November 28, 2024 • 37 mins
For the first time in PTKA history, I'm interviewing a Handbag Fairy Godmother - Emily Blumenthal! Not only did she patent a handbag silhouette, write a book, teach at FIT, and start a handbag awards event... she's still growing and evolving even now. Emily's journey is a wild ride filled with hustle, pivots, and ‘figure it out as you go’ moments that'll make you feel right at home if you're an entrepreneur or just love a good success story.
Can't-Miss Moments:
- Things to do in your 20s: a handy checklist courtesy of Emily, including such classics as "date a DJ" and "launch a handbag line"... Check and check!
- "That’s the worst idea ever!” Emily shares how she handled not-so-helpful feedback from her family as she embraced her calling to design handbags...
- Stroke of genius: the thing Emily did as she was figuring things out the hard way that turned into major leverage (and street cred) later on...
- Who expects to meet a literary agent while on jury duty? Emily shares a serendipitous moment that led to her first book deal and the birth of the Handbag Awards...
- The weird mental dividing line Emily had, even after successfully creating and patenting her handbag silhouette (this is something that holds a lot of entrepreneurs back)...
Emily's bio:
Emily Blumenthal, celebrated as the "Handbag Fairy Godmother" by the New York Times, is a dynamic presence in the handbag industry. As the author of "Handbag Designer 101" and a multifaceted figure encompassing roles as a professor, mentor, designer, and the founder of the Independent Handbag Designer Awards, she has made an indelible impact on the handbag industry with aspiring designers and handbag brands alike. Emily's dedication also extends to kidpreneurship, empowering children of all ages to embrace their inner "Savvy Suzanna." She resides happily in New York City's Lower East Side with her husband and three children.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Angie Colee (00:03):
Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass, the show
that gives you a virtual seatat the bar for the real
conversations that happenbetween entrepreneurs.
I'm interviewing all kinds ofbusiness owners, from those just
a few years into freelancing toCEOs helming nine-figure
companies.
If you've ever worried thateveryone else just seems to get
it and you're missing somethingor messing things up, this show
(00:24):
is for you.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andlet's get to it.
And welcome back to Permissionto Kick Ass.
With me today is my new friend,emily Blumenthal.
Say hi, hello.
I think you are the firstperson that I'm going to
interview on this show.
Who does what you do?
So I'm excited to dive on thisshow.
(00:44):
Who does what you do?
So I'm excited to dive intothis.
Please tell us a little bitmore about your business.
Emily Blumenthal (00:49):
Let's see, I am known as the Handbag Fairy
Godmother, which is a funnymoniker to have.
I've spoken to other people whohave that quote unquote
godmother title, but the NewYork Times gave me mine, so I'm
keeping it my journey.
I was an accidental handbagdesigner.
I started my handbag line whileI was going to business school,
(01:11):
working in media with a DJboyfriend.
Everything tracks of things todo in your twenties and not to
do later, and I kept verydetailed notes on what I was
doing and couldn't find a book,couldn't find anything Again.
All this predates the interwebs, the socials, all that.
It's kind of like go to thelibrary, go to the bookstore and
(01:32):
hope for the best, andeverything was very much apparel
driven and I thought that was awild white space.
So I figured, okay, if I'mdoing this and trying to figure
this out, I should be the onewho does it and then owns that
space.
And I created this littlehandbag to hold on to when you
go out.
For no particular reason.
(01:53):
I patented the silhouettes,which is also an interesting
story, and that IP alone.
It allowed me to license it out.
It allowed me to license it out.
The pro and the con of creatinga silhouette.
That is patentable is that it'san item, it's a novelty, and
that makes it very, verydifficult then to scale, because
it's a one of one, which isgreat, for, you know, telling a
(02:17):
story, but it's not good toiterate over and over and over
again.
So buyers didn't know where tomerchandise, they didn't know
which cat, you know which floorto put it on, but it was my, it
was my journey to hustle, Iguess you could say.
And from there I started with ahigh end line and then I
knocked myself off, orchestrateda bunch of licensing deals and
(02:40):
then so many stories.
And from there met a woman injury duty who turned out to be a
literary agent and, you know,sat next to her because you got
to sniff out who's not crazy ateverything you do, if you know
you're going to be sitting nextto people.
And she said, oh, you shouldwrite a book about this.
And I'm like, oh, I totallyshould.
(03:01):
I'll be an author, I'll befamous, everyone will be in
lines to meet me.
Oh my God, oh my God.
So, handbag designer author,I'm so amazing.
And then my last licensing dealwas almost like a divorce.
It was so awful.
Again, it's just file thatunder things.
You learn when you're doingthings yourself, and it's good
to go through them, so you knowwhat not to do.
(03:21):
So you know what not to do.
And I said to my agent, myliterary agent.
I was like okay, well, when isthis book going to happen?
Because I got all this freetime.
Now you know, now that this isgoing up in smoke, there's no
way I have the energy to startanother handbag line.
I'm working with designers and,oh, I started teaching.
(03:41):
I started professoring along thesame time while I was getting
my MBA, because someone found metalking about it.
And then I just startedteaching.
And then I was at one schoolteaching fashion PR, and another
.
Then that led to fashionmarketing.
And I've been teaching at FITfor the past 10 years, teaching
entrepreneurship.
So all of this kind ofamalgamated into.
(04:03):
Okay, she said, no one's goingto buy this book if you're out
of handbags.
And I was like shit, now what?
I'm so tired, I'm so burnt out.
So that's when I came up withthe idea for the handbag awards,
because I knew how media worked, I knew how packages worked,
and then I just I knew, I knewthere were more handbag
designers out there thananything I'd done every trade
(04:24):
show.
I knew my market, I knew mycustomer, and what was
interesting is because I taught,I thought, let me make my
application process free becauseI know I'll get thousands of
applicants, and it's true.
But that's also became mydownside, because you can't
scale or sell something ifthere's no application fee,
because then all came down to mefor creating these packages and
(04:46):
everything was all about me, me, me, which was great for me as
a platform, but not good for meto sell, because nothing happens
without you being involved.
And that is what a lot of smallbusinesses need to learn.
They need to understand that itshould never, always go back to
you and that life lessons.
And because if it goes back toyou, then it can't run on its
own, and if it can't run on itsown, then you can't make money
(05:09):
while you sleep.
Angie Colee (05:11):
So, that.
Emily Blumenthal (05:12):
that is a.
That was another life lesson.
So the handbag awards ran for15 years and that was where I
got that title.
The book came out.
It sold 50,000 copies.
I've done talks, I've done youname it, I've done it.
The awards was about to beacquired and then COVID hit and
that was a hard pill to swallow.
(05:33):
But I was creating sponsorshippackages for brands that had
nothing to do with handbags andbrought them into handbags
because it was novel and cooland fun.
And that was before it had theterm collaborations, because
that's essentially what I wasdoing.
So what I do now is I dohandbag collaborations.
I have a podcast about allabout the handbag industry.
(05:53):
I work with designers, I have amaster class and I have a TV
show in the works that's notbeen picked up yet.
I'm working on a kid's book andI think we're done with the
podcast.
That is it so.
Angie Colee (06:06):
I was writing down so many things while you were
talking.
I was like we got like a crashcourse and probably what like 10
, 20 years of entrepreneurship.
Emily Blumenthal (06:15):
Nothing else left.
Angie Colee (06:17):
Fastest podcast ever, I know.
Emily Blumenthal (06:20):
I believe in efficiency.
You should see me getting readyin the morning.
Angie Colee (06:24):
Well, that's awesome.
I wrote quite a few things down, so one I wanted to ask about
the accidental handbag designer,Like how do you fall into
something like that?
Emily Blumenthal (06:34):
You know, I think when you you know we were
talking before we startedrecording a little bit about and
I read about this that you endup organically following the
path of what your parents did.
It might not be what they did,but you were doing something
along the line of what they did,like how they were, like my.
(06:55):
My dad was a garmento and andwas in the garment center.
My mom was a teacher and, loand behold, I was in.
Now I found myself in theGarmin center and I'm teaching,
and both things I never thoughtwere part of my path, but I was
doing handbags and alsoprofessoring.
So, lo and behold, that kind ofbecame my path.
(07:15):
And when you come from a familyof everybody has their own
business.
I mean, I was day jobbing andthey were pretty impressive day
jobs as far as I was concerned,because you work really, really
hard to get in, to get thisreally cool job.
And you know I realized, god,I'm really gonna get good at
getting fired because I can't dothis.
You know, like there was justtoo much of me and you need
(07:38):
people who can color in thelines and will just nod their
head.
And I have a big mouth and bigideas and let's do this and
let's do that, and I get it.
Now, being on the other sideand having been on the other
side like sometimes you have toand learning how to work with
people is a very undervaluedskill.
