A little family bid-niz

Brave Writer is the business I started almost six years ago. It began as an email list that taught an online writing class for eight weeks and... $25.00 per family. :) I had no website, no book published, no staff. Just me, a computer and my conviction that native speakers are more than qualified to teach their kids to write.

Since then, I've changed the name (we used to be The Writing Compass), added a website, written two writing manuals, have developed multiple products to help with language arts practices, created a slew of online courses in addition to the original one, started a free subscription program that helps to organize a writing lifestyle, run a daily blog, offer writing contests and have a staff of six, besides myself.

When I began the first class, I was writing a manual for a well known homeschooling curricula. I wanted them to hire me so that I could run my online courses through them. I thought I needed greater access to the homeschooling community. That project fell through (for mysterious reasons, though I did at least get that first book written) and initially, I was devastated. That company owner told me that today, no one can start a business and expect the old maxim to hold true: "Build a better mousetrap, and the customers will beat a path to your door." He suggested that if I was serious about starting my own business, I'd also have to become expert in marketing, the world of Internet advertizing, that I'd have to promote myself by attending conferences at my own expense and so on. Behind his words were predictions of failure.

I ignored him. (Good thing)

My company has grown solely due to word of mouth advertizing. I have not taken out a single ad, I haven't even had to pay my way to conferences (having been invited to the ones at which I've spoken). I still don't know much about Internet marketing, though the little I've learned has come from my savvy husband and brother.

What's happened instead is that I created a company that helps mothers. This is an important point. I'm pretty certain that what sets Brave Writer apart from other home school curricula is that I am a homeschooling mother and writer, not a dad, not a business man, not an educator.

Homeschool moms have specific experiences that go unaddressed by the standard curricula.

When a writing manual says: "Write a four sentence paragraph about autumn that includes a topic sentence" - it is only telling the child what to do, not how to do it. Moms will read the instructions and watch the otherwise exuberant little boy sit blankly, not moving. How do you get a kid who stares out the window to write?

So my materials all start from this question: What catalyzes the writer to emerge from behind blue eyes? (A "Who" reference for my rock 'n roll readers )

I answer: A mother who understands the natural stages of growth in a writer, and who fosters an environment where the writer may emerge at his own pace.

So that's what Brave Writer is in a nutshell. I've doubled my business this year (truly astounding!) and am nearly drowning. I may be at my first tipping point. It's exciting and scary.

Incidentally, the curricula that turned me down originally, has now asked to carry my manual in their catalog. Hmmmm.

My answer?

So far, I've decided that I don't need the extra work more money and customers would mean. We're on the "grow as we can support the growth" model, which is counterintuitive if money is the goal, but more reasonable if having a family life is the goal (which it is for us).

Apparently, the maxim still holds true: If you do build a better mousetrap, they do come after all.

Thanks Dave, for asking about my business. My website (linked at the top) is the easiest way to see what I'm up to.

Now off to do all that data entry that I loathe...