An Entrepreneur's Journey

 
First Tradeshow - 2010

It has been 10 years since I introduced the Moso Bag- August 2010 at the NY Summer Gift Show which used to take place in the Javits Center. I had a carbon copy order pad, a cheap banner sign, a table cloth and some Moso Bags.

I had no idea what to expect, all I knew was that I was 1 of 2,300 exhibitors that were showing their goods trying to convince store owners to place an order. I spent 5 days standing at the booth trying to explain to people that this odorless bag absorbs odors in cars, closets, bathrooms and pet areas- that it lasts for two years and to rejuvenate it, you just put it in the sun for an hour or so once a month. Then after two years as an air purifying bag you can cut the bag open and recycle the bamboo charcoal into the ground to help your plants grow. I gave my spiel about 200 times. 

The idea that this bag without a scent could do all that was too far fetched for the store owners to believe. They stood there, with the Moso Bag pressed up to their face, sniffing it, shaking it, squeezing it. Their eyebrows were crunched down, eyes staring at me, combined with a facial expression that clearly said, “this guy is nuts”. I just kept at it. In order for them to try to sell the Moso Bag in the store, I had to guarantee the sale, ship it to them for free and wait a month to get paid. I only had one size at the time- the 200g bag. It was available in two colors charcoal and beige. I wrote 23 orders over 5 days. 

This gave me the confidence to try another trade show, Expo East in Boston. Only problem was, I needed to order more product and pay for the trade show booth. With my product on guaranteed sale, I only had enough money to do one or the other. I was 32 years old, living with my Dad and putting any money I had into launching the Moso Bag. Nowadays, it might be socially acceptable to live with your parents at 32 but back then, it was weird. I put the trade show booth on my credit card and I ordered more Moso Bags with whatever money I had left. I had to assume that the Moso Bags I sold at the NY Gift Show were going to sell through and that I would need more product to fulfill the orders I was going to get at Expo East, which was just two months away.