Being an entrepreneur, much less fashion designer, was never on my radar. There’ve been plenty of things I’ve done and disparate interests that have taken me down varying paths.

But fashion? Never.

Years ago, during a foreign exchange in college, I frequently found myself in hilarious and unexpected adventures, usually involving late night drinks with random people. Over and over I’d say, “My life is so wonderfully weird.”

And a teacher told me, “Because you dare to do it.”

I’ve never forgotten that verbalization of my approach to life. I do dare to take chances.

Admittedly, I feel I’ve cheated because I’ve always had the emotional support (and financial insurance) of family and friends. I’m no “rags to riches” hero dragging himself out of a gutter to scale the heights of success.

But I do jump into things with both feet and teach myself to swim, as quickly as possible.

This company of mine, E.C.Knox, is far from a success, yet. As another friend said, “Sure, you’ve gotten your bag into a high-profile store. But the real challenge is ahead: keeping this baby alive for the next twelve to eighteen months.”

Talk about a buzz kill.

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I want to share this story because what I’ve excelled at was simply was following an idea and making cold calls. My entire success is based on being unafraid to call people and ask for help. That’s it.

(Okay, and being surrounded by resourceful, helpful, enthusiastic people. That’s no small detail, to be sure, and is a function of my luck in being born into my particular family and community.)

I want to share this story to inspire others to follow their passions and ideas and get out there and make that first phone call.

Because in an era of lowest-common-denominator consumerism with the likes of Macy’s and Wal-Mart, more than ever we need individual inspiration to keep our world interesting, responsible, innovative, and beautiful.

Let’s do this together.

Being an entrepreneur, much less fashion designer, was never on my radar. There’ve been plenty of things I’ve done and disparate interests that have taken me down varying paths.

But fashion? Never.

Years ago, during a foreign exchange in college, I frequently found myself in hilarious and unexpected adventures, usually involving late night drinks with random people. Over and over I’d say, “My life is so wonderfully weird.”

And a teacher told me, “Because you dare to do it.”

I’ve never forgotten that verbalization of my approach to life. I do dare to take chances.

Admittedly, I feel I’ve cheated because I’ve always had the emotional support (and financial insurance) of family and friends. I’m no “rags to riches” hero dragging himself out of a gutter to scale the heights of success.

But I do jump into things with both feet and teach myself to swim, as quickly as possible.

This company of mine, E.C.Knox, is far from a success, yet. As another friend said, “Sure, you’ve gotten your bag into a high-profile store. But the real challenge is ahead: keeping this baby alive for the next twelve to eighteen months.”

Talk about a buzz kill.

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I want to share this story because what I’ve excelled at was simply was following an idea and making cold calls. My entire success is based on being unafraid to call people and ask for help. That’s it.

(Okay, and being surrounded by resourceful, helpful, enthusiastic people. That’s no small detail, to be sure, and is a function of my luck in being born into my particular family and community.)

I want to share this story to inspire others to follow their passions and ideas and get out there and make that first phone call.

Because in an era of lowest-common-denominator consumerism with the likes of Macy’s and Wal-Mart, more than ever we need individual inspiration to keep our world interesting, responsible, innovative, and beautiful.

Let’s do this together.