I met Doris in a woman’s entrepreneur site and was impressed with her products. As parents, we’re always looking for tools to build our parenting skills. Her ideas for Wishing Pixies helps parents set boundaries, and their adherance. Below is her story!
My name is Doris Letts. I am married to an amazingly supportive husband. I am the mother to 3 grown children. I have worked as a 5th grade teacher for the last 25 years.
1) What exactly is your business and what inspired you to start it?
I created a product called Wishing Pixies. The idea came to me in late 2012 while visiting a friend’s house and seeing an interaction between her children. Once the initial idea was in my mind, I began waking up in the middle of the night with more ideas. These thoughts just would not let me be. I began to believe that it was God who was waking me with thoughts and ideas because he wanted me to create and bring this idea to life. I had no experience in manufacturing, business, or coding, but yet he led me to everything I needed to do to bring this idea to fruition.
2) In the ‘COVID-19 season, have you had to make changes to keep your business alive? What have you learned about sustainability?
Days before the Pandemic began, I was in New York at a Toy Fair. This event allowed me to gain more retail connections. Within days of returning home my orders were all canceled because the country locked down. On top of this, the App stores made changes to their rules for children’s apps which now required me to make significant changes to mine. The retail stores I was already in also closed and my vendor events no longer existed. The promotion of Wishing Pixies was put on hold and I began making the new changes that the App stores requested. I am still working my full-time job as a teacher, so I have been using some of that income in addition to my online sales, to keep the company alive. It has been a struggle, but I know it will work itself out. I have been doing any vendor events possible. Super small events held in church parking lots or in pumpkin picking patches. Sustainability requires resilience and a problem-solving mindset. There is no time to complain. To be sustainable one must immediately look for solutions.
3) What do you do regularly to take care of yourself?
I go to the gym several times a week and I meditate regularly. These are two things I must do to keep up my energy and resilience.
4) How do you keep yourself emotionally balanced while you are pushing forward?
I put my faith in God. He will not leave me without a way. I just need to be patient and keep looking for his next gift of direction.
5) What’s the best part and the worst part of your job?
I love my product and I love showing it and selling it to people directly at small and large vendor events. The worst part of my job is the endless scams that seem to prey on new business owners.
6) What failure taught you the most and what was it?
In 2008, I suffered an emotional loss, it broke me emotionally for many months. I climbed out of that devastation, forgave myself for my part in the situation I was now in, and then began to build my life back. This experience taught me I can handle any hardships that come my way. It taught me that if I allow God’s support, I can overcome all challenges that face me. It also taught me that our perspectives can change with time. Many times, what we believe to be the worst possible thing that could happen, really can turn out to be the best thing that ever happened.
7) What did you have to overcome personally to be able to do what you do?
I had to overcome the fear of failure. I have it under control at the moment but sometimes . . . ,those fears want to creep back into my mind. Meditation, affirmations, and prayer always work at removing the fear of failure from my mind.
8) If you had advice to give to someone else thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, what would that be?
I think resilience is the necessary ingredient to becoming successful at any goal you set for yourself. Quitting can never be an option.
9) How can we specifically support you?
I am looking for help to spread my Wishing Pixies to the World. https://youtu.be/iOdcJWr4oDA
10) Any last parting words?
Thank you for this opportunity.
WEBSITE: https://www.wishingpixies.com/
EMAIL: [email protected]
TWITTER: WishingPixies Instagram Wishing_Pixies Facebook Wishing Pixies
OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA:_Youtube – https://youtu.be/iOdcJWr4oDA
