I met again with my team this last Wednesday and it started off on a slow start, like really slow. We met up at around 11am and things didn’t come to light till around 5pm that evening. It was discouraging and borderline awkward, with a five hour dead end of getting no where. I had my mind figured out the direction I wanted to go on the commercial. I heard about a book trailer from one of my clients. She said it was a new hip thing that I should go check out, so I did. It was a lot similar to a movie trailer and their actually pretty cool. So this seemed to be the direction for me. I took a few days planning out the characters for the book trailer, and the story board for each individual scene. I was excited and ready to meet up, to run it through with everyone. Soon after I relayed my ideas, I was quickly shot down. It seemed to be too long of a video for a Kickstarter campaign. Two minutes tops is apparently the ideal time frame for a commercial, if you want to keep the attention of a pledger. So, I had to go back to the drawing board and start all over. I was stumped, I had no ideas coming to mind, and every idea we brained stormed together, seemed to go no where. After five hours had passed, and we practically had our heads in our laps. Just when I began to give up hope, that things were going to come to a complete stop, and that my journey was going to take longer than I’d hoped for, things changed. A sweet little lady, by the name of Mary, walked in the office. She was an author of two books and was also a children’s elementary school teacher. Israel asked her, “Hey Mary! What do you think about this?” She replied, “Well, I haven’t read the story yet.”. She then picked up the book and started reading it. Half way through the book, she laid it down, and said: “This is just like ‘Elf on the Shelf’!” My jaw dropped, she had no idea, for one, that I’m a big time follower of ‘Elf on the Shelf’, and two, that I had a toy to be sold with the book. Exactly like they do! She hadn’t seen the treasure box because it was in my bag, under the table. I couldn’t believe it! This is amazing, all someone has to do is pick up the book and read it. She held my book in her hand and said to me that this children’s book will be, just like ‘Elf on the Shelf’, an instant family tradition. She said that this book (“The Tooth Fairy Treasure Box”) is the behind the story of the Tooth Fairy. Just like the ‘Elf on the Shelf’ is the behind the story of the elves. She encouraged me to not be afraid to put myself out there, up next to the ‘Elf on the Shelf’. That once I mention them, everyone will understand what it is I’m doing here. I was so floored, why didn’t I think of that? This whole journey has been ideally encouraged by the ‘Elf on the Shelf’, in my mind, and in my heart. As a mother, I had to fix this dying fairytale. A lot of my fire came from the victory of the ‘Elf on the Shelf’. It was my daily encouragement, that if they can do it, so can I. I told Mary how I followed their bio, on their journey to success. How they became viral, it’s such an amazing story. Jennifer Garner was seen with their book and it ended up being talked about on the “Today Show”. Mary then looked at me and said she was related to Jennifer Garner. Once again my jaw dropped. I said, “no way!” I would love to see my book in the hands of Jennifer Garner. How awesome would that be? I was so fired up, I shared my ideas on the next book with her. Tooth Fairy Iceland! The excitement filled the room with this ladies presence. One of the last things she said to me, was you don’t need to have a fancy Kickstarter commercial. All you need, is you with that book in your hand, pitching your wonderful idea to the world. That’s it! I was so flattered and happy, that once again, someone believed in my dream. I’m humbled by these moments, and so grateful to get to meet new people in the world. Especially someone, like Mary, that had the patience to teach our children in our local school districts. It’s times like these that will keep you going and give you that relighting under your bum to get you back up again. Facing my fears has allowed me to rise above them.
