Friday, October 28, 2011

SassaB™ has launched!


SassaB LLC, is the maker of the first-choice-in-fun, must-have accessory charms for kids of all ages to wear, trade, collect and share. Inspired by her daughter’s minor fashion emergency, Tracy Sanders founded SassaB to fill this popular marketplace niche.  Our motto:  Create Your Own Style!

Tracy Sanders, Founder/CEO of SassaB LLC,  sits down for Q & A with Jennifer Cannon of JenCann Productions:


Q:  Tell us how you came up with the idea for SassaB.

A:  Like a lot of great ideas, it happened almost by accident.  One day my daughter, Brooke, was looking for something to wear in her hair for picture day at school.  She was tired of the same old bows, barrettes and pony tail holders she had in her drawer.

Knowing how much Brooke loves charms, I went into my room, picked out a cute charm from my own bracelet, slid it on a bobby pin and put it in her hair. She looked in the mirror and very excitedly said, “I love it! I’m going to wear it to school and start a trend and trade them with my friends!”

As soon as I heard the words, “start a trend”, I saw an opportunity to create a fashionable, fun hair accessory and immediately went to work.  I have always wanted to start my own business and I knew this was “it”.

Q:  What were the most important factors you had in mind when designing SassaB?

A:  I wanted to create a unique hair accessory that would allow the charms to link together creating endless design possibilities for imaginative kids. I researched the highest quality charms, bobby pins and hair ties before creating the one of a kind SassaB charms.

      Price point was also very important to me. In this economy, I’m proud to sell a high quality product that’s fashionable and affordable!

Q:  What makes SassaB unique?

A:  SassaB’s patent pending, custom molded link is what sets them apart from other charms on the market.  Our design makes them easily interchangeable and versatile enough to be used in many different ways. 

By the way, they’re not just for girls!  …Or even, dare I say, kids… The possibilities are endless:

·        In your hair
·        As custom necklace, bracelet or anklet
·        On backpack, book or sports bag
·        On lunch box
·        On shoelaces
·        On doggy or kitty collar

Our motto:  Create Your Own Style!

Q:  Behind every name is a story, what’s yours?

A:  Our kids call my mom “Sassy” instead of Grandma.  Sassy and Brooke are always talking about one day opening a restaurant called “Sassy and the B”.  So the name SassaB was born from there and it feels catchy, so it stuck!

Q:  We are becoming more aware of young entrepreneurs today.  Will Brooke have a role in the company?

Brooke is, and will continue to be an important part of SassaB LLC.  She’s my “go to” girl when design questions come up. After all, if it wasn’t for her fashion dilemma and vision of “starting a trend”, SassaB…wouldn’t be!

My son Hudson also has some ideas of his own for a future line of charms.  It feels really good to have the whole family involved on this exciting journey!

**So here it is, MY Product X! To see what SassaB looks like, go to www.SassaB.com. You can email me to purchase SassaB or just to say "Hi!" SassaB retails for $6.99 and comes with two linkable charms, a SassaB hair tie with link and a bobby pin with link. We have a minimum order of two packs.

I can't thank you enough for your support and I can't believe this day is FINALLY here! We have another exciting announcement of how SassaB will be sold in the marketplace so keep checking in.

Much love,
Tracy Sanders
Founder/CEO 
SassaB LLC

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Oops, I messed up

On my desk, in my office, SassaB hanging on a counter top spinner. But I've made a huge mistake!

I forgot to order the poly prop bags that SassaB will be loaded into. Yep. Forgot. So while I have the insert cards that were delivered today(!), SassaB, and the spinners for the retailers, I do not have that last bit of packaging to get SassaB into stores.

There is something else I am waiting on...my website guy to put up a SassaB landing page. We have added a QR code to the back of the packaging so that when scanned with a smart phone, you will be directed to our website. Right now if you go to SassaB.com, all you will see is that the site is hosted by Doster. Not a good look for new customers.

So for now, we will work on assembling SassaB packs and paperwork.

Once our landing page is up, I will announce what SassaB is...it seems like forever! Thank you all so much for waiting and showing your support through this last year. I hope I have been able to shed some light (in real time) on what it takes to have an idea and bring it to market.

Much love,
Tracy

Monday, October 24, 2011

"Don't show effort" ~ Billy Mays

Let me share something with you...from the heart...

