.ch/#modernemasskleidung