Oh yes, oh yes.
(07:58):
And you know, as I tell mystudents, with who are, you know
of generation feelings, the bigbad world.
You go onto LinkedIn.
Nobody cares how you feel.
Yeah.
Angie Colee (08:11):
So we're talking this morning about where we've
been and kind of our personasand something like this, and the
story came up for me about thestuff that I've been unpacking
right, because so much ofbusiness is personal development
and they never told me this.
Emily Blumenthal (08:26):
It's so boring , I'm so over it Like.
I'm done learning like enough,it's so old already.
Like what else do I need tolearn about myself?
Like, come on, it's enough.
Angie Colee (08:37):
It's, and ever since I've known this, since I
was a child that like give me amicrophone Hello, you're
listening to a podcast and putme on a stage and I'm in my
happy place, right I?
Don't know what it means to bescared to speak in front of
people because give me the mic.
What number?
Emily Blumenthal (08:52):
child.
Are you One First Of how manyThree?
That's why.
That's why I always ask mystudents what number child and I
can always determine howthey'll be presenting.
Who's going to be theresponsible one, who's going to
be the coaster, who's the onewho can't cope in front of
people and you know you could,like it makes sense, you've
(09:13):
always had to be the one incharge, who always got
everything done, so whyshouldn't you be doing this?
You've been doing it your wholelife.
Angie Colee (09:20):
Yeah, no-transcript , that know my heart, get the
(09:51):
intent yeah.
Emily Blumenthal (09:52):
I think that was chef's kiss.
I totally bought what you sold.
It's amazing, I think it wasgreat.
So, to answer your question,everyone in my family always had
their own business and I alwaysfelt like I think I was idea
shopping, like what can I do?
And I had a DJ boyfriend at thetime.
(10:12):
God bless him.
You know again things you cando in your 20s.
He was foreign, you know allthat stuff.
It made sense my responsibleside of my brain was dying, but
the other side was like this iswhat normal people do.
I'm just way too uptight.
Anyway, that's another story.
But I was going to work, goingto business school and then
going out with him and then Ibecame his manager because
(10:42):
that's what I wanted to do.
You know, of course, top of mylist and that's when I came up
with this idea.
And I was doing what I didn'trealize retail anthropology.
Watching how people shop,watching how people interact,
seeing the ceremony I mean, thisis a few years back watching
how people do that ceremonialdance around their bags.
That doesn't really happen now,um, because this predated
people carrying their phones inthe way that they did and we had
flip phones back then, sothey're basically a cane and
(11:03):
cable right now.
It's crazy, um, but you know I,I said okay, and I think, had I
not, had been with someone whowas foreign and from Australia
and Australians and I give somany props to him for this are
fearless by trade becausethey're so far from everything
that they just pack, you know,pack up and move.
(11:25):
Why not?
And I was telling him.
I said, you know, it's weird,there is no little bag to hold
on to when you go out, and Ithink this is what it would look
like.
And wow, and he said you shoulddo it.
And I said, okay, and to yourpoint about parental figures,
and you, mine are amazing, supersupportive, but they are
realists and they areresponsibilists.
I just made that into a word.
(11:45):
So, in saying you want tobecome a handbag designer,
they're like that's the worstidea known to mankind.
They don't make money, you'renot trained.
You don't make money.
You're not trained, you don'tget.
You know, go into the internet,that's where everybody's making
money.
Start a website.
And I said, no, this, I getthis.
I, this is, I think, what I'mgoing to do.
(12:06):
And this is exactly what I saidDo not do.
By the way, I'm sorry, one ofmy kids just buzzed there.
I said get a key, jesus, anyway,and I, you know, kate Spade was
still alive at the time and shehad this detailed.
(12:26):
She was, and it's funny, I justinterviewed her partner a few
months ago, who was absolutelyamazing on my podcast, but she
wasn't a designer by trade, shewas an editor, a fashion editor,
and she made her bags out ofconstruction paper and then
worked from there.
So I did the same thing.
So anything she did, I did, andagain, not realizing that, you
(12:49):
know, she had templatized how tobe a handbag designer when
you're not trained in design.
But that's what I did, and Iwas working for a very sad
little magazine at the time andI utilized that to make as many
contacts as I could.
I had a press kit.
I was getting like I had awhole page of talking to editors
(13:11):
just to get their feedback.
Like that I was sending out.
I'm like, oh, this editor saysthis, this editor says that.
So I was sending out.
I'm like, oh, this editor saysthis, this editor says that.
So I was getting testimonialsfor a product that wasn't sold
and I started going door to doorto boutiques and had to like
baptism by fire and learn aboutproduction, manufacturing and
sales cycles and then said, okay, how long will it take me to
(13:33):
figure this out?
I think six months.
I asked all these stores willthey purchase it in six months
later?
And they all were like sure, sothat's, that was.
That was really the journey, andlittle by little it was, like
you know, trying to avoid asmany sunk costs as I could, and
I just kept keeping, keepingnotes about.
Then I did this, then I didthat, then I did this, and that
(13:55):
became the template for myseminar how to launch your own
handbag line, which I startedhosting.
I was asked to by the LearningAnnex, which, a hundred million
years ago, they had those littlethings outside, you know,
pharmacies like, where you couldlearn a class.
Like Donald Trump and I were onthe same cover at once because
(14:16):
he was teaching them.
He was teaching real estate,how to be a real estate expert,
and mine, in the tiny corner,was how to become a handbag
designer.
So I think, because I was inschool and looking at it from a
different perspective, I wasgiving handouts and how did you
know people who were doing that?
You were going to listen, butI'm like, no, if this is a class
, here's a how-to, here areresources, and then by the end I
(14:39):
had like three, four hundredpeople coming.
I was making good money on thisthing.
I was just going on and on andon about um and then I realized
like, oh, I guess those who aretrying to do comma teach that's
so.
Angie Colee (14:55):
the last um guest that I spoke to earlier today
talked about that too, becausehe had a similar thing where he
went into a set design industryright and then realized how much
hustle is involved in thatstate side.
He knew somebody from Europethat made a healthy living and
like doing two shows a year, butthat was not the case for him
and he's like I guess those whodon't do teach.
Emily Blumenthal (15:18):
Right, I mean it's funny, I never thought I'd
end up teaching, but it's justkind of happened.
And you know, I think, assomeone who struggled with
traditional day jobs, any job Igot I always took.
And I, I would say, if I wasable to create a class, run a
class.
You know, at the time I wasstill young enough that people
(15:40):
looked at me because I was only,you know, a couple years older
than the students I was teachingwhen I started.
It's been a minute, but youknow, having three kids going
through the process, oh, manstop looking at you as like hey,
we're the same age.
Angie Colee (15:55):
I love that you were like well, I don't know how
to do this.
So instead of signing up forcourses or asking somebody else
like do what, can I even do this?
I just figured it out.
Emily Blumenthal (16:06):
If I may interrupt, the funny thing is I
asked everybody.
I was mentor shopping, I wasjoining every organization I
could find.
I was like every femaleentrepreneurship, like you name
it.
I joined it and you know, itbecame the situation where you
become over, underqualified,where the people you ask for
(16:28):
help say you've done so much,what can I do?
I can't help you.
You're already doing it, butit's like I don't know what I'm
supposed to do next.
Can you help me?
And they're like well, no, soI've heard these and I'm not a
jealous person, I'm really not.
But when I hear these storiesabout people finding a mentor
and someone who was able to sitand talk and take, and I'm like,
(16:48):
damn I was, I couldn't findthem.
Like I would have these lunchesand I would sit there in
monosation and they'd be likewell, it sounds like you're
doing great.
I'm like, but I don't know whatI'm supposed to do.
Like now, like okay, so it kindof.
I mean, this is this.
This became the template to mybook, which became the template
to my masterclass, which becamethe template to the incubator
(17:10):
that I ran and the template tohow I run my entrepreneurship
class with my students.
So, for better or for worse,because I didn't get help from
other people which I reallywould have loved.
I begged.
You know you name it.
I mean, I was calling people athome.
You know I didn't care.
And you know entrepreneurship,which I think is a really loose
(17:35):
word that a lot of people use,and it's kind of annoying when
people use it.
I know you agree with me.
You don't even need to sayanything, I just know you do.
But it's a very bizarre drugthat we go in blind, almost in a
dark room with a blindfold on,and we don't know what we're
(17:55):
doing, and we still keep goingand going, and going, and we're
walking into walls and in mostcases we do it again and again,
and again, and the goal is totry and turn on the lights so at
least you can like get from oneside to the other without
hitting your head at the samespot.
But yet we'd keep going.
So it's almost like not askingfor permission.
It's like, well, what else am Isupposed to do?
I don't know.
Angie Colee (18:18):
You know what I mean.