I'm having an "emotional roller coaster" kind of day. We are launching SassaB this week and all day I have been asking myself, "Why aren't you EXCITED?!" Well...I figured it out.

I'm terrified. Will SassaB™ be the huge success I think it will be? That I am planning it to be? That I am praying it will be?

And I really didn't want to let you all know that. I want to be super confident and not let you or anyone else know that I am nervous. Doubting when I should be confident. Questioning when I should be certain. But...I want fellow inventors to know that it's OK to be nervous before and during the process of making your dream a reality. And maybe I had to let myself know that as well.

Billy Mays used to say, "Don't show effort." And I think we can apply that to many aspects of our lives, not just when shooting a Mighty Putty infomercial.

So mostly you will not see me show "effort" and instead you will hear of all the fun, hard work that I am putting into SassaB but for now...just to let you know...it does take "effort" and not always the "make it look easy" kind.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Welcome to the SassaB™ office!


A few exciting things have happened...I now have an official SassaB office, a SassaB bank account, a SassaB barcode, and a SassaB office phone number. It's the finial few things that needed completed before our launch!

The office is in much need of updating, cleaning and organizing but not to worry, I am so excited about it all that I have tons of energy. This is the fun part! Well, actually, I think it's all going to be fun...Yes, it'll be hard work but worth every minute. I just can't wait to start selling!

Speaking of selling...we are ALMOST there...we are just waiting for our graphic artist to put the pictures on the back of the insert card. Then it's off to the printers. According to our graphic guy, we should have SassaB all ready to go by the end of next week. END OF NEXT WEEK!!! But...I have gone through this enough times to know to expect a delay...either way, it's not much longer.

What would be super cool would be to have SassaB ready for purchase before November. November will mark the one year point of when the idea of SassaB was born. I would love to have completed everything the month before so I can say, "We launched in under one year."

Stay tuned to Product X...SassaB will be announced here first and then...Product X will actually have a face!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Crunch Time!

"Create Your Own Style!"

That's our tag line and really, that says it all! The beauty of SassaB™ is exactly that...no two designs will be the same and everyone can "create" their own personal look. Pretty exciting!

We had our photo shoot on Sunday and the pictures came out amazing. The photographer is a friend of mine and did a really fabulous job...he is very talented (shot the opening for Live With Regis and Kelly among many other big jobs) so I knew everything would be top notch.

We had seven models, all of whom had never seen SassaB™ so I was anxious to get their feed back.

This is what I heard:

"These are SO awesome!" " I can't wait to start wearing them!" "ALL of my friends are going to want them!"

The Mom's loved them too and was especially impressed with our price point. "Very affordable!"

I spoke with my Graphic Artist and to quote him..."We should have everything ready for you by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week."

To quote me: "OH MY GOSH, IT'S ALMOST FINALLY HERE!!!"

Now...I'm somewhat panicked...but I knew that was to be expected. I still have tons to do before we start selling and now it's crunch time. I work best under pressure so I know it'll get done but holy cow...there's a lot to do!

So off to work I go...yay!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

It's called a Roller Coaster for a reason

When I received the email saying the remaining pieces of SassaB had been shipped, I was counting the days until the shipment arrived at my door!

So when the 3-5 business days had passed, I called DHL and was told, "I'm sorry but it doesn't look like anything has been shipped to your address and we can not locate the tracking number you are providing."

UGH!!! REALLY?! COME ON!!!

I honestly thought, this is it, I can't do this anymore...this whole inventor thing stinks...SassaB will never get off the ground. I was having a full out pity party.

And then...the door bell rings...I can see the bright red and yellow uniform through the glass in our front door and I literately RAN to open it. The DHL guy must have thought I was nuts because I was jumping up and down (really, I was!) saying, "You're here! You're here! Yay! It's finally here!"

DHL guy looks at me and says, "Miss, these packages are really heavy, where could I put them down?"

I was so busy gushing that I had not even let him in yet. Ha!

Besides being thrilled that all the pieces of SassaB had arrived, the point to the story is this: Being an inventor/business owner is a mental roller coaster! Just when you think you're kaput and just can't take it a minute longer, something wonderful happens to remind you that this is YOUR dream, your vision, your hard work and DON'T GIVE UP!

*Note* I called DHL to ask them why they did not see my order in their system and their response: "I'm sorry, you spoke to someone who did not know what he was talking about."

Yes...emotional roller coaster...but one I am happy to be on!