Cute Shoes Lead Polish Immigrant to Start Small Import Business

(DOROTA) So this is my brand. (VOICEOVER) Dorota Sinclair had just three pairs of shoes when she came to the U.S. in 1990. She'd left her home in Poland knowing no English, but with a college degree in physical therapy - and the determination to build a life. (SOT DOROTA SINCLAIR) Like when I was small, I would not have pair of shoes for winter because of the communism. So it’s like you want to have better life for your children, I feel like United States, it’s really possible. (VOICEOVER) Fast forward a few years and Dorota had a career and a young family in California. Then, when her husband, Mike, was transferred to Oregon...Serendipity led her to a business venture she'd never thought of. (SOT DOROTA SINCLAIR) I bought myself a pair of shoes from Europe that were different from what you’d find here. And then my neighbor saw me and she like oh, I want a pair, and I'm like, okay, I can get you a pair, so I went and got her a pair. And then somebody else wanted, and so I’m thinking hmm, maybe I could make this as a business. (VOICEOVER) Early on, she met the owners of Fidji, a shoe line made in Portugal and available only in Europe. She fell in love with the product and became its sole distributor in the U.S. (SOT DOROTA SINCLAIR) They’re classic, they’re timeless, they’re well made and they’re kind of funky, like the little cutouts, the little things they’re kind of little vintage, so applies to lots of girls. (VOICEOVER) She found a market in boutiques across the Pacific Northwest. (SOT DOROTA SINCLAIR) So, We were trying to put whatever we had to buy from the factory, whatever we had in the bank, we took it out, whatever we can put on credit cards, we did. So, we got Nordstrom. And then I was so excited because all United States was selling our shoes. But how do we pay for that, right? (SOT MIKE SINCLAIR) Our business is very seasonal, we pay for the half of the shoes when they’re shipped for Europe and we usually have to wait 60-60 plus days for the customer to pay us. (VOICEOVER) They relied on a third party process called "factoring" to bridge the gap. Hi! (VOICEOVER) And once a solid foundation was established, secured an SBA line of credit from Wells Fargo, that allowed them to eliminate factoring and increase their profit margin. (SOT MIKE SINCLAIR) It’s allowed us to not only manage our cash flow, but take that profit that we had and reinvest it back in the business by starting to do some marketing and reaching out to different opportunities for us (SOT BRANDI PICKELL) This is the best part of my job it’s not only helping a customer with a credit need or just that immediate need, it’s when you see a business thrive on a product or a solution that Wells Fargo has provided. (VOICEOVER) The business flourished and Mike left his career to work full time with Dorota. And taking her "can do" determination even further, Dorota launched Lirio, a line "she" designs and has hand-crafted in Portugal. (SOT DOROTA SINCLAIR) So, it was a natural progression because I’ve been selling Fidji shoes for six years now and I love shoes. Who doesn’t like shoes. I like shoes and chocolate and they all fit me, they’re all my size, so when the samples come they’re all mine. It’s like I got the biggest gift.