Turning Passion into Business with Meredith Harold & Megan Sutton

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Transcript of “Turning Passion Into Business with Meredith Harold & Megan Sutton” – Bright Conversations Podcast

Okay, welcome to Bright Conversations. I'm Sarah, co-founder of Bright Ideas Media, as well as SLP Toolkit. And I get to host this episode today. And I'm so excited because I have two of my favorite female entrepreneurs and friends in here to discuss how they turned their passion into a thriving business. So let's introduce yourselves, Meredith.

Yeah, I can go first. My name's Meredith Harold, and I am founder of the Informed SLP. And then I also have a second business that launched this year called Informed Jobs. Do you want us to briefly tell you what those things are? Yes, I had a note here to describe your business in three words.

And I thought, that's kind of hard to do. So yes, I did my-- Let's hear the elevator pitch. Yeah. I can do it in three words. I do it when they're given to me.

Yes, so basically, the Informed SLP is just like a useful EBP database. We read all the research and tell you what you need to know. And then Informed Jobs is a transparent job database where we collect a lot more information from employers than most jobs boards do in order to have transparent, clear job postings for SLPs. And you're fantastic. That was really good for brief.

That was so good. I once was told that I needed to have like a 30-second elevator pitch. Like literally, what would you be able to say to somebody that describes your business? I still can't do it. So I'm really impressed.

That's really good. Cool. And then we have Megan. Yeah, hi. I'm Megan Sutton.

I'm a co-founder of Tactus Therapy. And really short, we create speech therapy software for the adult medical market. But we have a line of apps. We have online software for speech pathologists who work with adults with an neurological communication and swallowing disorders. Yeah.

And you guys have both had your-- when did you start, Megan, the apps, the individual apps? How long have you been doing it? Yeah, a long time now. We started in 2011. So-- 2011.

14 years. And you guys have been working on a new project to put all of the apps on a web-based app, right? Yes, that's right. So the Virtual Rehab Center is our new product that is on the web. It's not just the apps online.

It's like a complete reimagining of the apps. It's getting all of this great therapy software and tools and resources all in one place for clinicians to use and then to assign free homework for their patients. Yeah. Very cool. Because I was just thinking for all of us right now, we were all in a stage of we have produced something that's been out on the market for a while, and we're all in this new stage of development with a new project.

And so, Meredith, that's what you just talked about yours, is the informed jobs. Is it out now? It is. Yeah, so the informed SLP was launched in 2016 and informed jobs officially launched January 2025. So a month and a half, almost two months.

Yes. OK, and I want to talk about that. I'm sure we'll get into that part of it. But again, being in that same position of having an app, and it's gone fairly well, not without trouble, but fairly well to starting kind of over with a new idea. Oh, it has been a challenge, to say the least.

So hopefully we'll have some time. I want to talk about that with you guys at the end. OK. So first and foremost, I want to ask you both, what inspired you? Like, what was it that led you to start a business?

Because I think lots of people have ideas, but not very many people actually want to start a business. Yeah, I can talk about mine, because for both businesses, it was actually really similar, mostly just frustration. And so the informed SLP, my first business, I actually didn't really intend for it to be a business. I intended for it to be a service project that I was going to do as a university faculty, because I was transitioning from being in the schools full-time to working at the university full-time. And I was like, well, I need something that I can do that's useful for the field, and that will be like a service to the field, because that's part of getting tenure and promotion within academia.

And so I was like, oh, well, I know exactly what I'll do. I will read the research, a certain number of journals every single month, tell people what information they need to know, and just give it to them. And so when I started the informed SLP, I didn't really intend to be a business owner. It just was well received enough and started to grow enough that I sort of like fell into it, where it's like, oh, I can make this bigger and bigger and bigger until we're covering, you know, all the research in our field and giving it to everyone. And so really it, like the informed SLP, I did it because I had transitioned from my PhD program into the schools, not really realizing what it really felt like to have to stay up with the research.

And it just was one of those like, aha moments where I was like, oh, somebody just needs to read it and tell everybody what is in it, you know, like duh. And so I would have done the informed SLP for free forever because I just loved doing it. We monetized it simply so that we could read more research because obviously I can't read hundreds of journal articles on my own, you know. But then informed jobs was the same thing. Honestly, it was just like a light bulb moment related to frustration because I've been an employer of other SLPs through my company since 2017 and watching SLPs, trying to find jobs and trying to find good paying jobs and trying to find a job that has like the lifestyle and fit that they want.

