Joan Lettinga

“We rise by lifting others.”

What is your personal story?
I was born in 1937 in the small town of Sparta in Michigan, USA. Two people influenced me greatly at an early age: my father, who decided that I should start taking dance lessons at the age of 3 because I had a natural talent for acrobatics, and my dance teacher, Mr. Osterhouse, or Mr. O, who had a professional dance studio in the nearby city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He had a good reputation and regularly provided dancers to entertain at local community events. In addition to the performers in their twenties, he always included a few younger dancers, including me.

Growing together and taking responsibility to make things happen
What I learned from these experiences is that you don’t go to such a school to perform. You go there to learn and get better at what you do. By working together with the other dancers, I learned that we grow together. It also taught me to take responsibility to make things happen in my life. Those two principles have been important to me throughout my life.

Share some of the significant challenges or breakthroughs in your career that have led you to where you are now.

Doing what you love: dancing into business at age 17
After graduating from high school at the age of 17, many of my friends went to college, but I wasn’t really interested in that. I decided to start my own dance classes. I rented spaces in different cities on various days and placed advertisements in the newspaper to teach children aged 4-12. When I dragged my gramophone and acrobatic mat to the locations and opened the doors, I was always excited to see children waiting in line. At that time, I had never even heard the word ‘entrepreneurship.’ I was just doing what I loved, and it started. I did that for 3 or 4 years, mostly flying by the seat of my pants.

Working with joy and the right people: creating a ceramics house
Shortly after I started my dance classes, I met my future husband, Howard Lettinga senior, and we had our son, Howard Dean Lettinga junior. I stopped my dance classes and became a full-time mother. During that period, I took some ceramics classes that were very popular in the 1950s. I enjoyed it so much that I started buying my own molds and had friends over to work on ceramics. I even began baking my own pots at home with a kiln.

Then I thought, “I can do more with this.” Just like before, I placed ads in the newspaper for a free ceramics class to test the demand. I was happy if 5 people showed up. Well, 21 people came, and they all signed up for my paid classes. That was the beginning of a very successful business called House of Ceramics. My husband (who worked full-time at an iron foundry) and I built a highly successful business together for over 13 years. I taught ceramics classes four evenings and two afternoons a week.

I believe we made people feel good. That’s why they kept coming back. We kept adding space, new kilns, and new employees. At one point, we had so many kilns running simultaneously that we blew out our electrical transformer on New Year’s Eve. That was a cold and dark New Year! So we eventually upgraded the power supply to our house. I didn’t have a business plan; I just did what I wanted to do.

If I’m involved in something, it has to be enjoyable
People ask me, “What’s your secret?” I always say, “If I’m involved in something, it has to be enjoyable.” We had a great time in our classes and made sure people felt good. We also chose the right people to work with. And we kept evolving. At one point, when more people started doing ceramics, we stopped our classes and only sold wholesale supplies to other stores.

A successful venture in dry cleaning: Sparta Cleaners
In the 1970s, we decided to slow down, downsize, and closed the House of Ceramics. But I’m not someone who sits at home all day. There was an old dry cleaning business in our town, and I started working part-time there. Six months later, we bought the business from the owner. Of course, I knew nothing about running a dry cleaning business at the time.

But we dove into it and built the business. We invested in new equipment and even put our own clothes on the conveyor belt to make it look like we were “the place to be.” Because success breeds success. I learned everything I could about the equipment and hired people we could trust. We had that business for only 5 years, but that’s where our love affair with the Palace Livery stable began.

Buying the Palace Livery stable building
Next to our dry cleaning business was the Palace Livery stable building. It was a large building, built in 1907, now home to various small businesses. We had the opportunity to purchase the building in 1985, and we decided to go for it. We had no idea what we were going to do with it, but opportunities quickly presented themselves. We converted a small space at the back into a shop where we could sell various things like crafts, antiques, and other trinkets. I always relied on my instincts when it came to adding new services, products, and businesses, and it usually worked. That little room in the back was the start of a thriving new business: consignment sales.

