The Red Flags I Chose to Ignore
A few days ago, a reel jumped into my feed. I'd never heard of @clarainfante before — but the moment she started speaking, I couldn't stop watching.
She had a beautiful, successful business making handcrafted candles that looked like sculptures. And she closed it. Not because she wasn't talented. Not because people didn't love her work. But because she kept ignoring the red flags.
She thought her business had to be big to be successful. Every profit went straight back into the business — she never once got to enjoy it. She was more present in her studio than in her home. She never gave her team real authority, which meant she never gave herself real freedom. And she never had a clear end game.
Sound familiar? Because it does to me.
For seven years, I had a factory in Israel. I lived everything Clara described — the brave face when the business was running out of money, the pressure to market and sell while also being a mother. (I had two babies during those seven years, by the way.)
When you start out as an artist with a big dream, you ignore the red flags — because the work feels more important than everything else. But at some point, if you want to grow, you have to face reality: creativity alone doesn't run a business. You need structure, financial clarity, and people who can handle the things you simply cannot.
I didn't close Knots Studio. But I made a radical change — moved the entire operation to the US, shifted to a more scalable model, and let go of things I used to hold too tightly. Now, at 39, I look back at my younger self and think: you were crazy brave. And also a little crazy.
So to every creative person with a big dream: dream as big as you possibly can. But find someone who completes you — so you can stay focused on what you do best.
That's not giving up. That's growing up.