I trust myself to figure it out.
That's why I thought it wascool.
I wrote down the fact that yousaw, it was Kate Spade, right,
that made the construction paperhandbags, which I thought was
so cool and so innovative.
Like, I'm also a creativeperson, but I've never designed
anything three dimensional likethat.
I've drawn and I've sung, butI've never created anything like
(18:39):
that, although I'm fascinatedby sculpture.
And the moment you said shemade construction paper handbags
, I'm like I can picture thatvisual in my head and go oh, oh
that makes so much sense.
Emily Blumenthal (18:50):
I mean, and the funny thing is that, you
know, history repeats itself somuch and it doesn't take that
long to at least I can onlyspeak to the history of the
handbag because I forced myselfto learn it, cause I, you know,
when you go into somethingknowing nothing, you're like
well, I better learn as much asI can.
And let me go back a littlefurther and a little further and
a little further, like to thepoint where trends are like
(19:12):
history is quite literallyrepeating itself.
You know, post pandemic, postSpanish flu, we had, you know,
the flapper era.
It was the time when thingsweren't allowed and
deconstruction came about,having to be DIY because nobody
had the money.
So it's, it's.
You know, trends are cyclical.
(19:35):
So to see what she did, it wasso novel and new.
But if you were to look at whatwas going on, it just made
sense.
So I think the fact that whatshe did was really really great,
but I think it just gavepermission to other people and I
don't know how many otherpeople were affected by what she
did, because all the designersI knew at the time at least had
(19:56):
some inkling of what to do, howto sew, how to design and I was
like, damn, I don't know what.
The designers I knew at thetime at least had some inkling
of what to do how to sew, how todesign and I was like, damn, I
don't know what the hell I'mdoing.
I think this works, but again, Icreated a solution product.
I wasn't creating a handbagline, and I guess there's that
imposter syndrome that you weresaying, because I was like, well
, I'm not really a real designer, I'm more of an inventor, if
(20:19):
that's anything.
And well, I don't know.
I mean, I only got this far,but other people got that far.
So I guess I'm really not whatI think I am.
I don't know.
You know what?
Angie Colee (20:28):
I mean, oh yeah, I think that's so funny how often
we get these weird mentaldividing lines.
In a lot of ways, that's theimpetus behind this show,
because I had that dividing lineat a business conference where
I thought, OK, that person onthe stage has it all together
and I'm over here screwing up,not realizing that, you know, I
can't see the messy behind thescenes, only what they're
(20:49):
presenting on the stage.
And so that's largely why thiswhole thing exists to remind you
that, like the walls are inyour head, you can tear them
down anytime you want to.
You can decide you want to be awriter, a musician, an
entrepreneur, a handbag designer, and then go figure it out.
It doesn't mean it's going tobe easy, but you can figure it
out.
Emily Blumenthal (21:09):
Well, as I say , smoke buys mirrors.
So you know, I like that oneyeah.
Angie Colee (21:15):
Well, and I loved oh, there's so many different
directions I could go.
There was one you talked abouta patented silhouette and that
just made me curious, becausethat's something I know nothing
about.
Tell me more about.
Emily Blumenthal (21:26):
Everyone I spoke to said, nah, it doesn't
make any sense it's a lot ofmoney and it was a lot of money
I mean.
I always tell people keep yourday job if you're going to
(21:49):
create something, because thelearning curve and the sunk
costs are so vast that you knowthe designers I deal with
usually dump a minimum betweenfive and 15,000 into just
figuring it out, and that'snormal, you know.
To make one sample, I call ityou know I've got so many names
for it the green cost, thedum-dum cost, the idiot cost,
whatever you want to call it.
But you know sample makers andfactories can sniff out a newbie
(22:11):
miles away and they have carteblanche to basically charge you
whatever they want if you don'tknow what you're talking about,
because the time value of moneythey have to put up with you
figuring it out with no ordersagainst whatever you're doing,
it's not worth it for them.
So they'll put you on thebottom of the to-do list.
They will charge you whateverbecause they know.
(22:33):
You know, if she doesn't know,he doesn't know, I'm here
teaching them.
Screw you, I'm going to chargea lot more.
So you know.
With that said, in trying tofigure all this out, it's one of
those things that you reallyhave to understand what you're
doing within that space.
You know what I mean it's.
(22:56):
So to go back to the patent, Iagain I you know I'll give a
very short.
I was online and I wanted tobuy something.
I don't shop for myself veryoften and I saw a jumpsuit and
I'm like you know what?
I bet there's a coupon, I bet Ican get a discount.
(23:17):
So I just emailed the company.
Is a coupon, I bet I can get adiscount.
So I just emailed the company.
I don't have a recent discountcoupon code.
Can you share one with me?
I don't care.
A day later I got a discountcoupon code for 35% off, so I
bought something.
And I think that's what a lot ofpeople don't understand that if
you just ask, the worst thingsomeone can say is no, but so
many people just don't ask.
(23:38):
First thing, someone can say isno, but so many people just
don't ask.
So I was asking around likedoes anyone have a lawyer that
does patents?
And then my friend at the timewas like oh, it's called an IP
lawyer.
What's IP, intellectualproperty?
Oh, okay, my friend works for alaw firm.
Oh, okay.
So I spoke to her friend and itturned out to be like the most
(23:58):
powerful IP law firm in DC thatactually represented Nike, and I
spoke to the guy who ran it,who was very, very nice, and I
said do you have a discount forsomeone who is very, very new,
doesn't have a lot of money, butit's very charming to talk to,
and he was like, actually, wecan figure something out and
that's all I needed.
So I got my patent and then Iwas off and whatever, I had had
(24:20):
a patent number on it and it wasa design patent, not a utility
patent, which meant the shapeand look of it was protected,
not the function.
They're two different things.
And I've got so much IP.
It's ridiculous.
I actually just spoke to the USPatent and Trademark
Organization, the USPTO, and Itold them you really need me to
be your brand ambassador becauseyou need some good PR.
(24:42):
I'm your girl.
And they were like, oh my God,no one's ever been so excited.
And I said but it's such aresource of research to see
what's been done, how it's done,how things are made, how to
protect yourself.
So I said, like I think I canget some mileage out of this.
And you know, I did it myself.
It was really expensive.
I did it by myself.
I think five, six, seven years.
(25:03):
I got it into every singlemajor store.
I delivered them myself.
You know all these things andit's not new what I did.
Like that's the story of whateveryone did.
I'm just still around talkingabout it.
I think that's the difference.
I was like a wild success, likeMinkoff was, but I'm here
talking about the journeybecause I'm now teaching, I'm
(25:23):
responsible for the how to do abit.
And then I was like, okay, whatam I gonna now?
What that comma, like I've hit,I've gotten as far as I can.
And then you know there's thestory of dupes and knockoffs and
I said, screw that, I'll knockmyself off.
Angie Colee (25:39):
Nobody ever does that.
Emily Blumenthal (25:41):
Why don't I do it?
You know Mark by Mark Jacobshadn't come out at the time, but
you know, by no means was IMark by Mark Jacobs or any of
those other brands or who wasdoing these Target collabs.
But I figured I should do thatbecause I have this unique item.
I'm struggling to create realbags.
I tried that it ate up all mymoney.
And when someone said, do realbags, I'm like, okay, my
(26:01):
learning curve for that was sobig, made all these bags, so
many mistakes, lost so muchmoney.
And I said, well, I have torestart.
Can't get a day job, I'm stuck.
Let me just do this and sellthe IP and license it out.
So that's what I did.
And I got into QVC.
I had to deal with Adidas.
I got a licensing deal with awallets company and then that
(26:23):
wallets company licensing dealtotally blew up in my face.
But again it was a learningcurve?
Angie Colee (26:30):
Yeah, is that the one that you mentioned at the
start of the show?
That was the last licensingdeal.
That was awful.
Emily Blumenthal (26:36):
Oh my God, it was a divorce.
Yeah Well, I think you know theplus and the minus of coming in
and being this one woman showand being this dynamo that
people assume that whateveryou're doing, you know you come
in with this dossier.
I've done this, I've done that,I've done this, I've done that,
I've done this, but it's likeyou've only gone this far and
now I'm with you.
So I'm hoping, with you I'll gothat far.
(26:58):
But they see you as well.
You can do everything byyourself.
We'll just give you theresources and maybe you can.
You know, and then you can getit everywhere.
And I'm like well, I don't knowhow to get into Macy's or get
into Belk, or I do, I don't know.
I don't know what they'relooking for.
That's why I'm here.
So it became this like mismatchand the sales reps never wanted
(27:19):
to show my product during marketweek, because sales reps work a
hundred percent on commissionand they weren't about to
jeopardize their salaries fortaking on a risk.
