If there is anyone, who can truly define the word “extraordinary” in its true sense, it is Lexis Serot. Her journey is iconic, filled with life-changing experiences representing the best of both worlds- struggle, and success.
A power-packed, passionate, and purpose-driven leader, Lexis founded LittleWins with the motto of Collaborating, Empowering, Supporting, and Protecting others.
At every step of her journey, she tackled numerous hurdles, overcame many fears, and fought against all odds to achieve her desired outcomes. Showing no signs of slowing down, Lexis Serot is leading, serving, and helping millions with her brainchild.
Bittersweet Beginnings
Lexis Serot started LittleWins without any background in really any particular skill that would be needed. She has four children and had her twin daughters first. In the delivery process, one of her twins suffered a skull fracture in a C-section.
As much as she thought she knew the care that would be needed, the more she looked into it, the more she read the pamphlets they handed her in the handbooks, she realized how little information there was. And that’s an awful feeling for a parent. She thinks especially in recent years, everyone is pretty accustomed to, “if you don’t know what it means, Google it. If you can’t find it, Google it.”
And after searching for long hours, Lexis wasn’t able to find anything and it started to look kind of scary for her. She thought to herself, what if there is something she could be doing right now that would change the trajectory of her daughter’s health and progress?
Lexis Serot kept getting her daughter into different forms of therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and all the therapies, and she met some great people while doing so. And she would talk to other parents or caregivers and find that they had a very similar experience.
So over a year and a half, it started to become more of a curiosity of wanting to do something. However, there was like a total fear of trying to create a solution and not knowing how to do it and having it fail. Until one-day Lexis met one more.
She shares, “I just took one more person who was carrying her child who was taller than her over her shoulder because they were saving up for a wheelchair into an aqua physical therapy appointment. And on my way home I was like, you know what? I’m just gonna try, I’m just going to do the best that I can. My fear of trying and failing was overcome by my fear of not trying at all.”
Lexis Serot wanted to make sure that she was creating a solution. As an entrepreneur, she thinks anyone who starts a company should have the right concept. But what she did instead of shooting from the hip or going from her gut instinct, she started interviewing anyone who would talk to her about their journey, care to equipment, if it was just symptoms, what their common diagnosis was with those symptoms, and what was difficult for them in acquiring all of those things to find where the foundation of the problem was. So, she could build on it.
The concept she originally had, actually will probably roll out in a year or two because it’s pretty cool. But she realized that it wasn’t where she should start because what she found in those conversations was that every single person had something they no longer needed. It was maybe a bandage or medical tape or bed pads or even the large equipment, and it was just sitting.
No one knew if they could throw it away or where they could donate it. Medical equipment was a tricky thing and then everyone needed something they couldn’t get, and everyone felt lonely and isolated in their experience. Also, there were other things like fear and not wanting to go out in public, not wanting to bring their loved one in public because what if they don’t have the equipment to make them comfortable? This entire situation was terrible and someone needed to address it.
Lexis Serot was fortunate enough to interview almost 200 families and she fondly told them, “I’m here to tell you that you are not alone.”
She was an icebreaker, who recognized the problem, identified the gaps, and went on a mission to innovate a life-changing solution for it. It started with her story which become a source and the sole reason for creating something that will help only her kid but also other kids out there.
She adds, “So I started with that and I realized that if you needed a walker that my daughter no longer needs, then the chances are that we have a lot more in common. If you list the item, we are connected by the item and then I build in a connect and chat component so that you could leave it open if you make a friend or, you know, I’ve had many users that when I list my things will say, Hey, so if your child is now nine, mine’s five, is there any other thing you used?
Which shoe was five in any capacity that was useful? And now we’re talking, now we’re solving problems. It’s not just the equipment that you couldn’t find. It’s now a platform for sharing information, and I truly believe that not only does it move the needle for acquiring these things, but it does dispel a lot of that loneliness.”
This entire process was cathartic for Lexis Serot and helped her heal in many ways.
A Real-Time Professional Background
Lexis Serot couldn’t afford to go to college so she never did. She went for a year on a scholarship she tested out of her major. So, she didn’t know that meant she couldn’t finish college because she tested out her major.
So, overall her professional background is rooted in her real-time life experience. She has done it all, be it working as a housekeeper, dishwasher, waitress, hostess, bartender, nanny, model, or actor. She has served in multiple roles and learned from different perspectives.
“I think it’s been hugely helpful in creating this website because I do have an understanding of what it comes, what it looks like to come from nothing and to work so hard just to make ends meet, and the feeling that you’re never gonna get out of that, right?”
Whenever Lexis Serot has tried to create another aspect for the solutions under the umbrella of LittleWins, she could activate those parts of her life experiences to do things like understand how little time people have to sign-up.
In any website, how fast the programming needs to be, how efficient, and how important the content is Lexis Serot has learned all of this through her experiences.
