Nannypreneurs ~ Bethany Gummow: Your Family, LLC

How long was I a nanny:

I was a nanny for 5 years for one family, beginning when their oldest was 5 months old & continued through the birth of 3 more children, & left when the youngest was 9 months old. The only reason that I left my nanny position was because I was getting married & I knew that I wanted to have children of my own. I loved being a nanny, adored the children, & still see them from time to time at school events (the youngest is in the same Elementary school as my oldest child).

What was a highlight of my nanny career:

I truly cherished being trusted to care for the children when they were newborns! Holding the 3 day old baby in my arms while feeding them a bottle was my absolute favorite moment, which I got to relive over & over! I had always cared for children, being a babysitter from the age of 10 & working in a daycare for many years before becoming a nanny. But caring for a newborn is still my absolute passion!

How did we come up with the idea for our service?

It seems like fate, the start of our idea for Your Family, LLC! I met my good friend Lindsay, one of the co-founders of YF, at a local play area last September, 2012, so our children could play together & I could meet her newborn son Beau! Holding him gave me that amazing newborn baby feeling in my heart & I told Lindsay that I had thought about doing overnight infant care. A smile spread across her face & she said “you’re never going to believe this but I was just talking to another friend of mine about starting an overnight infant care service!” Well that friend was none other than the other co-founder of YF, Susan! Long story short, we met up at a local Panera Bread, which has become our go-to spot for company meetings, nanny interviews, & any other meetings we have scheduled. That first meeting was on September 30, 1012…& it’s amazing how far we have come in just over one year! We’ve grown our initial idea of overnight infant care to also include daytime infant care, nanny pairing (placement), doula pairing, sitter network memberships & family concierge, meaning we can handle anything & everything to do with prenatal & postpartum care! We’ve also launched our website, become an LLC, grown our Facebook fans, paired amazing nannies with loving families & grown our sitter network to benefit our family memberships! Really amazing accomplishments considering we are mothers to 9 children combined, Susan works full time as an OR nurse & mother of 2 active children, & Lindsay works per diem as an OR nurse & mother of 3 young boys, & I am a stay at home mom to 4 children ages 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Level of monetary investment: 

Fortunately, most of the investment we have made is our time & effort, which if we could put a monetary value on that would be super high! The only costs we have had are for business cards, rack cards, promotional items such as stickers, mugs & knit owl hats, website design & legal & filing fees to become an LLC. We have a little money in the back, just enough to keep the balance positive 😉 But for now that’s enough! We work hard & diligently every chance we get to grow that bank account! Some days we have more time than others, because we agreed from the beginning that our families come first! But we see this as being a highly lucrative business venture that will grow to include pet care, elder care, house sitting, a line of Your Family, LLC baby products featuring our owls & book deals! The sky is the limit in our eyes!

What is the purpose of your service?

We offer everything from overnight & daytime infant care, nanny pairing (placement), doula pairing, sitter network memberships & family concierge, meaning we can handle anything & everything to do with prenatal & postpartum care! When it comes to preparing for a baby and finding the right team to care for your baby, we understand the challenges parents face these days.

We understand where you are coming from. We’ve been there too, and want to help make your transition into parenthood as smooth and joyous as we can.

What has been the feedback you have received?

We have received amazing feedback from both nannies & families, as well as friends with no need for our services! We have gotten emails & Facebook messages from nannies asking us for help with issues they are having with their families. We have gotten emails & Facebook messages from parents asking for help with everything from transitioning baby from breast to bottle, to helping them find ways to get their children to sleep better/longer at night! We welcome any & all questions from both nannies & families, as we see ourselves as advocates for both sides! We want the nanny/family relationship to be open, honest & respectful! That’s why we offer families a “Family/Nanny Agreement” at the time of hire. This Agreement is between the Nanny & the Family, & covers everything from nanny’s job duties, responsibilities & family expectations, to salary, benefits, time-off, vacation & tax considerations. We feel that if all the bases are covered, there is less chance for misunderstanding of what is expected by both sides. Both nannies & families have greatly appreciated this tool!

What words of wisdom do you have for others who may have a service and wish to expand its market?

Social media has been our best friend! It’s been an amazing FREE tool that we’ve used to post jobs, call for nannies & sitters, asked for advice, etc! Reading up & learning how social media will best suit your business is time well spent! Also, word of mouth is key! And doing for others through your company’s name is worth more than blindly handing out business cards! Do for others & they will remember your company’s name when someone brings up your area of service!

What do you wish you had known early on, that you’ve learned going through this process?

We’ve been lucky this first year & have had only one real hard lesson to learn, which was to deal with contract based issues early on, don’t let time go by! Other than that, we’ve learned that perseverance & hard work do pay off! And patience…patience is a virtue!

Any other information you would like to share with us?

Like our slogan says, Your Family is our family! We want nothing more than to help make your transition into parenthood as smooth and joyous as we can! And we want to help nannies & sitters find kind, caring families to pair them with!