And then I was chasing downthese buyers into taxis with my
little T-stands, holding my bag,saying can you please try it,
please do it, please do a test.
And then I was going on tourand going to meet and greets of
(27:42):
department stores across the U?
S just trying to sell my stuff,and again it's.
It's the wild West when you'redoing it by yourself, but when
you're in it you have no choice.
Like that was my livelihood.
This is what I was tied to byher.
I was going to have to make itwork one way or another.
I was tied to by herkabai kirk.
Angie Colee (28:00):
I was going to have to make it work one way or
another.
I you know I see some parallelsthere between those guys and
the publishing industry Rightnow.
I'm not super thrilled withtraditional book publishing
because they do the same thing.
It's like we're not going topublish you if you don't have an
audience of at least X manypeople.
Well, if I'm bringing thepeople and the intellectual
property to you, to you, and allyou're doing is printing, what
(28:21):
do I need you for?
Emily Blumenthal (28:23):
Well, publishing is like a whole other
bucket.
I've been researching theself-publishing world and it's
it, is it.
I get it.
But, like you really need to bea car with an engine and gas
and a map and and cities and allof this mapped out, Otherwise
you're literally digging it asyou go along and it's so
expensive, um, to go through allthat.
(28:46):
Again, I just look at things oflearning curve and time, value
of money.
So I'm so on the fence.
But my first book took sixyears to get picked up, six
years.
And, um, we she stopped becauseCOVID hit, and it was one of
those things.
Like you know, if we're goingto go back and pitch it, you
(29:07):
need new things to beinteresting, and going on.
And I said, Well, I've got this, I've got that, I've got this,
I've got that.
And it's like, well, how far,how big, how this?
Going back to the audience andI'm like, well, screw that, I
guess I should do it myself.
Angie Colee (29:25):
So you know, we'll see.
Yeah, oh no, I'm with you onthat Because I went back and
forth with my book, which ittook me like five years to
create, just just to write andget the draft done the way that
I wanted it to.
And that was a lot, you know,just like confidence and
avoidance and being a first timeauthor, right.
But same thing I finished andmy editor goes okay.
So self publishing, traditionalpublishing, I only did a little
bit of research before.
(29:45):
I was like pitching agents.
Then all of this process, thenall of the reject, I just rather
put it to print myself.
Emily Blumenthal (29:53):
Yep, I know, I know it's.
It's definitely something Imean again, learning curve,
that's.
That's really the case and II've been trying to decrypt it
myself without having to doanything yet, because then it
goes into like, well, if you putit out at the wrong time, you
(30:14):
don't want to get into issuesand you know, but my, my
children's book, savvy Susannaand Her Amazing Adventures in
Handbags it's an entrepreneurialstory tied to handbags and
starting business and all thatgood stuff and there's a gap in
the market and it's one of thosethings like, if not, why it
should be me?
You know there's anyone to doit.
(30:36):
That that's that's givingyourself the license to do it.
Angie Colee (30:39):
Oh, giving yourself the license to do it.
Oh, yes, absolutely.
Well, an interesting like okay,so we've covered a lot about
your journey in the last littlebit here, but it sounds like a
lot of this came down to goingokay, yes, I'm going to figure
that out and then just going forit.
Would you say that's accurate.
Emily Blumenthal (30:55):
I think you're kind of left with no choice.
It really is one of thosethings in terms of you know, if
you commit to it, you know, theway I see it, the amount of time
it takes to find a day job, topimp yourself out, to interview,
the whole thing it's like areyou going to be happy with
(31:16):
working 24 seven for yourselfand making a little, with the
potential of making a lot,versus, you know, having a job
where you're, you're, you'reonly going to get us to a
certain point and that's okay.
You know it's funny.
I look at my friends who've hadday jobs for those hundreds of
years and I used to feel sorryfor them, but at this stage in
(31:38):
life I'm so impressed thatthey've been able to do it for
this amount of time, cause it's,it is hard.
Yes, you know, it is reallyreally hard, but you know they
have job security.
But how secure are they really?
They have money saved, but howlong can that last?
It really is all relative.
Angie Colee (31:56):
Yes.
So I wanted to circle back toanother little nugget that you
dropped, and we just coveredthis a tiny bit in talking about
publishing.
But I love the fact that one ofthe reasons that you wrote a
book was because you justhappened to meet somebody in
jury duty.
What was going through yourmind?
Were you an instant like hell,yes, I'm going to write a book?
Or was it more like all right,nice to meet you.
(32:18):
And then it developed over time, or no, no, no, no.
Emily Blumenthal (32:21):
So I mean, God bless her.
She look, she showed up and itwas grand jury duty, so it was a
month and there are a lot ofwackadoos there but she showed
up with a stack of bridalmagazines and she wasn't wearing
a ring and I was like, oh,she's industry, because no one
carries around that much stuff,you know, for fun.
I knew she was doing somethingand I said to her I said either
(32:45):
you're shopping for a husband oryou do something with this.
And she said oh, I have anauthor that's putting out a
bridal book.
And I said okay, industry,we're going to be friends, we're
going to sit together, we'lleat lunch together, let's become
friends.
And she was like cool, dope,fine.
And so that was really it.
(33:06):
And then we became friends.
And then we were going tolunches and I told her what I
was doing and she said, oh, youshould write a book about that.
And I said, ok, tell me, whatshould I do?
And she gave me a template andI did the template.
So we were just going back andforth and by the time I had
finished it, you know, my, mylicensing deal had gone upside
down.
(33:26):
And then I said to her.
I was like, okay, so where'sthis book deal Like and where's
my signing bonus?
And is it going to be $300million?
Because I can't keep doing this, I might die.
And then she was like girl, youhave to stay in handbags because
I can't sell a book abouthandbags how to become a handbag
designer when you're nottrained into design and to be
the master of your own handbagdestiny.
(33:47):
If you're like that's it, I'mdone.
And I was like shit.
So that's how I came up withthe idea for the awards.
And that was really it.
And from there, you know, Ijust kept going and going and
then every time I'm like, okay,you know she would send it out
and say this is the feedback andsend it out.
This was the feedback.
So it took six years for it tohappen and, honestly, had I not
(34:10):
started the handbag awards, Idon't think the book deal would
have happened.
It really wouldn't have it mademe an authority.
And I think without having thatauthority title to hang your hat
, it makes it very difficult togo out to say you're an expert,
because everybody's an expert,truly everybody is.
Angie Colee (34:29):
One of my mentors actually described it that way
too.
It was like there's such a thingas accidental expertise, right
Like you can go through, and theexample that he used was you
could go through a really baddivorce and then suddenly, when
one of your friends is goingthrough it, they're coming to
you going how did you?
I'm so lost, can you give meadvice?
And so everybody truly is anexpert.
(34:49):
I absolutely agree with you,but so many people are afraid to
like take it to that next stepof authority, just like you
mentioned, and put themselvesout there.
We're all afraid that, like,somehow the spotlight is on us
the moment we take a step outand I am learning to take great
comfort in the fact that noone's paying attention.
The fact that no one's payingattention, like there might be a
(35:10):
few people that are are Angiefans or that are Emily fans,
that are watching a little bitof what we're doing, but for the
most part, most people aren'twatching what we're doing until
we go out there and are braveenough to make a big old fuss
over it.
Emily Blumenthal (35:20):
Yep, yep, I know, I know it's, it's totally
true.
I mean, that's the what I'vetold my kids.
When they don't like somethingand they don't want attention,
the last thing you want to do ismake a fuss, because then
everybody's going to be lookingat you, but because everybody is
so self-involved that no one'slooking at anybody unless it
serves them.
So just do your own thing andmove on.
(35:41):
Use it to your advantage.
Angie Colee (35:43):
I mean, I had a blues band for a long time, and
the beauty of blues is that it'ssuch a like.
It's not a popular genrenecessarily, so people aren't
memorizing words the way theywould with like cardi b or
something, um, yeah, and so whenI would forget the words I just
learned from ella fitzgerald alive recording that she did yeah
(36:03):
, make up words.
And the only person that knewwas my harmonica player's wife,
who would lock eyes with me fromthe audience and be like I saw
you, to which I would usuallylike throw up a bird and give
her a salute.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
So I mean, basically, if youget anything out of this episode
, guys, it's all made up.
You can figure it out as you goand decide and then just take
(36:25):
the steps from there.
I love this.
This has been fantastic.
Thank you so much for beingsuch an awesome guest.
Emily Blumenthal (36:31):
Thank you for having me.
This has been so much fun.
Angie Colee (36:34):
Oh yeah.
So tell us more where we canlearn about you, about the books
, about the classes.
We want it all.
Emily Blumenthal (36:39):
Well, I am at Handbag Designer for everything.
That was someone.
Someone taught me that ahundred years ago, saying if
you're you like something, ifyou think that's your brand, get
it on all platforms as fast aspossible.