During the pandemic, she did go to night school, and when she put her kids to bed, she started going to coding school and taking coding classes.
Recently, about nine months ago, she started learning how to fly planes. She aims to get her pilot’s license.
Overall, Lexis Serot is a lifelong learner, who draws her inspiration and motivation to learn from life’s experiences itself. For her, learning is a kind of a blessing in disguise.
Conquering the Challenges
When Lexis Serot started, one of her biggest challenges was to create an LLC. She didn’t know the process of creating an LLC, so she Googled it, and at the time it was a huge challenge. However, once she defeated the challenge, and got the LLC that feeling was a huge achievement.
The success of overcoming the larger challenges, like migrating the website to AWS to make sure that LittleWins had a robust enough platform to host images, the image uploads should be quick with no buffering, it should have an image resize option, the platform should be user friendly, easy-to-use, and also protect privacy.
While fighting these challenges, Lexis Serot could be at the forefront of everything, finding solutions, reading a lot, asking questions, and finding other entrepreneurs who have done something similar. In all this, if she is not able to find a way out, Lexis always paved her way by taking the road less travelled to beat her challenges. Of course, it is an overwhelming experience, but when you overcome any challenge just like an LLC, it’s safe to say it is all about those LittleWins that count for the biggest success.
And, that is why she named it, Lexis believes one has to celebrate every single win. In Lexis Serot’s long-standing journey, one thing to note about her personality is she loves to tackle challenges. This trait of hers makes her stand out from the crowd.
Elaborating that further, Lexis Serot says, “I know like sometimes I’ll ask my assistant, I’ll just look up at him and I’m like, I could have been like a Pilates mom. There’s nothing wrong with that. They look so rested, they look so happy, you know? But yeah, it’s just. I don’t know. I’m not saying there’s one right way or another, but I think that you pretty much pinned it on the nose. I can’t sleep if I feel like there’s something I could have done to create a better solution. It’s hard for me to overlook things that are not working well or do a disservice or watch other people struggle.
Knowing that there could be ways that could at the very least be slightly helpful then, then I just can’t let go. So, maybe I’m a little obsessive. I’m not sure what it is. We’ll ask my therapist later why I do love it, yes, I love everything about it, and the phone calls I live for the phone calls and the emails and the little notes I get.
I try to always do the callbacks as often as I can for the users. Do call with questions so that I can meet them in some capacity. Talk with them. And, it is a huge boom to my heart chakra too.”
Building Network the Authentic and Traditional Way
Lexis Serot built her network the old-school way. As she has personally funded her venture from scratch, she didn’t have a marketing team or a PR person to represent her.
In the beginning, Lexis started interviewing her daughter’s therapists and would ask them to spread the word to other families who were open to talking and coming along. Eventually, people shared numbers, were interested to join in, and started learning more about the platform, and that’s how there it started growing. Till Today, Lexis Serot continues to build her network by reaching out to people, she says it’s all about reaching out and saying, “Hey, I’m doing this thing and I’d love to get your thoughts on it.”
Lexis maintains those relationships and creates a trustworthy bond with everyone in the community. Staying consistent is her key and she is also immensely dedicated to the founding principles on which she has built her organization.
The Pillars of the Organization
Lexis Serot’s founding principles are the cornerstone of her organization. She wears a proud badge of honor as to date she truly abides by these founding principles. Lexis states the guiding principles of LittleWins are reflected in their work which includes,
- Integrity: We believe in doing the right thing and in being good stewards of the resources and relationships entrusted to us.
- Empowerment: We seek to empower our members by giving them access to the tools and resources they need to improve their lives.
- Compassion: We care about our members and their families and offer an environment and interactions free from judgment or expectations.
- Collaboration: We believe that working together generates richer outcomes and that fostering community is the key. To better results and respect, we value and honor our differences embracing the people and communities. We serve accountability. We follow through on our commitments and take ownership of our results.
These strong principles are like Lexis Serot’s Coach that mentors her through her journey. LittleWins is like a love child, a passion project for Lexis.
She is always so grateful, humbled, and happy that the organization is making a remarkable difference in people’s lives. These founding principles are at the core of every single decision that Lexis Serot makes.
“And it’s interesting when you kind of pioneer, you pave an entirely new road. There had never been anything like LittleWins before, so that’s challenging too when you, and if I were to try to start something else, there were probably other places I could look to see what others had done and then try to make it better. It’s a little scary sometimes but overall it’s pretty great because you get to do it however you want to with the flavor and the flair and the love that you wanna put into it. It’s less of a corporate feeling and more of just a community feeling like a team. And that’s why we call ourselves a team.“
An Unusual Take on Competition
Lexis Serot states, there is not exactly any kind of competition in this field at all. Maybe a cybersecurity firm or some other industry, they have competitors. However, there is no such thing when it comes to LittleWins. There isn’t any competition and if there is, Lexis could love to meet them and join forces and build a bigger and better team. That is one of LittleWin’s principles. As it works very differently from others.
