Hi there,

Sarah Shaw here and yes, I’ve been down the same road.

These days, I’m the founder of three multimillion-dollar product lines.

I’ve been in stores and magazines across the country and over 70 of the world’s most famous celebrities have worn or carried my products.

But my life wasn’t always so great...

For Years, Frustration, Roadblocks and Outright Failures Were My DAILY Reality.

I was working long hours in the film industry - and decided I wanted my own business.

I studied costume design in college, so naturally, when I had an idea for a handbag, I thought I knew everything I needed to succeed.

After all how hard could it be, right?

So I got some materials, grabbed my sewing machine and made my first bags on my dining room table. Then I threw them in the trunk of my car, drove around L.A. and started selling them.

Sarah Shaw Handbags was born!

I was off and running...

Or so I thought.

Because as it turns out… this was the high point.

Instead of success & stardom, my company was just one failure after another.

I thought I was a hotshot designer, but the truth was that I had NO idea what I was doing.

A lesson I would learn the hard way…

Repeatedly.

My first disaster came when I decided I should get into some stores. Of course, I had no idea how to do that.

But that didn’t stop me…

I cold called a bunch of buyers, but I totally froze up on the phone. I didn’t know what to say or how to pitch them… And most of them just hung up.

I felt humiliated.

After about a hundred tries, I managed to luck out and get into a few stores. But then I didn’t know how to properly merchandise my product line and nothing sold.

I quickly lost the few accounts I did have.

Finally, I managed to get a big order (don’t ask me how…)

So I hired a professional manufacturer and eagerly awaited the delivery of my first shipment. I was finally on my way to becoming a real company.

Um… think again.

Because it turned out that their machines didn’t properly melt the glue holding my fabric together, and the shipment was a DISASTER :(

Even worse, I was stuck with 800 damaged handbags - and an impatient buyer who wanted them NOW. So I had to fix all of them myself… by hand.

After a week of caffeine, No Doz and all nighters, I finally re-glued all the bags. I managed to turn lemons into lemonade but at my own expense........ at least I never did that again!

My list of failures went on and on.

I tried everything.

I tried getting PR, but the media never even responded to any of my calls or emails.

I tried getting products to celebrities, but I never heard back from any of them.

And I even tried creating new products, but they were all duds and I lost almost all the money I had left

After 2 years, I was finally making sales but I was still losing money…

It turns out that I didn’t know how to properly calculate my margins. (Of course, I didn’t know this, so I kept making this mistake over and over again.)

It just seemed like I could never get anything to work.

I wasn’t making enough money to pay my bills. And I had to work two other jobs just to make ends meet.

The Phone Call That Changed My Life Forever...

I decided I needed some real advice.

So I called my friend Todd, who ran a business that designed clothing for Anthropologie.

Todd was smart and successful and knew what it took to run a product line.

He gave it to me straight.

He said, “Sarah, you’re not treating your business like a business.

You keep looking for a “magic bullet”, and you’re hoping each one will somehow save your company.

But true entrepreneurs know that having a successful business isn’t about finding a magic bullet and getting lucky.

They know that a successful business is like a symphony. It’s about getting everything working together in harmony.

You have to start acting like an entrepreneur.”

Wow. He hit me right between the eyes.

And I have to admit: it hurt. But it was also true.

At that moment I realized why I had been failing.

I had been running around frantically, like a chicken with its head cut off... always trying the latest new thing, hoping it would work.

But I finally understood that a business is like a great recipe… it not only needs the right ingredients, but you have to combine them together to create the "perfect dish".

What that meant is that when I called a store buyer, I also needed to have a merchandising strategy to show them.

And that strategy needed to include products that fit what their customers were buying… not just what I thought was cool.

After that, my manufacturing had to be dependable so I could deliver what I promised.

And then once I had those stores, I’d have the credibility I needed to pitch to magazines and celebrities.

And in turn, that publicity would give me even more credibility with stores… which would get me even more sales to stores and online.

And of course, I needed to cost my products correctly so that I turned those sales into profits, instead of losses.

A successful business is like a chain… and one weak link will break it.

And it was time to make sure every link in my business was strong.

I went back to work with renewed vigor. And this time I did it right.

I made sure that each "ingredient" was working together: My costing, my marketing, my merchandising, my manufacturing...

And then I went for it.

I decided to pitch a major department store, but this time I had the right products and the right strategy. The pitch went really well...

And a few months later, it happened...

I was in NYC, with my sister. We were in a restaurant, waiting in line for the bathroom when I saw the girl in front of me...

... carrying my bag!

I couldn’t believe it! When I asked her where she got it, she told me:

“Oh it’s from this really cute designer, Sarah Shaw Handbags… I picked it up at Saks 5th Ave.”

I almost freaked out...

I grabbed my sister and said, “We’re going down to 5th Avenue. Right now.”

And there, in the store window of the Saks flagship store in New York, was my handbag.

O. M. G. I had finally made it.

I Never Looked Back...

After that, I never looked back.

Sarah Shaw Handbags made millions.

And soon after, I launched two more companies - Style Council and Simply Sarah.

All told, my companies have done 8 figures in sales.

My products have been sold in over 1,200 stores including Nordstrom, Saks 5th Avenue, Bloomingdales, Neiman-Marcus, Fred Segal, Bergdorf Goodman and Anthropologie.

My handbags have been featured in almost every major fashion and lifestyle magazine including InStyle, People, ELLE, US Weekly, WWD and Lucky…

… On TV shows like Extra, Access Hollywood and E!

… and they’ve been worn or carried by over 70 A-List Celebrities including Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts and Oprah.