And watching how employers would put so little information on the internet and in their job posts just started to honestly really piss me off. I was like, why aren't employers just telling SLPs what setting they're working in, whether or not there's productivity expectations, if there's case load caps, what the pay is, like hello, it's 2025, why are half of job posts still not even including pay, you know? And so it was just a frustration, born thing where I was like, this is dumb, I can fix it. We're gonna require employers to include this information and we're gonna create a jobs database that just has all that information, you know, by default. - Plastic.

- Yeah, and it's sort of the same feeling for me right now with informed jobs where we're not turning a profit, we're just losing money 'cause it's a lot of work trying to like get employers to know that we exist and post jobs with us, you know, blah, blah, blah. So we're having to allow a lot of free job postings just to get the volume up so that a database even exists, you know, and we only recently turned on the paywall for it. But it's the same feeling that it was with the informed SLP where honestly, I feel like I don't care. Like I could do this for free for years because it was frustration born and mission born. And I want so badly to fix this that my energy for it and my commitment to it is the runway that I'll need so that it doesn't have to financially go well for a year or two because I don't like, I'll do it anyway, you know?

So, yeah. - Yes, yeah. Okay, I got such a great conversation to have because I feel the same way. I remember like standing in a booth for the first time selling SLP toolkit and somebody asked me how much it cost and I like almost broken to a sweat because I don't want to charge people, I don't want to sell this, I want to give this to you, you know, as a solution. And so why, let me re, let's actually, I'm trying to think of how to work this.

So why did you make it a subscription based service and not just have informed SLP be free for everyone? - Yeah, well, it was free for everyone for a year and a half. And then it slowly gradually hit me that, hi, like look at me, I'm working like 50, 60 hours every single month, at least for free, evenings and weekends. And it started to kind of wear on me and I, and I basically, I needed time to get comfortable charging people because I was a scientist in an SLP. I had been an academia in the schools, I was not a business owner, I did not see myself as a business owner.

So it for me to took me a while to get comfortable with charging people. But at the same time, when you put out really high quality content for free, a lot of times you can drive up traffic really fast and get people like interested in it really quickly. And so like informed jobs, the reason we launched it for free was because I knew what happened if you give something that's really high quality away for free for a period of time, you can get it to go whoosh with like the traffic and the interest and people willing to try it and stuff like that. So this round, I'm not afraid of charging employers anymore, like I've gotten used to that at this point, you know, but there's also a lot of perks sometimes for like going out and giving a thing away just to get people loyal to your brand and excited about what you're doing. And then when, you know, then you can turn a paywall on later once they're like, oh yeah, I don't want to do without that.

So I'll pay for it. But yeah, I was just like, I was afraid to charge. I was like, just want the problem fixed. - Exactly, I think here's the deal out. Somebody once told me that's really cute, Sarah, that you want to give it away, but then you have a hobby, not a job, like not a business.

And it is so true. It is so expensive. Obviously there's, we all have people in payroll and you know, all of the other things that this requires that it just wouldn't have been able to take off, you know, like if you don't charge something for it and people want to pay you because you're offering them a service that they need. So I think there's always that weird part of like you said, I actually wasn't trying to start a business. I just wanted to solve a problem and it turned into a business.

And being okay with that, you know, especially I guess maybe that's it, probably because you come from that science background. Obviously there's so many PhD level people out there creating services that they are just giving for free. You know, I could think of like the narratives. There's that people who do them, what's the narrative one where you can go do the assessment and all of the stuff that's free. 'Cause that was part of their project.

But that is a very different decision than a business. Yeah. Yeah. Megan, how about you? How did you start?

Did you know like I'm going to do a business? Like this is what I've always wanted. - Absolutely not. So same sort of thing. The business was born out of a need.

So I mean, I've always liked technology. I've always wanted to work with technology and I've always thought that technology had a really powerful place to help people with aphasia. But I was in my dream job. I was doing inpatient rehab, working with people with aphasia and other disorders all the time, absolutely loved it. And then my manager was great.

