We recently connected with Amber Waldeier and have shared our conversation below.

Amber, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

After three grueling years of illness, we were taking our kids to see the ocean for the first time. My youngest waited half of his life, asking me daily to describe our ‘someday’ trip–an even deeper stab of pain. The resort is set, the flight times picked: but wait: We have to pay how much? …per person? …per leg? …for a carryon??

I dug my heels in. I will not pay their baggage fees. I will find a way around the fee. I want to invest that same baggage fee amount on an another adventure we will treasure our entire lives. After all the “No” replies to my kids these last years, I want to look my kids in the eye and tell them, “Whatever excursion you want to take, we will!” We are celebrating L I F E and H E A L T H and A D V E N T U R I N G!

I read all the fine print, I laid awake at night searching for a solution. …The cervical neck pillow. It’s perfect.

I’ve never owned one, but they are allowed on a flight in addition to a personal item. They don’t incur a bag fee and they are filled with fluff. If I claim this untapped real estate around a passenger’s neck, fill it with rolled clothes … thus, the Zipplicity {Un-Luggage} Bag was born.

I couldn’t find one to buy, I couldn’t find instructions to sew. Had no one ever done this before? It was so basic, yet brilliant. Friends and family encouraged me to look into it. I poured over the patent database, searching US and abroad. This idea was not out there. Could I own this idea? Who do I talk to?

I remember the day I learned what a patent was. I can feel the carpet between my toes, and see the surroundings of my childhood bedroom in my mind’s eye. My dad handed me a Post-it note and told me the story of Arthur Frye’s stumbling into the concept. My third grade mind marveled at a person getting money for each Post-it sold but I was more impressed that a person could own an idea! I knew I wanted to own an idea one day; a clever, functional, helpful bit of simplicity, just like the Post-it note.

I was trained in the discipline of graphic design. I excelled in publications. I have a knack for taking all the disorganized information and putting it together in a visually attractive, easy to digest storyboard. All these skills easily translated into home organization when I was a stay at home mom with my children, keeping the heaps of crafts, clothing and toys tamed in our 1000 sq.ft. home.

My resourcefulness was put to a new test. In 2017, I became ill and was unable to eat. My team of doctors could not find the source of my pain, and every month I grew thinner and weaker. But life keeps moving! My family’s needs didn’t stop, I had small children. School, meals, family time, bedtime. I learned to calculate every step and every bite to do just the basic of basics. I only had energy for the things that mattered most. A hug out the door, a warm smile to greet their return, a meal with conversation and a bedtime story with cuddles. This was my life. For three years.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello! I’m Amber Waldeier (wall-DIRE) and I’m the founder of Zipplicity {Un-Luggage}. I patented a travel product and started a Luggage Company just months before a global pandemic shut down all global travel indefinitely. {What?!?} My invention is a suitcase disguised as a neck pillow. Take that familiar toss-and-go cervical, c-shaped neck pillow: Pack your personal belongings inside and you have yourself a suitcase that is invisible to airlines as luggage and incurs no baggage fee.

I save my customers money, time and peace of mind. For the over-packer and minimalist alike: you can bring more on a flight, free of charge. You will save time (and avoid stress) by skipping baggage check-in and the dreaded carousel wait. Wearing your belongings around your neck provides a secure feeling. You can rest knowing no one will mess with your belongings: giving you peace of mind.

Zipplicity is unlike any other. This bag is more than a suitcase: you can snooze on it. It’s more than a neck pillow: it’s packed with possibilities! It’s a new breed of bag: Un-Luggage. We want to transform the way you travel and disrupt the multi-million dollar Baggage Industry.

I fell into my business when I discovered my creation for a family trip was not on the market. A few unsuccessful MLMs were the extent of my business training but had a new lease on life after being cured from a three-year debilitating ailment and was up for a new endeavor.

As a woman-owned, locally sewn, cottage company, entrepreneur and start-up: I’m most proud of my patent. It has been a life-long dream that life had distracted me from even remembering til it happened. It’s been an infusion of vitality into my previous years of hardship. Isn’t it wild: that out of devastating pain and loss: that a tiny seed sprouts and life begins to grow once more?

I want potential customers and followers/fans to know they can find vitality and life after pain, and maybe even fulfill a childhood dream. Do not ever ever ever give up.

Our family beach trip was on hold for years. The fourth surgery fixed my pain issue. I launched into marketing my business 12 days before COVID shut down all global travel. 2020 was the year I intended to sell enough product to pay for the patent, ha! It’s laughable now: but those were dark days in my business. My initial business name was not able to be trademarked. Delinquent sales taxes, upside-down after sewing too much inventory, and flop sales events when travelers were too afraid to stop and talk. Obstacle after obstacle, and failure after failure, step after painfully-slow-step. This courage I now possess is only because of the years of pain and persevering. “Fail Forward” is one of my favorite business mantras.

