SAULT STE. MARIE -- A mom’s humble lesson on building a business for her sons has garnered the interest of major U.S. talk show, Live with Kelly and Ryan.
Sarah Lewis, step-son Wyatt, and son Russell are set to appear on the show Thursday to talk about their snowman building business, which features a “pay as you want” model.
"When I got the email from the show, I skipped by it without even thinking," said Lewis. "Then I typed it in and said no, this can’t be right, must be a scam, right, so I type it in to google and I was like, oh my goodness!"
Lewis said the idea started out as a simple lesson for Wyatt. With him at home from school due to the pandemic, Lewis pitched the idea of a snowman building business for those who can’t do it themselves.
With Wyatt on board, she put it out on Facebook.
"We were met with a big fat zero in interest early on," Lewis said. "We reached out to long-term care facilities, nursing homes and for a variety of reasons, we were given a no."
Lewis said she gave Wyatt the choice to continue or end their venture, but said to his credit, he wanted to continue.
Eventually, she said it caught on, with the family building 40 snowmen already and interest building within the city and across the north.
"If you don’t give up on the things that you believe in, you never know where they will wind up," she said.
"You can get a no 349 times and then on the 350 try, you can get the breakthrough that you’ve been waiting for."
Lewis said she will keep half the proceeds to use as a lesson for her sons.
"But Wyatt actually did something a little unexpected," she said.
"I think, especially because of his bond with his brother, he said he wanted to donate funds to sick kids hospital in Toronto."
Initially, the goal was to donate about $100, but Lewis said it now sits at over $1,000.
