Loss of Daughter's Hand-Made Earring Leads Shelly Fisher to Profitable Passion and Purpose Creating Jewelry to Save Lives.

Every parent who has ever lost something made with love as a gift from a child knows the panic Shelly Fisher felt when she lost a beaded earring made by her 7 year old daughter while the family was vacationing on the Jersey Shore. What Shelly did not know, is the loss of that earring would result in a profitable passion and purpose which quite literally saves lives.

In an article for the Huffington Post, Fisher tells how she found a bead store on the boardwalk and thought the owner of the store could quickly make a replacement earring and her daughter would not be disappointed with her Mother losing her special gift.

Fishers says, “I just thought she’d make me something but instead, she said ‘I’ll show you how, but you have to make it yourself.’ At first I thought, You’ve got to be kidding. But actually, it was a great marketing technique. Once you try it and see the results of your work, you’re hooked and you buy more beads!”

Shelly was hooked and after some art classes and a house full of beads and crystals, she was the one making jewelry for her daughter and her friends.

At that point destiny was about to set in for Shelly. As she explains to the Huffington Post, “My friend Lisa showed me a pink crystal bracelet she was going to buy for her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. It cost $120 and 10 percent of the proceeds would go to breast cancer research. But I knew it really only cost $25 to make. So I convinced her to let me show her how to create one. I knew her mother would love the fact that she made it herself and that way she could take that extra $100 and donate it directly to the charity.”

That is when Shelly and Lisa, both of whom had been active in their children's school and local charities had an epiphany and realized they could use their jewelry making talents to help charities and other groups raise money. Shelly and Lisa “began designing awareness bracelets -- jewelry that the charities could sell as fundraisers.”

Shelly Fisher and her friend Lisa had found their profitable passion and purpose helping charities raise money and having the time of their lives doing it, but their purpose was about to evolve in a way they could have never expected, that would result in saving lives.

Shelly recalls how it happened, ““I was at a meeting with the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,” Shelly remembered, “and one of the other moms stopped me and said. ‘I think what you’re doing is really nice, but it would be great if you could create a medical bracelet that younger people would want to wear.’ Her daughter Kristen was 16 and she was diabetic. She was about to start driving and her mother was concerned that she could be pulled over and end up at a police station, rather than a hospital, because an officer would mistake a drop in blood sugar for drunk driving. But her daughter wasn’t willing to wear the traditional silver medical alert bracelet. She thought it would make her stand out -- to be defined as the girl with diabetes.

“As a mom, I instantly said yes, as long as her daughter would help us design it, so we knew she would wear it. But I walked away thinking, 'What do I know about medical bracelets?'”

Kristin models the Medical Alert Bracelet
She Helped Design with Shelly Fisher 

Shelly immediately began making phone calls to find out what needed to be included in a medical alert bracelet. With that information, She and Kristin began brainstorming design ideas.

It wasn't long before they had come up with a leather watchband bracelet, replacing the actual watch with a medical insignia that matched the band. Kristen chose two colors -- neon green and pink. And it was at that point that Shelly thought, if Kristen was willing to wear a bracelet like this, maybe other kids would too. So once the mold was made, she ordered 400 more and posted them on a website a friend’s son created for her.” (Huffington Post).

Shelly says, “We thought if we could just make back the money we invested and make a difference in even one person’s life, we were doing a good thing. Lisa and I were doing it from our basements and maybe selling ten a week. If we sold more than one in a day, we were doing a happy dance around the table!”

Soon they were getting requests for other types of medial alert bracelets and Shelly and Lisa realized they could help others with all types medical conditions where an alert bracelet would be appropriate. Shelly says, “And then I walked by a kiosk at the mall,” Shelly recalled, “where a young person was using an engraving machine and I thought, 'How hard could it be?' So we ordered one. Let’s just say the lesson that was supposed to take five hours, took nine hours with us. We weren’t as bright as we thought!”

They did however catch the attention of a sales rep who thought he could get their unique medical alert bracelets on pharmacy shelves. He left his name and number and Shelly tacked it to a bulletin board and left it there for two years!

Shelly explains that sometimes timing in everything; “This was just a hobby for us. Lisa really didn’t want anything more from it and I was raising three children. I knew it was a big leap and the time just wasn't right -- so with the engraving, maybe we were selling 30 bracelets a week and we thought that was great! But then one day it occurred to me that I no longer had to feel guilty about working between three and six o’clock, since the kids were all involved in after school sports -- and that’s when I took the piece of paper off the board and called him.”

Shelly and the Sales Rep took the concept to a Pharmacy trade show and when the buyers began asking for custom bracelets for themselves or members of their families, they knew they were on to something.

The designer medical alert bracelets caught the attention of the media too. Shelly recalls, “Just as things were taking off, I got a call early one morning from someone in our office. He said, ‘Did you know we’re in the Wall Street Journal?’ And I laughed. I thought he was kidding. But we were on the front page! A reporter had discovered our bracelets on the internet, ordered four styles and featured them in an article called The Jewelry Prescription. That was my real 'aha' moment, when I realized we could change the way people looked at medical alert bracelets.”

According to her website, Medical ID Marketplace partners with Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Make A Wish Foundation, and many others. Other corporate customers and partners (current and past) include The Coca-Cola Corporation, The McDonald's Corporation and The Hershey Foods Corporation. The company has more than 150 styles that can be customized for any medical condition or simply with emergency contact information. (Medical ID Marketplace ).

"The little bracelet that once brought on a celebration, when more than one was sold in a day, is now flying off the shelves -- with as many as 11,000 going out in any given week. The first year it hit pharmacies, Shelly’s hobby became a million-dollar business.

“This all began with the hope that I could help one teenage girl fit in with her friends -- so that she wouldn't be branded by her illness,” Shelly said, “And while I feel really fortunate, it’s important for people to know that success doesn't have to be on a grand scale, it just needs to be something that fulfills you.

“Find something that makes you feel like you’re contributing and take the first step. You never know where it will take you.” (Huffington Post).

Shelly Fisher is living the Don't Seek Success – Be Happi model. For more on finding your profitale passion and purpose in life, see Don't Seek Success – Be Happi.

Be Great!

MB.