Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooklyn Johnson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brooklyn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Well, I will start by saying I have ALWAYS loved and been drawn to babies and children. I knew in my heart that I would work with them in the future from a very early age. I have been babysitting since I was 13 years old. But, my experience started well before that. When I was in the second grade, my mother birthed a beautiful baby boy into this world, and with him she had many complications. Unfortunately, she got a disease called fibromyalgia. Long story short, when she got home from the hospital with my newborn brother, she could hardly move. My grandmother came to help as much as she could but could only help a little at the time. I was the one always home with her while my father was working, so my grandmother started to train me to take care of a newborn.
Before I knew it, I was bathing, changing and feeding my newborn brother at the age of seven! I soon realized that I had a major passion for working with children, especially newborns/infants. When starting college, I was a bit lost as far as my end goal in life. I was not being pushed towards my passion. I finally started to see some light and pushed myself to go towards it and do what made me happy. I became a Career Nanny, did Newborn Care Specialist training and then Best Buds was born in 2015! I am now also on the path to finishing my Psychology degree!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
NOT AT ALL! This journey to entrepreneurship is a hard one. First, finding the right people to start a business with is very difficult. Finding others who have the right mindset and are not solely thinking of themselves is a difficult task. I really wanted this to be about more than just monetary gain. I wanted it to be about community. Then, I already had to deal with society not exactly viewing my job as real career. To then attempt start a business in the field without much prior knowledge on the business side….TALK ABOUT DIFFICULT! I was also determined to not take out any loans to start the company so my partners and I worked 60+ hours a week to foot this ourselves! Opening a business is not cheap! Starting cost alone can break you, then the day-to-day to keep things running! WOW. I was not prepared in the least! But we made it happen!
Please tell us about Best Buds Babysitting.
Best Buds Babysitting is a local babysitting service that caters to as-needed and last-minute care. We have evolved so much over the years and now we also offer date nights, back-up care, transportation, event/corporate care and Newborn Care services. We also service Galveston and Dallas as well. I am SO PROUD of this company. We have managed to keep our prices affordable and under all other similar service babysitting pricing. This has allowed us to service so many families (especially younger families) who never thought they could afford a service like ours. That has been something so important to us! We also employ all of our sitters, which not many other services do. They are all required to be CPR/First Aid Certified and they are reference and background checked as well.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I would honestly have to say my favorite childhood memory is a family trip in an RV! My mom decided we needed to drive to Los Angeles! We have family there and went often, but my mom wanted us to go with an experience! It was my mom, me, brother, aunt, cousin and great aunt all in this medium-sized RV! It is one of my most fond memories! I also feel like it was a time everyone was just happy, smiling and living life! With my mom being ill, we didn’t get to do things like that often. But, my mom was determined for us to have that experience and it was the best! My cheerleaders/supporters. I feel like that is super important to my journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: bestbudsbabysitting.com
- Phone: 832.717.2594
- Email: info@bestbudsbabysitting.com
- Instagram: @bestbudsbabysitting
- Facebook: Best Buds Babysitting
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