I always knew it was like a stepping stone to something bigger.

我一直都知道，這就像是通往更大目標的墊腳石。

I'm doing what I truly enjoy, and it also happens to be making money.

我在做自己真正喜歡的事情，而且還能賺錢。

My name is Jenny, I'm 28 years old, and my handbag brand Freya has brought in $9 million in one year.

我叫珍妮，今年 28 歲，我的手袋品牌 Freya 在一年內帶來了 900 萬美元的收入。

Freya is a handbag brand.

Freya 是一個手提包品牌。

We specialize in making really classic, timeless, and functional pieces to support women in their everyday endeavors.

我們專注於製造真正經典、永恆和實用的產品，為女性的日常工作提供支持。

So we originally started as a work bag brand, and then now we have kind of a pretty full collection of everyday bags, shoulder bags, mini bags.

我們最初是一個工作包品牌，現在我們有了一個相當完整的系列，包括日常包、單肩包和迷你包。

I wanted to create a brand that I wanted to see in the world.

我想創建一個我希望在世界上看到的品牌。

So doing everything really slow, intentional, being really transparent in everything.

是以，做任何事情都要慢條斯理、用心，一切都要透明。

Numbers wise, we have a profit margin of about 20 to 25% after all our expenses.

從數字上看，扣除所有開支後，我們的利潤率約為 20%至 25%。

We had positive cash flow for the first time, end of 2023.

2023 年底，我們首次實現了正現金流。

I started Freya after a really, really stressful night of interview prep when I couldn't find a suitable bag.

在一個非常非常緊張的面試準備之夜，我因為找不到合適的包包而開始使用 Freya。

I didn't really have like any great options.

我真的沒有什麼好的選擇。

I was trying to bring a change of clothes.

我想帶換洗衣服。

I was trying to bring my laptop, my portfolio, shoes.

我想把筆記本電腦、作品集和鞋子都帶上。

So I needed everything to have its own kind of compartment.

是以，我需要每樣東西都有自己的隔間。

And I wanted straps that could go over my coat, because this was February.

我還想要可以套在大衣外面的肩帶，因為現在是二月。

I was scheduled for a full day of interviews.

我被安排了一整天的面試。

I show up in the morning carrying like a cotton tote bag, didn't get the job.

我早上來的時候就像揹著一個棉布手提袋，沒得到這份工作。

I had a problem that I wanted to solve, and I thought I could do it well.

我有一個想要解決的問題，而且我認為我可以做得很好。

I used that to pay my way through grad school.

我用它來支付讀研究所學生的費用。

And then it was also the seed money I used to start Freya.

這也是我創辦芙蕾雅的種子基金。

I started Googling, you know, sample makers based in New York.

我開始上網搜索，你知道的，紐約的樣品製造商。

Went through a couple.

經歷了幾次。

I found one based in Brooklyn, reached out to her, and then I started sourcing materials.

我在布魯克林找到了一位，與她取得了聯繫，然後開始尋找材料。

Went to go pick up the sample.

去取樣品了。

It was not impressive.

這並不令人印象深刻。

It was actually very sad.

實際上，這讓人非常難過。

It looked like a kindergartner's art project.

它看起來就像幼兒園小朋友的美術作品。

But now I know, at least I know what I'm working with.

但現在我知道了，至少我知道我在做什麼。

I'm like, OK, there was a lot that I didn't communicate up front to.

我就想，好吧，有很多事情我沒有事先溝通好。

And my sketches were honestly like not much to work off of.

老實說，我的草圖也沒什麼可借鏡的。

So I get it.

我明白了。

I'm like, OK, I tried making this in New York.

我想，好吧，我在紐約試著做過這個。

I'm going back to China anyway.

反正我也要回中國。

Let me try finding a sample maker in China.

讓我試試在中國找一個樣品製造商。

So I asked around my circle, and I got connected with a sourcing agent.

於是，我在我的圈子裡四處打聽，終於聯繫上了一家採購代理。

There were some requirements.

有一些要求。

I was like, I want to be able to know where everything's sourced.

我就想，我想知道所有東西的來源。

I want to know how much everyone's paid.

我想知道每個人的工資是多少。

I want to be able to visit.

我希望能去看看。

I wanted Freya to kind of be my way of showing the world this is what Made in China can look like.

我想讓 Freya 成為我向世界展示中國製造的一種方式。

I'm really, really proud of it.

我真的非常非常自豪。

I'm proud to be Chinese.

我為自己是中國人而自豪。

I don't hide that we're Made in China on our website.

我不會在網站上隱瞞我們是中國製造。

I don't think there's anything to hide, and I'm really proud of that.

我不認為這有什麼好隱瞞的，我為此感到非常自豪。

And then I picked the one that, you know, they took the longest to deliver a sample, but they were very communicative, which is something I was looking for.

然後我選了一家，你知道，他們送樣品的時間最長，但他們非常善於溝通，這正是我一直在尋找的。

And we are still working with the same factory today, four years later.

