Community Highlights: Meet Sandy Stein of Alexx, Inc.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandy Stein.

Hi Sandy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I had been a flight attendant for over 30 years, when my husband decided to retire. My son was only 10 and a flight attendant’s part-time salary did not cover our expenses.
When my dad was alive, he was my best friend and confident, so I prayed to him up in Heaven and asked, “What the heck am I going to do now?!” That night my dad came to me in a dream and explained how to invent a new product that would eliminate the need to dig through your purse looking for your keys. When I awoke, I remembered the dream vividly and built a rough prototype of what I remembered. Then I thought if I am going to sell it, it needs a name. The invention finds your keys in your purse…Finders Key Purse (say it fast and it is a play on finders keepers ….losers weepers).
Though no one believed that at 53 and “just a flight attendant” that I could run a business, I knew that I could. and then I did.
I had been involved in several network marketing companies and understood the power of women telling women. What better way of distributing my new invention than having all my flight attendant friends become my sales reps. With an unusual compensation plan and a tool called a Biz in a Bag, I enlisted my team to go out and sell to mom and pop stores.
I had invested almost my entire life savings to purchase over 100,000 Finders Key Purse for my initial order. Within 3 months we were almost out of product. In our first full year of sales, 2005, we had sold 1 million Finders Key Purse into the retail gift industry. At our height of business we sold to over 10,000 retail stores.
Between Covid and Amazon, our retail stores have had a tough time, and currently, over 20 years later, I am selling on our website www.Finderskeypurse.com and to Amazon.
The moral of the story “When Heaven talks, you better listen!”

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing in life is smooth or easy. Though I started out with a bang, that bang caused lots of copycats to come out of the woodwork. I spent millions of dollars with my lawyers taking these guys down. It not only was costly, but time consuming and mentally hard to always be on the look out for the “bad guys”.
I also had a valued employee embezzle and try to ruin the business. Sometimes that green-eyed monster named Jealousy gets the best of some people.

As you know, we’re big fans of Alexx, Inc.. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Alexx, Inc. was named after my father Alex (deceased who gave me the dream) and my son Alex.

We are best known for our flagship product, Finders Key Purse which is an accessory that decorates the outside of a bag, purse, tote, or diaper bag and at the same time prevents keys, fobs or safety items from falling to the bottom of that bag. If one carries a pepper spray or panic alarm and it is at the bottom of the bag, it is useless, and if you can access your keys or fobs instantly, the threat of someone grabbing your purse or worse, is lessened.
We have about 100 designs to select from, and we can make custom pieces for companies or individuals. You should see how beautiful the Harley pieces turned out!
I am proud of many things that occurred since I invented Finders Key Purse. One is that I didn’t fold when everyone laughed at me and said I could never pull this off. The second thing (maybe should be the first) is that my son started working in our warehouse when he was 16. He learned how to be great employee, how business is run, how to overcome adversity, and how to have work ethic. With a degree in Criminal Justice his experience in life in a warehouse has landed him amazing jobs as warehouse/logistics manager. When your kid succeeds, that is true success.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Sorry to say that my experiences have made me realize that you can’t trust anyone until you KNOW you can trust them. I’ve had a lot of defeating experiences because I trusted people in many capacities but was lucky that I am so tenacious that I didn’t let that take me down.
Running a business is not easy and there are lots of pitfalls. As long as you have good experiences and take the bad ones as lessons learned, you will not fail.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.finderskeypurse.com

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