30 Parents Who Made it Big

23. Sandy Stein

Sandy Stein started out with a career as an airline stewardess before she started having kids. She reduced her hours to part-time so she could raise her son. When she was in her 50’s, her husband lost his job. She knew that she would have to figure out a way to make more money if they wanted to keep paying the bills. She prayed to her father, who had passed away, begging him to give her guidance on what to do. Her father’s ghost appeared to her in a dream, and he showed her a little metal hook with a charm that held onto keys inside of women’s purses.

When she woke up, Sandy Stein set out to make that little invention, and called it Finders Key Purse. Her husband had experience working in the souvenir industry, so they were able to create a prototype in China. She started to give it to her flight attendant friends, and they loved it.

Passengers on the planes began to notice it as well, and ask where they bought the product from. Sandy asked her flight attendant friends if they wanted to make some extra money on the side. They became her sales force that went around the United States, pitching the product to stores. They made $4 million in the first year. Today, Sandy Stein has a net worth of $25 million.