Start a bag business they said….
Let’s run a quick scenario. Say you meet this person and while you are super open to the idea of dating them, you quickly second guess your life decisions when they say they would like to start playing cornhole. Cornhole?! Isn’t that what I used to play in college? Adults don’t play that. Oh well, I’ll go watch and drink cider while reading my latest serial killer novel, what’s the worst thing that could happen? Fast forward to a few months later, and you now know your partner can sew, do crazy formulas involving resin density vs volume vs friction testing and hates all things technology. Time to run! But instead you wait it out because our toxic trait sometimes shows in the worst ways when we least expect it.
So you hang out a little longer and start to see that cornhole is growing on you and across the nation. Then you remember that you’re really great at running a side hustle, so you jump blindly into the pool and start a cornhole bag company. Now, this would be all fine and dandy if this is where the story ends; however, it is only the beginning. The beginning of sleepless nights mixed with the all too well known…. Bag Maker Guilt.
You might ask what is this guilt I speak of, well here’s the deal. While it is super easy to be a consumer of cornhole bags, it is a whole vibe and lifestyle to be the maker. Just yesterday I woke up in a full fledged panic attack unable to figure out just where this was coming from. Wouldn’t you know it…. It was because I knew the new agreements were coming out and this brings all kinds of new stressors(more to come on this). As makers we want everyone to be happy and love our products but the truth is there are going to be times when we fall short and maybe it’s not our fault.
Fun fact #1: 80% of the fabrics we all use are imported, which means they get to come into a port and then sit….and sit…until someone unloads them and checks them in through customs. Believe it or not, this can sometimes last 2 months! I don’t know about ya’ll but have you noticed the shortage of workers these days? This directly affects the time frame for supplies and while some companies buy massive amounts there are some who buy enough to get through 3 month spans…it’s us.. We are some companies. I have threatened to fly across the country before to get my own damn fabric rolls out the boat! They told me I was being ridiculous but when you have 50 people asking on a daily basis where their bags are, you want to make things speed up so they don’t hate you!
Fun Fact #2: Magical Resin…. Does anyone know roughly how long it takes for a 2000lb box of resin to get from one side of the country to another? Let me tell you, it’s more than a week! If you’re lucky enough to live close to your supplier, we all envy you because the price of shipping is atrocious and honestly it would be so nice to not have to chase down your order. Yes, I said chase. One time we had to drive to another state to get our resin order because there weren’t going to be any freight folks working for at least 3 weeks, and mama wasn’t going to wait that long.
Don’t get me wrong, there are days when you want to throw in the towel and go back to living a regular non chaotic life but where would the fun be in that?! So when you see your favorite company falling a little behind, maybe give them some grace and a positive word. I promise you somewhere there is a maker wondering when their supplies will come in and praying they don’t get a bad review over it.
Until next time…
-Sassy