Sandy Sandler is a marketing expert and creator of the Bowdabra® bow-making tool. Her products are designed to help the “creatively-challenged” create beautiful crafts, accessories, and home decor. For craft ideas, visit www.bowdabra.com.
Sandy Sandler is a marketing expert and the creator of the worldwide best-seller, the Bowdabra®, a crafting tool that helps people make professional, hand-tied bows. Her products and supplies are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros.
“The best way to be successful in business is to remain persistent, be unique, explore new markets, expand your network and perhaps, most importantly, never give up. If you’re willing to do what others are not, you’re that much closer to achieving your goal.”
Sandy Sandler had already earned a degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California, when she attended Thunderbird, earning an MBA in International Management.
Upon graduating, Sandy started her career helping companies to develop export markets for their US made products. While achieving much success for her clients, she was approached by an importer to bring a very successful Venezuelan toy to the US market. The importer had tried for two years to sell the toy to the US market, but had failed. Sandy simply changed the packaging and the name, and when she introduced the “Klika” to the U.S. market, over 3 million Klikas sold in just nine months.
After a few years developing a variety of import/export programs for companies, Sandy started Blue Zebra Corporate Gifts. Blue Zebra Corporate Gifts became Corporate Gifts, Inc.; a company that helped people launch their gift basket businesses from home. This venture is what lead her to develop the Bowdabra®.
Sandy was having a hard time training people to hand-tie professional-looking bows. She wasn’t alone. When she attended gift and craft trade shows, Sandy recognized that the bow-tying workshops always drew crowds. However, despite the demonstrators’ best efforts, retailers and crafters were still unable to create professional bows on their own. Sandy purchased several bow makers, but she found them too difficult to use.
After a great deal of research, Sandy contracted a design engineer, and when finished, she had the Bowdabra, an inexpensive, “goof-proof” bow-maker that made a wide range of professional-looking bows. With the help of an angel investor, production began on the Bowdabra and Sandy prepared to begin presenting it to retailers.
American retailers turned down the Bowdabra in favor of competitors’ bowmakers they admitted were inferior. Frustrated with paltry response by the U.S. market, Sandy headed overseas to market the product she so believed in. The Bowdabra began to sell container loads in Europe, Brazil, and Australia. Sandy decided it was time to bring the product back to the US!
When the Bowdabra debuted on QVC, it sold out of 5,000 units in less than 10 minutes. Over time, QVC reached $2.5 million in retail sales of the Bowdabra. Now, the Bowdabra can be found in craft retailers all over the country, with sales and customer loyalty continuing to rise.
Sandy and her company, HPA Enterprises, Inc, are based in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Sandy shares a home with her beloved Husky, Vivee. In addition to marketing and performing demonstrations of her bow-making tool, Sandy is also active in the community. She loves volunteering for anything from habitat for humanity to Opportunity Village’s Festival of Lights.
