Adversity breeds ingenuity in Sisters

Divorce. Homelessness.

Two Sisters women, Mary Maiden and Tricia Johnson, don't need to be told that life is hard and bad stuff happens. Each has been struck by personal tragedy; each has overcome hardships.

And there's another thing these two share: a focus on possibilities rather than problems. When life handed them lemons, they made... well, you know.

"Anyone can start over. Life is limitless," says Mary Maiden. That's coming from a single mother of four who found herself homeless less than a year ago. Today she's a budding entrepreneur.

Once while on a visit to Sisters from her home in Washington, Maiden sat outside Sisters Coffee Company fantasizing about raising her family here.

In Washington she worked alongside her husband, flipping houses very successfully before the economy tanked.

"Then the market fell... and he left," she says.

Maiden quickly discovered that job-hunting was brutal for those like her who hadn't kept their professional skills current.

"My résumé showed I was a stay-at-home mom; I was competing against people with far more experience."

She worked for awhile in a warehouse until she was handed a lay-off notice.

Soon her large, upscale house was as cold as the job market. With no power or hot water, Maiden faced the reality that she and her children had to leave; they were losing the home anyway.

Maiden remembers the day last summer when she packed up the car and the kids, and headed to the one place where she had visions of raising her family. They tent-camped throughout Sisters Country, moving every few days to a new campsite; she told her young girls they were having an adventure. And she prayed for a door to open.

It didn't take long. Soon she was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Sisters community.

Tricia Johnson heard about Maiden's situation and invited the family to stay with her temporarily.

But finding permanent housing proved daunting, with very little cash to her name and no job.

One morning as Maiden sat planning a last-ditch effort to plead her case to a local apartment owner, Joy Durham of Sisters Coffee Company showed up to deliver a cash donation made anonymously through the Fields of Joy foundation. As it turned out, the money was exactly the amount Maiden needed to secure the apartment.

"I said to the kids, 'We have our own roof.' That was exciting," she says. Next, numerous members of the community showered her with household items until she had even more than she could use... enough for two profitable yard sales.

And she found part-time work cleaning houses.

Johnson, also a single mother, says, "I had no idea that opening my home would bring me my dearest friend."

Nor could she know that it would lead to a new business partnership and the approaching launch of a new product.

Johnson has a real estate broker's license and a background in marketing. Neither has helped her pay the bills as of late; like Maiden, she's grateful to have a regular house-cleaning clientele.

Both women recognized that providing for their families in the current economy requires outside-the-box thinking.

In fact Maiden says that in their particular circumstances, "You have to blow the lid off the box."

"We were both looking at options, both praying separately," says Johnson. "We're both single moms of four children; we don't have someone else to pick up the slack.

"The non-negotiables of life are this: we are the only parent. We're going to be there for our kids, so flexibility is a big piece for us."

Inspiration for a partnership came after Johnson spent time overseas on a mission trip. Says Johnson, "I brought home an item I really liked."

That item came into play at a significant moment. "Mary and I had just been sitting on my couch having a conversation about how we needed the Lord to provide."

As Maiden recalls it, "Within minutes, I looked down and saw it (the item) sitting there and asked 'What is that?' Immediately we started running off with ideas about what we could do with it."

Their excitement grew as they became convinced it could be successfully marketed in the U.S.

They took their concept to a patent attorney. "We needed someone objective to see it... someone in the business," says Johnson.

The attorney told them that in all his years in the business, theirs was one of only two really good ideas he'd seen. A patent search provided the news they hoped for: the product was theirs to trademark.

And thus Mirror Images Designs, LLC was born.

At present the two women feel they can offer only a vague description of their product until it's a little farther along in development.

What Johnson will say is that "It's a form of ornamental advertising. Males, females across the board are going to enjoy them."

"It's for fun, but people like to spend money on this kind of fun," adds Maiden.

Several Sisters business people are helping to bring the product to market; a prototype is in the works. Maiden and Johnson are working through licensing agreements and looking for the right investors.

"Our trademark is national but Sisters will get it first," says Johnson.

The two women already anticipate paying it forward; in fact, they've built it into their business plan.

"We will give a percentage to families coming out of situations like mine," says Maiden. "Life can happen to anyone. Tragedy led me here. I have no regrets because it propelled me forward to where I'm at."