We were lucky to catch up with Lindsay Bell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsay, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

The pandemic aside, in a way that was starting over. Now as a mother of three young children, if I had to start all over again, I feel it would be near impossible the way I did it the first time. I bootstrapped my first launch in 2009. I did anything I could think of to generate buzz; I sat in coffee shops and walked up to complete strangers pushing a stroller to tell them about my service, hung flyers in dance studios and college campuses, I held happy hours and events to promote my business. I pulled all nighters and still was energized the next day. I cannot do that anymore!

I sometimes daydream about my hustle back in the day, I was young and hungry. I am wiser now, but also more skeptical. If I had to choose one or the other, I would hands down do it the way I did. Sure, I wish I did some things differently. I wish I went to business school. I wish I concentrated more on business and economics during undergrad to name a few. However, in a way the sheer naivety I had somehow benefited me in being invincible and not caring when people said no.

Lindsay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I learned early on about responsibility and leadership as the eldest of five girls I grew up babysitting. After graduating from college in Ohio, I landed my first job in NYC with the Radio City Rockettes. I worked on cool projects like assisting in the production of the 75th Celebration Edition of the Radio City Spectacular Book and coordinated The Rockettes in The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade all while babysitting for a handful of families on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. After three years, the babysitting became more and more demanding, and that is when I saw the opportunity and need for the business. I officially founded Lucky Lil’ Darlings in 2009, which at the time placed only on-demand evening babysitters, it was later renamed Bell Family Company in 2014 placing all family care needs. In 2013, I lead the acquisition of NY Nanny Center, a local nanny agency, which merged with Bell Family. From 2015-2017, I served as partner to Hello Sitter, an on-demand babysitter app based in NYC, where my company sourced and assessed hundreds of the childcare providers that were referred by the app. Post pandemic, Bell Family Company expanded placing nannies across the U.S. I married my husband in 2014 and since then we have had three super energetic children.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I had my first baby in 2016, I knew I had to scale back. I started to work from home two days per week, and went to the office the other three days. It was a good combination of home life and made me feel that I still had my own identity, but I was still working a lot both nights after my baby went to sleep and most weekends. It was hard, but I felt I had to do it otherwise my business would not grow. Or at least that is what I thought.

Then I had my second baby in 2018, and started to feel burnt out. I needed to leave NYC to escape the workaholic culture I secretly loved, I knew it was taking its toll on me. I found an amazing woman Denise who served as a business transition coach to me and my team. She helped guide and support my team into our new roles and developed a plan for us to follow. Just having a mentor like her by my side gave me the confidence to enter this new chapter. I will forever be grateful to Denise.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Finding employees, partners or a co-founder can be challenging. I have always relied on the referral for most things in my life. When a person comes referred, another individual is putting themselves on the line to recommend them. I have always believed you are who you roll with. A referred individual is a reflection of the person making the referral. Why wouldn’t they send a person as amazing as they are?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bellfamilycompany.com
• Instagram: @Bellfamilycompany
• Facebook: Bell Family Company
• Linkedin: Lindsay Bell