Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

From Hollywood to Entrepreneurship: Reinventing Your Brand with Dana Bowling | Emily Blumenthal & Dana Bowling

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Dana Bowling, a former Hollywood casting director turned entrepreneur, shares how she walked away from a high-profile career to build a business on her own terms. In this episode, Dana reveals the behind-the-scenes realities of Hollywood, the pressures of personal branding, and how she successfully pivoted into coaching creatives and entrepreneurs—helping them find their voice and build authentic businesses. Whether you're an emerging handbag designer or a creative professional, Dana’s journey offers valuable lessons in reinvention, resilience, and owning your narrative.

Takeaway Points
Branding Beyond Hollywood: Learn how personal branding applies across industries, from casting to fashion entrepreneurship.
Embracing Career Pivots: Discover how Dana leveraged her skills to transition into a purpose-driven business.
Authenticity in Business: Explore how showing up as your true self can build trust, engagement, and lasting success.

Our Guest, Dana Bowling is a business coach, speaker, and podcast host of Daily Dose of Dana, where she shares insights on entrepreneurship, branding, and navigating career shifts. From Hollywood to business strategy, she has mastered the art of reinvention and now teaches others how to do the same. Her insights highlight the power of storytelling, visibility, and embracing change to stand out in competitive industries. 🎧 Don’t miss this inspiring conversation with Dana Bowling.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

Buy Emily’s Books: “Handbag Designer 101” & “Savvy Suzanna’s Amazing Adventures in Handbags”



Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner

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Speaker 1:

I would get very, very frustrated because I would rather you not hire me at all than hire me and let me waste my energy and my time teaching you and getting so invested in your success. And then you saying like, yes, I'm going to do it. And then a week later I'd be like show me. And they would be like oh, and meanwhile you're like commenting on my content, and I know you're watching Real Housewives, and I know you're like going out and posting pictures of you and your martinis and like, why can't you post one 30-second reel of you doing of your business? Yeah, so it's priorities, right?

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Hello, welcome to Handbag Designer 101. I am here with the illustrious Donna Bolling of Daily Dose of Donna, I am so over the moon to have this. I feel like I have a celebrity, maybe because you're in LA and I'm not. But thank you, thank you. Thank you for joining us today. This is very exciting.

Speaker 1:

I am so excited to be here and I feel like I am with a celebrity, because I love New York and I want to be in New York.

Speaker 2:

Oh well, you know, grass is always greener, isn't it? Although our grass is totally frozen over right now. There's no grass to be seen. Well, our grass is burned from the fires. Touché, oh my gosh. So I have been a loyal listener and you know, once you have a platform like this, that it's a micro flex that you can reach out to people, and nine times out of 10, they'll be amenable to chat. So it was pretty exciting that you were open to this, and I'm just so excited to dive right in. You were a casting director once upon a time.

Speaker 1:

I was, I was. That was kind of my foray into the world. I mean, I'm from LA born and raised and I had, you know, an element of being part of the industry just through my dad growing up, because he was an OBGYN working in the. I know that's kind of a weird kind of entrance Vagina to.

Speaker 1:

TV. He delivered a lot of celebrities' babies. So when I was a kid, I grew up on sets. Just because he would bring me on sets, because he delivered Jean Smart's baby and he delivered Jacqueline Smith's baby from, like you know, charlie Nichols and Kmart Smith's baby from, like you know, charlie Nichols and Kmart, yes, and, like you know, like Goldie Hawn and like all these people, and so we would go and like be on sets. And I remember being a kid and going to Designing Women, which was a show when we were young. I don't know if you remember that. Wow, that's amazing. That was my first time being on a set, on a sitcom set, and I was like this is so cool and I thought everyone felt that way. But my sister, who is two years older than me and ended up going into like biopharmaceuticals and events- but comma pause.

Speaker 2:

That tracks because firstborn girls are animals and they color in the lines, they do what they're supposed to and they freak out if something's out of line. So I get that because my older sister's a lawyer, so I totally respect that because I'm the black sheep of two.

