Self Made Women: Abbey Glass On How She Started With Nothing and Created A Million Dollar Business
An Interview With Sara Connell
Learn how to read a P&L — the numbers are everything and if you don’t know where your business stands financially, you can never truly grow in a healthy way.
Some people were born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth. Even then, becoming a millionaire is still quite an accomplishment. But people who start from nothing, and especially women who start from nothing, who make it to the top to become millionaires, despite the pay inequalities based on gender, the confidence gap, with nothing but grit, hustle, resilience, and “stick-to-itness”, are on a whole new level. We want to share those stories and inspire other women. In this interview series, we’re talking to “Self-Made” women leaders who started with nothing (i.e. started without investors or trust fund or capital or even people believing in them) and went on to create a million dollar business.
As a part of our series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Abbey Glass.
Abbey Glass encourages women to be self-assured in their femininity from the inside out. We lend a playful elegance to women’s wardrobes, giving them an effortless confidence for every occasion . Founded in 2015, Abbey Glass is a luxury womenswear brand steeped in confidence, timelessness and playful elegance. Through the medium of fashion, we strive to help women embrace their individuality and be self assured in their innate femininity.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you grew up?
I’m the middle daughter of two accomplished doctors, so education and being curious were the most important things in my household growing up. We briefly lived in Australia when I was 6 while my father worked at Flinders Hospital, and my parents always had some exciting trips in the works. I was always drawing and creating in my spare time on long car or plane trips, but academics and doing well in school were very important to me.
My grandparents in New York had an amazing basement filled with games, pinball machines, ping pong, pool…but you could always find me on the Singer sewing machine in the corner while my siblings and cousins were competing in something! My other grandma was a professor and avid traveler — I further found my love for travel and adventure through our many trips together abroad.
Growing up, what were your early experiences and perspectives about money? Or we could say, what was the “money consciousness” in which you were raised? Can you please give an example of what you mean?
I was very aware of money growing up, it was very important to my parents that we put our values before everything else. Looking back, we certainly lived a much more privileged life than most, but my parents were very anti-materialistic, so they very rarely splurged on “things”, our home, our education, and cultural experiences were their priority. As an example, I was discouraged from ever wearing clothing with logos or brand marks. My parents always had very nice cars, but never owned anything flashy or considered “luxury” because they didn’t like the connotation or idea that something was marked up because it had a different logo on it.
Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s talk about what you are doing now, and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers about the business you’ve created?
I design clothing focused on making women feel confident when they get dressed up. We focus on playful classics, something that’s easy to wear, but makes you feel extra special! I started my business designing and sewing custom clothing and very organically, we grew into a thriving ready-to-wear brand distributing through specialty stores, and our own ecommerce site and flagship retail store in Atlanta.
Perseverance and constantly learning have been the two keys to my success. I just finished a year long fellowship with the Tory Burch Foundation that has been my version of business school and taken my leadership skills to the next level.
What was your vision when you started this business? What’s the WHY behind the work that you do? (Please share a story about this if you can.)
I started my business because I love making women feel confident and beautiful. There are many ways to do that, but my love for elegant mid century design, exquisite fabrics and womens tailoring lead me on a path to become a designer. When I started, my vision was very focused on the particular customer I was creating the custom garment for. Now my vision is to design pieces that speak to many women and allow them to enjoy and delight in their special occasions in their career and personal life.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I’ve had the privilege of creating custom pieces for Sarah Blakely! The process with her and her stylist was exciting and it was very interesting to know what someone who has it “all” is still searching for.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I wasted so much time when I was first starting out. I did silly things like ship fabric from NYC to china because I didn’t know there was so much they could purchase for me overseas. I also did silly things like lay marble tile on the floor at my first NYC trade show because I wanted it to look like a store, little did I know there was a fake version I could get that rolled out like a carpet!
We’d love to explore the traits that help you achieve your success. What were the mindset obstacles that you had to overcome in order to reach the place of earning a million dollars? Can you tell us what you did to overcome them?
Because I was a creative entering the business world, I always looked at success differently. I didn’t have a merchandiser or business partner constantly looking at the numbers. I was usually heads down, selling, designing, managing, hoping everything was moving in the right direction. If we had money in the bank, I was doing something right. When we realized we had reached that million dollar threshold, it was reaffirming, but it wasn’t something I held on a pedestal, there were other benchmarks like profitability and team building that were much harder to hit.
What were the external obstacles that you had to overcome in reaching these milestones? And how specifically did you overcome them?
I believe I was my biggest obstacle. I chose to start my business with very limited experience in the industry and limited business education, so I learned a lot of it in the first 5 years. I overpaid people, I got swindled, I trusted consultants that gave me bad advice, I over purchased dud products, the list goes on. The way I overcame my lack of experience and expensive mistakes was revenue and having a handle on a line of credit. I was a good designer, people wanted what I was selling, so we had the money for me to make the mistakes.
Was there ever a point where you wanted to give up on your journey to creating a million dollar business? How did you work through that panic point? Please share a story.
Yes, many times. Especially during 2020 when I really hit a low, thinking I would have to design sweatpants and masks to get back into the fashion business! My husband and mentors were the people who got me through this uncertain time — some of them told me it was ok to move on and start a new chapter. As soon as I accepted that I would be happy and thrive either way, I started to problem solve and adapt and change my mindset like never before. It is probably why we are thriving now!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am so grateful to my parents and my husband. My parents have supported me every step of the way and been my sounding board through the good and the bad. They are also my best advertisers! My husband works in technology and has a very different work life than I do — it’s really great to swap perspectives and help each other overcome obstacles on a daily basis because we have such a different day-to-day but align on values and business approach.
What were the most important resources, tools, affirmations, mindset strategies or practices that you used to build your business to where it is today?
Meditation and exercise are two very important practices for entrepreneurs. There is so much pressure to be a winner every day — these things absorb a lot of stress. The Tory Burch Foundation Fellowship program was a game changer for me — I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to put in the work.
What do you think is the greatest challenge for women and creating wealth/abundance? What advice would you have for someone that is feeling blocked by that obstacle?
Confidence and understanding how to ask for what you want is the biggest challenge for women. There are some great podcasts and books out there that can help with this. I went through a local CEO program in Atlanta that really opened my eyes to how reserved I was compared to men when asking for things because I didn’t have the confidence or had fear of rejection.
Great! Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Learn how to read a P&L — the numbers are everything and if you don’t know where your business stands financially, you can never truly grow in a healthy way.
Always negotiate- things are only worth what you are willing to pay for it, figure out what you can afford, what is the value of what you are purchasing, and negotiate
It’s ok to say no — bad deal, bad customers, bad vendor, it’s ok to just leave it on the table and walk away
HR is hard — people that build your business with you are something that can make you want to quit or make you a millionaire. Make sure they are good.
Everything is an experiment- until you have a hero product selling itself, a lot of things are experiments and it’s ok to fail quickly and try something else. Most of the things you think are going to be a hit, are not and visa versa.
We are sure that you are not done. What comes next? What’s your next big goal and why? What plan have you put in place to achieve it? Why is it a stretch for you? What will achieving it represent for you and for others?
Right now, we’re building out our assortment for mother’s of the bride and groom and wedding guests. There will be a lot of testing involved and so far we’ve gotten great feedback from customers on this direction!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow us at @ shopabbeyglass
And sign up for our email and texting for $25 off your first order!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.