And my brand is HandbagDesigner 101.
It's the book, it's the podcast, it's the masterclass.
(37:01):
I'm Emily Blumenthal.
So if you want anything handbagrelated, just type in Handbag
Designer or Handbag Designer 101, like the class, you'll find me
and my podcast.
Angie Colee (37:12):
Oh, yeah, I'm going to make sure that there are
clickable links in the shownotes so they can find you as
quickly as possible.
Emily Blumenthal (37:18):
And thank you again, I appreciate you Amazing.
Thank you so much, angie, forhaving me.
This has been great.
Angie Colee (37:26):
That's all for now.
If you want to keep that kickass energy high, please take a
minute to share this episodewith someone that might need a
high-octane dose of you Can Doit.
Don't forget to rate, reviewand subscribe to the Permission
to Kick-Ass podcast on ApplePodcasts, spotify and wherever
you stream your podcasts.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andI'm here rooting for you.
Thanks for listening and let'sgo kick some ass.
Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass, the show
that gives you a virtual seatat the bar for the real
conversations that happenbetween entrepreneurs.
I'm interviewing all kinds ofbusiness owners, from those just
a few years into freelancing toCEOs helming nine-figure
companies.
If you've ever worried thateveryone else just seems to get
it and you're missing somethingor messing things up, this show
(00:24):
is for you.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andlet's get to it.
And welcome back to Permissionto Kick Ass.
With me today is my new friend,emily Blumenthal.
Say hi, hello.
I think you are the firstperson that I'm going to
interview on this show.
Who does what you do?
So I'm excited to dive on thisshow.
(00:44):
Who does what you do?
So I'm excited to dive intothis.
Please tell us a little bitmore about your business.
Emily Blumenthal (00:49):
Let's see, I am known as the Handbag Fairy
Godmother, which is a funnymoniker to have.
I've spoken to other people whohave that quote unquote
godmother title, but the NewYork Times gave me mine, so I'm
keeping it my journey.
I was an accidental handbagdesigner.
I started my handbag line whileI was going to business school,
(01:11):
working in media with a DJboyfriend.
Everything tracks of things todo in your twenties and not to
do later, and I kept verydetailed notes on what I was
doing and couldn't find a book,couldn't find anything Again.
All this predates the interwebs, the socials, all that.
It's kind of like go to thelibrary, go to the bookstore and
(01:32):
hope for the best, andeverything was very much apparel
driven and I thought that was awild white space.
So I figured, okay, if I'mdoing this and trying to figure
this out, I should be the onewho does it and then owns that
space.
And I created this littlehandbag to hold on to when you
go out.
For no particular reason.
(01:53):
I patented the silhouettes,which is also an interesting
story, and that IP alone.
It allowed me to license it out.
It allowed me to license it out.
The pro and the con of creatinga silhouette.
That is patentable is that it'san item, it's a novelty, and
that makes it very, verydifficult then to scale, because
it's a one of one, which isgreat, for, you know, telling a
(02:17):
story, but it's not good toiterate over and over and over
again.
So buyers didn't know where tomerchandise, they didn't know
which cat, you know which floorto put it on, but it was my, it
was my journey to hustle, Iguess you could say.
And from there I started with ahigh end line and then I
knocked myself off, orchestrateda bunch of licensing deals and
(02:40):
then so many stories.
And from there met a woman injury duty who turned out to be a
literary agent and, you know,sat next to her because you got
to sniff out who's not crazy ateverything you do, if you know
you're going to be sitting nextto people.
And she said, oh, you shouldwrite a book about this.
And I'm like, oh, I totallyshould.
(03:01):
I'll be an author, I'll befamous, everyone will be in
lines to meet me.
Oh my God, oh my God.
So, handbag designer author,I'm so amazing.
And then my last licensing dealwas almost like a divorce.
It was so awful.
Again, it's just file thatunder things.
You learn when you're doingthings yourself, and it's good
to go through them, so you knowwhat not to do.
(03:21):
So you know what not to do.
And I said to my agent, myliterary agent.
I was like okay, well, when isthis book going to happen?
Because I got all this freetime.
Now you know, now that this isgoing up in smoke, there's no
way I have the energy to startanother handbag line.
I'm working with designers and,oh, I started teaching.
(03:41):
I started professoring along thesame time while I was getting
my MBA, because someone found metalking about it.
And then I just startedteaching.
And then I was at one schoolteaching fashion PR, and another
.
Then that led to fashionmarketing.
And I've been teaching at FITfor the past 10 years, teaching
entrepreneurship.
So all of this kind ofamalgamated into.
(04:03):
Okay, she said, no one's goingto buy this book if you're out
of handbags.
And I was like shit, now what?
I'm so tired, I'm so burnt out.
So that's when I came up withthe idea for the handbag awards,
because I knew how media worked, I knew how packages worked,
and then I just I knew, I knewthere were more handbag
designers out there thananything I'd done every trade
(04:24):
show.
I knew my market, I knew mycustomer, and what was
interesting is because I taught,I thought, let me make my
application process free becauseI know I'll get thousands of
applicants, and it's true.
But that's also became mydownside, because you can't
scale or sell something ifthere's no application fee,
because then all came down to mefor creating these packages and
(04:46):
everything was all about me, me, me, which was great for me as
a platform, but not good for meto sell, because nothing happens
without you being involved.
And that is what a lot of smallbusinesses need to learn.
They need to understand that itshould never, always go back to
you and that life lessons.
And because if it goes back toyou, then it can't run on its
own, and if it can't run on itsown, then you can't make money
(05:09):
while you sleep.
Angie Colee (05:11):
So, that.
Emily Blumenthal (05:12):
that is a.
That was another life lesson.
So the handbag awards ran for15 years and that was where I
got that title.
The book came out.
It sold 50,000 copies.
I've done talks, I've done youname it, I've done it.
The awards was about to beacquired and then COVID hit and
that was a hard pill to swallow.
(05:33):
But I was creating sponsorshippackages for brands that had
nothing to do with handbags andbrought them into handbags
because it was novel and cooland fun.
And that was before it had theterm collaborations, because
that's essentially what I wasdoing.
So what I do now is I dohandbag collaborations.
I have a podcast about allabout the handbag industry.
(05:53):
I work with designers, I have amaster class and I have a TV
show in the works that's notbeen picked up yet.
I'm working on a kid's book andI think we're done with the
podcast.
That is it so.
Angie Colee (06:06):
I was writing down so many things while you were
talking.
I was like we got like a crashcourse and probably what like 10
, 20 years of entrepreneurship.
Emily Blumenthal (06:15):
Nothing else left.
Angie Colee (06:17):
Fastest podcast ever, I know.
Emily Blumenthal (06:20):
I believe in efficiency.
You should see me getting readyin the morning.
Angie Colee (06:24):
Well, that's awesome.
I wrote quite a few things down, so one I wanted to ask about
the accidental handbag designer,Like how do you fall into
something like that?
Emily Blumenthal (06:34):
You know, I think when you you know we were
talking before we startedrecording a little bit about and
I read about this that you endup organically following the
path of what your parents did.
It might not be what they did,but you were doing something
along the line of what they did,like how they were, like my.
(06:55):
My dad was a garmento and andwas in the garment center.
My mom was a teacher and, loand behold, I was in.
Now I found myself in theGarmin center and I'm teaching,
and both things I never thoughtwere part of my path, but I was
doing handbags and alsoprofessoring.
So, lo and behold, that kind ofbecame my path.
(07:15):
And when you come from a familyof everybody has their own
business.
I mean, I was day jobbing andthey were pretty impressive day
jobs as far as I was concerned,because you work really, really
hard to get in, to get thisreally cool job.
And you know I realized, god,I'm really gonna get good at
getting fired because I can't dothis.
You know, like there was justtoo much of me and you need
(07:38):
people who can color in thelines and will just nod their
head.
And I have a big mouth and bigideas and let's do this and
let's do that, and I get it.
Now, being on the other sideand having been on the other
side like sometimes you have toand learning how to work with
people is a very undervaluedskill.
Oh yes, oh yes.
(07:58):
And you know, as I tell mystudents, with who are, you know
of generation feelings, the bigbad world.
You go onto LinkedIn.
Nobody cares how you feel.
Yeah.
Angie Colee (08:11):
So we're talking this morning about where we've
been and kind of our personasand something like this, and the
story came up for me about thestuff that I've been unpacking
right, because so much ofbusiness is personal development
and they never told me this.
Emily Blumenthal (08:26):
It's so boring , I'm so over it Like.
I'm done learning like enough,it's so old already.
Like what else do I need tolearn about myself?
Like, come on, it's enough.