Speaker 1:

It's so weird right, like she became, she would go and be like okay, and I was like, oh, this is the coolest thing ever. And I just was always really enamored by the industry. And even when we would go to Universal Studios, like the Backlot Tour as a kid, I just wanted to jump out of the tram and like go into the sets. I loved TV growing up, but when I left college I immediately got an internship in the casting department on a Disney show and then moved my way up and started being a casting director, got my first show when I was 26 years old on a sitcom and did that for about 15 years. And when I stopped working in casting I worked as a talent agent as well towards the end of my casting world. And when I stopped working in casting, I worked as a talent agent as well. Towards the end of my casting world. And when I stopped working in casting I started trying to.

Speaker 1:

I kind of had to like re, like pivot and figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life. I was, I had newborn babies. It's terrifying when you are Super, super terrifying, and I actually went through. I mean I was 30, I want to say I was like 37, 36 at the time and I truly felt like I was at a midlife crisis. I was so young, but it felt like a midlife crisis because I didn't want to go back into the industry. There were so many things wrong with that world and it's kind of weird. I felt like I jumped out right before it changed so much and that entertainment industry is such a mess with COVID, and then, like the strikes and everything, just it turned. So I feel like I jumped out right before it really got hard. But I had to start my own business and so before I did Daily Desi Donna, I started like all kinds of weird businesses. I did like 15 different businesses before.

Speaker 2:

As you do yeah, what did you say I before, as you do. Yeah, what did you say? I said as you do. Yeah, as you do, it's your idea, shopping. And then you're thinking like what will stick, I think. And you know I speak to my students and one of the first questions I ask them is what child you are in the birth order, because it so determines who you're going to be, the kind of student you are, how you work as a group, who's going to be the captain, who's going to be the one that coasts, who's the one who's going to go under the radar.

Speaker 2:

So I think, to most people, doing what you did would probably be something they would be terrified to. But to someone like you and me, as I can assume, it's just kind of an organic like okay, well, obviously, like, what else am I going to do? And you are totally resistant to the idea of not even so much failing. But like, well, what I have no choice, like this is just the next iteration of what I need to do at the end. So I totally get that. What were some of the things you tried?

Speaker 1:

Well, I just remember my sister. Actually, she kind of like pulled me out of my spiral at that moment because I remember, I'll never forget. You know, they always say like you have to hit rock bottom. In this moment I felt like I had hit my rock bottom because it was a Monday morning and I'm a real doer. If you can't tell, if you listen to my podcast, I go five days a week, I am nonstop, I am constantly online, I'm chronically online. I am constantly creating content. I mean, you kind of can't get rid of me, right? No, I don't like being stagnant and I don't like not doing and making money and working and work. But I had these young babies at home and I didn't have a job, and part of the reason I didn't like casting a lot of people don't know this when you're casting, you're an independent contractor and you're waiting for the next call, and that was the worst part of casting is because you don't really have control over your career. Right, you're just sitting and you're waiting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know, once you get the job you have control, but then between gigs you kind of have no control. And that's really hard, and so I felt like I really wanted to have more of a say over what I wanted to do. But I didn't have any say. I was just laying there. I remember I got really sick and I ended up getting mono. I was 37 years old with mono. I was like what? This happens when you're in high school. I thought Like the pizza disease.

Speaker 1:

But I guess that it's like Epstein-Barr it sits and it's stress related, and so I had a really high fever. I had babies at home and my sister and I were on the phone and I was crying to her. I was like what is happening to my leg. And she said watch this video. And it was Gary Vee, and I don't know if you know Gary Vaynerchuk, but this was like 2000,. What 17, 18?

Speaker 2:

I don't even know. It was like wake up, get over yourself, get going.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was when he was so viral, you know, and he was like do something with your life. And basically this video said you got to use your calling card and I don't remember exactly what the video said. Essentially, the message of the video was take something you already are good at and kind of use that to create a job. And whether or not you want to do that for the rest of your life, that can be determined later. But you can't start over by doing something that you have no idea what to do, because you're never going to like make it big by starting over a new skill that you've never done before. You kind of start with something you already do and then start and like pivot from there, right? So I actually started by creating acting coaching from home and virtually for kids, which I was a casting director for kids. I discovered Zendaya like I brought Zendaya to Disney, debbie Ryan, who ended up I don't know if you would know who she is. Yeah, of course I have kids.

