Bad Girls Press
Bad Girl Hall of Fame
Meet Linda Lipinski
Entrepreneur with a mission
BG What did you do before coming to
LL I was Program Management Specialist over 1,200 nuclear waste sites at the
Lessons Learned from accidents or near-accidents dealing with the every day
operations of a nuclear waste site.
BG How does
LL In
where agriculture
flourishes due to controlled irrigation of the
and Snake rivers.
Moving to
small town of 25,000 where the kind of progress that I had been accustomed
to, along with conveniences and diversity, were suddenly no longer
available.
BG Why did you start your new business?
LL After moving here due to my husband's job, I discovered I was not going to
be able to find work in my field of expertise. I had two options: 1) give
in to despair, 2) find a path and move forward.
My cousin had recently traced our family's genealogy back to the 1700s. I
was completely enthralled with my lineage, with the names and dates of
births and deaths. But I wished so much that my great-grandparents had
written about their life and what life had taught them. I knew I wanted to
leave my daughters more than just a material legacy. Consequently, I
developed an inspirational-written genealogy scrapbook album called A
Legacy To Remember®.
BG What is the best thing about having your own business?
LL When I first came up with the idea, the legalities of developing a product
and trying to break into the market were like a continuous term paper. So,
I'd say the best things are the wealth of information I've gained and the
satisfaction of being able to say, "I did it!"
BG What's the most challenging aspect of your new career?
LL Some days I find the marketing aspect very difficult. I've used a
considerable amount of money from my personal savings and there is a risk I
may never recoup the monetary investment. However, I remind myself of what
has been accomplished, and feel grateful.
BG If you could give just one piece of advice to women considering starting
their own business, what would it be?
LL Do a lot of research and talk to those who "have been there and done that,"
before venturing out. After evaluating the pros and cons, if you feel your
spirit saying, "do it," then give it a try. I once read that the elderly
don't usually regret the things they did in life but will often regret the
things they never did do.
BG Who are some bad girls you admire and why?
LL I admire any woman who has a dream of giving something to the world and
moves forward to bring it to reality. One woman in particular has my
admiration. Lisa Hammond created a catalog featuring products made by women
artists. She mortgaged her house and worked humanly impossible hours
because of her dream and passion to make a difference in the lives of women
and girls. Check her out at www.femailcreations.com.
BG If you could change anything in this world, what would it be?
LL If I could change anything in this world, it would be to change our
culture's obsession with materialism. In the last few years, I have spent
much time with the elderly, helping them to write about their life journey.
They have taught me an important lesson about the sacredness of all life
and to recognize the simple pleasures of life as blessings.
BG Is there anything else you would like to say?
LL I created A Legacy To Remember® for sentimental reasons. I wanted to make a
product that would help people leave a legacy to their families. One 87-
year old woman received the album as a gift from an "angel." She told me
she has such wonderful life lessons and memories to write about to her
heirs. A terminally ill father told me he was using my product to write
about different facets of his life. He wants to leave this legacy for his
young daughter since he won't be here to share with her when she is older.
Hearing these stories and more, I feel that just maybe, my gift from my
spirit to the world might be helping.
Linda Lipinski--Entrepreneur with a mission. Visit her web site: A Legacy to
Remember. Or, you can reach Linda at richlin@richlingroup.com.
Pam Smith created the beautiful images on this site. We thank her for her generosity.
* We regret that we are unable to provide a direct link to the actual interview on
the Bad Girls Press web site as the site is no longer online.