Angie Colee (08:37):
It's, and ever since I've known this, since I
was a child that like give me amicrophone Hello, you're
listening to a podcast and putme on a stage and I'm in my
happy place, right I?
Don't know what it means to bescared to speak in front of
people because give me the mic.
What number?
Emily Blumenthal (08:52):
child.
Are you One First Of how manyThree?
That's why.
That's why I always ask mystudents what number child and I
can always determine howthey'll be presenting.
Who's going to be theresponsible one, who's going to
be the coaster, who's the onewho can't cope in front of
people and you know you could,like it makes sense, you've
(09:13):
always had to be the one incharge, who always got
everything done, so whyshouldn't you be doing this?
You've been doing it your wholelife.
Angie Colee (09:20):
Yeah, no-transcript , that know my heart, get the
(09:51):
intent yeah.
Emily Blumenthal (09:52):
I think that was chef's kiss.
I totally bought what you sold.
It's amazing, I think it wasgreat.
So, to answer your question,everyone in my family always had
their own business and I alwaysfelt like I think I was idea
shopping, like what can I do?
And I had a DJ boyfriend at thetime.
(10:12):
God bless him.
You know again things you cando in your 20s.
He was foreign, you know allthat stuff.
It made sense my responsibleside of my brain was dying, but
the other side was like this iswhat normal people do.
I'm just way too uptight.
Anyway, that's another story.
But I was going to work, goingto business school and then
going out with him and then Ibecame his manager because
(10:42):
that's what I wanted to do.
You know, of course, top of mylist and that's when I came up
with this idea.
And I was doing what I didn'trealize retail anthropology.
Watching how people shop,watching how people interact,
seeing the ceremony I mean, thisis a few years back watching
how people do that ceremonialdance around their bags.
That doesn't really happen now,um, because this predated
people carrying their phones inthe way that they did and we had
flip phones back then, sothey're basically a cane and
(11:03):
cable right now.
It's crazy, um, but you know I,I said okay, and I think, had I
not, had been with someone whowas foreign and from Australia
and Australians and I give somany props to him for this are
fearless by trade becausethey're so far from everything
that they just pack, you know,pack up and move.
(11:25):
Why not?
And I was telling him.
I said, you know, it's weird,there is no little bag to hold
on to when you go out, and Ithink this is what it would look
like.
And wow, and he said you shoulddo it.
And I said, okay, and to yourpoint about parental figures,
and you, mine are amazing, supersupportive, but they are
realists and they areresponsibilists.
I just made that into a word.
(11:45):
So, in saying you want tobecome a handbag designer,
they're like that's the worstidea known to mankind.
They don't make money, you'renot trained.
You don't make money.
You're not trained, you don'tget.
You know, go into the internet,that's where everybody's making
money.
Start a website.
And I said, no, this, I getthis.
I, this is, I think, what I'mgoing to do.
(12:06):
And this is exactly what I saidDo not do.
By the way, I'm sorry, one ofmy kids just buzzed there.
I said get a key, jesus, anyway,and I, you know, kate Spade was
still alive at the time and shehad this detailed.
(12:26):
She was, and it's funny, I justinterviewed her partner a few
months ago, who was absolutelyamazing on my podcast, but she
wasn't a designer by trade, shewas an editor, a fashion editor,
and she made her bags out ofconstruction paper and then
worked from there.
So I did the same thing.
So anything she did, I did, andagain, not realizing that, you
(12:49):
know, she had templatized how tobe a handbag designer when
you're not trained in design.
But that's what I did, and Iwas working for a very sad
little magazine at the time andI utilized that to make as many
contacts as I could.
I had a press kit.
I was getting like I had awhole page of talking to editors
(13:11):
just to get their feedback.
Like that I was sending out.
I'm like, oh, this editor saysthis, this editor says that.
So I was sending out.
I'm like, oh, this editor saysthis, this editor says that.
So I was getting testimonialsfor a product that wasn't sold
and I started going door to doorto boutiques and had to like
baptism by fire and learn aboutproduction, manufacturing and
sales cycles and then said, okay, how long will it take me to
(13:33):
figure this out?
I think six months.
I asked all these stores willthey purchase it in six months
later?
And they all were like sure, sothat's, that was.
That was really the journey, andlittle by little it was, like
you know, trying to avoid asmany sunk costs as I could, and
I just kept keeping, keepingnotes about.
Then I did this, then I didthat, then I did this, and that
(13:55):
became the template for myseminar how to launch your own
handbag line, which I startedhosting.
I was asked to by the LearningAnnex, which, a hundred million
years ago, they had those littlethings outside, you know,
pharmacies like, where you couldlearn a class.
Like Donald Trump and I were onthe same cover at once because
(14:16):
he was teaching them.
He was teaching real estate,how to be a real estate expert,
and mine, in the tiny corner,was how to become a handbag
designer.
So I think, because I was inschool and looking at it from a
different perspective, I wasgiving handouts and how did you
know people who were doing that?
You were going to listen, butI'm like, no, if this is a class
, here's a how-to, here areresources, and then by the end I
(14:39):
had like three, four hundredpeople coming.
I was making good money on thisthing.
I was just going on and on andon about um and then I realized
like, oh, I guess those who aretrying to do comma teach that's
so.
Angie Colee (14:55):
the last um guest that I spoke to earlier today
talked about that too, becausehe had a similar thing where he
went into a set design industryright and then realized how much
hustle is involved in thatstate side.
He knew somebody from Europethat made a healthy living and
like doing two shows a year, butthat was not the case for him
and he's like I guess those whodon't do teach.
Emily Blumenthal (15:18):
Right, I mean it's funny, I never thought I'd
end up teaching, but it's justkind of happened.
And you know, I think, assomeone who struggled with
traditional day jobs, any job Igot I always took.
And I, I would say, if I wasable to create a class, run a
class.
You know, at the time I wasstill young enough that people
(15:40):
looked at me because I was only,you know, a couple years older
than the students I was teachingwhen I started.
It's been a minute, but youknow, having three kids going
through the process, oh, manstop looking at you as like hey,
we're the same age.
Angie Colee (15:55):
I love that you were like well, I don't know how
to do this.
So instead of signing up forcourses or asking somebody else
like do what, can I even do this?
I just figured it out.
Emily Blumenthal (16:06):
If I may interrupt, the funny thing is I
asked everybody.
I was mentor shopping, I wasjoining every organization I
could find.
I was like every femaleentrepreneurship, like you name
it.
I joined it and you know, itbecame the situation where you
become over, underqualified,where the people you ask for
(16:28):
help say you've done so much,what can I do?
I can't help you.
You're already doing it, butit's like I don't know what I'm
supposed to do next.
Can you help me?
And they're like well, no, soI've heard these and I'm not a
jealous person, I'm really not.
But when I hear these storiesabout people finding a mentor
and someone who was able to sitand talk and take, and I'm like,
(16:48):
damn I was, I couldn't findthem.
Like I would have these lunchesand I would sit there in
monosation and they'd be likewell, it sounds like you're
doing great.
I'm like, but I don't know whatI'm supposed to do.
Like now, like okay, so it kindof.
I mean, this is this.
This became the template to mybook, which became the template
to my masterclass, which becamethe template to the incubator
(17:10):
that I ran and the template tohow I run my entrepreneurship
class with my students.
So, for better or for worse,because I didn't get help from
other people which I reallywould have loved.
I begged.
You know you name it.
I mean, I was calling people athome.
You know I didn't care.
And you know entrepreneurship,which I think is a really loose
(17:35):
word that a lot of people use,and it's kind of annoying when
people use it.
I know you agree with me.
You don't even need to sayanything, I just know you do.
But it's a very bizarre drugthat we go in blind, almost in a
dark room with a blindfold on,and we don't know what we're
(17:55):
doing, and we still keep goingand going, and going, and we're
walking into walls and in mostcases we do it again and again,
and again, and the goal is totry and turn on the lights so at
least you can like get from oneside to the other without
hitting your head at the samespot.
But yet we'd keep going.
So it's almost like not askingfor permission.
It's like, well, what else am Isupposed to do?
I don't know.
Angie Colee (18:18):
You know what I mean.
I trust myself to figure it out.
That's why I thought it wascool.
I wrote down the fact that yousaw, it was Kate Spade, right,
that made the construction paperhandbags, which I thought was
so cool and so innovative.
Like, I'm also a creativeperson, but I've never designed
anything three dimensional likethat.
I've drawn and I've sung, butI've never created anything like
(18:39):
that, although I'm fascinatedby sculpture.
And the moment you said shemade construction paper handbags
, I'm like I can picture thatvisual in my head and go oh, oh
that makes so much sense.
Emily Blumenthal (18:50):
I mean, and the funny thing is that, you
know, history repeats itself somuch and it doesn't take that
long to at least I can onlyspeak to the history of the
handbag because I forced myselfto learn it, cause I, you know,
when you go into somethingknowing nothing, you're like
well, I better learn as much asI can.
