We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kathleen Cisarik. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kathleen below.

Kathleen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

Like you stated, some people do believe business owners are ‘lucky’ and the success of your business occurs overnight. That is not the case in my story! I developed my business idea years ago and finally made the decision to commit full-time to creating unique and one-of-a-kind handbags different from any other big designer that are both affordable and great quality. One of my main goals was to have my manufacturer based in the U.S. Not only that, but based in Texas, which we found after several months of calls and research.

One of my many strategies consists of being very organized. If you are not organized, I do believe your business will not be as successful and, at some point in time, will fail. Even though organization is a very simple tactic and strategy, it is very vital when running a business.

Another strategy that I take very seriously is setting boundaries between my personal life and my business. At some point you need to take time for yourself, including taking days off and treating yourself to aid burnout. Since I run KMC out of my home, I quickly learned the importance of work-life balance. My regular routine starts early by attending my 6:30 AM workout class which gives me energy and enthusiasm to start my busy workday.

There have been many meaningful moments along the way, including big turning points involving finding my manufacturer, being invited to participate in markets all around Texas and finding fabrics that I know will have customers hooked on the KMC label.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I was pulled to the fashion industry due to my love for product design and creativity. I was so fortunate to have graduated from Baylor University, where I chose to take the path of focusing on Entrepreneurialism, which led me to pursue starting my own company.

I always strived to learn how to sew, so it all began during the spring of my sophomore year when I taught myself how to sew through watching YouTube videos, which led to the idea of sewing a handbag. Several broken needles and spools of thread later, I learned I was hooked on designing custom made handbags. It all started from the desire to pursue a creative outlet…and here we are years later with our own manufacturer producing my initial handbag designs I curated in 2018-2021.

KMC Handbags is ‘uniquely designed and made for you’ in the great state of Texas. We launched our first professionally manufactured collection in March, 2022 and I am thrilled to announce we are about to release our Fall Collection in the next few weeks. The First Collection includes: The Essential Clutch, The Original Crossbody and The Trap Tote. Our Fall Collection includes a few new products that I predict will sell out super-fast! Be the first to know about all things KMC by visiting KMChandbags.com and/or following us on Instagram + Facebook @kmchandbags.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I honestly get emotional from how KMC all started from a stress-free, hobby, escalating over the years to an LLC, launching The First Collection, and then becoming my full-time job. From starting KMC as a hobby then turning designing unique handbags into a full-time job is so rewarding!

Key milestones include moving to Austin to work in the fashion industry, but then 6 months later my contract position sadly ended due to COVID. This led to me interviewing at different design and clothing companies and then deciding KMC is really what I want to pursue full-time. Next, I sought to find my manufacturer in Texas (taking almost a year in 2021), perfecting our prototypes, approving them in person for the first time, launching The First Collection (March 15, 2022) and now prepping to launch The Fall Collection in the next few weeks.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

We sell our products through our website: KMChandbags.com. In addition, we will be participating in Markets this fall and winter including: Roundtop @ Bader Ranch, Lakeside Country Club Holiday Market in Houston, Austin Fashion Week, A Christmas Affair: The Night of the Nutcracker by The Junior League of Austin & more. Please stay tuned by following us on Instagram @kmchandbags or viewing our website, listed above, for more market information and where you will find KMC next!

Contact Info:

• Website: kmchandbags.com
• Instagram: @kmchandbags
• Facebook: @kmchandbags