The failures that led to my first success (Part One)

The story behind our kids lunch box inspiration

My business was almost over even before it even started.

It had taken me almost 4 years to get my first product to market.  When my batch of 400 diaper bags finally arrived, I discovered to my horror that each one of them had been sewn in reverse. 

By some miracle, the overseas contact who had been my middleman in dealing with the factory needed to save face with the mutual friend who had connected us, and so reached into his own pocket to finance another production run.

I sometimes reflect on how unheard of this is.

If he hadn’t done this, it would have been the end of the story for me, as I had spent the entire small slush fund I had saved for this dream.

But that turned out to be just the beginning. When I finally received the right bags, I truly had this idea that they would just sell themselves. 

Suffice it to say that it was a rude awakening and I started pounding the pavement, participating in small consumer shows, making appointments with shop owners, and trying to find sales reps.

There was one sales rep who I had heard through word of mouth was The One, so I booked an appointment with her and she graciously offered me some of her time to review my line. I’ll never forget the feedback she gave me.  

Very kindly, but firmly, she told me that she was not interested in representing my line, because she thought it would be a hard sell.

I left that meeting feeling very dejected and feeling like this was all so much harder than I thought it was going to be.