Speaker 2:

Yes, she was just me the nanny who wore high heels. I didn't understand.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly that didn't make any sense.

Speaker 2:

And we knew it wasn't New York also because they kept referring to the freeway, and I wish the writers would recognize nothing is free here, so it is a highway, there are tolls, move on the end, but continue Exactly. So we grabbed Wolfie.

Speaker 1:

Ryan, like we found her tape when she was auditioning from her little room in Texas, like we did a lot of those things. And so we had credibility my partner and I, my casting partner and I but I was on my own at that point. So I had the credibility, I had the ability, I had the connections. So I decided I don't want to do this, this is not my long-term gig, but I can do this. And I started an acting coaching business.

Speaker 1:

I connected with some of my agents, I put it out there and, before I knew it, I was so damn busy and I made so much money doing that that I actually couldn't handle how busy I was. Within six months, I was making so much money and I was so busy that I ended up like literally getting so overworked that I had to turn work down. Like my business flew off the radar. Like it was crazy. My husband was like whoa, I was working from 6 am to 11 pm, yep, yep, yep. But it wasn't for long because I was like, wait, this is not what I want to do. I just didn't want to work with actors. That was not the long-term goal. I didn't love the show business world and especially working with kids and their parents, because that's ultimately what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

You're working with kids, yep.

Speaker 2:

I can tell you, having worked with designers for upwards of 20 plus years I always refer to it as basement to Beyonce that they come in terrified, scared, dumping their life story to you. And then a little bit of attention and all of a sudden it's like I'm not taking that deal, I'm worth this, I won't come and I'm like do you realize that the sun will come up and down and people will do things without you? Everybody can live without you. So ego is something that I think is the devil's work when it comes to working with people with talent.

Speaker 1:

I thought I didn't hit the ego as much. For me, what I was experiencing was I felt it was really hard for me to see how much money parents that didn't have the money to show out were putting into this world.

Speaker 1:

So that's actually what was hardest for me. Is that my rate? I could have charged $1,000 an hour and people would have paid it. I could have charged $5,000 an hour and people would have paid it. Like the money does not know any bounds when it comes to getting your child an opportunity in this business. It's crazy, like I was getting gifts. I was getting like $500 gifts from some of these parents Because people are desperate to get their children on TV.

Speaker 1:

It's wild. People are giving up their lives to move to Californy, to LA, and it was devastating to see, because I'm thinking to myself I don't know how to tell you this, but your kid just isn't going to do it. And this is from the bottom of my heart, not to break your heart, but I've just seen it on the casting side. I've been on the other side of the table and I know what's out there and it's just not going to happen for your kid it's not, and so you know a lot of people would and I hate to say this in hindsight, like if you're in the handbag world you know what sells, you know what's going to actually do it and you've seen people out there that will you know.

Speaker 2:

They'll rip their hair out, but you're like you just don't know. I don't know if you have it. No, well, it's not even so much if you have it, but if you have the capacity to do it, like maybe that's it. You know, and it's really tricky. And PS to people throwing money at you wait till your kids get older and you see SAT, act tutors and college counselors and people for camp. I mean, the amount of things relating to children that people are willing to throw insane amount of money at is kind of ridiculous.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean luckily with that college counselor situation, I think it's. But one of my best friends is a A-list college tutor and like guidance here in LA and she works with a lot of celebrities and, yes, she doesn't like take your test for you. There's none of that, it's all legal. But it's the same kind of thing because like this housewife mentality right, the Beverly Hills housewives mentality, where it's like, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2:

If we start talking about that, the whole conversation will be about Bravo, I have to like zip my mouth. We have to stay on top. Oh my God, I mean, if we get into the Justin Baldoni thing forget it.

Speaker 1:

I have so many thoughts.

Speaker 2:

We'll all be about many thoughts, so many thoughts. Yeah, I think it's a really interesting point, though, in terms of recognizing that you found something you're really really good at, in terms of recognizing that you found something you're really really good at, but it's, you know, choking you and almost asphyxiating you, that it's not joy, it's pain and it's suffering and you're not enjoying it. So how can you commit to doing that longer than you need to?

