Behind the Business Plan: Divorce Detox
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Divorce Detox founders Andra Brosh and Allison Pescosolido |
Ever wonder how successful businesses get started? Do they start with a structured business plan and stick to it or do they evolve over time? BusinessNewsDaily asks small businesses to take us behind the scenes and reveal the truth about the struggles of starting and running a small business.
This week's Behind the Business Plan features Divorce Detox, a treatment center and wellness program designed to help people deal with the emotional, financial, and physical impacts of separation and divorce. Clients learn to shift perspectives, share with others similarly situated, address major life/family questions, learn skills for building lives without their exes, and discover how to date without repeating the same mistakes again. Company founders and divorce recovery experts Andra Brosh and Allison Pescosolido, tell us how their business plan has unfolded.
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BusinessNewsDaily: How long have you been in business?
Divorce Detox has been in business for 3 years.
BND: Did you have a formal business plan or did your business just evolve naturally?
Divorce Detox evolved organically from a simple idea of helping people transitioning through separation and divorce to developing a proven program to heal the trauma of divorce, transform the relationship from spouse to ex, take personal responsibility for one's own part in the marriage to avoid similar relationship issues in the future, and laying the foundation for a fulfilling life (often better than the past).
BND: How close has your business stayed to what you originally envisioned it to be?
It sounded like a great idea three years ago, but we had no idea how much of a need there was for this kind of a service on a national level. It has grown beyond what we envisioned and we anticipate major growth going forward.
BND: How did you finance the business at the beginning or at any time you were in business?
We’ve always used our own personal funds.
BND: How much did you invest?
We put in $50,000 and our time. In the first year we were generating enough cash flow not to have to contribute more.
BND: If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently when starting your business?
We've learned that systemization makes everything so much easier. We would have liked to [have] put systems in place sooner (scheduling software,
Google Docs, Evernote and Dropbox).
BND: What's your best advice for someone with a great business idea
who wants to give it a shot?
Experiment, be flexible and listen to your customers. Our business started out this way, and we continue to test new ideas and products. Believe in your idea 100 percent. Live and breathe in the concept because this is what it will be like when it takes off!
Behind the Business Plan runs regularly on BusinessNewsDaily.com. If you know a company we should feature, email jmulvey@techmedianetwork.com.