We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacqueline Traweek a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacqueline, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

It may be off putting to start with a mental health discussion, but it’s a HUGE part of my story. Many people see the achiever aspect of my life and story, but truly, I’ve struggled with extreme anxiety most of my life. Somehow, with pure grit, I’ve always made myself “do it scared.”

Opening a business was never in my life plan. But when my daughter was getting close to preschool age, our local legend of a preschool program was looking to retire. We literally bumped into each other as I was taking a walk one day, and she asked if I was considering starting a preschool.

I told her absolutely not.

Then I went home and messaged my friend, Morgan Fritz, another small business owner, and then my husband and they said “DO IT.” I got excited, and then I panicked, and then that nagging anxiety came along.

But, with the support of my husband within 3 months of this conversation, we put our house on the market, purchased land to build a barndominium and 1 room school, and then moved into a small farm house with no extra money, the industry my husband worked in starting to tank, 2 small kids and a dream.

Looking back on those initial days, the risk was terrifying, but it has become one of the greatest blessings.

So something I think people from the outside are generally seeing is all of the things you build and how great they are, but they don’t realize, entrepreneurship is not something that’s only made for a certain kind of person. Anyone can do it and most of us are terrified at some point along the way.

Jacqueline, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Little Brahma Barn Christian Preschool is our business.

We started in a one room program and expanded after Covid closed down other programs in our area.

We are rural and Brahman country (hence the name) so we just felt the whole persona of the program would be a match for this community.

We now have multiple classes and ten employees, but have made sure to keep our rural roots. Small town, big learning, child and faith centered, all of the connections to rural life and “the way things used to be.”

Over the years, the community has come to know us as LBB. It’s really surreal to see your baby (business) become a staple of your community. Nick names are such a privilege! It means you’re loved.

As far as our program goes, it’s a huge passion project. As the lead, I want more for our children than anything that is already being offered. Educating in early childhood it so much about the whole family experience. And to me, calling us a daycare is such a four-letter-word. Because, it implies dropping your child off for care.

We spend our time building relationships, working with our community, creating strong learners and even better humans.

Another huge part of our brand is bringing in new community members. I started our Instagram way back when to share funny things our children say, but it has morphed into almost a way for the community members to connect with our program. Being on the outskirts of a rapidly growing metropolitan area, many people are moving to our community and wanting that slower pace of life, but are unsure of how to “fit in.” It’s an honor to welcome people who are new to the community, and then also teach them about what makes our little piece of the world so special. I didn’t grow up here myself, but my husband did. I was incredibly overwhelmed navigating being one of the new people, but also, I bought fully in to being a part of this community. It’s been a blessing at times and hard in some ways, so part of the LBB experience is family support because well, I’ve been there.

Something else I’m really passionate about is showing our children (and the world) that rural isn’t less. We have brilliant minded amazing people in small communities just like anywhere else. We are inclusive of anyone who comes in our doors. Small towns tend to get a bad wrap for that, but we have children of all cultures and colors and walks of life. We celebrate them all. We love them all and they will all be loved, cherished and given the tools to make their mark in this world.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

So. Many. Times.

I’m an educator by trade. I started my career life as a Special Education teacher. It was my dream job.

And then I got married, moved to this tiny town and had my first child. In our town, we had no Special Education teacher opportunities, and I wasn’t going to drive out of town to work elsewhere if we were planning to put roots here, so I stayed home.

After three years was when this preschool journey began (the story I told earlier).

That was a huge pivot for me. In my first school district, I had dreams of getting my Masters, working my way up, being on Admin and running the whole shebang, but marriage and children came and I pivoted.

Another time I really can’t leave out was in 2020. Before March.

We were at a point in our family where I was finding it increasingly difficult to separate work from home, especially since work was literally in my home. My husband was unhappy sharing his home daily with a bunch of strangers. The program had its own space, but there were still people in and out of our driveway daily. I knew I needed to make a choice. Grow the program and move out to a space not in my home, or go back to my original dream, get my masters in Special Education and work my way into closing the business and transition out of entrepreneurship. My youngest was 2 at the time and I committed to finishing his time in preschool, but I also wanted a plan for after that.

I chose going back to get my degree and closing shop once he was done.

And then March of 2020 came.

I was literally 5 seconds into my masters program and the whole entire world changed. Two of the programs in town shut down, our schools shut down, and I decided LBB would pick brave it out, navigate the new, and continue business. We never closed when everyone else was closing. It was such a strange time, but also so much fun! The biggest change during the early Covid days was that my husband who was commuting two hours each day began working exclusively from home. There’s so many details to all of this that I really could write a whole novel, but basically, he was more certain than ever we needed to get the Prek out of our house and I was in a conflict knowing I couldn’t just leave the children and families of our community with nowhere to go.

So, we pivoted.

I kept on with my masters degree, but we also bought a place in town, got funding, did a renovation, and expanded our business. The same year I finished my masters degree, we moved to town. That’s where we are at currently. It’s my sons last year of Prek, our second year in town, and I’ve still got that masters degree.

I like that term. Pivot. Because I see so often women saying “I had to give up my dreams.” I have NEVER felt that way. We can have all the dreams. We can change them. We can love our family so much that other dreams make sense and we can be full filled and happy. It’s all about mindset.

So I’ve never given up on any dream really. I’m just crazy enough to believe I can accomplish all of them. It just really all has to do with God’s timing.

When people ask what I’m doing next, I tell them I’ll either be LBB for the next thirty years or sell it all tomorrow. I have no idea!

I do know; I get up every day fully ready to do the work I have chosen. It’s a happy passion at this point for me, and I have no regrets.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I’m still learning so much about funding, but I think there have been some really smart lessons learned.

At the time we chose to move from the house to a brick and mortar business, we contacted our local business lender about how to acquire the house, do renovations etc.

After researching the options with the SBA I was just turned off from Government lending (Covid times, PPA loans just weren’t my jam). Our banker was awesome but first thing asked

1) what is your business plan
2) can you give legitimate projections of what this will look like in the next few years.

My advice to all owners is to know the business side of your business like the back of your hand. Before you have a dream, spend the time manifesting, creating your spreadsheets, crunching numbers etc.

I had all of the info I needed, because my business expansion wasn’t something I thought of over night. I always had plans for it, just in case.

Also, I think a lot of potential business owners think in a dream situation when they are crunching numbers and looking for funding. Big mistake. I made sure prior to funding to make models of the lowest worst case scenario to make sure I wasn’t biting off more than I could chew and getting our family in a bind with a bad business decision.

It’s been a blessing!

Contact Info:

• Website: Littlebrahmabarn.com
• Instagram: @funny_little_chickens

Image Credits
ASP photography – Amanda Pavlock