Sometimes it’s just socks
Not all paths are created equal.
Some people choose to save lives for a living. Some people choose to drive cars at 200km/h and end up crashing into walls. Some people engineer the cars (well or badly) that end up crashing into those walls.
And some people make socks.
I choose, right now, to make bold socks and style men. Sometimes it’s difficult to maintain sufficient perspective about this tiny fact. Yes, it’s important to do things well, exceptionally well actually, but sometimes it’s also important to remember that I’m just selling socks. Yes, this is what I’ve chosen to do with my time and my energy for the indefinite future, but sometimes I need to acknowledge that I’m just selling socks.
If everything goes belly up for me, no one dies and I have options. I sell socks. Yes they are incredible socks, yes my company has high standards, a premium product and fantastic customer service but sometimes I like to remember that what we do every day is sell socks.
You may be in the beginning phases of your own startup in logistics, or the health sector or anything else for that matter but I still think that perspective is relevant and valuable. Sometimes it’s just socks.
Recently we had a situation where there was a pretty large mistake made on one of our retail orders . We had managed to miss one of the sock designs and hadn’t included it with the rest of the order. So when we received delivery we were short a few hundred pairs of socks and obviously, one design. Considering it takes anywhere from 8–12 weeks to order, sample and knit socks this is not an easy problem to resolve.
For a brief second it was panic stations and all hands on deck. Then I took a breath, had a chuckle, looked around and realised that sometimes it’s just socks. So we got on the phone, called the retailer and explained the situation. He wasn’t overjoyed at the mistake but understood and chose a design we already had in stock to replace the missing order.
The imperative point for me is that if you’re working with the right people, if you maintain a high level of honesty and you acknowledge your mistakes, it’s hard to actually make irreversible mistakes.
Remember, sometimes it’s just socks.