durtbagz: navigating the speed bumps

hi gang. oddly enough, i heard from more than a few of you about my absence last week. i'm still floored that anyone reads this nerdy blog, and it was really cool to be missed, even if just a little bit from, this gigantic tech world.
i spent five days in yellowstone national park in wyoming and a tiny bit in montana. i hiked daily and saw things i still can't believe exist. i'll write about it in my flake-off friday edition, but know that it did a mind and body good to escape to the real world of no cell phone, no TV and no internet.
okay, back to durtbagz. a few things have happened since i last wrote and i'm happy to say that they are all on the positive end of things. i start off this monday a happy entrepreneur and i'm savoring the feeling. the issue of the name durtbagz has been somewhat resolved for now; as resolved as it can be at this point anyway. after the initial discovery, i did more and more research on the 'other' company and have come to the consensus that the chances of them finding out about me and my company are slim initially. that is until i become huge and durtbagz is a household name. at that point, i'll have to prove that we're not competitors. i don't envision people strapping my bags onto their dirt bikes to carry tools and spare parts while they go off jumps. i picture my customers carrying books, beach gear, ipods, us weekly's, babies, over-night gear, and gym clothes in their bags. (missy, can we try it out with ainsley? i'll need a shot for the website...). so, between my partner, my attorney, and myself, we've decided to keep on keepin' on for now. i'm more than happy with this decision.
also, the whole issue of printing small quantities initially and dealing with all of the other issues that spun off of that major one seems to be shrinking. a good friend of mine (the do-gooder who's blog is linked to the right) set me up with a friend of hers who has his own promotions company. not knowing exactly what he could help with, other than to give some advice or connections, we met for lunch to talk things over. i came to lunch armed with some sample bags and my number one issue. he came armed with some serious suggestions that at first seemed too good to be true. he had done some preliminary research for me prior to lunch and found out that most distributors have programs that allow for smaller orders without all of the smaller issues and without charging ridiculous amounts. in fact, this particular distributor would not only print small quantities (i mean, as low as 1 print), they would also be holding the inventory as they are also the distributor and they would ship directly to my customers. the only glitch is when i do a tee shirt promotion, i'd have to have the bags shipped to me first and then add the shirts before sending them to their proud new owners. um, exsqeeze me? could this really be a true story? there was really a company that existed that would do everything i needed? one that solved all of my issues? yes. the answer is yes. are we using them? no. the bags they had were not the ones i wanted to use. but, the light at the end of the tunnel is 1) that via my new promotions partner, we had access to many, many more distributors than i could ever single-handily reach, 2) because of this, we have access to more bags than ever and we're 50% of the way there in finding ones we want to use (we've found the totes, we're trying to discover if the same distributor has messengers we likey), and 3) most distributors have some sort of co-op program like the one i talked about above. basically different versions of the same deal. if, and this is a big 'if', the distributor that has the totes we want can get us the messengers we also like, and we like their program, my biggest speed bump will have been cleared. for the time being. maybe cleared is a strong word. lowered a wee bit, is more like it.
not only do i feel i've gotten my groove back for this company (it wasn't gone, it just needed some fresh air and mountain hikes), i can't emphasize enough the power of talking to your friends and associates about things like this. you never know who will be out there than can help you out and vice versa.
my do-gooder friend, you already know you've got some free bags coming to you. maybe someday we can take a bunch and fill them with goodies for your next trip to africa...or eventually, durtbagz will be so big, we could be oprah and build a school. totally up to you.