International Day of Maths 2020: Prince's Trust Blog
For International Day of Maths 2020 (14th March), I was so excited to write a blog for The Prince's Trust and their language, literacy and numeracy team.
I shared my four learnings on how Maths has helped me to start a business.
Never Give Up
"When I first had the idea for Careaux, I had no experience of running a business and I had no idea where to start. There were so many times when people would say the dress could not be done, as it was a new concept. But from my experience with maths, I knew that if I kept going and kept trying and did not give up then I would get there in the end. Just as I had to do when I was first learning what numbers were or how to count. By staying determined, we were able to create the first ever Careaux dress prototype. It was the most amazing feeling after all those years of dreaming, testing and a lot of learning.
Embrace 'failing'
"Failure is such an important part of life and starting a business, and maths is the perfect example of this. On so many occasions, as I progressed through school, sixth form and university mathematics, I encountered ‘failure’ when I didn’t get the right answer or even when I didn’t know where to start. But maths has taught me that this means you are learning, and you are getting closer to the right answer. Also, in maths you get most of the marks for an answer for trying and showing your working out. This has been a lesson I have always kept with me - to always try and to embrace and learn from failure.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
"Nobody knows all of the answers and maths is a great example of this. However, whatever the problem being faced, the chances are that somebody has probably already solved it or has faced a similar problem before. As mentioned, having never run a business before and not knowing where to start - I have learnt the importance of reaching out for support from people like the wonderful Prince’s Trust, which has been invaluable.
If at first you don’t succeed, try a different method
"When things go wrong, you can often feel like you are not moving forward, and that you’re not getting the ‘right’ answer or even using the right method. Maths has taught me that it is so important to try different methods when something is not working or to try to do things differently to reach your end goal. Applying a method you have learned to something you have not thought about before, can mean you are able to innovate and create something new. As with Careaux, applying maths to dresses with our new concept has meant we have created a new type of dress, which we would not have discovered if we had just stuck to what had been tried before.
To read the whole blog, please see here.
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