I founded a $100 million home decor startup during the 2008 recession. Here's my advice for starting a company in crisis.

This as-told-to effort is based connected a speech with Jenny Jing Zhu, 51, New Jersey-based laminitis and CEO of Lush Decor, a integer location decor company. She shared with Business Insider the challenges of starting a business successful an uncertain clip and however she overcame it. BI has verfied her institution information.

When I started Lush Decor successful 2008, I was softly going done the toughest clip successful my life.

The system was collapsing. I was connected the brink of divorce. I was learning however to beryllium a genitor to my then-1-year-old son. And I was an migrant in New York still speaking breached English.

But I had already survived a batch of hard things successful my beingness and I deliberation those experiences yet helped maine win successful business.

I grew up successful a tiny, agrarian colony successful China. I didn't person energy until I was successful 2nd grade. I was the lone miss successful my colony who went to precocious school.

In my past twelvemonth of school, I work a communicative astir a young pistillate with a akin inheritance to excavation who near her colony for the large metropolis successful China to go a mill worker. She aboriginal started her ain business.

That infinitesimal changed my life. She unknowingly gave maine support to dream.

So, I near my colony and went to Beijing. I started arsenic a edifice maid, and aboriginal ran a tiny adust cleaning business.

I immigrated to the US erstwhile I was 26.

I didn't talk overmuch English astatine the time. My ex-husband wanted to travel to the state for instrumentality school. I didn't truly person a choice. I retrieve erstwhile I archetypal got here, I turned connected the TV and I felt similar I was connected Mars.

During that time, arsenic I was learning English, I became inspired by Asian manner decorator Vera Wang. I applied to the Fashion Institute of Technology's manner plan program, but the large was precise competitive. The schoolhouse told maine to hold different twelvemonth and use again. But I was 28 and I didn't consciousness similar I had different twelvemonth to wait.

So, I ended up applying to and being accepted to the location manner and location textile surfaces major.

Growing up successful my village, we planted and picked fabric and my grandma would enactment it into yarn connected her big, woody loom. We would bring the cloth to the market, and that's what inspired my emotion for textiles.

After I graduated, I worked astatine a location manner institution for 4 years. But I ever had that entrepreneurial dream, truthful aft learning the business, I felt similar I could bash better. I saw a blank abstraction successful the marketplace for beauteous and stylish designs that were besides accessible and affordable.

I started Lush Decor successful 2008.

When I started the company, determination were conscionable a mates of radical moving with me. My occupation was focused mostly connected plan and merchandise development.

I was moving 24 hours a time astatine that time. I would plan during the time and speech to the manufacturers astatine nighttime due to the fact that we had a 12-hour clip difference.

But successful 2008 and 2009, each the large container retailers started freezing their buying due to the fact that of the financial crisis. They didn't privation to instrumentality immoderate chances connected caller vendors.

Jenny Jing Zhu took inspiration from decorator Vera Wang and her family's roots picking cotton. Jenny Jing Zhu

At the time, e-commerce was inactive caller successful the location manner space. Everyone told maine that I couldn't vessel comforters oregon bedding to 1 lawsuit astatine a time. They said it would beryllium excessively costly and radical wouldn't bargain our products.

But I truly had nary choice, due to the fact that I couldn't bash accepted concern deals fixed the economical challenges and my ain constricted concern relationships.

We had this precise tiny warehouse down our bureau and astatine the extremity of each day, I would spell slap UPS and FedEx labels connected the boxes one-by-one successful my precocious heels. Not precise galore radical were doing it that mode successful those days. There was nary roadworthy map. I conscionable learned connected the job.

Our designs were unsocial successful a boring market. Our archetypal postulation was inspired by Vera Wang wedding dresses. The bedding had hundreds of small bows connected it and it sold out. I besides utilized unsocial fabrics. I went backmost to China erstwhile and recovered crocodile skin. I enactment it connected a container and we sold truthful galore of them.

We differentiated ourselves with unsocial designs, and that enactment america up successful the e-commerce business. Very quickly, we became the large marque connected the e-commerce market, selling millions of products to customers.

It was scary starting a concern successful that economical environment.

I knew that lone a tiny percent of businesses past the archetypal 3 years. I felt truthful overmuch unit successful those aboriginal days due to the fact that I was each connected my own.

I had nary built-in lawsuit basal erstwhile I started. No mentor oregon enactment assemblage astir me. I had nary information nett to autumn backmost on. I had specified atrocious imposter syndrome.

I didn't person an MBA oregon concern inheritance but I'm precise bully astatine numbers. When I met with investors, I told them, I'm not lone funny successful designing beauteous products; I besides plan beauteous margins.

All I had was passionateness and persistence, and that helped maine physique resilience on the way.

At each constituent successful my beingness — whether it was increasing up successful the colony oregon being a edifice maid oregon nanny — I ever recovered the creativity to marque it work. I deliberation that's successful the DNA of entrepreneurs.

I was frightened to death, too, but you person to instrumentality that archetypal step.

We archetypal saw a nett successful 2012.

I inactive retrieve seeing that fig going up and up. I conscionable thought "Oh my god, that's the close direction!"

In 2018, I partially sold to backstage equity. I stayed connected arsenic CEO for different 3 years and past arsenic a committee member. In 2021, the institution surpassed much than $100 cardinal successful gross for the archetypal time.

The caller management, however, didn't extremity up moving out, truthful I stepped backmost into the institution afloat past year.

The caller tariffs person deed a batch of businesses similar ours truly hard. Trying to start a concern astatine a clip similar this is adjacent harder. The 2008 economical situation was similar 1.0; the pandemic was 2.0, and these existent times are similar 3.0.

We root overseas, and this has decidedly reminded entrepreneurs that we request to diversify our proviso chains. But adjacent so, there's not a batch you tin bash to diversify overnight. A batch of things that travel from China, different countries can't bash arsenic efficiently. The tariffs are not conscionable raising the prices; they're threatening an already fragile proviso chain.

A batch of the concern assemblage is successful truly hard situations close now. Times similar these tin unit businesses to bash thing that they're apt lagging to do, which is diversifying their proviso chains. Yes, it's precise overwhelming, but you're not alone. We're each successful the aforesaid boat.

Entrepreneurs request to recognize and judge what they tin and can't control. Don't panic. Don't beryllium angry, adjacent though we are angry. Rely connected your community, trust connected your resources. Every clip you spell done things that could interruption you, you are gathering much resilience and confidence.