My First Business

What do you do when you are broke, no job, done with grad school, living in a new city, full of great ideas? Solution: start a business! This may also fall into the category of young and stupid. Let me tell you about the adventure of starting my first business.

Here’s what happened next…

While in graduate school, I interned for a Washington DC consulting firm whose reputation included the founding of Head Start. The project was researching and demonstrating what career transition program would look like. It was a time when workforce development was beginning its assent and people were beginning to realize that a career did not last a lifetime.

As the project wrapped up, my co-workers and I offered to take what we had learned and move it forward. The DC folks said no. I was fired up and ready to change the world. There I was, with a $400 car, a $500 line on my credit card, and some crappy furniture from a failed early marriage. I did have $1,500 in my bank account from selling my mobile home (let’s be honest, it was a small, old trailer).

So, what does one do? Load all your junk into a rental truck and move to Chicago, the city of opportunity. My dog and I moved into a third floor flat with my concrete block shelves and a desk assembled with a door and two file cabinets. So, I started hustling, trying to make money (all legit), and making connections.

Part of my graduate education was in counseling, combined with my internship experience, I started to find part time gigs doing career advisement with emancipated youth, in home family counseling where an experienced therapist had me as her bodyguard (safety), a dual career program, and small group career counseling.

Next thing I knew, one of my connections asked me if I wanted to contract with the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, providing intervention services for a youth alternative to detention program recently funded by the feds. Quickly, I realized the need for a corporate structure and some people to work with me.

Our contract was to cover 40% of the police districts in the City of Chicago and 90% of suburban Cook County. We picked up kids from police stations, found them a place to stay, took them to court, and then worked with them to find a living situation which would keep them from getting arrested again.

Despite my dad’s urging to take business classes in college, I majored in Political Science and did poorly in the few business and economics classes I took. Remember, I began this story with a description of “young and stupid”. What did I know about incorporating, hiring people, payroll, cash flow, opening an office? Nothing. And what is reimbursement for services mean? Oh, you provide the services, pay your people, and then wait for the government to pay you 60 to 120 days later.

I found some great people who wanted to save the world like me. We worked “on call”, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. My first kid was extradited from San Francisco where he had been a male prostitute since fourteen. My eyes were opened wide as I saw the struggles, experienced the conflicts, felt the pain, and had my heart broken. We worked our police calls mostly at night. My roommates worked for me and we became a foster home. We started doing a little gang prevention work too.

When I look back, it’s difficult to understand how it all happened. We had some successes and I remember a lot of the kids, but How did I make payroll and pay the bills? Where did I find my dedicated, loyal employees? How were we able to cover all that territory? And how did I manage to stay safe (although I did find an awesome pair of brass knuckles outside the station of Chicago Police District 14).

What did I learn? You don’t need a lot of brains to start a business, but what really helps is being fearless, committed, and willing to do what others won’t. I learned about the diversity of humankind, societal problems, and how to survive. I learned how to start a business, make it work with few resources, and survive through immense challenges. My experiences became a strong foundation for my work later in life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.