As a mom to a child born deaf, Rachel Coleman set out to change her daughter’s world and make it easier for her and other to communicate with a hearing world. In the process, she started a amazingly successful business, Signing Time!

Meet Rachel and find out how it all started and how she manages a successful business and being a mom to two young girls.  

1) Tell us a little about your business and how you started it?

My oldest daughter Leah was born profoundly deaf. By the time she was 4 years old I was frustrated with how few people in our lives could communicate with her. We had seen all of the resources for learning sign language. My husband Aaron and I had purchased many tapes and kept sending reminders about community ASL instruction and yet Leah’s community could not keep up with her signing skills. People who knew her and loved her could not seem to make the time to learn sign language to communicate with her. There were a number of moments where this became clear to me; I could see it in our family, friends and neighbourhood. Pretty soon Mom and Dad were going to be Leah’s permanent interpreters, which isn’t a terrible thing, but consider that all of her information came from us! That’s a very narrow slice of a very big world. I started doing a sign language story time at some local preschools and was thrilled to find that when children are armed with a few signs; they are excited to communicate with a deaf child. With no exposure to sign, these children felt awkward and scared. The final piece came into place when my sister Emilie called me one day to see if I would be interested in making a video for children. I immediately said, “Yes! AND it has to be about sign language!” I could visualize the impact already, even if we only made one hundred videotapes and gave them away to people who know and love Leah, THAT could change her experience as a deaf child. It took us more than a year to create the first volume of Signing Time. We leaned heavily on favours, family talents and credit cards. We set up a web-site http://www.signingtime.com and they started selling!

2) Your story is so inspirational, how did you manage to turn adversity into something so positive?

Many people say, “Wow, Rachel, you took lemons and made lemonade!” Not my favourite way to put it, especially when talking about my kids. J Other people say, “It happened to you for a reason!” or “You got those children because you could handle it!” I am not convinced that any of that is true. Believe me sometimes I am not sure I can handle it, but it is my life and I wanted a family and chose to have children and here I am! There is no one to blame, it’s no one’s fault. I struggled for a long time especially after our second daughter Lucy was born with spina bifida and cerebral palsy. I was really stuck in thinking that my life is hard. Every day I woke up to a life that was hard. I told everyone how hard my life was, I had plenty of proof. I was really depressed and I resented a lot of things, even my success with “Signing Time!” The way I saw it, everything I had was simply a result of surviving. For me, I could not see what is so inspiring about surviving. I finally got some very good coaching and what I saw was this; I was the one saying my life was hard and sure enough what showed up was a hard life, every day. It sounds so simple. I stopped saying my life was hard. I started saying, “my life is an incredible adventure!” and I shared that with everyone instead and sure enough I began to see the proof. This same thing happens all over our lives. We make a choice, often even fighting for it. We see it as an incredible opportunity. Then over time it slowly changes form opportunity to burden and we forget that we chose it and wanted it. We knew Lucy had spina bifida before she was born. I had fetal surgery at 22 weeks to give her the best chance possible in life. By the time she was 3, I was complaining about loading her wheelchair and catheterizing her every four hours. It’s like I had completely forgotten that I chose it and had said that I wanted her no matter what.

3) What do you think makes you different from other parents who have children facing physical challenges or learning disabilities?

