The Reinvention Process

My Entrepreneurial Journey - Part III

Reinventing Myself

Last month I posted about my entrepreneurial journey derailing. At this point, I had to find something else to do because my business was so unique that there wasn’t room for me to continue in that line of work. I had many offers from industry friends and colleagues (for which I am eternally grateful), but once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. I didn’t want to go to work for someone else.?

Plus, I had an opportunity I wanted to pursue. So in 2012, I started a side business called Building Minds. We taught engineering concepts to kids using Lego bricks. We ran summer camps, after-school programs and birthday parties. I never thought this would become a full-time job, but I ran with it, considering the circumstances. I left the aviation industry and entered the world of entertaining and educating kids.

For the record, I knew very little about this industry. All I knew was that I had a son who had a love of a plastic brick that verged on obsession. I had heard about the concept of Lego camps from a friend in another state and knew I wanted to send my son to one, but when I looked for them in the Oklahoma City market, none existed. I had to have it, and I knew that if I waited for someone else to bring it to market, it wouldn’t happen. So, I dove in headfirst and, like many entrepreneurs before me, figured it out as I went along.?

It is easy to talk about rebranding a company but rebranding yourself is another matter. Many business owners have their identity wrapped up in the business they own. I was no different. Moving from a professional, service-based business in the aviation industry to becoming an “educator” was no small undertaking. I affectionately became known as “The Lego Lady,” an identity I came to embrace.?

But it took time. I had always seen myself as a business owner. I still was, of course, but the business was more focused on education, so my identity shifted. Instead of identifying as a professional businesswoman, I suddenly found myself identifying as a teacher and a mother. Of course, I had been a mother for a while, but that identity was separate from work.?Now those two things were inextricably combined.?

Because I was not just a mother but a mother of a Lego-lover myself, I could relate to my target audience. But that connection wouldn’t carry me through if my services didn’t measure up. Parents (particularly moms) can be incredibly protective of their most valuable asset – their children, so fielding complaints and concerns became a regular part of my new life. Organizing and marketing events (Lego camps and classes) became the focus of my day-to-day existence, and managing teachers, parents, and children were crucial. It was not like anything I’d ever experienced before, and it took some time for me to full adopt my new persona as “The Lego Lady”.?

I learned a tremendous amount about working with parents, the ever-changing educational landscape, and marketing in the digital age. I also made new friends. However, most teachers will tell you that the best part is working with the kids.

We had some accounts in inner-city schools. I knew many of the kids in my class had hard home lives. I also knew I couldn’t fix that, but I could at least hope to be a bright spot in their day. I felt like I was giving back to the community and was a part of something bigger than myself, which made all of it worthwhile.?

In the beginning, summer camps were our most popular offering, and those were easy to sell. The Lego name allowed these camps to sell themselves (and parents are generally desperate for educational, fun out-of-school activities). But when summer ended, I found myself looking at a barren landscape.

I quickly realized that I would be looking at another failed business if I did not figure out how to market some of my other offerings. I knew my previous company had failed because of a lack of a concentrated marketing and sales effort, and I was not about to make the same mistake twice.?

Staring down failure is no small undertaking. I knew marketing was the key to success, but let’s be honest, I studied marketing in the mid-90s. The internet was a relatively new concept, and websites were a fix-it-and-forget-it concept. Social media didn’t exist, and digital advertising was a futuristic movie idea. I still remember discussing shelf space in grocery stores in one of my business classes, which clearly didn’t apply to what I was doing here.?

So, I had to learn how to market services online, and I had to learn it fast. I had to become more than just “The Lego Lady.” I had to become a marketing expert too.?

Thankfully, the internet made that easy. With fairly inexpensive digital marketing efforts, I grew Building Minds by over 200% in a short time and expanded our offerings not just to the Oklahoma City metro area but to smaller communities around the state. It was an exciting time, albeit somewhat overwhelming and busy.?

Then the aviation industry came calling and asked me to help them with some marketing challenges. Not being one to pass up an opportunity, I started another new business and used my new-found marketing prowess to redefine myself again as a marketing professional.?

One might think this was an easy transition – back to a service-based business in the aviation industry, but it took time. Like so many business owners before me, I struggled with imposter syndrome in the early days. Yes, I had learned to market my business in the digital space but taking that to the next level to help clients market their businesses was another matter. It took time to learn. It took time to figure it out. And it took time to hire the right people to help me. It takes lots of time and energy to get a new business off the ground, and imposter syndrome is real and more common than people might think.?

Then I hit another critical juncture in my journey. I had two small businesses demanding most of my time, two small children who wanted and needed me, and a husband who felt neglected; something had to give.

As much as I loved the Lego business, it caused me the most anxiety — endless hours of work, a house overrun with Lego kits, and not much profits to speak of. But the deal-breaker for me was that everything we did was during out-of-school time, so when I wanted to spend time with my kids, I found I was spending it with others. I had to make a hard decision — I chose to close a business I loved.?

It was 2015, and in a short span of three years, I had closed two businesses and redefined myself twice. That was hard and exhausting. I tried desperately to keep both companies going but to no avail. I spent a year and a half trying to save Aircraft Title. I write extensively about that journey here: Canceled by my Underwriter | LinkedIn

I put as much effort into saving Building Minds. First, I tried to sell it but couldn’t find a buyer. Then I tried to turn it into a nonprofit and find a board and an Executive Director to run it, but that was a bigger undertaking than I had time for, so I finally had to just let it go. That was December 2014. At Christmas that year, I broke down crying. Sobbing, really. It took a couple of hours for me to cry it all out. It was a little embarrassing; I have to admit.

I have never lost a child, so I cannot say what that is like, but I know that owning a business can be like having another child — a very demanding and time-consuming child at that, and losing a business can be painful. It's easy to think that it’s just a business and not a big deal to close, but the struggle is real. Often, closing a business involves letting people go, which is never fun. Their lives are affected as well as yours. Employees and team members can become like family, and losing them is just hard. Loss of identity and feelings of failure are inevitable and can take time to overcome. In short, a grieving process happens when you close a business, and often the world outside your own doesn’t understand. It can be a lonely road.

If you’ve been on this road, particularly if you are someone who lost a business due to COVID-19 lockdowns, my heart goes out to you. It really does. Please know you are not alone.?

If you are brave enough to share your story, please feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear we’re all in this together.?