FRISCO, Texas — Trovette Tottress’s dream of being a business owner is finally coming true, it just took a lot longer than she expected.

Tottress created her plan a while ago to open the Language Lab Academy in Frisco. The unique academy will teach people a variety of foreign languages like Spanish, Mandarin, and American Sign Language to name a few. With few other businesses out there like it, it looked like Tottress was primed to open quickly and bring something new to the DFW area.

She pulled the trigger at what turned out to be the worst possible time.

“I remember February 15th [2020] is when we signed for our building,” said Tottress, “and a week later, that’s when COVID hit and everything was on lockdown.”

Just when as she launched her business, everything came to a halt. Construction slowed to a snail’s pace and licensing and permitting was put on hold as everyone hunkered down through much of the spring.

Tottress said it quickly became clear COVID-19 would be a serious roadblock in the way of her academy opening, and she had to put most of her teachers and staff on hold, not knowing when she may actually be able to start welcoming students.

“It was supposed to be that May is when we were told our building would be open. However by the time everything was said and done and the dust settled, we didn’t get our certificate of occupancy until November,” she said.

The pandemic has put business owners everywhere in dire straits. Even after the lockdown was lifted, the economy has lagged and people have been slow to return to life as usual. Countless stores and restaurants have been forced to close due to the circumstances, while others are forced into layoffs and major cost cutting measures to keep the lights on.

Tottress never got a chance to open the doors to customers, making it more difficult to keep the lights on.

While many in her position have put business on hold, Tottress continues to press on today. She survived cancer and believes she can survive this. Her family says she has never given up on any adversity, and she is determined to open her language lab.

“I have overcame [sic] plenty of obstacles in my own personal life,” said Tottress. “Whether it be for personal or business, you just keep going until you overcome it.”