Have you ever pictured a place or a person in your mind before you ever meet them? I have. This week’s Valpo Life in the Spotlight is Donna Flanagin; owner of Flanagin’s Bulk Mail Service in Valparaiso. Though I had not met her before, I had heard from friends and co-workers that she was warm and friendly and that she worked very hard in her business as well as in the community. Alright, I thought. These attributes fit the criteria for our Life in the Spotlight series.
Little did I know that I was about to meet someone who greatly surpassed my expectations.
Flanagin was born and raised in Lansing, IL. In high school she began down her career path with secretarial classes and jobs. She met her husband, Doug, in high school. She knew him because their brothers were friends.
“The cute part of the story is that we both went to a carnival and met accidentally,” Flanagin said. “And he said to me, ‘Do you want to go for a ride with me in my brother’s Corvette?’ And I said, ‘Sure!’ So we dated after that and four years later we were married.”
After she got married and started a family, Flanagin got into the bulk mail business. She started in the secretarial business by keeping the books for her husband’s excavating business. Then word spread that she was doing secretarial work and she began to get job offers to do book keeping and other secretarial work for other people. One of her clients asked her to do some research about bulk mail and the software involved. So for about two years, Flanagin actually provided bulk mail services for someone else before striking out on her own.
“I initially had a secretarial business and a bulk mail division,” Flanagin said. “Then the bulk mail division took over the secretarial service because I enjoyed bulk mail more.”
The business began in 1996. In it, Flanagin addresses and sends out mail for her many customers. This is done with the help of her competent staff that includes her two daughters. The reason that people use her bulk mail service is that it is more cost effective. Flanagin’s Bulk Mail Service is able to get lower rates for postage than their customers would get of their own accord. And with the money that is saved on postage will usually cover the labor costs so the customers are often saving quite a bit of money.
“I like what I do a lot, and that’s why I do it. And that’s why it grew,” Flanagin said. “I got to go to so many different businesses and meet so many different types of people. Along with that is the fact that I like having my own business. I can do things the way I want to. I can decorate the way I want to.”
Flanagin was referring to her uniquely decorated reception area. It isn’t what one thinks of when one is trying to connect to the word “mail”. When you walk in, you are immediately caught by the visual appeal. It is decorated like a main street from the early to mid 1900s. Different sections of the walls are portrayed as a charming business front, a theater, or mom and pop grocery store and more. Appropriate decorations and adornments are placed here and there to add to the ambiance. But here is a bit of trivia: many of those strategically placed pieces all have a significant meaning behind them.
For example: there are numbers on the walls. They are supposed to look like the addresses of the buildings that grace the walls. They do, but these numbers also represent significant days in Flanagin’s Bulk Mail history, such as the year it opened; and in the life of Flanagin herself, such as the birth of a grandchild. There is also a large tree to the side of the room right next to the entrance of Flanagin’s office. At casual glance, it looks like any old tree. But upon closer scrutiny, one will see that on each leaf is written the name of a client of Flanagin’s Bulk Mail. Most of the leaves on the tree are covered. And there are many leaves.
Why would Flanagin decided to decorate in such a way? I will let you in on something. She loves Disney World. Flanagin tries to go at least once a year to the most magical place on Earth. Though she decided not to go to college, Flanagin still took some classes. And some of those classes were at the Disney Institute. The Disney Institute is the professional development sector of The Walt Disney Company. Flanagin heard about these classes years ago and watched and waited for two years for the right moment and the right class. Then one day, she received an email that presented her an opportunity to take five classes at the Disney Institute down in Orlando. She jumped on it.
Hence the creation of the Flanagin Fairies. Both of Flanagin’s daughters love Disney World as well. Though they knew that they would never be able to be characters at Disney World, they still wanted to do something that would bring what they love into the community.
“What could we do locally that would be as fun, but still be involved in the community,” Flanagin said. “It took about six months to create the costumes, and our first event was the Popcorn Parade a few years back. The Disney Institute is not specifically about characters, but it helped to form the idea in my head.”
Speaking of community involvement, what else does she do?
“We’re constantly doing things here and there. We don’t chose one thing and stick just that,” Flanagin said. "We have many garage sales and donate the proceeds to organizations like Ronald McDonald House and the Boys and Girls Club. We also found out that many of our nonprofits have wish lists. There’s always something going on.”
Flanagin is part of a group called Sterling Hope. And through that group she collected items that she kept at her business and gave the nonprofit organizations the opportunity to come and take the items as they needed them, no charge. Also, her daughter is selling tickets to a raffle where the winner receives a trip to Disney World. The proceeds from this event go toward helping the VHS Wrestling Team build a new wrestling room.
So let me add another reason to the long list of why Flanagin is cool: She has these little cards that she gives out to people who do good things.
“I always try to live my life by making the world a better place. There’s always something that you can do or say to make an impact and my mind is always thinking and creating,” Flanagin said. “And I saw something that said, ‘Scatter Kindness’, and that hit home for me. So I recently designed these cards, and I hand them out to people who go above and beyond. This just came from trying to spread goodness.”
Flanagin saves these cards for those people or businesses that go above and beyond. And not just in business, but in life in general. Think of them as a high-five and a hug in business card form.
In her free time, Flanagin vacations to Disney, reads, does yoga, picnic with her friends and babysits her grandchildren.
Any advice for those looking to be as happy and successful in life?
“Do what makes you happy. And I know that it seems like a proper answer, but it’s true,” Flanagin said. “There isn’t a day where I wake up and say, ‘I’d rather be in bed’. There isn’t. I’d rather come to work. It’s because I like what I do. And I fell really bad for someone who doesn’t like what they do. It’s drudgery to them. And that isn’t what it’s supposed to be about. So whether you’re working for somebody, starting your own business or choosing a hobby, just have it be something you enjoy because then it's not work anymore.”
There isn’t more I can say because it’s pretty obvious as to why Donna Flanagin is a Valpo Life in the Spotlight. So instead I will say that I’m glad to know her, and I’m glad to know that there are people like her that exist.