But, I've traveled all over the U.S. for trade shows, seminars and sourcing. I've also spent time in Mexico, Thailand, Taiwan, China, S. Korea and India searching for the factories and manufacturers to get the right products from. I began my career with Tandy Leather at the age of 15 as stock boy and sales clerk in Lubbock. By the time I was a Sophomore at Texas Tech Univ. I had been promoted to m
anager of a Tandy specialty store in Lubbock. Then in 1986, I bought the Tandy Leather franchise store in Lubbock. After 3 years, Tandy corporate office asked me to move to Fort Worth and become Director of Research and Development. Within 2 years of moving to Fort Worth, I had been promoted to Buyer and then the next year to Merchandise Manager. When Tandy Leather was purchased by The Leather Factory in 2000, I was given 2 days notice and ushered out the door. Having all of this experience and a real love for the products, plus all the contacts from my 27 years with Tandy, I decided to go this direction. Since I received no severance package or compensation for my 27 years and all the money I had invested in TandyCrafts stock ESOP program was worthless, I had to begin with what products would fit in the trunk of my car and just hit the road to find customers. After 6 months of driving around, meeting store owners and building a base of customers, I decided to try a website. I had no idea how to get started or how to even get published on the internet. But after long hours at my computer and a lot of experimenting, I had my first page published. Now 17 years later, I have the current site and a 2500 sq. showroom in south Fort Worth. I'm concentrating on more new product designs and innovative products...because that's my passion. Since I've always lived in Texas, since I love Texas, since I feel like a part of Texas and Texas is a part of me...I added my initials to the middle of Texas (HA) and I came up with TexHAs. TexHAs products have a Texas flavor with some HA inspiration...or vice-versa. My sincere thanks to all that have helped me to get this far. Thanks for the orders. Thanks for the interest. But most importantly, thanks for the support and encouragement. Thanks y'all.
