The Art of Starting, Growing, & Finding Purpose

The last several years have been an adventure, to say the least! We had our first child in May of 2016 and by August I started Bravent. It’s been a fun, wild ride and I’ve learned a ton.

I’ve always been passionate about business, helping others, and HR. Bravent has been an optimal way to accomplish these 3 things while having more time and flexibility to raise my son, Desmond.

I want to share a little bit about how I got started and my vision for the future!

GETTING STARTED... YOU DON’T NEED A PLAN!

I didn’t spend countless hours crafting a robust business plan or value proposition. I didn’t do SEO on my website and I don't maintain much of a social media presence. Despite being a huge business nerd and having read countless business books over the years, I didn’t even pull together a budget, revenue goal, or strategic plan. I just figured it out along the way. Honestly, that’s what you’ll end up doing anyways.

Come up with a basic concept and test it in the market. You don't need to spend a ton of money or quit your job to start doing this now. Side hustle! Once you test the waters you'll know more about if you have a good idea/product/service people will pay you for (and if you actually enjoy it).

HAVE A BIAS FOR ACTION (AND EXPECT CHANGE)

I often tell clients that doing SOMETHING is better than doing NOTHING. Even if you do the wrong thing. Sometimes the lessons you learn by doing the wrong thing are critical to your future success. The idea I had for Bravent when I started (mainly Career Coaching) is different than the bulk of my work today (HR Consulting). And it will probably change again down the line. Thankfully, I don’t have a commitment to any particular type of work - what’s important to me is being of service and having a positive impact on clients.

I didn’t have a big picture vision or even a real purpose other than I love what I do. That’s been enough to be successful to this point. Over time, my clients and projects have helped make the market need (and therefore future of the business) more clear. Once that was clear, I started thinking about how to scale the business in a way that is fulfilling for me based on my passions. I started to see the company as a way to drive change I want to see in the world - better workplace flexibility and more females in the C-suite.

CAREGIVER BRAIN DRAIN

How many highly-educated professionals do you know that have exited the workforce to stay at home with kids or take care of a family member? I've interviewed lots and know plenty personally. In fact, I almost was one. Part-time, flexible, PROFESSIONAL jobs are more rare than you'd think. When people exit the workforce for some temporary period of time (and for whatever reason), upon return they are often 5, 10, 15 years behind their peers in compensation and level of responsibility. Since it’s primarily women who end up filling these critically important caregiving roles, this is a major contributing factor to the pay gap and the lack of female executives in the general business environment. It’s simply a travesty.

A Care.com study found that 63% of parents said that the cost of childcare influenced their career decisions. 27% switched from full-time to part-time, and 27% asked for more schedule flexibility.

MEANINGFUL, FLEXIBLE, PART-TIME WORK

I see a major opportunity to retain these highly skilled, talented workers in a non-traditional format. Professional jobs, executed on a part-time, flexible basis, with proper support. I have several part-time workers now and plan to focus on this model moving forward. 

LIMITED FLEXIBLE CHILDCARE OPTIONS

Another issue I’ve observed and heard about from friends is the lack of childcare options for part-time workers who don’t have consistent schedules or steady hours/week needs. Prove me wrong, but from what I’ve seen drop-in and flexible part-time care is pretty much non-existent. So for someone like me - and the people I hope to hire in the future - there are few options for care when you don’t need a set “40 hours/week, Monday through Friday” type of arrangement. 

My mom watches my son when I work, and I am SO extremely thankful for that. Other friends and family jump in to help out when needed, and I’m so lucky to have their help. Not everyone has that solid support structure in place and it's a major barrier.

Point blank - without the support of my mom, I would not have been able to do what I’m doing. Starting your own business is a risk, so committing to full-time or even 3 days/week childcare is an expensive proposition when you’re not sure what your income is going to be. I would have been bleeding money while I figured out my business model and built a client base.

I have friends who only need part-time childcare who had to put their kids in full-time because the center “didn’t have any part-time openings.” I know one person who is paying over $2,000/month for full-time care and only using it about 10 hours a week. I know that managing staff levels and regulations for part-time care can be a challenge for daycare centers, but this is ridiculous.

We need to address this issue. I have lots of research and information to gather, but long-term, I’d love to offer on-site, ad hoc childcare for my team members. And I hope other employers figure out ways to do this too. 

SO WHAT NOW?

I wanted to get these ideas out there to share my vision and start discussions. So here’s the next step…

1. If you have HR or Recruiting expertise and are looking for interesting, flexible, part-time work, we should talk!
2. If you are knowledgable about the childcare industry and can educate me or point me to some resources, we should talk!
3. If you are passionate about these same issues and want to work together on solutions, we should talk!