She continues, “We’ve not done it in such a way as to see it as a strong market to make a return, the return being just in a monetary value. My return isn’t feeling like I can leave this planet someday having tried hard to make it a better place for me and the kids and everybody else. I am here to live my purpose, serve it, and leave behind a legacy.“
Lexis’s Leadership Mantra: Lead by Example
Lexis Serot is one of those hard-working leaders, who are always on their toes and working around the clock.
She adds, “I work thoroughly within every aspect that’s needed here within this company so that I can help move because my job is to innovate, to continue moving forward, and to keep creating new things while maintaining the structural foundation of all the things we’ve done before, and making it known that in meetings always with team members of LittleWins.”
As a leader, Lexis Serot is open to discussion, new perspectives, and opinions of her team members. She truly values and respects them and acknowledges their contribution to the overall success of the organization. Lexis creates a work culture and boosts an environment where the team learns and grows from each other.
A Promising Future
Lexis Serot has got some good things coming. Transportation solution is one of them which she is excited about it.
Vision loss has been going on the rise as many things have in recent decades and it’s somewhat dangerous to assume. Lexis is trying to make clear through the podcast, blogs, and everything that there is nothing one should fear about. Fear will turn into stress and that can make things worse. One should know that there will be solutions and that there are people, so many of them Lexis has met through her conferences.
Also, one of the most requested items on LittleWins in the last few years was weighted stuffed animals for sensory solutions. Lexis’s kids too love weighted blankets and weighted stuffed animals. So, Lexis Serot is completely involved in the process as that helps to execute things better.
The next thing that LittleWins is planning to roll out is a project she has been working on for three years and its medical supply subscription boxes.
Lexis Serots little story behind ideating this concept, “I was going to Walgreens to pick up a bunch of medical supplies for my daughter that I routinely need to pick up. And it just kind of makes you feel not great when you gotta make that run to the store and it’s just sad. I mean, you’re happy. That you have her and you have the opportunity to do that. But there’s an underlying feeling.
The same day I got a box from some subscription box. I order myself as a mom that comes twice a year and it just feels like Christmas, it’s in a pretty box. It has fun things in it and I was like, wait. And what I did is I started researching it more. So let’s say you can’t, you don’t have a caregiver, and you have difficulty walking. You need to go to the store to get these things. You’re not in a place where Amazon can’t get to you quickly.
What do they do? Well, you know what they do? They take a bus to another bus or a train. So, I researched the top 50 most needed items, and put that in a cool survey. And I gotta tell you, in the, I’ve surveyed everyone, a couple of times a year since to make sure I was still on target.”
Lexis Serot’s aim with the medical supply subscription boxes was to create something unique and a fully equipped service that will meet the need of the customer/patient. She wanted to patent the concept to make sure it wasn’t stolen and overly monetized and just like the best of it being taken out.
Finally, she found the best company with its own beautiful story to make these subscription boxes and they’re ready to go. It is going to be launched in the next like week or two.
“So in, you can go on the site and if anyone ever listens to this who has taken this survey, I always tell them it was a team effort. Every person’s input was anonymous. So, it was all I ever wanted to know is how can I help. What is it that you need? Because then I can go out and I can get it for you.
But I took the survey. Nobody even takes surveys. Hundreds of people took my survey, and that’s why I’m confident enough in rolling out or testing a brilliant concept, where you can order it every four, six, or eight weeks. You can select the items that you need and you know the frequency of shipments you can, every month you get a reminder in the check boxes already checked for you. Here’s what you ordered and you can uncheck it. If you don’t need it this month, you can pause it. All of that.”
So, under the umbrella of LittleWins, there are many ambitious things, but the subscription boxes are the big ones for this year. Lexis Serot is excited about the subscription box. On the homepage of the site, there is a picture of what one of the boxes looks like. However, if one doesn’t have a login, which is important to note because the login is purely, literally only an email and password that one has to create to get to know more about the services.
Lexis Serot adds, “And that is to, in effort to, one of my fears, when I was starting, was that, you know, people would misuse it. I wanted to protect it somehow. And an easy way to do that was to gate my website with a login. Once you create that login, then you have access, and I will tell you within the geolocation, how close that item is to you and then search and update all of those things.”
Going back to challenges, implementing geolocation was a big one, but it was imperative. Lexis formed a relationship with FedEx and got a discount for LittleWins’ users to ship things to each other, which is not easy but the organization did it even though it was expensive. Hence, to find a more efficient solution, Lexis Serot turned to Geolocation and it helped a lot.
As mentioned earlier Lexis Serot learning to fly and getting her license is all for being able to fly equipment to other places if they can’t afford to ship it. Her dedication and courage have no end.
Lexis Serot summons it up saying, “That’s been a really cool experience and every time I’m taking a test or it’s difficult or I’m having a windy day like yesterday, I’m flying on the windiest day I’ve ever experienced and I just remember the reason why.“