Speaker 1:

I really struggled with it. I really did because I was also struggling with money versus passion and enjoyment, and actually I remember. So it was 2019. It was December of 2019. My mom had just turned 70, and she decided to take 17 of us of her family for her 70th birthday. 17 of us, I mean she didn't like take us all. We all financially… invested, but 17 of us went together to Thailand for 70th birthday. All of us went for Christmas and Hanukkah or whatever. I'm Jewish, hello. And we all went there and had the best time ever. We went to Bangkok and Phuket and we walked around the beaches and swam and whatever. And I remember walking down the beach one day and just saying like I think I'm going to rip the cord. I don't know what it's going to be.

Speaker 1:

I think I have the ability to kind of pivot my business and work with entrepreneurs, because I was starting to kind of like play around with the idea of taking a lot of my abilities, because people were starting to come to me and saying, how did you build this business? And so I knew I could kind of try to work it out and I was trying to follow my heart. So I came back January of 2020. I had just moved into my current house and I decided, okay, I'm doing it. And I announced I'm going to stop doing this business, the acting business before pilot season pilot season in the entertainment industry and I knew I had to do it before pilot season because pilot season is technically approximately January, february. This is how it used to be. January February through about April, may is like this really, really intense time for auditions where every single network and it used to be it's not this way really it was just like attacking with scripts and auditions and so if you're an actor, you have 15 auditions a day, right. So I knew I had to kind of pull the plug before pilot season and I remember announcing it and devastating my clients and everyone was so upset about it.

Speaker 1:

I made the decision. Well, two months later, not even COVID. The reason why I decided to do it before COVID or did it before COVID, I will never know how I made that decision but there was no pilot season, there were no auditions, I would have had no business, I would have had no money, my life would have been completely like at a screeching halt and instead every single person needed to start their business from their computer, started a business on Instagram using video content, which is what I was teaching anyway. At that point I had pivoted to doing that anyway and my business blew up doing that. So it was crazy. I kept like jumping the gun and making it. It was nuts. I just had very weird luck.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. So you moved into working with people and teaching them how to become, how to video themselves, how did you handle that?

Speaker 1:

How to use video content and online content how to build their businesses on Instagram. Because that's what I did. I created an Instagram account for my online acting coaching. I started to teach people tips online and it was the first of its kind in a long time, because this was 2018, 17. And I started a podcast called the Young Actor's Guide. So I used a podcast, instagram Reels, whatever all those things, and I started to teach that method. And I mean, yeah, it was weird, I don't know. I just don't have rule books. I just kind of go with the flow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, if you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand, broken down, to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

Speaker 2:

For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the Handbag Designer Bible, founded the Handbag Awards and created the only Handbag Designer podcast. I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale. Whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction, the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass is just for you. So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it bag. Join me, Emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. So be sure to sign up at emilyblumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code podcast to get 10% off your masterclass today. At what point did you pivot that podcast to Daily Dose of Donna?

Speaker 1:

So then I pivoted the Young Actors. So I put the Young Actors Guide aside in 2019. 2020, I started Show Up on Video. That was another podcast that I did. I did Show Up on Video until 2020. I think I stopped it right when Daily Dose of Donna started. So 2023. Now this is a whole other boat. So end of 2022, I also get bored. A lot.

Speaker 2:

I get that. I respect that Such a Gemini. I'm first day of cancer. I get that. I respect that Same Such a Gemini. Yeah, so I'm first day of cancer.

Speaker 1:

So I feel that, oh, okay, we're similar. So I'm June 11th and I have like I get bored, I get bored, I get antsy. Which is why Daily Dose of Donna really works for me, because the stories are changing every day and I thing, so Daily Dose of Donna this is how this started. It was the end of December 2022. And show up on video was getting stale for me. The video content coaching it was the same thing every day. It reminded me of acting coaching. And the reason why I thought stale for me is because it's very frustrating for me to teach content to people who either A don't take my feedback or don't take my instruction and don't implement it. So people were paying me a lot of money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then not listening to what you were telling them to do.

Speaker 2:

Or just not doing it. I know, I know it's so interesting. It's funny. I had a professional coach on yesterday who was actually from LA she called herself professional coach on yesterday, who was actually from LA she called herself, I think, a creative recovery specialist or something like that. And we had this long chat about people who hire you for your expertise.

