In case you’re looking for Part 1 and Part 2, just follow the links. With our new “Statement Makers” line about to debut, I thought it was a good time to do some reflecting – and also to create a place online where I can send people who ask, “How’d you get all this started?” (If you’d like a sneak peek of our Statement Makers, check out the new slide show on our Rebagz homepage.

Part 3 – Day-to-Day Life @ Rebagz
When the work day ends in Los Angeles, where our offices are, the work day is just beginning in the Philippines, so it’s not unusual for me to be up past midnight doing business by phone and email. But I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be working this hard because I know there are so many people who would love to be in my position.

I love talking to our customers. It’s actually one of my favorite things – seriously! Sometimes that’s the only social time I have all day. I encourage them, and our sales agents on the road, to give us feedback. We want to know the bad as well as the good so we can make our designs and the way we do business as user-friendly as possible. And if you’re one of our customers already, you’ve probably noticed how fantastic Rorey and Shasta are. I’m so lucky to have them working with me.

Our customers are the reason we’re as successful as we are, and one of the things that’s so vital to me is to celebrate every small inch of success and express my gratitude wherever and to whomever I can. We’ve had a lot of extraordinary opportunities that have seemingly fallen into our laps and I’m so grateful for each and every one of them.

For anyone thinking about getting into this sort of business, I highly encourage it! It’s incredibly rewarding. But in terms of creating one’s own design business, just realize fear is a part of it. Most people let the fear stop them, but there’s no true courage without fear, and you need a lot of guts to stick your neck out in fashion. When you have those dark, frustrating days, and I’ve had scores of them, just remember that if it was easy, everybody would be doing it – and succeeding at it. The only thing that can keep you down is if you choose not to get up again.

I think 3 parts is enough for my retrospective on Rebagz. Any more navel-gazing on my part and I’m afraid I’ll get a crick in my neck.

Thank YOU so much for all your support!

XOXO Marty