____ http://boazpower.com ____(September 1, 2002)
It is my great pleasure to know Dottie Walters.
Although she has passed away now, Dottie was a true pioneer in the speaking field. She helped to found the National Speakers Association and was also the founder of the International Association of Speakers Bureau Owners. In addition, she owned a speakers bureau, Walters International, and was simply a marketing genius. No matter by what title people called her, I was proud to simply call her my friend.
Her story was fascinating, quite inspiring, and sprinkled with a lot of gutsy determination that was born in her Scottish heritage. Lets begin at the end of World War II, when the economy in the United States was going through rough times. Dotties sweetheart, Bob Walters, had just returned from serving four years as a Marine in the South Pacific. It was at Tarawa, while under enemy machine gun fire, that Bob rescued wounded men in his platoon. He was decorated for his bravery.
Once back in Southern California, Bob and Dottie were married. Then came the traditional GI-backed tract home, a dry-cleaning business, and two children. Meanwhile, the economy worsened.
I guess you could say the dry cleaning business dried up and money was very tight for the Walters family. Thats when Dottie began to show her true spirit. Her father had abandoned her mother when Dottie was beginning high school. She took many jobs, giving her mother all her checks during her high school years. Thus, she was used to being industrious.
In order to help Bob make the house payment, Dottie created The Shoppers Column in the weekly Baldwin Park Bulletin. Baldwin Park was the Southern California chicken ranching town where they lived at the time. Keep in mind that she did not have a car, no typewriter, and no typing paper.
Add to that the fact that Dotties father, before he deserted the family, kept her from going to college by stating that she was too dumb to be worth educating. Thus, she turned to the public library and devoured biographies of people who had accomplished much in their lives. Each famous person she read about, especially Benjamin Franklin, became a friend of her mind.
One of those books, by Albert Einstein, told Dottie to stop fussing about problems and concentrate on Solutions.
What a great lesson for all of us. How much time do we waste fussing about problems? What if we simply took action QUICKLY and concentrated on solutions?
Dottie, with her two young children in a rickety stroller, and cardboard in her one pair of worn out shoes, started out and called on local merchants in Baldwin Park. A neighbor loaned her an old typewriter and gave her a ream of paper. She was in business.
She convinced the local paper to sell her space on credit for the first two weekly columns. Then she sold local merchants on the idea of having stories about their businesses in the column. Within a couple of weeks, she had enough money to make the house payment that was due.
Then, one day, she met Dr. Norman Vincent Peale at a seminar he conducted in Pasadena. After the event, she had an opportunity to meet Dr. Peale and to tell him about the business venture that made the house payment. He eventually featured Dotties story in his Guideposts Magazine, under the title What Can One Housewife Do?
It was through Dr. Peales efforts that Dottie published her first book, Never Underestimate the Selling Power of a Woman. It was the first book in the world for women in sales. Tupperware then bought the entire first edition and Dottie began her speaking career. Dottie was then invited to appear on the popular television program, Whats My Line.
There is an old Scottish saying, Be a friend to yourself and others will. Dottie Walters, during her difficult early years, found a friend in herself and in the biographies she read at the library. She eventually had friends throughout the world and so many people attribute their success to her.
I was blessed to have found a friend in Dottie. She truly had the attitude of a champion.
-BoazPower@aol.com
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1:56Whispering a short inspirational story: Two Frogsby subtlewhispers2,111 views
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