Hi All! Katie here.
Happy New Year!
I could use this new blog post to reflect on all that we encountered in 2020, but I think we have all heard enough of 2020, right?!?
As the new year begins and we approach our 9th year in business, we have set out to tackle some big, daring and audacious goals and dreams for 2021. But, we laughed to ourselves as we realized does anyone actually know the names and faces behind Beyond Speech Therapy Specialists? Our hope this year is to change that! Better late than never right??
I met Jill back in 1996 in the halls of Providence Catholic High School. We quickly became besties…spending countless days planning outfits for school, preparing for school dances, going to football games, making mix tapes, staying up late at sleepovers and having more girl talks than I can count! Providence later brought Laura and I together and we spent many days on the volleyball court together. We shared many mutual friends and lots of laughs. After high school, college would take us all our separate ways, but as we pursued the same major, we often joked about someday working together in the future and opening our own business. Little did we know how true that would become. During college, Jill and I worked the same job as a cart girl on a local golf course, ran a small side business selling purses and saw clients together at a private clinic.
As we all pursued our new career paths, God was working his magic in the background. Jill & Laura found themselves working in the same local school district. After a few years, Jill made the decision to stay home with her babies and lo and behold, Carrie took her position. A year later, I came across an opening at the same district and reached out to Laura. She graciously put in a good word and before I knew it, I was working in the same district. Jill and I continued our chats on owning a business and I would soon share those goals and dreams with Laura and Carrie over many morning coffees and hallway duty. Before long, Beyond Speech Therapy Specialists was born and as they say….the rest is history! 🙂
Now the 4 of us have become besties just like Jill and I did so long ago. We may not be planning outfits or making mix tapes, but we spend plenty of late nights planning, dreaming and having girl talk. I have learned that it is true what they say… when you love your job, you never work a day in your life.
Whenever us owners get together, I always tell people I am meeting with “the girls” but I am not sure that is the best description. Co-owners always sounded too formal, partners too stuffy, work wives too casual. At the end of the day, none of them feel right because Beyond Speech is so much more than a business. We have become a family. Not only with each other, but with the incredible therapists on our team, the admin team that keep everything running smoothly and the clients and families we are lucky enough to provide services for. Providing in-home therapy allows us to build a connection and relationship that doesn’t happen anywhere else. Seeing a child’s face smashed up to the window waiting for you, seeing the progress a child makes, a parent sharing they’ve been waiting for you all day, grandma knitting a blanket for your family, connecting with your client’s siblings as they join in the session, sharing a cup of coffee with mom… these are just a few of the many reasons we absolutely love what we do.
As a group we do so much more than provide therapy services. We dream. We goal set. We create. We play. We plan. We share. We cry. We laugh. We have fun! And that is what we want to bring to you.
So this blog is a promise. In 2021, we promise to bring you more motivation, more at home tips and tricks, more laughs, more support, more fun …. More of us.
We can’t wait to see what 2021 has in store for all of you. We are here for it! Cheers!
Katie…….Jill, Carrie & Laura