The idea for B.O.S.S. started over six years ago. I had recently left my corporate job at a Fortune 10 company after the birth of my oldest son. I knew that the commute from Columbus to Bellaire was going to be tough with a newborn. Taking a leap of faith (and a rather large pay cut) I took a position at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce as the Executive Director. This was a huge culture shock to me. For the past seven years, I was trained by some of the best executive trainers in the country. Bred to be the “best of the best”, wearing suits every day, traveling with a per diem, and using phrases like “coach, action plan, and documentation”. There, someone was always at your back pushing you to learn more and do better. Now I am in the chamber office, by myself, managed by a board of volunteers. Not sure how to take this change from corporate girl, I would still only allow myself to wear jeans on Fridays.
I loved getting to know the business owners in the town of Columbus. Business ownership always fascinated me. My dad owned his own business for a long time, and I always wanted to do the same. I started my first business designing stationery and selling it on my sidewalk. It was not a winning business model in the streets of suburbia Cypress. But even throughout my youth, I loved studying people. My original major at Texas A&M was Psychology, though I changed majors during my freshman orientation. I figured out Marketing is basically the same as Psychology except you can make money with an undergraduate degree (things that motivate an 18-year-old!).
I loved Marketing. It came so naturally to me (many times I didn’t need to study). What didn’t come naturally was accounting…..and finance. I had to spend MANY hours studying and being tutored for these classes only to squeak by. I had a friend from my high school who majored in Accounting at Texas A&M. I would often study with him as I thought he was super smart, and the math classes were easy for him. And you know what I learned; he struggled in Marketing. If that isn’t a clear picture of left-brained vs. right-brained then I don’t know what is. When we are around people who think like us, we assume that is how the whole world thinks. Until you are around people that don’t think like you. I graduated with a 4.0 in my Marketing classes, which made up for all the math classes. Looking back now, I can say with confidence that I am not dumb. My brain is just not wired to compute numbers and that is okay. I have many other talents to offer. As the wise Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Bringing it back to the chamber and meeting the business owners, I quickly learned that many of them started a business because they were passionate or had a strength in something. Whether it be shopping and they opened a gift store or fitness and they opened a gym. I never ran across someone who said they were passionate about shopping AND reconciling their bank statements. Or passionate about health AND finding ways to improve their marketing ROI. We all have our passions and strengths, but often the tasks that we don’t like, or struggle to do, fall on the back burner. Even if we KNOW they are essential to running a business. As the years progressed in my small town, I would see businesses start, and then fail because they were missing one piece of the puzzle. Coming from the corporate world, I realized that these businesses didn’t have access to an operational team like I once had. I thought, why not? Why can’t there be a business whose whole purpose was to pick up the slack on the back end? Why can’t I just come in and help them with their coaching, marketing, or bookkeeping (…or find someone to help them with their bookkeeping……*cough* Rachel)? Thus, the idea of B.O.S.S. was born.
Though I didn’t love the corporate world and don’t wish to bring that mindset to businesses I work with, I know that there are some helpful experiences and training I have had that I can take and apply to any business. I have been taught that developing our strengths is more important than working on our weaknesses. This is a different mindset from how we used to coach employees, but it makes complete sense when I think back to college. No matter how hard I try my brain will never be strong at calculating numbers quickly. But I found Rachel, a partner who is passionate about looking at numbers and trends. I found the answer to my weakness instead of trying to teach myself Accounting 101 again. Stop spending hours trying to teach yourself how to design a web page. Or fit another frustrating task on your to-do list. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to say we are not good at accounting. When you pass these tasks to people who WANT to tackle your to-do list, it frees up your time to focus on your employees, your health, your family, and your customers, YOUR passions. I started my business because I am passionate about marketing and building businesses. I want to use my strength to allow business owners to focus on theirs.
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