Speaker 2:

And it's gotten to the point, after contracts are signed, as clients, and I say I have to be very to the point because I don't have the bandwidth otherwise to say I'm going to give you feedback. But I can give you two things I could tell you what you want to hear and I could tell you what you need to hear. And if you sign off on what you need to hear, then you're committing to me in this kind of contract that I will be honest with you, but you need to follow through on yours, your end, because if said work does not work and you do not get a return on investment, you cannot come to me saying it didn't work because you didn't follow through. It's super challenging to deal with people because I call it, like I said, basement to Beyonce tiny bit of attention. I don't need to do this, I don't need to do that and, as you know, kid actors, bloggers, influencers, podcasters. Now they are a dime a dozen. There are so many of them that everybody could survive without another one.

Speaker 1:

I would get very, very frustrated because I would rather you not hire me at all than hire me and let me waste my energy and my time teaching you and getting so invested in your success. And then you saying like, yes, I'm going to do it. And then a week later I'd be like show me. And they would be like, oh, and meanwhile you're like commenting on my content, and I know you're watching Real Housewives and I know you're like going out and posting pictures of you and your martinis and like, why can't you post one 30-second reel of you doing of your business? Yeah, so it's priorities, right, and so that would bother me. Number one. Number two I would realize that, like I can't teach you how to be compelling on video if you actually just don't have the ability to be compelling on video. It's like acting, yeah, and some people are just and I hate to say this, this is also with podcasting Not everyone can have a podcast. Nope, some people are just not great audio like speakers. They're just not.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, no it's. I mean I've been, as I'm sure you have. I've been on a lot of podcasts as guests and I've been grateful, obviously, for every invitation, and you know I would never poo poo on anything, but it's so fascinating how many people have a script, one by one, by one by one, and all I keep thinking is I don't understand how you can have an audience who would want to continue to listen to that, because you have to really emphasize your USP, your unique selling point, and every conversation, as you know, has to have something that stands out to make it different from the last one.

Speaker 1:

You have to, you know my favorite podcasts and the reason why some of the best podcasts in the list of like top charts are the Joe Rogan style or the Mel Robbins style. They are not scripted, they are literally just conversations. I would never, ever, listen to a podcast that felt like I was listening to a scripted question. One time I'll never forget like I can't even remember the name of the podcast because that's I blacked out after this. But one time someone asked me to be on their show and I don't even know if I ended up doing the show because I couldn't believe the gall they sent me. They said can you be a guest? And I said, of course, like I'll very rarely turn down a show unless it's like really inappropriate or like very like offensive show. Yes, of course. And then they sent me okay, here's a list of questions that we want to ask you, yep. And then they said can you answer the list of questions here, like can you write back the list of the answers? And then they ask can you write more questions for us to ask you?

Speaker 1:

And I was like no, is this an article that you want to write or is this a conversation? I don't do this. I've never scripted anything I've ever done. Even on Daily Dose of Donna, I write bullet points Like that's not a conversation I ever want to be part of, so podcasting is supposed to feel natural. Anyway, the point is, when I was teaching this, it was really hard. It was frustrating to me. So I was feeling very irritated at the end of December 2022, because I was like I feel like a failure as a coach and as a teacher because my clients are not succeeding and that makes me feel bad and I don't want to keep taking people's money and not seeing results. Then it makes me feel like a grifter.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

I do. It doesn't feel good when you're not seeing results. Then you say, like I want people to go and tell their friends look at what I started, because I worked with Donna Bolling, exactly Not like, oh, I worked with Donna Bowling and I'm still, you know, not launching anything, right, right, right. So I was getting frustrated. And then, speaking of Mel Robbins, I was walking my dogs on January I hate the date, january 6th, but that's actually the date. It was January 6th, 2023. And I'm walking my dogs and I'm listening to a podcast of hers and she's talking about some sort of, like you know, coming up with a passion or whatever. You know just one of her. She always talks about the same thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I don't really listen to her regularly, but this just popped up in my feed Right and I'm so glad I listened to it, because she was just saying like sometimes, when you're feeling like unmotivated or bored, which was so tracking in that moment, you got to just find something that you like to talk about. No-transcript.

