My name is Susan. I am a "fashionpreneur". I'm guessing you can figure out what this word means - someone who is a little bit fashion, and a little bit entrepreneur. I think I'm actually more of the latter. I'm a dreamer. I have big ideas. I've always wanted to have my own business, and I love handbags, so what better industry to jump into head first then the easy-going, easy-entry fashion industry, right? Wrong.

I've read countless articles about established handbag designers who started out making handbags on their kitchen table, using grandma's old curtain fabric, sewing it together on a 20 year old sewing machine they found at a garage sale, using thread they had to pull out of an old sweater because they were too broke to buy it new. They go on to say how the first time they carried their new creation in public, strangers on the street were running, chasing them down, desperate to find out just where they can buy such a an incredible piece of arm candy. Within a year they were raking in at least a million in revenue. How does this happen? If you look at any of the fashion blogs, Indie Lust or indiedesignermarketing for example, you can see that clearly indie designers are out there making it happen.

I'm really not a bitter person. I love to see people succeed. I love to read success stories, especially of people who really changed direction in their career and took a chance. One person that particularly inspired me is the story of Mary Norton and her company, Moo Roo Bags. I'm happy for her. Really. Okay I did get sick of reading the same story of success when I, myself, spending countless hours working on my business, wanted nothing more than to sell just one bag to a stranger (and not just to my mom or friends, God love them). I just wanted to know the truth of how these people went from sewing bags on their kitchen table to filling large orders for boutiques and department stores without batting an eye.

Okay, in my next post I'll go into more detail on my business and why I struggled. The title of the post will be "Susan Can't Sew, But She Thinks She Can" hummmm. Above is a picture of one of my first leather bags. Not bad, right?