We had a younger person on the unit and she said, "Hey, how about we get an iPad?" I was like, "Oh, that sounds fun." So being the techie person on the team, I got the iPad and I started downloading all these apps and I was like, "Great, type aphasia into the app store." Very few results. So there were a couple, like, you know, there were a few apps out there, but they didn't do what I wanted them to do. And the iPad was so special because it didn't have the mouse and the keyboard that were so intimidating for my stroke patients. So they could just touch it and interact with it. And I saw them use it, but then, like, to work on spelling, it was like preschool apps.

And I'm not down with that. Like, we're not giving that to competent adults, right? So I just called up my friend who is a computer programmer and said, "Hey, you wanna build an app?" And he did, and he's still my business partner to this day. So the business just kind of came out of us deciding to build this app, to put it out there. We sold a copy on our very first day on the app store and it just took off from there.

- That's so cool. There is nothing I love more than somebody who's like, "This is a problem and I'm gonna fix it." And it does it. Like, it's really remarkable. I think with all of the challenges and stuff that came, I expect to ever think about that. I actually did this thing.

Like, it's a big deal. - I think you can do it because you don't know what you're getting into, right? Like, if I had known everything that would come with it, I maybe would have said, "No, not for me." But because I just went into it with that passion and wanting to solve that problem, then you take the other stuff as it comes. - I loved that. It is, there is something about being naive in the beginning that does, it really worked for you, right?

'Cause yes, I think if we had seen what the future looked like, I don't know if we would have done it either. But it's like baby steps. You just learn more and more and we're super resourceful people. I think SLPs are amazing at solving problems and pivoting. And so that's something you definitely need as a business owner as well.

So what were some of the challenges you guys faced over the years, in the beginning and then over the years? - Mm. - Didn't even one go first? - Megan, do you have anything on top of mind? - So, I mean, the early challenges were like, I was working a full-time job, you know?

And I think Meredith said she was as well. You're doing off the side of your desk, right? So at first, you're so passionate that it's like, "I wanna go home and open up my laptop and just get to work." And then I wanna spend Saturday doing it and Sunday doing it. And then after like a few months of that, that gets really exhausting 'cause we need time to just not be working. So I spent about a year and a half doing it off the side of my desk, but towards the end of that, it was really getting to me.

So I had to take time off of work. I had to, you know, I was really fortunate that I had a very supportive manager who allowed me to do that. But I had to put life into balance. And then I could see that after about a year and a half, it was enough that I could leave that full-time job and do it full-time. And after that, I really felt like I then could segment work and the rest of my life.

- Mm-hmm, yeah. - Yeah, I did the same thing. Founded in 2016, quit my full-time job in 2019. So I was doing both for about three years. Yeah.

- Yeah. - And it's really hard to balance the two, like things. And especially when this is like your baby and your passion. And it's like, I'll let you're thinking about and focus on, but you've got to pay the bills. So you have to have your other job too.

And you don't want to neglect that job. So I know, I remember how challenging that part is. We had advice from people early on that were like, "Take the plunge. You just got to dive in and do it." And I'm like, "I'd like a roof over my head." So I'm not sure how you think I could just do that. (laughs) - Yeah.

- Yeah. Yeah. What were some of your challenges, Meredith? - I mean, every single year I make stupid mistakes and every single year I go along, like I've been doing this since 2016. So I guess we're almost at the 10 year mark.

You know what I mean? And I still can, every single year, see so much progress and so many dumb decisions that I made. But I don't know, for some reason, I don't look back on it and be like, "I wish I wouldn't have done that and I wish I wouldn't have done that." Because everything that was like a decision that didn't work out, I just learned so much from that for some reason, I don't really look back on it with regret. Like, I've lost money. I've let, you know, like there was one time that I paid a marketing company to help us and ended up like basically wasting almost 40 grand one year, like in contracts with them and paying for them and they did almost nothing for us, you know?

So that was bad. (laughs) Like I can think of situations with staff. It hasn't happened a lot, but it's happened somewhere. Like people just aren't a good fit. And I had to fire them and I look back on it, the earliest ways in which I would kind of deal with those situations and be like, that was less than ideal, but like, I'm better at it now, you know?

So I don't know. I just, I see this entire journey as kind of like a learning adventure and learning is one of my favorite things. And I just don't expect myself to be good at everything. I just expect myself to continue to be interested in getting better and learning more. And so yeah, I'm still making mistakes every single year.

