My business started as a lifestyle business.
I had a 9-month-old daughter. I needed to make money, and I absolutely loved my job, but I also wanted to be present in her life. Full-time was no longer an option. So, I started HR-Rethought, which did not even have that name yet, in hopes of finding a balance between being a mom and building a career.
As time went on and I became more successful, I started making more money… and without even realizing it, my business stayed a lifestyle business. I am honestly a little embarrassed to admit that, but it is the truth.
I always said I was going to grow it. I always thought I was building something bigger. But I had never been a business owner before, so I did not even know what I was missing. I did not know what “running a real business” actually required.
It was not until 2022, seven long years into HR-Rethought’s journey, that everything shifted.
That is when I stopped operating a lifestyle business and started building a true business.
And I will be honest, it was not a gentle transition or easy journey to get there.
The lessons were hard. I often describe them as falling face-first onto hot asphalt. The kind of fall where you do not just get back up and brush it off, you feel it, you hurt, you lean into the pain, then you learn from it, and it leaves a mark.
But those lessons changed everything. For the first time, I made the decision to invest in something bigger. I started investing in my team, in our culture, and in leading with real intentionality.
That is when HRR changed.
We rebranded. New logo, new energy. We built a mission, vision, and values and actually anchored ourselves in them. We created a leadership team and hired with a level of intention that still makes us laugh today; we joke that I am the most difficult client we recruit for – shout out to our incredibly patient recruiters who walk alongside me. But see, they get it now. They understand why we are so picky because they fully believe in our mission, vision, and values.
We also defined clear accountabilities for every role and communicated them.
None of these things were groundbreaking. I had done them hundreds of times for clients. But I had never taken the time or had the discipline to do them for my own business.
And if I am being honest, I was a bit of a hypocrite. If you are or have been one of our clients, you have probably heard me say, “Mission, vision, values… that is the glue of your business.” ….
….And yet, I had not fully built that for my own business.
There is nothing quite like looking in the mirror and seeing the gaps. The truth is that my business was never broken because of my team. It was misaligned because of me.
My team did not know what to hold onto because I had not given them anything solid to hold. There was no glue, no clear direction, no shared anchor, no defined path forward.
That is on leadership. That is on me.
What I have learned is this: growth does not happen when everything is polished and perfect, because if that were the case, I would still be running a lifestyle business. Growth happens when you are willing to see the broken pieces and do something about them.
HRR grew up when I did.
When I stopped hiding behind “good enough,” chose intentionality over comfort, and decided to lead the business the same way we teach our clients to lead theirs.
I am still learning. Still refining. Still growing. But today, HR-Rethought is no longer a lifestyle business.
It is a real business with real structure, real leadership, and a team that knows exactly where we are going. And that has made all the difference.
And if I am being honest, it is also a privilege. A little scary. Okay… often absolutely terrifying. But I would not want to be doing anything else.