Stitched together: perseverance is the key to triumph over hardship.

• Author: Haraldsen, Tom
• Position: Lessons Learned

Of all the talents and attributes it takes to be successful in business or life, there may be no other as important at perseverance. Sharon Olson is the embodiment of it.

Olson's Woods Cross-based company, Making Believe, sells children's costumes, clothing and accessories to hundreds of retailers across the country. Since 1999, when she acquired a small business in Seattle, her line has grown to include over 1,500 products, most of them designed by Olson herself. But it was a pair of costumes she designed and put together during an all-nighter almost 15 years ago that propelled Making Believe into what it is today.

Learning the trade

Sharon's story started when she was a 5-year-old growing up in Brigham City.

"My mother (Gayla Olson) taught me how to sew using a needle and thread," she recalls. "From the time I was 5 to 8,1 loved stitching things by hand. And after I got a Superstar Barbie for Christmas when I was 8,1 started making her clothes since she was 18 inches tall. I was hooked."

When Gayla got a new Pfaff sewing machine, she let her young daughter use it anytime she wanted.

"She was always so patient with me, no matter how many times I jammed up the bobbin," Olson says. "That includes the time I put the needle through my fingernail! She's been by biggest supporter and number one fan. She still is."

Emulating her mother's skills as an accomplished seamstress, Olson's entrepreneurial passion began to grow. At age 10, she selected the site where her future clothing store would be located in Brigham City. She drew out a floor plan for her store, complete with an office. By 12, she was sketching designs and dreaming of going to New York City someday to meet with buyers. Her natural progression later included taking 4H sewing classes and entering and winning blue ribbons at the Utah State Fair.

"Each step seemed to be a fulfillment of my childhood dreams," she says.

She earned a degree in Fashion Merchandising and Business Administration from Utah State University, graduating in 1991. She got married, gave birth to her son, Shea, and worked as the marketing director and designer for a textile-based import company.

Overcoming challenges

But life stepped in with its challenges. Olson found herself divorced a few years later.

When Shea was four years old, he and his mom saw the movie Hook, and she designed a Captain Hook costume for him. From that moment forward, the idea of making children's costumes ignited within her. Timing was the...