And I'm sure after years from now, I'll look at this year and be like, oh, what a funny dummy you were. (laughs) You know? - Yes. - Don't you feel the same way that like every year you're still just learning so much more and getting better and better? And like a lot of the mistakes you just have to experience yourself for it to really sink in.

Like nobody could have given me a course on like how to deal with people problems, for example, within a business. Like I could have assumed the course and learned a lot from it, but a lot of things you just have to learn by doing for it to really, you know, get better over time. - Yeah, 100% agree. I remember thinking like, I didn't go to business school. Like should I go?

- Yeah. - And then we just were in it. Like learning all the time. It is funny though, 'cause I look back and I do remember things that we did better in the early days before we knew more. - Yeah, like just the where we used our time, you know?

I feel like now the more I know, you know, in some ways the harder it is to kind of manage all the things that I should be doing in my head, you know? But-- - Mission the business school thing. And that's a common thing I see people who are considering entrepreneurship in our field saying is like, maybe I should go back to school and get me at my MBA. Maybe I should do an MBA online like while I'm trying to. But the one advantage that I had is my husband has an MBA, right?

And so like all along the way, while I'm trying to build this business, I could go to him and ask questions and he knew the answer to almost none of my questions. So I had like a live human representation of what it would have been like if I had an MBA because he had that full knowledge set. And there were some things that I could ask him that it was a little faster than if I had Googled it. You know what I mean? But not that much, not enough to be worth me ever having gotten an MBA.

Like I didn't need that. I just needed to look up and consult with people on what I needed to learn every step along the way with whatever I had next in front of me. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I think I've made the exact same mistakes, wasted so much money on outside consultants.

And I think it is because of that like imposter syndrome of like, well, I'm not a business expert. So I need to hire a business expert. I need to hire a marketing expert. And nobody knows our businesses as well as we do, right? No one can sell our businesses as well as we can.

So it's that fine balance between like, I need to build capacity because I can't do everything myself versus like I need to hire somebody who's an expert in X. So lately I've been having more success just bringing on, you know, new staff that know the business well and know speech therapy well and then get them trained up in marketing or in sales or whatever. - Yes, yes. - Yeah. It's so good.

Before we, I want, and I do want to talk about like, you know, as this grows, you know, so you solved a problem. But the market part of it is interesting to me. You know, a lot of times you get advice that you need to do your market research because how do you even know that there is a market for your product? And so how do you guys answer that question? Like how did you know who your market was going to be?

- I didn't have to because I wasn't SLP. And I think that's the same for all of us. Like I didn't have to wonder for either of my businesses, if SLPs would like it, I knew they would like it because I know I shall ease really well. But that's actually the reason people talk about like this market research is because a lot of business owners are starting businesses and buying businesses that the customer has nothing to do with them. You know what I mean?

And so that's why that advice exists. But I mean for us, like we knew our customer. - Exactly right. - Yes, on my market. - Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, exactly. - Right, and Lisa and I talk about that all the time. We would be in those like halls at ASHA with all of the different businesses. And you can tell who's, you know, probably was a software engineer who built a really cool app versus SLPs. And not that you can't build a really great app, you know, without having that background, but that's exactly, we knew what we were our market.

But then also we knew where to find them. But we knew how to get in front of them. So I do, I think it, that it was like something, a hurdle we didn't maybe have. - Although now with the informed jobs is interesting because you're- - I'm not going to say looking for employers. - Yes, that has been a fun reality check because we essentially have two customer bases.

One is the SLPs who need to know that we exist so that they'll go there to search for jobs, but it's free for SLPs. Our true customers who are paying for the job posts are employers. And so most of our early jobs are from SLP-owned companies because we know how to make contact with SLPs in the first place, right? But it's been a lot more of a slog having to figure out the most efficient way to sell to HR departments at, you know, hospitals and school districts. So yeah, that is by far the hardest part.

And I knew it would be, you know, I knew it would be. And so it's another learning opportunity that I get to take on this year. It's going to be the hardest thing for us to figure out this year is how do we like, without spending a ton of time and money, convince employers like, hey, maybe it would make sense to post jobs in a place that SLPs find useful, you know? - Yeah, so interesting. 'Cause yeah, that is, it's a full other animal.

