Meet Lewis Warren

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lewis Warren. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lewis below.

Lewis, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

Well, most of what I do over at Monkey Paw Toys we do it for the people and not for the recognition that you see others do for likes and notoriety. For myself and my crew it’s about taking care of our community. There have been a bunch of people that have came into the shop with different stories and different walks of life. For example, there is a mother of an 11-year old son that was waiting for a kidney transplant and this brave boy has had a rough road for sure, but he never flinched at the hand he has been dealt. He has just took it like a champ.

This amazing boy has made the whole crew monkey ball keychains and its the highlight of his day to come into the shop. So when we heard he went back into the hospital because his body might be rejecting the transplant I asked his mother what he likes and she responded with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, Of course I made sure she left with a set of the 4 turtles on us to help cheer him up.

This is just something we do for people in our community, not for social media attention or videos, but because we love giving back to our community. I love to do things and help others, because it’s makes me feel good, about me. I know that sounds selfish, but I really do think helping others is a lost art, so if I can cheer someone up with a few action figures or comics, it’s totally worth it! We even have a little thing called “Free Figure Friday”, so what that is, anytime someone comes to the shop and makes a purchase of $10 or more we give them a raffle ticket for a figure we give away each Friday. Everyone loves this and its just something extra we offer.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

What can I say about myself? I have overcome so much in my life already. I was born with Cerebral Palsy, those that don’t know what C.P. is, it’s a lack of oxygen to the brain that can be caused several different ways, but for myself the ambilocal cord wrapped around my neck when my mother was in labor and was almost strangled before I was born. Thankfully they caught the problem and did an emergency c-section and saved my life.

I have a mild case of Cerebral Palsy which effects some of my fine motor movements and my speech. Needless to say growing up with a disability was a challenge, because we all know kids can be cruel. It was only after I opened Monkey Paw Toys that I really came out of my shell and stopped caring what people thought of me and decided to just be myself. The shop forced me to do things that I used to shy away from and face them head on. Most of my friends that know me find it hard to believe I was ever afraid to put myself out there because most of them tell me I am the most confident person they know, I, myself don’t see it, but they do.

After my business partner bailed on me and I had no one to help me run the store, I was forced with greeting customers, answering the phone and doing everything myself which I never would do, but now I had no one to rely on. If you don’t understand, having a speech impediment is like trying to order a pizza over the phone and they think your drunk and make fun of you. So there I was forcing myself and getting over my fears. I have done many things in my life from stand-up comedy to being brought up on stage from a concert in front of thousands of people, but running my own store and dealing with people that have no idea they were walking into to a store owned by someone with a disability.

It’s been truly a dream come true doing what I love. Owning a store that deals with collectibles, comics, video games and much more has been just awesome! We get customers everyday that are just taken back by the pure awesomeness of the store and what we have created at Monkey Paw Toys. I enjoy getting to go to work and do something I love. I have met so many people that have the same hobbies and interests as myself and that has been a blessing. I never really had friends because of my disability, but since I have opened the shop I have met my best friend J.T. and Brylan, As well as some of my amazing employee’s like David, Jon & Mark. And then there’s people like Josh and Damian, but so many others that started out as customers and now turned friends. Without these people in my life, I wouldn’t be here.

And of course the woman behind the man. She spent a lot of time pushing me to be better, a better man and just better at what I do. She was a big inspiration even though she doesn’t think so, without her giving me the encouragement that she did, never looking down on me for being different; there would be no Monkey Paw Toys. She is my best friend and has been through think and thin with me for years, So to her, Thank you.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three skills that I would say are needed:

First thing would be the knowledge. Knowing the items and collectible world. It took collecting since I was about 8 years old and just being interested in comic books and that genre. I mean I spent years collecting, learning, reading comics and such that now I can look at an action figure and be able to tell what line, year and make its from and sometimes it blows the minds of my employees, one of the jokes I hear a lot is (mainly from Brylan) “It’s almost like you work in a toy store”. But as everyone knows, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

A close 2nd skill that has been a useful tool is social media. This has been a great tool because its basically free marketing and advertising. Starting a small business and trying to get the name out there is definitely a hard task, but man, oh man does social media help this, plus having your Facebook name under Peter Parker sure does help! Social media is a must-have now adays, so I would not suggest going without it.

And the last skill that is definitely under rated is humor. Humor is such a great thing to use and gets people to feel comfortable and getting someone to laugh is always a plus. Getting people to laugh goes a long way.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Of course! I always look for others to collaborate with and help get each others names out there! From magazines to internet and web makers all the way to social media posts and all that good stuff!

Anyone that is looking to reach out to us, just shoot us a email or message. You can go to our website monkeypawtoys.com and it has links to all of our socials and ways to get a hold of us!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Lewis Warren

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where does your optimism come from?

Optimism is the invisible ingredient that powers so much of the incredible progress in society

Confidence
Stories of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Learning from one another is what BoldJourney is all about. Below, we’ve shared stories and

Resilience
The Power of Persistence: Overcoming Haters and Doubters

Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made