A value of my company is Security. Wearing five pounds of your belongings on your shoulders is mentally soothing. I can feel that I have my necessities with me. The substance feels like a weighted blanket and is reassuring and calming to the mind and soul. Zipplicity donates Bags to Foster and Adoptive Families to provide security and a place for treasured belongings for Foster kids. A children typically arrive to a foster family with nothing… maybe a grocery bag with clothes. Outfitted and supplied with essentials in this new haven, older children typically aren’t receptive to a blanket or stuffed animal for comfort. It is my heart to give this unique bag to foster kids (especially tweens & teens) so they can keep their belongings nearby; sleep with them or wear them: knowing their belongings are safe –while their person is safe –in the shelter of their new home.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I sat across from my patent attorney, asking questions that felt kindergarten-ish. He was so kind to explain, “You want to look for a Cut and Sew shop, I’m sure there are several local ones here in Kansas City….” I want to start manufacturing my idea and I didn’t even know what to call what I was looking for.

One search, one call, one call back. one meeting. It’s wise to get multiple bids, talk to multiple service providers: but the receptiveness and warmth of that voice, the apparent knowledgeability: I knew I had found my manufacturer before even setting my eyes on this amazing one woman show.

Meeting in person confirmed I was in the right place. Experience with stretch fabric, small-batch manufacturing, no-waste, catalogs and swatch books, vendors and referrals. A blitz of resources, a flat-fee for a spec item, a per unit price and we were sailing.

I was a favorite of my manufacturer because I had a very finalized pattern with written instructions. By no means am I a professional seamstress — I had even sewn my own fingernail one day — trying to make a twentieth version on my little home machine. It was scary to walk in: I had no idea what to ask, and if my desires could actually be a reality. What if the cost is more than I can pay? So many unknowns: I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

The lesson I’ve learned is that slow is good. When I’ve moved quickly, I’ve wasted money buying supplies that are unneeded; I’ve wasted energy pursuing an idea that is a flop, etc. When progress moves slowly, thought and intentionality perfects your idea. It is highly frustrating when progress moves slow though! Road blocks, shipping delays, supply line backups, your supplier ghosts you: this is what I mean when I say progress moves slowly. IF I’m frantic and crazed by the delay, I miss the opportunity to hone my product, establish my workflow, organize my finances (there’s always something productive to do in the waiting.)

Quality Control: There was a problem with zippers being sewn into the Zipplicity Packs in the wrong closed position. I really hated to ask for this bundle of zippers to be flipped around. It’s such a minor detail and it will be time consuming work. As one of my sewing specialist did her fixes, she found a faster way to install the zipper, simplifying three steps into one! It was brilliant and such a valuable lesson for me: really good things can come out of the adherence to quality, even when it seems a trivial waste of time.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

How I met my marketing company.

I was attending yet another networking event. I came because a new acquaintance had organized the event and the small gathering would all be from my suburb. I really only want to mingle and hand out cards and leave. I love the conversations, but hate the talks from the podium. Maybe I will leave. Maybe I’ll just wander the building til it’s done, there’s a few more people I hadn’t met. I am so glad I stayed.

I’ve been networking for years and have met lots of marketing people. There had not been one I even wanted to interview, much more work with. And a small handful that had tried to set up a meeting, I had no qualm in dismissing politely.

I approach the last two men of the gathering, business cards in hand. The younger of the two, sets everything on the table to his left and with arms outstretched says with enthusiasm, “Tell me everything! What is this genius product you spoke of when we all introduced ourselves before the boring podium talking!” His smile, his curiosity, his enthusiasm: this is how you want your advertising company to feel about your business.

I showed him a product and told him his coat would fit inside my Zipplicity Bag. (It didn’t, ha!) and we talked a bit before taking a walking tour of the building. Another fascinating thing about this character was that he had brought a pocket-size tri-pod and was taking 360s and tour videos of a library. This told me that he enjoys his work and makes work fun, it was quirky and wonderful from my perspective.

Sitting down together after his followup call confirmed this was the firm I wanted to grow with. “I don’t just want you to pay me to make a video here and there, I want to advertise for you holistically, long-term, living and breathing your product. I’ve dreamed of selling a product and this is the product I want to sell.” His energy, his team’s energy, outlook and values, it’s all a perfect match for my business. If you wait long enough, you’ll find the thing you’ve been looking and praying for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zipplicity.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zipplicity/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zipplicity
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zipplicity/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJOvrrSdBxn-Df7dsNSAjog
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@zipplicity

Image Credits
Rebecca Graham, Amy Hargrove, 123rf.com, Amber Waldeier