We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Hsieh recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

I make sure now I take family vacations, weekend getaways, date nights with my husband and lunch dates with my friends. I even pre-schedule them onto my calendar because they are just as important as any other task I do for my business. If I am not in a good mental space, which means taking care of myself and putting my family’s happiness first, my business will eventually suffer because I can’t perform at my best.

Before COVID, I put self care last. I booked craft fairs on the weekends, take my laptop with me when we visit grandparents so I can work while the kids spent time with them. I scheduled meetings for any time of day. After a full day of work, cooking meals, and putting the kids down, I open my laptop and start working again on the couch. It was extremely unhealthy and I was so used to this, thriving off of the satisfaction of getting ahead of my tasks and seeing the company grow that I lost track of what I started a business for – the freedom to plan my life as I pleased and to spend more time with my family. Today, even if it means I grow the business slower and that I get back to emails days later rather than an hour later, I’m happier and that’s worth a lot. I’m also more refreshed the next day when I come back from a break; I have more ideas, more ready to solve problems. I realized that my business didn’t fail because I took a weekend trip.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into the fashion industry without a formal apparel design background. My degree was in fine art and my childhood dream was to be a fashion designer so I took an “introduction to fashion” course after I graduated university and was fortunate enough to be hired as a showroom intern, thus getting my foot in the door. Overtime, I worked my way up at various L.A. clothing brands, from startups to couture brands. I cut my teeth in the industry, learned as much as I could, and made friends along the way that I still keep in touch with today – I’ve come across many toxic people as well, but learning how to deal with them better prepared me for the future.

I started Mien in 2015, designing from our dining table and shipping from the garage. I also took on side projects such as photography and graphic design to help generate income for my family. It took years before my business provided a salary so I could let go of side hustles. I used to beat myself up for expensive business mistakes, or missed opportunities but now it’s easier to let things go because I can only do my best, the rest is out of my control. I also gave birth to two children since I started my brand, went through a pandemic, opened a successful retail store prior to COVID, then hurriedly closed it when the pandemic was at its worst. We’re still here today, and I don’t take that for granted – our customers really supported us through it all and I’m very grateful.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

We hear “a business owner wears many hats.” I’ve learned that just because the hats are there, it doesn’t mean I have to wear them. The reality is we cannot do it all, and if we try, we will not do anything well. I’m fortunate that I have a background in graphic design, photography, and have basic marketing skills so when I started my business I saved a lot of money doing those things myself. But I was also trapped in the mindset that since I can do it myself, it would be foolish to pay someone else to do it. Eventually I was burning out. Once I let go and started hiring other professionals, who are even better than I am at these jobs, I was able to take a breath, see the big picture, and dedicate my time to designing the collection and growing the business.

There are exceptions of course. For example, accounting was the first thing I outsourced, even before my company was bringing in any significant revenue. Having an accountant gave me the peace of mind that the financials were done correctly and helped with my business financial planning. It’s important to know when it’s time to hire and to hire well. I attribute my company’s success to the talented and wonderful team I now have.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

When the pandemic happened, I was mere weeks from giving birth via an unexpected c-section. I also had a brick-and-mortar store that we just opened months ago, with payroll, bills, projects invested and about to launch – everything came to a screeching halt, it was scary. When I realized everyday life was unraveling, I had to make quick decisions to keep the company afloat. We received a shutdown order several times for our retail store so we closed until we could open again each time, which affected our revenue stream with our store rent still paid in full the entire time. We also at times faced resistance for masking and hand sanitizing in store, which was disheartening. Shortly after I gave birth, riots happened in the neighboring town but the world went into lockdown already so my husband I went to the shop and with just him and I, c-section still fresh, took down everything (I had up to the ceiling shelves), packed them away, and when things calmed down, we put everything back up so we could re-open the store. This happened twice. Eventually and fortunately, our lease was up for renewal so I decided to close the shop and not renew. With scrappiness, and my team by my side, we got through this incredibly challenging time.

Contact Info:

• Website: mienstudios.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/mienstudios
• Facebook: facebook.com/mienstudios
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-hsieh-5827358b