And let me go back a littlefurther and a little further and
a little further, like to thepoint where trends are like
(19:12):
history is quite literallyrepeating itself.
You know, post pandemic, postSpanish flu, we had, you know,
the flapper era.
It was the time when thingsweren't allowed and
deconstruction came about,having to be DIY because nobody
had the money.
So it's, it's.
You know, trends are cyclical.
(19:35):
So to see what she did, it wasso novel and new.
But if you were to look at whatwas going on, it just made
sense.
So I think the fact that whatshe did was really really great,
but I think it just gavepermission to other people and I
don't know how many otherpeople were affected by what she
did, because all the designersI knew at the time at least had
(19:56):
some inkling of what to do, howto sew, how to design and I was
like, damn, I don't know what.
The designers I knew at thetime at least had some inkling
of what to do how to sew, how todesign and I was like, damn, I
don't know what the hell I'mdoing.
I think this works, but again, Icreated a solution product.
I wasn't creating a handbagline, and I guess there's that
imposter syndrome that you weresaying, because I was like, well
, I'm not really a real designer, I'm more of an inventor, if
(20:19):
that's anything.
And well, I don't know.
I mean, I only got this far,but other people got that far.
So I guess I'm really not whatI think I am.
I don't know.
You know what?
Angie Colee (20:28):
I mean, oh yeah, I think that's so funny how often
we get these weird mentaldividing lines.
In a lot of ways, that's theimpetus behind this show,
because I had that dividing lineat a business conference where
I thought, OK, that person onthe stage has it all together
and I'm over here screwing up,not realizing that, you know, I
can't see the messy behind thescenes, only what they're
(20:49):
presenting on the stage.
And so that's largely why thiswhole thing exists to remind you
that, like the walls are inyour head, you can tear them
down anytime you want to.
You can decide you want to be awriter, a musician, an
entrepreneur, a handbag designer, and then go figure it out.
It doesn't mean it's going tobe easy, but you can figure it
out.
Emily Blumenthal (21:09):
Well, as I say , smoke buys mirrors.
So you know, I like that oneyeah.
Angie Colee (21:15):
Well, and I loved oh, there's so many different
directions I could go.
There was one you talked abouta patented silhouette and that
just made me curious, becausethat's something I know nothing
about.
Tell me more about.
Emily Blumenthal (21:26):
Everyone I spoke to said, nah, it doesn't
make any sense it's a lot ofmoney and it was a lot of money
I mean.
I always tell people keep yourday job if you're going to
(21:49):
create something, because thelearning curve and the sunk
costs are so vast that you knowthe designers I deal with
usually dump a minimum betweenfive and 15,000 into just
figuring it out, and that'snormal, you know.
To make one sample, I call ityou know I've got so many names
for it the green cost, thedum-dum cost, the idiot cost,
whatever you want to call it.
But you know sample makers andfactories can sniff out a newbie
(22:11):
miles away and they have carteblanche to basically charge you
whatever they want if you don'tknow what you're talking about,
because the time value of moneythey have to put up with you
figuring it out with no ordersagainst whatever you're doing,
it's not worth it for them.
So they'll put you on thebottom of the to-do list.
They will charge you whateverbecause they know.
(22:33):
You know, if she doesn't know,he doesn't know, I'm here
teaching them.
Screw you, I'm going to chargea lot more.
So you know.
With that said, in trying tofigure all this out, it's one of
those things that you reallyhave to understand what you're
doing within that space.
You know what I mean it's.
(22:56):
So to go back to the patent, Iagain I you know I'll give a
very short.
I was online and I wanted tobuy something.
I don't shop for myself veryoften and I saw a jumpsuit and
I'm like you know what?
I bet there's a coupon, I bet Ican get a discount.
(23:17):
So I just emailed the company.
Is a coupon, I bet I can get adiscount.
So I just emailed the company.
I don't have a recent discountcoupon code.
Can you share one with me?
I don't care.
A day later I got a discountcoupon code for 35% off, so I
bought something.
And I think that's what a lot ofpeople don't understand that if
you just ask, the worst thingsomeone can say is no, but so
many people just don't ask.
(23:38):
First thing, someone can say isno, but so many people just
don't ask.
So I was asking around likedoes anyone have a lawyer that
does patents?
And then my friend at the timewas like oh, it's called an IP
lawyer.
What's IP, intellectualproperty?
Oh, okay, my friend works for alaw firm.
Oh, okay.
So I spoke to her friend and itturned out to be like the most
(23:58):
powerful IP law firm in DC thatactually represented Nike, and I
spoke to the guy who ran it,who was very, very nice, and I
said do you have a discount forsomeone who is very, very new,
doesn't have a lot of money, butit's very charming to talk to,
and he was like, actually, wecan figure something out and
that's all I needed.
So I got my patent and then Iwas off and whatever, I had had
(24:20):
a patent number on it and it wasa design patent, not a utility
patent, which meant the shapeand look of it was protected,
not the function.
They're two different things.
And I've got so much IP.
It's ridiculous.
I actually just spoke to the USPatent and Trademark
Organization, the USPTO, and Itold them you really need me to
be your brand ambassador becauseyou need some good PR.
(24:42):
I'm your girl.
And they were like, oh my God,no one's ever been so excited.
And I said but it's such aresource of research to see
what's been done, how it's done,how things are made, how to
protect yourself.
So I said, like I think I canget some mileage out of this.
And you know, I did it myself.
It was really expensive.
I did it by myself.
I think five, six, seven years.
(25:03):
I got it into every singlemajor store.
I delivered them myself.
You know all these things andit's not new what I did.
Like that's the story of whateveryone did.
I'm just still around talkingabout it.
I think that's the difference.
I was like a wild success, likeMinkoff was, but I'm here
talking about the journeybecause I'm now teaching, I'm
(25:23):
responsible for the how to do abit.
And then I was like, okay, whatam I gonna now?
What that comma, like I've hit,I've gotten as far as I can.
And then you know there's thestory of dupes and knockoffs and
I said, screw that, I'll knockmyself off.
Angie Colee (25:39):
Nobody ever does that.
Emily Blumenthal (25:41):
Why don't I do it?
You know Mark by Mark Jacobshadn't come out at the time, but
you know, by no means was IMark by Mark Jacobs or any of
those other brands or who wasdoing these Target collabs.
But I figured I should do thatbecause I have this unique item.
I'm struggling to create realbags.
I tried that it ate up all mymoney.
And when someone said, do realbags, I'm like, okay, my
(26:01):
learning curve for that was sobig, made all these bags, so
many mistakes, lost so muchmoney.
And I said, well, I have torestart.
Can't get a day job, I'm stuck.
Let me just do this and sellthe IP and license it out.
So that's what I did.
And I got into QVC.
I had to deal with Adidas.
I got a licensing deal with awallets company and then that
(26:23):
wallets company licensing dealtotally blew up in my face.
But again it was a learningcurve?
Angie Colee (26:30):
Yeah, is that the one that you mentioned at the
start of the show?
That was the last licensingdeal.
That was awful.
Emily Blumenthal (26:36):
Oh my God, it was a divorce.
Yeah Well, I think you know theplus and the minus of coming in
and being this one woman showand being this dynamo that
people assume that whateveryou're doing, you know you come
in with this dossier.
I've done this, I've done that,I've done this, I've done that,
I've done this, but it's likeyou've only gone this far and
now I'm with you.
So I'm hoping, with you I'll gothat far.
(26:58):
But they see you as well.
You can do everything byyourself.
We'll just give you theresources and maybe you can.
You know, and then you can getit everywhere.
And I'm like well, I don't knowhow to get into Macy's or get
into Belk, or I do, I don't know.
I don't know what they'relooking for.
That's why I'm here.
So it became this like mismatchand the sales reps never wanted
(27:19):
to show my product during marketweek, because sales reps work a
hundred percent on commissionand they weren't about to
jeopardize their salaries fortaking on a risk.
And then I was chasing downthese buyers into taxis with my
little T-stands, holding my bag,saying can you please try it,
please do it, please do a test.
And then I was going on tourand going to meet and greets of
(27:42):
department stores across the U?
S just trying to sell my stuff,and again it's.
It's the wild West when you'redoing it by yourself, but when
you're in it you have no choice.
Like that was my livelihood.
This is what I was tied to byher.
I was going to have to make itwork one way or another.
I was tied to by herkabai kirk.
Angie Colee (28:00):
I was going to have to make it work one way or
another.
I you know I see some parallelsthere between those guys and
the publishing industry Rightnow.
I'm not super thrilled withtraditional book publishing
because they do the same thing.
It's like we're not going topublish you if you don't have an
audience of at least X manypeople.
