Overwhelmed But Committed: What Kept Me Going as a Purpose-Driven Founder

There was a stretch last year, right in the thick of trying to find shirt suppliers, when I hit a wall. I had put a considerable amount work into designing and sourcing Entensa’s leggings and I thought shirts would be easy to find. After all, they’re more basic, and everybody makes them, right? 

Turns out, not the kind I wanted. I was trying to avoid sourcing from China for geopolitical reasons, and I wanted the shirts to feel aligned with the rest of Entensa’s performance-focused, purpose-driven lineup. But finding a factory that could hit the right balance of quality, ethics, and flexible MOQs? It took forever. I burned through about 10 factories, 50 samples, and countless emails before I finally shifted to a private label approach and landed with a factory in Bali.

But during that process? I was wrecked.

Not in a hip, “grind mode” way that we see all day long on social media. It was more a quiet, sinking feeling that I was stalling out. I didn’t want to quit, but I was overwhelmed and sliding into a fog where it felt easier to tinker with model shots in Photoshop than actually putting in the work to keep things moving forward. I had already worked with so many factories that, looking for yet one, or ten, more, seemed almost futile. Eventually, this morphed into a mindset of feeling defeated. But I knew that I had to keep going, for my sake. 

What Helped

Accountability. People knew I was building this. They knew I had a vision. And even when I didn’t feel like showing up for myself, I could show up for that.

Also, mindset. Not in the Pinterest quote sense, more like asking myself, “Do you still want this?” And if the answer was yes, then okay, let’s keep going.

What Didn’t Help

“Learning.” Or, more accurately, hiding behind it. I spiraled into hours of reading about SEO and strategy and personal development. It felt productive. But it wasn’t. In reality, I was just avoiding the hard part, which is making real decisions and moving forward.

What I’d Tell Someone Else

Ask yourself:

“Is this really the best use of my time?”
“How badly do you want this, really?”

Because if the goal is worth it, you need to find a way. It likely won’t be the way you originally imagined, but it’s a way nonetheless. Don’t get too attached to the plan, stay flexible about how you get there. Be willing to ditch ideas that aren’t working and be willing to make short-term concessions that serve the long game.

Progress doesn’t always look the way you think it will. But it’s progress. Keep moving.