AN ENTREPRENEUR AT HEART

Some people are just born to be in business. Some of them do it out of necessity, others do it because it’s a natural gift. For Joanna Pixley starting her first business in the third grade was a little bit of both.

“My first business was selling candy, stickers, and handmade jewelry,” said Pixley. For her ‘candy division,’ she would go out and buy a big bag of candy at the dollar store and then sell the pieces at school for 25 cents each.

Pixley also learned how to make pottery, weave baskets, and craft handmade jewelry from elderly native American women who lived nearby. In addition to the candy, she began selling those items to her classmates and teachers at her school.

“I would make a package deal of earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet,” Pixley said. “They all matched with the same beaded patterns.” legacy that I’m leaving behind for my children and grandchildren,” Pixley said. “They’re about finding our strength through the storms of life.”

She kept her jewelry business going through high school, and even sold items in local consignment stores.

Pixley graduated high school and started working in nutrition at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She then became a doula—which is essentially a birth coach—and began a doula practice to help women going through labor in their homes. After giving birth to her own four children, she then moved to Texas and went to Christ For The Nations Institute, a bible college in Dallas.

After graduation, she began publishing children’s books, started a non-profit, became a life coach and started a wellness company. The non-profit, which is still operating today, is called Embracing Miracles. It sponsors children and families for all kinds of needs including parenting seminars and sponsoring kids to go to bible camps.

Never one to turn her back on past experiences, Pixley continues to be involved in the doula profession and is also still involved with children’s books. She’s almost finished with producing the first Christian doula training curriculum, which her sister created through her non-profit Grateful Life Ministries, that allows other women to become certified doulas with a foundation in the Christian faith. She’s also writing a series of 12 children’s books.

After 15 years of marriage, Pixley found herself divorced. She knew she needed to find a career that would give her the income needed to raise four kids which also provided the flexibility and stability to be there for them.

“When I lived in Kasson, Minnesota, I bought my first house at 18 years old,” she said. “It was a decent house but I wanted to make some cosmetic changes. So I learned how to tile, to put up sheetrock, and fix the roof. I learned how to paint, including faux finishes. I had an eye for wanting to make things look better and loved making the finished product happen.”

When it came time to sell the house, Pixley cleared a $40,000 profit. She bought a second house to do the same thing and fell in love with real estate.

“I have always loved real estate and knew from a young age that it was a good way to get ahead,” said Pixley. “Plus, time was way more important to me than money. I didn’t want a nine-to-five job.

I wanted the freedom that a real estate career would provide.”

Pixley has leveraged all her experiences in her vari ous businesses to make sure that she is helping her clients the best that she can. “Being a life coach and having a medical background has certainly helped me in my real estate career,” she said. “My under standing of the importance of life decisions and needing support during transitions is critical.”

She also uses her personal experience to help her clients as well. “I am happy that every day that I get to help a family move forward and buy their dream home or sell their home and downsize,” Pixley said. “One example recently is when I got to help a single mom with three kids get out of the rental community and provide a home for her family. I walked with her for over a year, teaching her ways to save money, and strategically position herself better. I helped educate her on financing available for first-time home buyers and I even gave up half of my personal commission to get the deal done. As a single mom myself, I understand how much support is needed and valued. For me, real estate has never been about making money. It’s about the value of helping people move forward. That’s what matters.”