Kathie and I were both working part time when the pandemic hit in early 2020. Like many people here in the US epicenter we were suddenly unemployed as of March 23rd. Not only were we working before that, we were also engaging in our passion: service work. At this point in our lives both of us are deeply involved in service organizations, and (especially with all the road time I was putting in) we might only see each other in passing a few times over the course of a week. And then we went into lock-down.
As we commenced spending a great deal more time together in our house than we ever had before, we found ourselves… well, talking. We continued with our service commitments on virtual platforms, got some stuff done around the house, found time to read some books. We were even sharing three meals a day together, which rarely happened with our schedules (Kathie is a great and healthy cook). I even wrote a song for her: “I liked you a whole lot more / When I saw you a whole lot less”. Even after that, we were still talking.
One day, about three months in, we were sitting at the table having breakfast, and Kathie said, “Maybe we should start our own business”. I didn’t respond right away, but I did start thinking about it. About 15 years ago, after the second start-up I had helped to guide was acquired, I had considered the same thing, but other events at the time took me down a different path. Also, I had no one to do it with at that time, and one thing that’s interesting (cosmic?) about Kathie and I is that we have diverse and complementary skill sets.
So, a couple of weeks later, I asked her if she was serious about starting a business together, and she said “absolutely”. We talked some more, about whether there is a need to fill, how we would approach it, what kind of clientele we would seek, and on July 22 we met with a trusted former supervisor of Kathie’s, to ask (in my words) “are we crazy?” Although he didn’t respond directly to my question (?!?!) he did say there is a market, and that we should take our shot.
And so here we are, a little over two weeks later, and we’re taking our shot! For me, the joy in doing this is that we both love serving others, and the knowledge we’ve acquired along the way can help others who may not yet have that knowledge. Additionally, it’s a way of expressing the gratitude to those who have helped us along our own journey – what better way to be thankful than to pass it on? I hope that you will allow us to a part of your journey. Thank you for spending your time with us, and I trust we’ll talk with you soon!
Tom Bracken