And yeah, Megan, I know that the individual stroke your patients do purchase the apps for homework and things, but who's the market? Is it the patient or the therapist? It's both. And it took us about to figure this out 'cause at first we were like, we'll sell to everyone because, you know, pediatric SLPs, special education, everyone was kind of interested in our apps, but you can't be everything to everyone. So we decided to just double down on, we are adult medical, but what's been really interesting, and this wasn't calculated, but what we've discovered happens is that we sell to the SLP who uses the app in therapy, and then they naturally sell it on to the patient because they're using it and the patients, like they're not even, they're not selling it to the patient.

The patient's like, what's that? I want that, right? Let me practice at home. So it's a natural process of referral and recommendation. So we are trying to get it in the hands of more SLPs because they're the ones with the steady stream of patients, unfortunately, who are coming through and who need this.

So I would say that most of our support questions are to the patients and families themselves, but we don't actually know who we're selling to because we're on the app store and Google Play and they don't tell us who our customer is. Interesting. Because our apps have no logins and, you know, we don't know who's buying them at the given day, but we suspect, based on the people we talk to, that it's kind of a split. Our new product, the Virtual Rehab Center, we are marketing exclusively to speech pathologists and they can give free homework to their patients because we know that it's healthcare organizations that have the money for supplies. It's not people who've just had a stroke.

Yeah. I'm so glad you said that. You cannot be everything for everyone. You know, we did the same thing. We were school-based SLPs, so we knew it was gonna, you know, school-based, but then that's a very small market, really.

And so then it was the conversations and what about clinics and hospitals and universities and what about, you know, all different areas, different providers. And so it is, you've got to stay focused early on, especially because you need to be really good at that one thing you cannot be everything for everybody. So I think that's great advice. Yeah. Okay, let's talk about growth and success.

So what does success look like for you guys? How has your business evolved? Because you're successful, it's still running. (laughing) Yeah. I mean, we had mentioned earlier in the podcast, you know, like feeling grateful, like every single, like year that it continues to run.

And I truly do, like every year that the informed SLP continues to grow and continues to make enough money that it's my full-time job and other people's full-time job, I just feel like I've won like the lottery because I continue to be excited about the company and excited about what we're doing. And that's kind of like, I guess the way I define success primarily is do I want to keep doing it? And I do, like I, you know, wake up and I want to go sit down at my computer and like, you know, work on stuff with the staff. But then beyond that, like we continue to grow every single year. And so what it opens up for us is more money that we can use to make the informed SLP better and start new projects because like the informed SLP is what's funding, informed jobs entirely until informed jobs is able to like figure out a break even, you know?

And so I feel super duper grateful for that too. And it feels like getting to, I don't know, kind of like play an experiment with stuff for a living to a certain extent, which I just feel fortunate to be able to do, you know what I mean? And to be able to like constantly make decisions about what me and the team want to do next with, you know, what we're doing. So yeah. - That's my good.

How about you Megan? - Yeah, so much the same. Success started off looking like we're making apps that people like and are using. It was hugely gratifying when there was a like a formal research study that was done that showed that our language therapy app really helped people in their recovery. So seeing that data from an independent source was so validating.

But as the business has evolved and now we're into the Virtual Rehab Center and our team is growing, I'm finding it really, it feels successful that we're creating a workplace for people that they really love. Like our employees are passionate about what they do. They work together so well. And you know, I think about sometimes like we're providing their salary to support their families. And that's not something I ever really thought I would be doing.

And then on a personal level, like I love how I spend my days. I love that I can work from home. I love that I can have my dog with me at work. You know, I love that I'm in control of what I'm doing. And if I make a mistake, I own it.

No one's breathing down my neck. It's all personal responsibility and responsibility to my team. And yeah, it's really great. - Yeah. - Yeah, I was.

- Well said, both of you. Yeah, so good. I agree with everything you guys said. Especially I liked working from home and not having a boss. So it is, it's nice.

And the creativity part of it, you know, I'm with you guys. I love thinking all day long about how to solve another problem or what cool ways we could do something. - Yeah. - It is like so rewarding. - And it's kind of an interesting lifestyle because like, you know, the flexibility is fantastic.

I love it. So like the weather is really nice right now. And even though it's February in Kansas. And so yesterday at about one o'clock, I was just itching to get outside. And so I went outside and gardened for like an hour and a half in the middle of the day.

