Rebellious Bowties- My Journey Pt.1

Jonathan Gonzalez
Jul 21, 2017 · 7 min read

Part 1?

Hey everyone I wanted to introduce to you what I have been working on for a couple of months now. The reason why I am writing this medium story is because I want to share my journey of starting a bow tie fashion business. I am an average person with an above average vision of myself. I want a place I can share my journey, my fallbacks and any tips I learn along the way to anyone who is crazy enough to read my content. So here we go! this is part one of many more posts to come. I wish I could tell you how many parts of this series I will post, but I leave it to the nature of my journey to take control through inspirations and ideas I get along the way.

The accidental discovery of bow tie designing

Some of you may have seen my post about my bow ties here and there. But If you haven’t heard, I’ve started a bow tie apparel business. I know crazy, right??!!! What does Jonathan know about fashion or bow ties??

You’re right, I didn’t know too much about anything. I made a couple of bow ties for an art show to fill in space for an artist that bailed last minute and my friend asked if I could help help him out,( he wore bow ties and always challenged me to try new things.) The art show was bare and we needed more performers for our open space we now had. This was about 2 years ago when I first was introduced to designing bow ties. I didn’t know what I was doing. I never touched a sewing machine in my life and had no clue how to even thread a bobbin(it was harder than it looked.) I learned by watching youtube videos and googling most of my questions that week that I had to prepare before the art show. (bow ties were coming out awful.) After the art show was over and done with, I thought that was it for me when it came to designing bow ties, definitely didn’t consider making it a business. Along with not really knowing how to sew, I never followed any fashion trends or cared for the big name brands (mostly because I couldn’t afford them). I also didn’t know how to start my own business. But Rebellious Bowties has nothing to do with bow ties or fashion.

My Passion & Purpose. What does it all mean?

The reason why Rebellious Bowties started was because I had a passion deep inside of me that I felt was fleeing if I didn’t do something fast. That passion has always been to start my own business. I have always believed that anyone can do anything they want as long as they put in the work and stay focused along the way. I wanted to build something with my own hands and become the person I needed to be in order to be successful. I also wanted a platform where I could test out all my theories, ideas and share them to the world. I read all the books, I saw all the success oriented videos, but action never took place. I was tired of not doing the things that challenged me and brought me satisfaction. I was becoming a mediocre person, without purpose in this world and I was scared of that idea. I have always understood that it is the challenges in life that have made me stronger and a better person. So I had a decision to make at that point in my life. Always wonder the “what if” question, “what if I started that business I always wanted to do , what if the business became successful,what would my life look like if I did the things I have always wanted to do?” The alternative was to GO and DO!

Photo by Jennifer Burk on Unsplash

Passion Over Skill

Not really knowing what I was good at and worth sharing to the world was the very thing that was holding me back. The idea that I had to be great at something before I told the world was the very same crutch that was holding me back. So I did what anyone in my position would do, I took a serious inventory of what I was good at or interested in and monetize it and make it work for me.

I always saw myself as a good speaker but “life coach” was a huge turn off. Telling people what they need to be doing without having any actual experience or success seemed crazy to me. Other than that I sucked at everything else. Singing, dancing,writing,anything to do with tech, drawing, and the list can go and on. I did however love marketing and the different facets it has and ways it can earn and keep business through content and sharing powerful ideas. ( I am the college dropout that declared psychology as his major because I had no idea what I wanted to do when I got out of school. I never took a single marketing/ business class in college. I never saw myself as that.) I loved the idea that we have so many platforms to communicate our messages and share them to a group of people that believe in that idea. That to me seemed powerful. Overall I wanted a place where I could belong. I wanted to share to the world my voice, if only I had the “right thing, the “right idea” to share my voice. If only I knew what my “calling” was. Finally I gave that crap up and made decision to teach myself more about bow ties because that was the only thing I kept doing on my free time so I decided this was the thing I was going to commit myself to. So I taught myself how to sew a better bow tie, sew better period and pick quality fabrics, because I quickly found out not all cotton or silk fabrics are the same. Finally I thought I was ready to share it to the world. No DBA, tax license, and of course no real preparation of what was to come next. On February 12, 2017 I made the decision to announce to the world that I had something to share. I posted my first bow tie on Facebook with my Etsy account linked and thought that the swarm of people would come to my shop….{crickets.}

Nothing happened, I had a couple of visitors in my shop but no buyers. This was to be expected because I knew I didn’t established myself as a reliable source for anyone to go out and buy bow ties from my shop. I understood that I made the mistake of not earning people’s respect and grab their curiosity through my message I shared. In my case what I chose not to share.(I didn’t recognize the importance of creating a buzz around my product before launching my business).

Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

The Process

With that in mind I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. Still do, and those words “ I still have a lot of work to do” is what drives me, what motivates me till this day. The thought that I still have more growth in my personal life, the growth as a business owner and a bow tie designer. The growth is what excites me. Not the “dough” that will come from having my own business. It is the freedom and the ability to do something with my very own hands and grow into someone I still haven’t met yet in order to be a successful business owner. I am not the best seamstress in town. I don’t have a huge budget to go out to italy and france to give you the “finest fabric” in the world(yet.) But what I do have is curiosity in the industry of men’s accessories and men’s fashion. Commitment to growth in business and exhuberate passion for what I have learned along the way.

Final Words

So I hope you decide to follow me through this journey of personal growth & personal discovery. I hope I can bring you all value by providing you with quality products, powerful ideas and inspiration to go out and do. Because if I can start something and learn how to get good at, trust me, you can too. I am just an average man looking to become a better version of myself by challenging myself to do something I have never done before.


Overall I write this with extreme gratitude for everyone's attention and the time you have carved out from your busy day. I value everyone who decides to follow my journey and support it through your follows, likes, comments on any or all social Platforms. I hope you found this blog insightful, entertaining or even motivating. I will continue to bring you updates of my journey through my social platforms and hopefully bring you lessons I learned along the way to better serve you. Best of luck to you all and until next time, Be Bold, Follow your dreams, and Be Rebellious.

Find me Here on Instagram and Etsy:

If you would like to follow and support my journey you can find me here on Etsy and on my personal Instagram account!

Thank you and have a great Day!

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Jonathan Gonzalez

Written by

Improving my writing by doing books/podcasts reviews and documenting my journey along the way.

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