四年後的今天，我們仍在與同一家工廠合作。

I present to you version one of a linen tote.

我向你們介紹第一版亞麻手提包。

And then after a year, this is what it was supposed to look like.

一年後，它就變成了這個樣子。

I decided to use vegan leather, animal leather.

我決定使用素食皮革，即動物皮革。

You know, like I didn't really feel confident in sourcing and making sure that no one was harmed in making it.

你知道，在採購和確保製作過程中不傷害任何人方面，我真的沒有信心。

So I decided not to go that route.

所以我決定不走這條路。

We invested about $30,000 into producing our first batch, so that included all ordering our materials, ordering hardware, paying our factory labor costs, and then shipping the bags to us.

我們為生產第一批產品投入了約 3 萬美元，其中包括訂購材料、訂購硬件、支付工廠人工成本，然後將袋子運到我們這裡。

Freya actually started as a blog way before we had any product, because, you know, we're going to launch.

實際上，在我們有任何產品之前，Freya 就已經開始寫博客了，因為，你知道，我們就要推出產品了。

We're a no-name brand. No one knows about us.

我們是無名品牌。沒有人知道我們。

There's no reviews. Why would you buy from us?

沒有評論。您為什麼要向我們購買？

I had to give people a reason to buy into the brand and my story.

我必須給人們一個購買我的品牌和故事的理由。

So I thought, let me just share exactly what we're doing.

所以我想，讓我來分享一下我們到底在做什麼。

Like, let me just share what we're doing.

比如，讓我分享一下我們正在做的事情。

So I thought, let me just share exactly what we're doing.

所以我想，讓我來分享一下我們到底在做什麼。

Like, let me share every sample.

比如，讓我分享每一個樣本。

Let me share everything that went wrong and like all the changes that we're making to the designs.

讓我和大家分享一下所有出錯的地方，以及我們對設計所做的所有改動。

I think I collected 2000 emails.

我想我收集了 2000 封郵件。

I was like, oh, you know, 2000 people are in line.

我當時想，哦，你知道，有 2000 人在排隊呢。

I only have 300 bags.

我只有 300 袋。

I know an email, not a single person buys.

我知道一封電子郵件，沒有一個人買。

I'm like, okay.

我想，好吧。

My launch plan failed spectacularly.

我的發射計劃以失敗告終。

I couldn't afford to not make it work.

我不能不讓它發揮作用。

And I had to find a way to sell those.

我必須想辦法把它們賣出去。

Customer acquisition wise, I think for Freya, it was really, really slow for the first two years.

在客戶獲取方面，我認為芙蕾雅前兩年的發展非常緩慢。

I think a lot of our initial following, like saw an ad and then clicked into our Instagram profile and started following us, following the story, following our newsletter.

我認為，很多最初的追隨者都是看到廣告，然後點擊進入我們的 Instagram 個人主頁，開始關注我們，關注我們的故事，關注我們的時事通訊。

First month was okay.

第一個月還不錯。

We sold like 20 or so.

我們大概賣了 20 個左右。

Next month, same.

下個月也一樣。

I had enough to live off of maybe for one or two years runway.

我有足夠的錢生活，也許能用一兩年。

Our rent, I was splitting with my ex at the time.

我們的房租，當時我正和前夫分居。

That was $1,200 a month.

每月 1200 美元。

Honestly, beyond that in food, like I didn't have any expenses, didn't go out.

老實說，除了食物，我沒有任何開銷，也沒出去玩過。

I think after six months in, we would start breaking even.

我想，六個月之後，我們就可以開始收支平衡了。

So like I didn't have to dig into the old savings pile anymore.

這樣，我就不用再去翻以前的積蓄了。

People really wanted more and I didn't have money to produce them.

人們真的想要更多，而我卻沒錢製作。

That really helped me kind of pay for that existing batch because I had a little bit of money.

這真的幫了我大忙，因為我有了一點錢。

The good thing about Shopify is you'll pay back 17% of everything you make.

Shopify 的好處是，您將支付所有收入的 17%。

They'll just take it off the top so you don't really need to worry about it.

他們會從上面取下來，所以你不用擔心。

That's when I graduated from grad school.

那是我研究所學生畢業的時候。

I believe that going from about $2,500 a month to going salary for a UX designer in New York was approximately like $86,000 to $90,000.

我相信，在紐約，用戶體驗設計師的月薪從 2500 美元到 86000 美元到 90000 美元不等。

So I'm like, you know what?

所以我想，你知道嗎？

I'd never had to get a job.

我從來沒有找過工作。

I made my own job and I will pay myself exactly what I would have made otherwise.

我創造了自己的工作，我將為自己支付與其他工作完全相同的薪水。

I think two years in, I saw someone wearing a Freya bag in New York City and that was such a big moment.

兩年前，我在紐約看到有人戴著 Freya 手袋，那是一個重要的時刻。

I ran up to her, we chatted.