And just, you know, put my Slack message notification as, you know, outside. Like I'm just gone for an hour and a half, you know. And like that sort of flexibility is awesome because it just works really well with I think how human brains work, you know, where like you have the ability to kind of like do what you need or want to do at any given moment. But the flip side of that, 'cause I do think that sometimes people will like look at that type of lifestyle and be like, wow, you like must not work that much, you know what I mean? Like you're able to like go get Boba T in the middle of the day anytime you want to.

And I'm like, yes, I can, but the flip side to it is I also do feel like it can be really challenging to not work like a maniac all the time because there's always something to be done, always more that can be done. And my to do list of what I could or should be doing is always like a mile long. And so there is sometimes like sometimes I do have to still put in, you know, 60 plus hour work weeks because things got hairy and some problem needs solved, you know. And I am, even though I have the flexibility, still putting in pretty heavy work weeks most of the time, partly because the business needs it and it does better when I work a lot. And partly because it, you know, I think some of that mindset is left over from some of the early years where you really have to hustle and you get used to working a lot, you know?

And so it turns into kind of like a thing that can be hard to turn off. And so I think that that's one of the, I don't know, both like misconceptions about being a business owner and one of the things that I think most of us kind of like struggle with figuring out how to balance over time is how much we want to allow work to just take over our entire lives because it really can. Yeah. Yeah. And I was thinking about, I do like being my own boss because I have a little bit of a hard time with people telling you what to do.

But at the same time, that means that I have to make really hard decisions for a lot of people. And that's overwhelming sometimes too. There's moments where I think, I don't know, maybe I want to like step down and have somebody else kind of run this because, you know, there is imposter syndrome. I think you guys already had mentioned that is real. Like there's lots of days where I'm like, is this the right thing for the direction we should be going?

But it's also kind of exciting too to have that position. Yeah. Those are the weeks that turn into 60 hour, 70 hour work weeks for me is if something needs solved and I start to get afraid that I don't know enough to solve it. And so I go into like maniac mode or like, I'm just going to research the heck out of it. And then I'll know how to do this thing.

You know what I mean? And but yeah, that continues to happen all the time. I don't know that I like do you feel like you feel like imposter syndrome feelings, Megan? Not as much anymore. I got that definitely more early on.

But now I feel pretty comfortable. You know, it's been over a decade. Right. Being in this role, do you? I wouldn't define it that way.

And actually, I don't know that I've ever really quite defined it that way just because I always expect myself to be incompetent at things over and over and over again as the business grows. You know what I mean? It's almost like my default expectation is as I take on more and more and try bigger things, I'm not going to know how to do it. So I'm going to have to figure out how to do it. So that process that always happens where I have to figure out how to tackle a problem doesn't necessarily make me feel incompetent just because I sort of feel like that's just how it's supposed to be.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. 100% Yeah. And I think it's what you said earlier too is your personality type that takes any kind of a problem or a failure as a learning lesson and you grow from it.

And I do think that makes a huge difference. Because I doubt myself a lot. But I think it's knowing that like, okay, that didn't work out, wish I would have done that differently. How can we change it? How do we fix it?

How do we move forward? Let's pivot. You know, I think that's a personality trait that allows us to be kind of in that position. Two is the constant like learning from those failures. And I've had a few.

Like you said, you guys both have said that wasting money and time and energy or wrong direction. So that leads me to the last thing to talk about, which would be advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. If people have listened to this and think, okay, this is really cool. And I'm excited. I want to get this idea off the ground.

What would you guys, what would your advice be? When I see people who are wanting to kind of start down a path like this and wanting to start a business and get an idea off the ground, I'm always kind of looking for whether or not they sort of have a bit of an adventure mindset where they're like, because people who from the get go are like, my dream is to become rich and have an easy job or not usually going to do very well. Because that doesn't, that can sometimes take a decade to pan out for you. You know what I mean? But, and so I like, I always can, I feel like I can tell that people are going to do well when it's clear that they're approaching it, knowing that there's going to be a million unknowns, it's going to be an adventure.

There's going to be highs and lows and you're just going to give it a try anyway. And you have the capacity to deal with those ups and downs or at least the willingness to increase capacity for that type of stuff over time. And that's something that I've noticed in myself too is every single year, my capacity for stress and difficult situations gets better and better and better and better. And you kind of need to like be starting from that mindset, I think where, you know, because it can be hard. There's a lot of really hard things, you know, major people problems, dumpster fires that happen, people who criticize you and you have to just kind of get over it, like all that type of stuff and you've got to just kind of weather the storm.

