In the fall of 1998 I closed my marketing communications business and moved across the country to tiny Salt Spring Island.

I wanted to do something more creative with my life.

With no idea what that would be, I needed to move somewhere with a lower cost of living.

Life is the adventure we make it

The year I spent in Salt Spring was quite the adventure. Made all the more so because I was completely outside my comfort zone on every level.

While living there, I discovered Robeez shoes (pictured here).

They were invented by a local Mom, Sandra Wilson. At that point, she had just moved her fledgeling business out of her basement.

Sandra reinvented herself as an entrepreneur after being downsized from her job in the airline industry.

At home with more time on her hands, she tried making comfortable shoes for her toddler to learn to walk in. She cut the first pairs out of old purses, and called them “Robeez.”

Fast forward less than 10 years and Sandra’s shoes and booties became one of the best known brands of baby footwear. Sold at thousands of boutiques and high-end retailers like Nordstrom, Saks, Bloomingdales’ and Neiman Marcus.

I was especially delighted to read this week that Sandra sold her private B.C. company, Robeez Footwear, to U.S.-based Stride Rite Corp. for $30.5 million! Wow!!

Success Doesn’t Only Happen To Other People

If you’re tempted to think being widely successful is only for “other people”, stop right there! If someone told basement Sandra cutting up old purses to make shoes for her son, that in a decade she’d be a multi-millionaire, she would have thought they were nuts.

And, I’m willing to bet that along the way she’s had many moments of self doubt and sheer panic. Every entrepreneur does.

The trick is realizing these are moments to keep going, not to retreat into the “safety of the familiar.”

My mission is to inspire my clients and students with new possibilities for how they live.

Whether it’s a staging client discovering new opportunities because they suddenly have an extra $50,000 after I staged their house, or it’s helping one of my students leave behind a soul-sucking career or unhappy marriage because now they have a way to be financially independent.

I find stories like Sandra Wilson’s inspiring because it shows us that with courage we can accomplish big things.

Not all of us are going to grow $30 million companies and that’s OK! Her success does not diminish ours.