One Business Helps Your Luggage Stand Out In The Crowd
How often do you travel? Could you imagine grabbing your luggage after you’ve exited the plane, heading to your destination and then finding out that what you grabbed wasn’t your own bag? That can be a scary thought!
The UBrand Stick Tagz are not only good looking, but will make it easy for you to differentiate your luggage from any others that might resemble it. If you have a child in school, they can also use the Stick Tagz to design their backpack.
Michelle Warford, the founder of UBrand, is going to give 5 of our readers a chance to win a set of 3 monogram letters each! Does this sound like something that you could use?
Send us an email at bizop.giveaway@gmail.com with “UBrand” as the subject. In the email tell me:
1. What would you do with your 3 monogram letters if you won?
2. What 3 letters would you like?
The giveaway starts now and runs until September 25th at 11:59pm. This giveaway is limited to residents of the US.
All giveaway rules apply. Only qualifying entries will be counted.
What is UBrand and when did you launch your business?
UBrand is a company that makes luggage and baggage personalization effective and fun. Our products, called Stick Tagz, are flexible, 3-D polymer-based labels designed for use on luggage, backpacks and other kinds of gear. Since there is no sewing or ironing involved, you can just stick them on your bags and go! They are made to adhere to nylon (which most baggage is made of) and other synthetic fabrics semi-permanently. This means that they can easily endure rough airport baggage handling or tough playground action without coming off. Alternatively, you can pry it off with a fingernail should you want to remove it for any reason – and it leaves no sticky residue.
UBrand launched in 2007. Our products sell primarily through our website and are also available some retail stores, with many more stores coming in the next few months.
How many different designs and styles do you offer?
We currently offer two different versions - the alphabet for monogramming and 14 graphic designs, with more monogramming styles and about 20 more designs coming in the next few months.
What inspired you to create these self-sticking designs for luggage and other gear? What are some of the most popular designs among your customers?
The inspiration for UBrand Stick Tagz came to me after a airplane flight alone with my two children, ages two and five at the time. As any parent knows, getting children that age to sit still is not easy! After we deplaned and arrived at the baggage carousel, they just wanted to run around. So there I was - trying to herd in the kids with one hand and find our bags with the other. It was then that I realized that there needed to be an easier way to identify luggage. Luggage tags that affix to a handle are useful, but can be hard to spot because they attach to the top of a bag - which isn’t always visible right away. I needed something cuter than duct tape that made my bag immediately obvious to me and everyone else around me.
Later, bags and kids in tow and on my way up the escalator to curbside, I found myself staring at someone else’s black luggage a few steps ahead of me. Here was this big, blank and boring bag and I remember thinking to myself “Luggage has got to be one of the last untapped advertising mediums out there”. And the idea just made too much sense not to pursue.
Our most popular design is the monogramming letters for luggage – pure function for travelers. All of our graphic designs sell equally well among travelers and are also very popular with parents of children who like to decorate their backpacks, making them stand out from the crowd.
How did you come up with the name for your business?
UBrand is about extending something personal about yourself on to the bags you carry; How many times have we all felt that moment of frustration at the airport baggage carousel? Why should our bags all look alike? Usually the only brand we see on bags, backpacks and luggage are the maker of the bags’. Your accessories are an extension of yourself – put your own unique brand on them. That’s how the name seemed to fit. As UBrand’s product line grows, you’ll see this theme repeated in new products.
What have you learned as an entrepreneur that you’ve been able to apply in your everyday life?
They’re both interchangeable, with parenting in particular. When you take on your own project/new business, it becomes another one of your babies. How well you tend to it and nurture it directly affects the outcome. They both cause you lose sleep, require constant attention, and make you feel like you’re at your wits end occasionally, but it’s all a labor of love. And you always know that the outcome is worth the sacrifices along the way.
Have you always wanted to become an entrepreneur? How did you find yourself following down this path? How have you been able to keep yourself motivated?
Have I always wanted to be an entrepreneur? No, not knowingly. However, now that I’ve gone down this path, I see how much it suits my personality. I’m very creative, right-brained, love doing research and use my imagination. Those qualities are what serve me well in product development. To that end, the UBrand concept came to me at a stage in my life when I had the time and resources to pursue it. I just couldn’t’ shake the idea – it made too much sense to design a better way to identify bags. I started doing some late-night research, which turned into to phone calls, meetings, perusing material samples, consulting with adhesive experts…on and on. It was a business before I knew it.
Keeping motivated is not an issue for me. Everyday brings challenges and opportunities to keep things exciting.
When you look back, are there any mistakes that you’ve made as your business has grown? What were they and what have you learned form them?
Well, it probably took me longer than it should have to realize I was an entrepreneur! I had been staying home with my kids for a few years and just had this folder on my computer’s desktop titled “Business Project” that I was accessing and working from daily when it finally hit me that it wasn’t just a business project any more - it was a business! In retrospect, I should have taken myself more seriously in the beginning, declaring it a business sooner. All’s well that ends well, but I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself had someone else come out with my idea sooner (which is patent-pending). Moving forward, I will most certainly recognize “the symptoms” of business development and organize accordingly!
Did you have any previous experience or education that you were able to apply to UBrand?
Prior to taking time off to stay home with my kids, I was a producer at several internet companys, most notably Yahoo. This was back in the late 90s when Yahoo still had a very entrepreneurial, non-corporate feel. Producers were given a lot of rope to research and develop their properties. I started Yahoo! Health, one of the top starting points for researching health issues on the internet. In many ways, that position was a great primer for becoming a product developer. During that time at Yahoo, If a producer had an idea that would enhance our product offerings and could back it up with research, we were free to develop new enhancements to our properties - knowing that we were ultimately responsible for their successes or failures. We wore a lot of hats in our positions and had a lot of responsibilities. Also, all of the business exposure I had at Yahoo, coming from a more creative background, was invaluable.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 or more years? Any special goals you’d like to meet?
Product development is an adventure wherein one product seems to lead to another. My partner and I are working on several extensions of UBrand that allow for easy product personalization, while continuing to build out our existing line of Stick Tagz for luggage and bags.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs just starting out?
Several things:
1. Follow your gut and if you have an idea you can’t shake, by all means take the time to do the necessary research to see if indeed your idea fills a hole in the marketplace. Chances are, you’re not the only person who had felt that “moment of pain” and would appreciate a product like you envision.2. Prepare yourself for a lot of work! Being an entrepreneur takes more dedication than you can possibly imagine. We all occasionally hear stories of those entrepreneurs who whip out a new product and make millions but the real story is usually that years of a person’s life went into making that happen. Stay realistic and don’t give up.
3. Keep your networks strong through Linkedin, Facebook or your old Rolodex. You never know who you might be able to offer the advice you need to help you get to your next stage. Most people are happy to help.
cassy on September 16th, 2008 2:46 am
This is a great idea for travelers as it’s very easy to identify your luggage with the help of this Stick Tagz.
Good luck surely this business has far way to go!
Anne on September 17th, 2008 6:36 am
I actually used these on a recent trip to Europe. It was like having a target on my bag and I would cut through the crowd and grab it, leaving everyone else in the dust. Bought a few stickers on a whim, and they turned out to be a great time-saving strategy.
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