Yeah. Yeah. Good. Megan. Yeah, I think all of us kind of really started small, right?

We started with the resources that we had. Sometimes I see people who go with this kind of Silicon Valley, like, you know, let's get funding first. Let's get all this money. So we have this runway and we can hire all these people. And I mean, maybe that works for some people, but that's not how any of us made it work, right?

We started small with what we had, what we could do on our own or with a couple of people who were willing to give their time to the project. So you don't have to start with investors and a plan for everything. Just start small with something that you think you need in your life. Do your colleagues need it, you know, grow it that way? The other thing is a lot of people have come to me saying like, Oh, I want to make an app, you know, that does this.

And I always say to them, do you want that app to exist in the world? And if so, you know, work with a business that's already in business to create it. Or do you want to run a business? Because always people completely underestimate the amount of design, development, marketing, legal, financial on and on and on that goes into running a business. So if you don't have the desire or time in your life to run a business, then give your idea away or, you know, try to license it or something because it's more important that that exists than you take on something you're not ready for.

I'm so glad you said that because I do specifically remember being asked that question too early on about why do you want to start a business, you know, and in my head, like I was prepared for it. But really I did. I think I thought you build this app and you put it out in the world and people are going to love it. It's going to make their life so much better. And then I get to like, you know, hardly work.

Yeah, right. It is. Like you said, we at the very beginning days, you are the attorney and the tax account and all the executive roles and marketing and revenue and oh, guys, it is. It's a lot. So I'm glad that you said that because there is there is something about that where, you know, if you have a really cool app idea, there are other places out there that can build that for you.

And that is not the same as running a business. So I'm glad that's really good advice. I can grow into being a business owner though, to a certain extent to like, like if somebody had asked me if I wanted to be a business owner and if I would would be the type of person who would be capable of having 60 staff members and running a business, I would have been like, nope, nope, nope, nope, not me, you know, and so like there, I think there's a small amount of like, you don't really actually know what you're going to be good at until you try a little bit to, you know, because I've surprised myself with some of the things that I am and am not good at over time that I didn't realize. Well, that's it. I think we all went into this very naively and sometimes that's the best way.

Right. You might succeed, you might fail from that approach. We are, you know, a self-selecting group of people who have been able to make the business side work, but I wasn't asking anyone advice when I did it. I just did it. Same.

I didn't ask anyone. I didn't ask anyone if it was a good idea for I should be doing it. I just wanted to. And so I did. Yeah.

That's so, I love that you guys. That actually gets me so excited because I, at least and I, had each other, you know, as having a co-founder. And so we were both in the same place together. And so we used to joke about that all the time. Like our parents must have told us we were like really great because who do we think we are because it was never a question of we can't do this.

In fact, it was like, we can do it. Why not? Let's try it. And what's the worst thing that happens, you know? And so it's such a cool like attitude to have.

And so I think that's what also I love about this dynamic where I get to have work with you guys and like have or collaborate with you guys and talk to you about things because you do need people who get it, you know, so that you can, sometimes you just need to hear a different perspective. Sometimes you just want to vent with somebody who like understands what it's like to be in the trenches. And so having people that you can like go to, you know, and trust is huge. And so I'm so grateful that I have you guys to do this with, you know, it's, it 's cool. Same.

Yeah. Leaning on fellow business owners that are in about the same stage as you over time is so helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Um, before we end, which we've got over a little, sorry, Chante.

Um, before we end, where can people find you? Well, have like show notes too, but, um, are you on social media? Um, everywhere, the informed SLP.com and informjobs.com and our biggest social media accounts are Instagram, which are called the same thing there, the informed SLP and informed jobs. Yeah. And you can find me Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, um, but most of our information is on the Tech To Therapy website, TechToCerapy.com, uh, TechToCerapy.com/rehab is our landing page for the new virtual rehab center and all the emails from all those places go to me.

So, um, just reach out. And it's fantastic. If today's episode inspired you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you're serious about starting or growing a business, join us at BizCon, the ultimate virtual conference for aspiring and established entrepreneurs, learn from industry experts, connect with like-minded professionals and gain the tools to build a thriving business. So you can find that on the Be The Brightest website.

And that is it for our first podcast episode. Thank you both so much for joining me. Thank you. Thank you so much, Sarah. All right.

Thanks guys.

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