Speaker 2:

And I thought to myself I love reality TV.

Speaker 1:

I love pop culture. I love documentaries. I love talking about, just like bullshit, celebrity culture and whatever. I know how to podcast. I love the Toast. That's actually what I thought about. I love the Toast. You know the girls the Morning Toast it used to be the Morning Toast, the Toast, and at the time I was listening to the Toast. But they're young, yeah, they're very young, yeah, they're 30. And they were talking about like Bad Bunny and Kylie Jenner and I'm like how could there be stories I cannot met with? I know, I know, and they're very millennial. I'm 43 now. At the time I was 41, I was like I kind of would love a show that was a daily show but kind of had more stories geared towards things that maybe I was more interested in. I don't see it out there, maybe I need to create it. And so I started Daily Dose of Donna.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. I understand and I think that's really interesting. When you started this podcast, did you think it was going to be just you? Did you think you were going to get advertisers? Did you think that you would need someone else to produce it? Or you just said I got this, it's fine, I can handle this.

Speaker 1:

I'm old hat at this at this point, no, I had no and honestly, I'd never done a podcast that was really making money. None of my podcasts were ever money-making. All my podcasts were just ways to get clients and all of them were working to get clients, but none of my podcasts made money. Daily Dose of Donna was the first podcast that I actually started to make money on and early on, like about six months in, it started to do really well on YouTube a few months in. And then I started to work with an ad company because they started to see the traction I was starting to. I was on Dumois. Dumois reached out to me because she saw me on TikTok, so I was on Dumois and then I started to rank on the podcast charts because of that. Then I reached out, or an ad guy reached out to me and I started to connect with them, where he started to do paid ads like spoken ads, right right.

Speaker 1:

Since then I started working with someone else, but now, because of that and because of being on a guest on other shows and just ranking and stuff, now I have like a variety of income streams from the show. So it makes me a lot of money. I don't want to say a lot. That sounds crazy, like it's not like that. I mean, I'm still. I'm still working hard for the money, but it's definitely made it so that I don't need to work anymore with one-on-one clients and it's a hundred percent my sole incomes, like my sole income. This is my income, so it's really incredible and there's so many ways to make money through a podcast now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think you said a few things that are really core takeaways. One, you knew your audience. Two, you knew the topic. Three, you were passionate about it. Four, it wasn't something that you would suffer doing. And five, you just went in and said pardon my French, fuck it. I can just do this because I've been through this so many times that I'm already seasoned at talking, going in front of a camera, telling the story, not thinking twice, knowing the lighting, all those things, having the right microphone.

Speaker 2:

I think, though, from a branding perspective and again I just want to make this clear you know, I'm super grateful for you taking the time, especially, you know, since people would say this doesn't align, but this 100% aligns, because this is all about building your own personal brand and how to do it strategically and thoughtfully, because that's the recipe for success. That's really, that's the secret sauce. So I think everything you've said, like I did it, it made money. I was miserable, I did it, I made money. I got sick, I did it, it made money, and then I just said this isn't for me anymore.

Speaker 1:

You know what's interesting is like. So they always say like your flow state, right, like when are you in your flow state? I was never in my flow state until this. Why? Because and that sounds like ooh zen flow state. I'm not like that at all. I'm so not that girl. What is in your flow state when you are able to not only be happy but also be successful and grow Like I love what I do?

Speaker 1:

When I say I love what I do, I have never once in my hand to God, I have never once woken up on a Monday through Friday and been like I can't believe I have to work. Today. I am so excited to sit down at my computer. Sometimes I'm like I wish my show was earlier in the morning rather than at 11, because I'm excited to like get into it. Yep, yep, I love what I do. It is like an excitement thing. I have a live audience that I've connected with. I have a community. I have a Facebook group. I truly look at my audience as my friends. I connect with them online. It's taking a thing that I'm obsessed with and finding a way to monetize it right. I'm not saying that just because it's like a bullshit thing to say it's truly, I found my thing right. There's a lot of downsides to it, trust me. A lot of downsides. People are really, really cruel online.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I've been through that on the receiving end purely as a result of the designers with whom I've worked and doing, enough of these fashion, beautiful people events that you know someone doesn't go through, where they associate me with somebody else or something that some other designer has done, and then, all of a sudden, it wasn't a reflection of me until it wasn't successful.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, it's really cruel. There's a lot of really mean things out there that can be said about you, lots of lies things being said about you know innocent bystanders in my life my mom, my husband, my kids, like things that are just really, really out there. I think people get very, very invested in the content that I am talking about, like the people that I talk about reality stars or podcasters or whatever. It's very interesting. I have noticed there is an unhealthy group of fans when it comes to certain content that I talk about. People take it really far with a lot of reality stars.