Well, if I'm bringing thepeople and the intellectual
property to you, to you, and allyou're doing is printing, what
(28:21):
do I need you for?
Emily Blumenthal (28:23):
Well, publishing is like a whole other
bucket.
I've been researching theself-publishing world and it's
it, is it.
I get it.
But, like you really need to bea car with an engine and gas
and a map and and cities and allof this mapped out, Otherwise
you're literally digging it asyou go along and it's so
expensive, um, to go through allthat.
(28:46):
Again, I just look at things oflearning curve and time, value
of money.
So I'm so on the fence.
But my first book took sixyears to get picked up, six
years.
And, um, we she stopped becauseCOVID hit, and it was one of
those things.
Like you know, if we're goingto go back and pitch it, you
(29:07):
need new things to beinteresting, and going on.
And I said, Well, I've got this, I've got that, I've got this,
I've got that.
And it's like, well, how far,how big, how this?
Going back to the audience andI'm like, well, screw that, I
guess I should do it myself.
Angie Colee (29:25):
So you know, we'll see.
Yeah, oh no, I'm with you onthat Because I went back and
forth with my book, which ittook me like five years to
create, just just to write andget the draft done the way that
I wanted it to.
And that was a lot, you know,just like confidence and
avoidance and being a first timeauthor, right.
But same thing I finished andmy editor goes okay.
So self publishing, traditionalpublishing, I only did a little
bit of research before.
(29:45):
I was like pitching agents.
Then all of this process, thenall of the reject, I just rather
put it to print myself.
Emily Blumenthal (29:53):
Yep, I know, I know it's.
It's definitely something Imean again, learning curve,
that's.
That's really the case and II've been trying to decrypt it
myself without having to doanything yet, because then it
goes into like, well, if you putit out at the wrong time, you
(30:14):
don't want to get into issuesand you know, but my, my
children's book, savvy Susannaand Her Amazing Adventures in
Handbags it's an entrepreneurialstory tied to handbags and
starting business and all thatgood stuff and there's a gap in
the market and it's one of thosethings like, if not, why it
should be me?
You know there's anyone to doit.
(30:36):
That that's that's givingyourself the license to do it.
Angie Colee (30:39):
Oh, giving yourself the license to do it.
Oh, yes, absolutely.
Well, an interesting like okay,so we've covered a lot about
your journey in the last littlebit here, but it sounds like a
lot of this came down to goingokay, yes, I'm going to figure
that out and then just going forit.
Would you say that's accurate.
Emily Blumenthal (30:55):
I think you're kind of left with no choice.
It really is one of thosethings in terms of you know, if
you commit to it, you know, theway I see it, the amount of time
it takes to find a day job, topimp yourself out, to interview,
the whole thing it's like areyou going to be happy with
(31:16):
working 24 seven for yourselfand making a little, with the
potential of making a lot,versus, you know, having a job
where you're, you're, you'reonly going to get us to a
certain point and that's okay.
You know it's funny.
I look at my friends who've hadday jobs for those hundreds of
years and I used to feel sorryfor them, but at this stage in
(31:38):
life I'm so impressed thatthey've been able to do it for
this amount of time, cause it's,it is hard.
Yes, you know, it is reallyreally hard, but you know they
have job security.
But how secure are they really?
They have money saved, but howlong can that last?
It really is all relative.
Angie Colee (31:56):
Yes.
So I wanted to circle back toanother little nugget that you
dropped, and we just coveredthis a tiny bit in talking about
publishing.
But I love the fact that one ofthe reasons that you wrote a
book was because you justhappened to meet somebody in
jury duty.
What was going through yourmind?
Were you an instant like hell,yes, I'm going to write a book?
Or was it more like all right,nice to meet you.
(32:18):
And then it developed over time, or no, no, no, no.
Emily Blumenthal (32:21):
So I mean, God bless her.
She look, she showed up and itwas grand jury duty, so it was a
month and there are a lot ofwackadoos there but she showed
up with a stack of bridalmagazines and she wasn't wearing
a ring and I was like, oh,she's industry, because no one
carries around that much stuff,you know, for fun.
I knew she was doing somethingand I said to her I said either
(32:45):
you're shopping for a husband oryou do something with this.
And she said oh, I have anauthor that's putting out a
bridal book.
And I said okay, industry,we're going to be friends, we're
going to sit together, we'lleat lunch together, let's become
friends.
And she was like cool, dope,fine.
And so that was really it.
(33:06):
And then we became friends.
And then we were going tolunches and I told her what I
was doing and she said, oh, youshould write a book about that.
And I said, ok, tell me, whatshould I do?
And she gave me a template andI did the template.
So we were just going back andforth and by the time I had
finished it, you know, my, mylicensing deal had gone upside
down.
(33:26):
And then I said to her.
I was like, okay, so where'sthis book deal Like and where's
my signing bonus?
And is it going to be $300million?
Because I can't keep doing this, I might die.
And then she was like girl, youhave to stay in handbags because
I can't sell a book abouthandbags how to become a handbag
designer when you're nottrained into design and to be
the master of your own handbagdestiny.
(33:47):
If you're like that's it, I'mdone.
And I was like shit.
So that's how I came up withthe idea for the awards.
And that was really it.
And from there, you know, Ijust kept going and going and
then every time I'm like, okay,you know she would send it out
and say this is the feedback andsend it out.
This was the feedback.
So it took six years for it tohappen and, honestly, had I not
(34:10):
started the handbag awards, Idon't think the book deal would
have happened.
It really wouldn't have it mademe an authority.
And I think without having thatauthority title to hang your hat
, it makes it very difficult togo out to say you're an expert,
because everybody's an expert,truly everybody is.
Angie Colee (34:29):
One of my mentors actually described it that way
too.
It was like there's such a thingas accidental expertise, right
Like you can go through, and theexample that he used was you
could go through a really baddivorce and then suddenly, when
one of your friends is goingthrough it, they're coming to
you going how did you?
I'm so lost, can you give meadvice?
And so everybody truly is anexpert.
(34:49):
I absolutely agree with you,but so many people are afraid to
like take it to that next stepof authority, just like you
mentioned, and put themselvesout there.
We're all afraid that, like,somehow the spotlight is on us
the moment we take a step outand I am learning to take great
comfort in the fact that noone's paying attention.
The fact that no one's payingattention, like there might be a
(35:10):
few people that are are Angiefans or that are Emily fans,
that are watching a little bitof what we're doing, but for the
most part, most people aren'twatching what we're doing until
we go out there and are braveenough to make a big old fuss
over it.
Emily Blumenthal (35:20):
Yep, yep, I know, I know it's, it's totally
true.
I mean, that's the what I'vetold my kids.
When they don't like somethingand they don't want attention,
the last thing you want to do ismake a fuss, because then
everybody's going to be lookingat you, but because everybody is
so self-involved that no one'slooking at anybody unless it
serves them.
So just do your own thing andmove on.
(35:41):
Use it to your advantage.
Angie Colee (35:43):
I mean, I had a blues band for a long time, and
the beauty of blues is that it'ssuch a like.
It's not a popular genrenecessarily, so people aren't
memorizing words the way theywould with like cardi b or
something, um, yeah, and so whenI would forget the words I just
learned from ella fitzgerald alive recording that she did yeah
(36:03):
, make up words.
And the only person that knewwas my harmonica player's wife,
who would lock eyes with me fromthe audience and be like I saw
you, to which I would usuallylike throw up a bird and give
her a salute.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
So I mean, basically, if youget anything out of this episode
, guys, it's all made up.
You can figure it out as you goand decide and then just take
(36:25):
the steps from there.
I love this.
This has been fantastic.
Thank you so much for beingsuch an awesome guest.
Emily Blumenthal (36:31):
Thank you for having me.
This has been so much fun.
Angie Colee (36:34):
Oh yeah.
So tell us more where we canlearn about you, about the books
, about the classes.
We want it all.
Emily Blumenthal (36:39):
Well, I am at Handbag Designer for everything.
That was someone.
Someone taught me that ahundred years ago, saying if
you're you like something, ifyou think that's your brand, get
it on all platforms as fast aspossible.
And my brand is HandbagDesigner 101.
It's the book, it's the podcast, it's the masterclass.
(37:01):
I'm Emily Blumenthal.
So if you want anything handbagrelated, just type in Handbag
Designer or Handbag Designer 101, like the class, you'll find me
and my podcast.
Angie Colee (37:12):
Oh, yeah, I'm going to make sure that there are
clickable links in the shownotes so they can find you as
quickly as possible.
Emily Blumenthal (37:18):
And thank you again, I appreciate you Amazing.
Thank you so much, angie, forhaving me.
This has been great.
Angie Colee (37:26):
That's all for now.
If you want to keep that kickass energy high, please take a
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