Amidst piles of pizza boxes and empty Molson bottles, I started running ROYCE from my McGill University dorm room in 2010. Empowered with a veteran staff coupled with our monogramming niche, I thought I was going to take over the fashion world. Rather than engaging in the ubiquitous college experiences — fraternities, student societies, trips abroad — I was steadfast in my mission to transform my family’s business into the fashion industry’s preeminent personalization service provider.
I was not merely passionate. I was a zealot. From the onset of my first semester, I had a different college experience than most of my peers. Mid-lectures, if I attended at all, I would be on client calls and event performance reviews. I spent my evenings constructing P&L statements and reviewing payroll figures.
Undoubtedly, small business ownership is an emotional roller coaster. Thus, it was difficult to discern the normal fluctuations of a burgeoning business from my brain’s chemical imbalance. Moreover, I naively assumed that impulsivity, restlessness and aggression were just the hallmark traits of an 18-year-old man. It was not until much later that I recognized my feelings of heightened power when dealing with esteemed fashion executives as well as reckless budgeting and elevated sense of despair when deals fell…