I know it can be overwhelming when you have a child or children with special needs. The best things you can do are educating yourself and trust your instincts. In the beginning I felt like I had to fight for everything for Leah. Every meeting was like prepping for battle and I took that attitude with me once I left the meetings as well. People are curious and they are going to stare and if you are lucky, they will ask questions. I finally put down my guard when I noticed that even I felt awkward asking other families questions about their child with a disability. I started cutting strangers some slack and took the opportunity to educate them. Plus, it’s incredible what comes out of other people’s mouths, and I started writing them down. Things like, “She’s too cute to be deaf!” or “Wow, one is deaf and the other has spina bifida? You must have terrible genes!” I figured there might be a day I could laugh about it. Though my all time favourite comment was from a little boy who taught me not to judge and showed me that I jump to conclusions. Lucy has hydrocephalus and her head was noticeable larger as an infant and toddler. One day I was at a taco stand, late picking someone up from the airport. Lucy was balanced with her head on my shoulder and I was on my cell phone. This 9 year-old boy came up and said loudly, “Your baby has a big head!” I ignored him and continued balancing Lucy, the phone and waiting for tacos. I was wishing he would go away! “Hey! Your baby has a big head!” he said even louder this time. The blood was rushing to my face and I wondered why parents forget to teach manners nowadays. I hung up the phone, got my bag of tacos and spun around to face him. He looked in my eyes and with complete sincerity said, “Your baby has a big head. I bet she’s going to be VERY smart!” I couldn’t even respond. I went back to my car and cried.

4) What advice would you give to a parent who finds out that their child was born with a physical challenge?

My advice would be this. Don’t assume that someone else has all of the answers. Some of the very best solutions may be inside of you.

5) People often say that there is no greater love, than the love we have for our children. Do you think that this was one of the driving forces behind your success?

Absolutely. Every time I saw Leah shunned by a child because she could not talk or hear, it broke my heart. I felt helpless. When I discovered I could make the difference, it was thrilling. I couldn’t even see how Signing Time might benefit Lucy and children like her. My complete focus was on opening up Leah’s world. I was shocked to hear that schools and families are using Signing Time to learn English as a second language. It makes sense, but like I said my focus was helping hearing children communicate with deaf children. I knew that families with preverbal infants would see the benefits, but I had no idea how badly other families needed Signing Time. Children with autism, down syndrome, apraxia, tracheotomies, speech delays, cleft palates, cerebral palsy… the list goes on and on, but these special kids are experiencing the miracle of communication through signing. Even Leah’s little sister Lucy who was diagnosed as mentally retarded at age two, found her voice through signs. We were told she would never speak and never sign and yet, she now does both.

6) What are some ways you market your business, and which method has worked best for you?

I like to say that Signing Time has been successful and is still successful because of “Word of Mom” so much of our success comes from people telling other people. When someone you know and trust tells you “You have to check this out!” Or “This completely changed our life!” I think that goes farther than any advertising dollar I can spend. Thankfully, our fans find themselves talking about “Signing Time!” all of the time. Their children are walking, signing advertisements as well. There is nothing cuter than a baby expressing herself through sign language and people take notice. When a child signs what they want rather than throwing a tantrum in public, everyone is thankful.

7) What advice do you have for others starting their own home business?

I always say that moms are our nations number one resource of entrepreneurs. We live it everyday. Don’t you find yourself saying, “I wish someone would invent something to help with _________.” (fill in the blank) My advice is, the next time you say that and you fill in the blank… take it a step further. It may be your “Signing Time!” Six years ago, I said, “I wish there was a FUN way that kids could learn sign language.” And get really good at noticing when those exciting opportunities have quietly turned into events you are resenting. Take a deep breath and remember what turned you on about it in the first place.

What are your absolute favourite products or resources that you can’t live without in your business?

My Mac Book. I can record song demos. I can make little QuickTime movies to send to our ASL consultants, where I sign my questions to them in ASL. (So much easier than trying to describe signs through an email conversation.) It is light and easy to travel with and stays charged for more than 3 hours. Marriott Hotels. I partner with PBS stations across the country and bring live Signing Time performances to their schools and communities. I know I am going to have a great night’s sleep, comfortable bed and good food at a Marriott. Do I sound like a commercial or what? The number one resource I could not live without is my husband, Aaron. If you can find a partner like him, I highly recommend it. Last year there was a stretch where I was on the road for nineteen straight days. The only way I could go for that long was because I have complete faith and trust in him. He can do everything I can do AND fix the plumbing and electric. He is completely devoted to his girls – Leah, Lucy and me.

9) How do you strive to achieve a work/life balance?

