Tote-ally Functional Bags for Women on the Go

Notes from Chris

Episode 801

The infamous salad incident happened on the New York City subway one morning in the spring of 2015. Every day, Hannah Fastov took the subway to her job as a product developer at Brooks Brothers. Between her purse, lunch, and a change of clothes for the gym, she needed to take three bags with her each morning. As she was passing through the 6-train turnstile at 33rd Street, one of the straps of her bags got caught, launching her salad from that bag into the darkness of the subway.

Although disappointed in missing out on lunch, Hannah ended up with something better: a big idea.

She started asking the women in the locker room at the gym if they liked their gym bags, to which she was met with a resounding, NO! Hannah probed them further, asking what they would change about those bags if they could. She hastily scribbled down notes, and then continued to ask around each time she returned to the gym.

After a few weeks, Hannah designed a more formal survey, which she sent to her friends and family on Facebook. Then they shared it, and more people saw it, then those people shared it, and so on and so forth until Hannah had a large pool of responses.

She learned that women wanted bags with more pockets. They especially wanted ones with pouches dedicated to footwear and water bottles. Plus, many urban women, like Hannah, wanted bags that were hands-free.

This led Hannah to her first design, the Infinity Bag.

With the help of a designer she found on Upwork, she created the first real design—including a spec sheet—and sent it around to factories. A month later, her first prototype was finished. For seven more months, she revised the design until finding the perfect prototype. She also came up with the official name of her new company, Go Dash Dot.

In 2018, her first year of working on Go Dash Dot full time, the business grew 78%, and in 2019 it’s projected to do at least that much.

By paying attention to what her audience wanted, Hannah is building a successful business, one that brings in six figures annually while she’s still in her twenties.

Since starting Go Dash Dot, Hannah feels more independent and confident. She loves getting to do a job that she’s passionate about. Who knew that selling tote bags would actually lift a weight off her shoulders!

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Go Dash Dot: You should tote-ally head on over to Hannah's website to check out her bags!
• Upwork: The freelancing platform that Hannah used to help her get her designs in tip top shape

SEE ALSO:

• Louisiana Oil Worker Creates Premium Duffel Bag: This born-and-bred oil worker didn’t need to strike oil to create his profitable, “badass” side hustle
• Tote Bag Titans! Teachers’ Custom Bag Shoulders $110,000 Profits: Two teachers create a multi-tasking tote bag from scratch, building it into a six-figure business in just six months
• Environmentally Impassioned Citizen Designs Plastic-Free Bags: A Washingtonian carries her passion for sustainability on her sleeve with a line of eco-friendly grocery bags

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,