A very public tragedy struck our family ten years ago. We lost everything. Widowed, alone, and homeless with two small children, it took me several years to stand right again. With my children teetering on the edge of the nest I fought so hard to keep together, I decided it was time to share my story with other survivors of tragic loss with the goal to provide them something they could relate to and to seek hope and comfort from. So, I quit working full time to pursue this dream. That was October of 2005.  A friend of mine, now soul mate, who believed in my vision, gave me the reins to a small business he had “just sitting around” so I could support myself as I wrote.  Without any formal education, I poured every ounce of my energy into the business and my book. Without any business education, I taught myself about designing labels and the overall look for the business, marketing and sales, bookkeeping, customer service, and everything else that has to do with creating a successful business. In just under four years I learned how to not only to use a cell phone, a must with two fledgling children, I marketed our products into 25 Western Washington retail stores as well as 1 in New York and 3 in Florida, created a website for the business that makes sales nationally and internationally and has increased the profit margin by over fifty percent, I wrote and published a book, and created a website for it as well. With nearly every spare penny from the business, my book was published on 4/29/09. With the skills I’ve learned from the business, I have learned valuable marketing skills needed for the book. It now sells from within several online stores. I am presently learning interviewing skills as my book is going to be part of an update to our story that was broadcast ten years ago. I am just amazed at how far I’ve come, how much I’ve accomplished, and the power of faith. I believe I’m not only an inspiration for my own children but for other women who feel as hopeless as I once did. If my story makes a difference in at least one person’s life, then the pain of my loss was not in vain.  I am proof that life goes on after death, after children, and after 40.

Elise Crawford