我跑到她身邊，和她聊了起來。

I think Freya really came together when I stopped trying to be like other brands.

我認為，當我不再試圖像其他品牌一樣時，Freya 才真正誕生了。

Like in the beginning, I would try to emulate a lot of brands that I looked up to and I like try to speak in their tone.

剛開始的時候，我會模仿很多我崇拜的品牌，嘗試用他們的語氣說話。

Transparency has been one of our core values from the very, very beginning, ever since we started as a blog.

從我們創建博客開始，透明度就是我們的核心價值觀之一。

Why not share exactly how much it costs to make a Freya bag?

為什麼不分享一下製作一個 Freya 手袋的具體成本呢？

We did a round of price increases our second year because I didn't really know how to price our products.

我們在第二年進行了一輪提價，因為我真的不知道如何給我們的產品定價。

So I increased everything by $20.

所以我把所有東西都加了 20 美元。

I sent out an email telling everyone like, hey, just letting you know, like we will be increasing the prices of our bags by this much.

我發送了一封電子郵件，告訴大家，嘿，只是想讓你們知道，我們將把包的價格提高這麼多。

We're not gonna do that until, you know, end of this year, end of this year.

我們要到今年年底才會這麼做

So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it.

所以我想，好吧，我就這麼做。

I'm gonna do it.

我會的

I'm gonna do it.

我會的

I'm gonna do it.

我會的

I'm gonna do it.

我會的

Until, you know, end of next month.

直到下個月月底。

So if you want to get your bag now, now's your chance.

所以，如果你想現在就拿到你的包，現在機會來了。

Everything we earned was invested like straight back into the business, straight back into more inventory.

我們賺到的所有錢都直接投入到業務中，直接投入到更多的庫存中。

And then at 2023, November, we had a really big Black Friday sale.

然後在 2023 年 11 月，我們進行了一次真正的黑色星期五大促銷。

And then all of the money that we invested into that inventory was like actually profit.

然後，我們投入庫存的所有資金實際上都是利潤。

So that was the first time we actually had money in the bank to kind of play around with.

所以，那是我們第一次真正有了錢，可以在銀行裡玩玩。

I think it worked because we were so, so niche in the beginning.

我想，之所以能成功，是因為我們一開始就非常非常小眾。

And we really, really appealed to one specific customer.

我們非常非常吸引一位特定的客戶。

Right now, we're definitely expanding our customer base, but our core customer from the beginning was very, very specific.

現在，我們肯定在擴大客戶群，但我們的核心客戶從一開始就非常非常明確。

And I think that's what like got us through the first couple of years.

我想，正是這一點讓我們度過了最初的幾年。

I think it worked because we were so, so niche in the beginning.

我想，之所以能成功，是因為我們一開始就太小眾了。

And we really, really appealed to one specific customer.

我們非常非常吸引一位特定的客戶。

I didn't start Freya to be acquired.

我讓芙蕾雅出生不是為了讓她被收購。

I started it because I wanted a creative outlet that I could turn into my job.

我創辦它的原因是，我想有一個創意的出口，可以把它變成我的工作。

I think now, maybe this year,

我想現在，也許就在今年、

I can start calling myself designer.

我可以開始稱自己為設計師了。

Because in the past, I'm like, hmm, not sure if I am yet.

因為在過去，我就像，嗯，還不確定自己是不是。

But this year, I'm like, okay, I think we've hit a stride.

但今年，我想，好吧，我覺得我們已經步入正軌了。

I think I can call myself designer now.

我想我現在可以稱自己為設計師了。

If I were to go back in time until 21st century,

如果讓我回到 21 世紀、

If I were to go back in time until 24-year-old Jenny, one piece of advice,

如果讓我回到 24 歲的珍妮身邊，我有一個建議、

I would tell her to really follow her intuition.

我會告訴她，要真正跟隨自己的直覺。

Trust yourself.

相信自己。

You already have everything it takes.

你已經擁有了一切。

Here I am, you're five.

我在這，你五歲

Definitely underestimated what we did in the last five years, but I'm just glad we kept going.

我肯定低估了我們在過去五年裡所做的一切，但我很高興我們能繼續前進。

I wanna do a lot more community events, really connecting with the people that make this all possible.

我想做更多的社區活動，真正與那些讓這一切成為可能的人們建立聯繫。

People show up to events with their Freya bag, telling me like, hey, this was my birthday present or something like that.

人們帶著他們的芙蕾雅包出席活動，告訴我這是我的生日禮物之類的。

I also wanna partner with anything that empowers young women to chase their dream.

我還想與任何能讓年輕女性追逐夢想的組織合作。

I think that's what Freya embodies.

我認為這就是芙蕾雅的體現。

It's like, hey, you can do it too.

這就像，嘿，你也能做到。

You can do what you want and you can create something as long as it feels meaningful to you.

只要你覺得有意義，你就可以做你想做的事，你就可以創造一些東西。