Thriving in the consignment sector
By the 1990s, we saw a great opportunity. Traditional small thrift shops selling second-hand goods were being replaced by large, upscale consignment stores. We decided to use part of our building to start a consignment shop.

How it works? People bring you things they no longer want, and you put them in your store. When the goods are sold, the owner gets a percentage of the money, and you keep the rest. People brought us all sorts of things – clothing, toys, household items, books, jewelry, and more. At first, I kept track of all the merchandise on paper, but soon, we had a fully automated system. Eventually, we had nearly 6,000 consignors bringing goods to our store, and 13 employees processing incoming goods, labeling them with barcodes, and displaying them. The business grew larger and larger, and we ran it for over 20 years.

Returning to dancing – back to my roots
Most of the building was a consignment store, but not all of it. One day, a woman approached us, saying she wanted to start a dance studio. So, we installed a hardwood floor and a bathroom in a rear part of the building and helped her get her business off the ground. But after a few months, she informed us that she was quitting. So, I decided to take over the dance studio. For me, it was a return to my roots. I was almost 60 years old, but I started teaching dance lessons and hired other teachers to help us run the studio and build the business. A few years later, we sold the building to another couple, who to this day run a thriving dance studio in it.

The Palace Livery stable as a business and community center
Throughout all those years, we worked hard to make the Palace Livery stable the hub of business and community spirit in Sparta. We helped start various businesses, including an artist, sewing classes for women, dance studios, and many others.

Every Easter, we bought huge quantities of flowers and allowed children inside to make Easter bouquets for their mothers. It was a great marketing move; mothers shopped in the consignment store while the children had fun. At Christmas, we transformed the front into a post office where children could send letters to Santa. We even had official stationery for Santa Claus letters signed ‘Joan Claus.’ People still talk about how important this was for their families.

Pillars of the community: a meaningful recognition
In 2009, my husband Howard and I were named pillars of the community for Sparta, Michigan. That means a lot to both of us because we love our town and have always been strong advocates for building and giving back to the community. Looking back, I think we always chose the right people, those who shared our values.

Retiring to Florida and starting an online business
In 2012, we decided to retire to Florida. At first, I focused on getting settled, but then I got the itch to do something again. I volunteered at a local thrift shop and was amazed at all the goods that came through the door. We live near several affluent communities, and it shocked me how much stuff people buy and discard, sometimes with price tags still on. Brand new Nikes, designer clothing, you name it.

A friend of mine bought some items and resold them on eBay, so I thought, “I can do that too, why not?” So, I set up an online store, sell on two different e-commerce platforms, and it’s going great. Here’s the link to one of them: Poshmark.

I buy stuff at the thrift shop, bring it home, photograph it, list it online, and ship it when it’s sold. I enjoy the thrill of reusing perfectly good clothing. As long as I enjoy it, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. I even teach tap dancing to a friend occasionally. Why not? I’m still young at 85!

If you find yourself in a challenging situation, what is your go-to skill?
I can’t really say I have one. I’ve had a pleasant life and always created or arranged what I needed. If there was a challenge, I always thought, “We’re doing something wrong or need to change something.” So, I just ask myself, “What do I need to do next to fix it?”

What advice would you give to other professional women who want to excel in their careers?
I find camaraderie and solidarity very important. Everyone has something to contribute. If you think you have to do it alone, then you will do it alone. But you can learn so much from the talents of other people. It’s important to listen to what others say and make decisions together. My favorite t-shirt shows three turtles standing on top of each other, with the text: ‘We rise by lifting others up.’ I couldn’t have said it better.

The other thing I can’t emphasize enough is doing what you love. When you enjoy yourself, people feel that. People like being around those who love what they do. When I entered the business world in the ’40s, I didn’t find it very difficult being a woman in a men’s world. It just felt natural to do what I was doing. But looking back at the small villages in Michigan, the banker was a man, the barber was a man. All the big businesses in town were owned by men. I don’t think I ever really thought about it. Women have gained more power in recent years. My granddaughter is an industrial electrician. I think it’s fantastic that she gets that opportunity.