We were lucky to catch up with Quteria Bryant recently and have shared our conversation below.
Quteria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
What I think it takes to be successful is easy. Try, fail, repeat and succeed. Always have faith and foremost God as your first priority in your business, believe and know that it is already done. Stay consistent and be intentional
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve always loved helping others. Helping others; no matter what a person is going though, was the one thing God put us here for. After high school I decided to go to nursing school. During that time, I was working in the healthcare field. I was learning what patient care was really about. I came to realize that caring for seniors was my passion. It was during that time, I decided I wanted to be able to provide patients with one-on-one care verse dividing my time between multiple patients. I could provide more of the personal care that they need. I decided to switch my major to Healthcare Administration. I still wasn’t sure exactly I wanted to do with my degree. After college, I was already currently working in the hospital setting as a nursing assistant. While working at the hospital, I made sure the patient I cared for doing my shift had a great hospital stay experience. My patients actually looked forward to me returning the next day when I was on the CVOU Unit. My patients and their families started asking me would I consider being their sitter once they were discharged. I agreed. That was when I started doing private sitting as a side hustle. I loved being one on one with patients. It was so awesome, being able to cater to all their needs. In 2018, I got a call from an individual that heard about me and begged me to care for her husband on the weekends. I agreed. I took care of him for almost 2 years until he unexpectedly passed. On the weekends we would sit in the kitchen and watch football. One day he asks me what I wanted to do in the future. I told him my goals, and that was to one day run my own Home Care Agency. A few months later I arrived for my shift as usual. We were watching football in the living room. Alabama was playing. He was a serious Alabama fan. He said, Q, are you ready? I wasn’t sure what he was referring to. He said it was time to start putting my business in order. I felt I wasn’t ready, and that very thought terrified me. We come up with a name, God’s Sitting Partners Home Care, that very day we made a business card on Vista. He would give me a homework assignment each weekend. The assignment’s made sure that I was doing what I needed to do to get my business registered with the state and the additional things need to make my business legitimate.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
How I started is in my previous response. I knew I had a love and a passion for the job itself, but I was clueless on how to get the business aspect started. I decided to reach out to people I knew that were in the same industry for some advice. That didn’t work out as well as I hoped. I had a couple of people to give me advice. It helped some. So, I decided to reach out to some individuals that were actually running this type of business. Needless to say, they were not really interested in giving too much information to their potential competition. Some would at least acknowledge my request for information by saying, “well this is competition”. Others just decided not to respond back. I did have one tell me I would have to change my name because the industry just didn’t like anything that mentioned God or anything spiritual in nature. At that point I was like WOW! I began contemplating scratching everything and going back to the drawing board. I felt totally defeated. I put my business in the back of my mind for a while. A couple months later, the hospital transferred me to the ER. I was so excited about being in the ER! I met so many different patients throughout my shift. You wouldn’t believe the different emotions I went through on those shifts. I cried, laughed and almost pulled out my hair with some of those patients. That job just reminded me of what my ultimate dream was. A year later, I got a job as a Medical Record Coordinator. That was one job I LOVED. I already had the degree, so I used this position to build my experience. I mapped out my plan. I would use my work income to fund my dream. Each paycheck, I would buy marketing ideas. If no one wanted to sow into me, I would sow into myself. At this time, I think I had 5 clients with 2 employees. I had to learn how not to spend my profit. It was hard but I eventually got it. So, yep, I was funding my side hustle, with my work paycheck and now my side hustle, my passion, is now my career!!! I love what I do!!!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
My best source of new clients has been my current and past clients. Majority of my referrals are word of mouth. I’d say 90% of my referrals come from my clients passing my information along. They are my biggest supporters. It makes me smile when my clients pray, encourage and give advice over my business. It just shows me that I am not the CEO of this business. God is the CEO, and I am the COO. I make sure we hire the right caregivers. I ensure that they are WELL informed on what they should be doing and how I expect my clients to be cared for. It’s imperative that my staff knows how important they really are. They are the face of this agency and because of the wonderful care they give, it continues to grow. I am beyond thankful and grateful for how far I have come. I couldn’t have done this without God giving me the inspiration; and I can’t continue being successful without Him giving me the strength and help. Sam Lowery, thank you for pushing me to step out on faith and thanks to awesome staff that I cherish so much. To my clients, thank you for being the best source that keeps on giving!!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.godssittingpartners.com
- Instagram: god_sitting_partners
- Facebook: God’s Sitting Partners
Image Credits
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