Speaker 1:

So that part has been a learning curve for me. I never experienced that with anything I've ever done before in this world, in this world of like, because I never was, you know, so much of a public facing person.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, right. Thank you for sharing all this stuff, because I know, especially getting this kind of feedback, it almost makes you think twice like, is it worth it? Because the comments are really savage and you know your biggest weakness or the things you're most insecure about people can find really fast and you have to kind of swallow it and then go back and forth and say, do I want to read this? Do I want to read the feedback? What if it's constructive? No, I'm going to delete everything. Do I stop the comments?

Speaker 2:

And it's a really delicate balance that you have to do, especially as a brand, because that's who you are and you have to take the good with the bad. It's just the nature and I have this case study that I do with my students about Zappos when they started, and I believe this is still true to this day. I can't confirm, but anybody who started would spend at least a month, I think, in customer support just to understand at the front lines what they're dealing with on a day-to-day. So they know at the end of the day, once the packaging is done, this is who you're dealing with and they have this really incredible way that the biggest minus they can flip that, whoever's the biggest asshole and the most difficult person, they give next day shipping, they check in, they follow up, because those are the people that really want the most attention and when someone's being so cruel to you, you can't do that.

Speaker 2:

You can't go back and say are you okay, Is everything all right? Why are you taking this out on me? I didn't do anything to you. Why are you so bored Like maybe get a hobby, go for a walk, have a coffee, so I'm sure, with what you do in your nurturing phase and who you are, it's kind of hard not to be like am I mad at you? Am I angry at you? How do I handle this? Because, as a brand owner, that's a huge challenge.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely. It's a balance, and I think that I always have to kind of like check in with myself, like am I ready to take it on? I've stopped taking it as personally. I don't take it as personally anymore.

Speaker 1:

I realized that people will say anything and everything constantly, all the time. I can't please anyone all the time, everyone, all the time ever. I'm speaking to way too many people every day, like there's just way too many people in my audience at this point to please everyone. At the beginning, when I was still really small, I really wanted to please everyone, and now it's way out of my hands, like it's way out of my hands At this point. If I'm speaking to, you know, over 10, 15, 20,000 people a day, like how in the world I can't even please 100 people a day. Like how can I please that many people? So, and people are too loud, you know, and my viral reels, my viral TikToks, like the comments are wild. Luckily, luckily, the majority of people are kind, you know, but the louder people are mean, so, like, or the mean people are really loud, right, so that sometimes tends to hit. But I've, I've really just I've grown so much.

Speaker 1:

It's a muscle when you build a personal brand and when you go out there and decide to, you know, put your face on your brand and go out there. It's a strength to build a muscle and, honestly, it should be a muscle that you are building every single day because your skin needs to get thick. You will get taken down. You will be told that you have bad content, you have bad products, you have bad branding, you're ugly. You will be unsuccessful. You know, et cetera, et cetera. People will attack you for you know your religion, your politics, your this, your that. Everyone will come after you. At the end of the day, you have to have faith in who you are inside, and that's what it comes down to.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my God, that's a perfect way to tie this in a bow. Donna, bolling of Daily Dose of Donna, thank you so, so, so very much for joining us on Handbag Designer 101. How can people find you, follow you and just get more of everything that is so awesome about you?

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Well, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at thisisdonnabowling. Donna is spelled.

Speaker 2:

D-A-N-A.

Speaker 1:

Super annoying, but that's my claim to fame.

Speaker 2:

It is what it is.

Speaker 1:

What can you do? And then Daily Dotes of Donna is on YouTube every day, all the episodes. And then, of course, Apple Podcasts, Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2:

So appreciate it. Thank you, thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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Emily Blumenthal

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