Luckily my work involves my family. Leah often travels with me when I am doing Signing Time outreach events. Aaron is with Lucy right now and they are filming for some upcoming episodes. Lucy loves to visit me on set and in the recording studio. My husband Aaron is one of our editors. Signing Time is all about family and if it doesn’t work for our family, Signing Time is not going to work at all. We have standing family events like playing soccer with our neighbours on Sundays. I even try to book my flights home in time for family soccer. Sure there are times, like right now where Leah is playing with friends and I am typing away on my lap-top. But I have found there is always time to answer email and phone calls and I try to do it when my kids are busy with something else.

10) Since your children are the inspiration for your business, tell us how they are involved in the day-to-day operations of it?

Honestly, they are not involved in the day to day. It’s a business and they are children. Leah and her cousin Alex have no idea how many videos we sell. They stop by the office every few months and answer fan mail. The only time they are involved daily is when we are in production. They read their scripts, try on clothes, get hair and make-up done and then act. When it’s done, it’s done. They go to regular schools and play sports like regular kids. Sometimes they come on the road with me for live performances, but that is rare. For me to stand and smile and take pictures with Signing Time families for an hour is much easier than asking Alex and Leah to do the same. I don’t think that they really know how popular the show is and that’s probably a good thing.

11) Signing has become so popular; there’s signing for babies, children and adults. Do you think that this is the start of something even bigger? Could signing, one day, bridge language barriers across the world?

I am thrilled that signing is becoming so popular. Many families go looking for a little bit of sign language to reduces tantrums and the terrible twos. What we have found is that when they find Signing Time, they get hooked and end up learning much more than they had originally anticipated. When I say hooked, I mean hooked. We have teenagers signing up for ASL classes at school and parents taking community education or college level courses. Children who say they are going to be ASL interpreters when they grow up. We see families creating Signing Time Playgroups in their communities. We have educators incorporating Signing Time into their language and arts curriculum. This in itself is thrilling to me. There are so many more people for deaf children to communicate with now. As far as bridging language barriers across the world… Many people do not realize that sign language is not an international language. We have American Sign Language, but there is British Sign Language, Australian Sign Language and many more. Since sign language is so physical, expressive, three dimensional and spatial, it seems easier to cross a sign language barrier than a spoken language barrier.

12) What’s next for Signing Time?

We are always working on new and innovative products to support learning sign language. We are expanding our Signing Time line of books and flashcards. We are currently working on new episodes of Signing Time that will air on public television next year. We have also been developing some new shows and new ideas. As for me, I have been writing some new songs that do not focus on manners and food items. J We’ll see maybe I will release a mainstream CD geared to grownups.

13) What a positive role model you are, not only for your daughters, but for other moms out there. What do you hope you can impart on your children as they continue to grow into young adults?

Good question! Seriously I think that is a great question. The first thing that comes to mind is a conversation I had with Lucy two days ago. It went something like this.

Lucy: “Mom, my life is not fair!”

Rachel: “Really? Tell me about that Lucy.”

Lucy: “Well everybody else can walk and I can’t. It’s not fair!”

Rachel: “Hmmm. Well I understand how you feel. But I would like you to try this on for a minute. What if ‘not fair’ is a totally made up idea. It’s not real at all. It’s just something we say that leaves us feeling powerless and sad in our lives.”

Lucy: “But I can’t walk and you can. Leah can walk and dad can walk.”

Rachel: “You are right about that. We all have what we have. AND we all don’t have what we don’t have. I’m 5’2” and dad is 6’4” is that fair? See it’s not about fair. If our family was totally fair, maybe we would all be 6’4”, deaf and in wheelchairs.” (At this Lucy giggled) “If I win the lottery, everyone else should because that would be fair. Right?”

Lucy: “If I have surgery on my legs, you should too, just to be fair!” (More giggles)

 Rachel: “Lucy, I bet there are kids at your school who would say it’s not fair that they have to walk everywhere they go and Lucy Coleman gets to sit back and wheel her way through life. ‘Fair’ and ‘not fair’ are totally made up. You have what you have sweetie and what you have is wonderful!”

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