Hi
fellow bloggers (and bloggees!) and welcome to our blogspot. You may have been
following Jerry's posts about our exciting new venture and I figured it was
high time to say hello. I'm the Andrea half, business partner, and more(!)
although to be quite honest, Jerry has done much more than half to begin
launching our dream of starting our own business. You see, he's a really good
guy, and we both understand that sometimes you give 100 percent, but often it's
more like 150 percent. And as I’m sure
you all can relate to, life is crazy.
Just
to let you know a little about me, in case you were wondering. I have teenage children. The end.
No, no, no, just kidding, not about the teen part, but about the
end. I also have younger
stepchildren. Together, Jerry and I have
four, and sometimes, when you add friends into the mix, it gets a little
hectic, which you may also relate to.
More about those nutty kids later.
I’m also a nurse, and currently work at a very large school with a
special needs population, which keeps me on my toes (and knees, and hands, and
even back sometimes when those wheelchairs need to be adjusted). Although I do complain about the pace,
tiredness, and generally get cranky at times, I’m actually just really lucky to
have the opportunity to be around so many people. Human interaction is, I believe, a basic
need.
Jerry
and I really like people. That’s not to
say we don’t get annoyed when we get cut off the road, or watch some reality TV
featuring phony types. But we really
like to talk to people, ask lots of questions, and find commonalities. I find myself saying “don’t I know you from
somewhere?” way too often, but it does lead to the feeling that, although the Earth
is a big place, we have many connections.
Jerry likes to talk too. He’s
actually more likely to engage someone in conversation than I am, but I
secretly like when he does that, and I wish I had the guts to do it more often. At the risk of sounding “stalkerish” I will
even reveal to you that one of our favorite things to do is people watch. We love to just sit on the boardwalk, or a
park bench, and watch people and their interactions. We really like to make up stories about their
lives. For example: “That guy won the lottery five years
ago. He gave half of his fortune to the
Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization because they were crucial to him as a
kid. He was also able to quit his day
job and become a full-time “big brother.”
We know NOTHING about the guy’s life, but it is fun to imagine.
So,
what’s this all have to do with business?
Everything! Jerry and I spent
lots of our lives NOT together, only recently getting married at the ripe old
age of nearly 40, yikes! We were both
married before, but it’s just the realization of knowing that this person is
THE person, the one who you should have been with long before, the one who just
“fits.” The combination of love, and
friendship, and life experience has taught us that we can do this. We can dream, and create, and plan, and
pursue, and start this business together.
Right now, we’re just in the beginning stages, reading and
understanding. We’re in the research
phase, if you will. And it’s quite an
education. Writing a business plan? Market research? Well, it all sounds like foreign terms to
this nurse, but as I educate myself, I can relate it to nursing (and
life). Business plan = individual healthcare
plan = organizing dinner around the kid’s activities = running the carpool, in
essence. Market research = finding the
safest car seat = finding healthy AND kid-friendly recipes = helping my teenage
daughter find her first “real” job besides babysitting. I hope that makes sense, but what I’m really
just trying to say is that these steps have already been a part of our lives
for a long time.
If
you have gotten this far without falling asleep, I thank you! I hope to continue blogging this journey with
all of you. Please feel free to give
your feedback as we are eager to hear from you.
Thanks again! Andrea
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