This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Luba Patlakh Kaplun, founder of Kidology. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I used to dream of being a broadcast journalist. But my parents — Russian Jewish immigrants from Ukraine — wanted me to do something more serious, in their eyes.
I floundered for a bit, studying journalism, then opening a marketing agency. All the while, my parents were asking, “When are you going to establish yourself?”
Much of my family works in medicine, but I can’t do blood and needles. I did an internet search for careers with the most security and growth potential, and found speech-language pathology. It seemed perfect: serious enough for my parents, and adjacent to the medical field, but with no blood or needles.
My language skills helped me differentiate my business
I got my master’s and started working for another speech-language pathologist who had a bilingual English-Spanish clinic. I speak Russian, and when the owner realized that, they started to grow their clientele.
I realized my community was almost completely untouched. Instead of using my Russian skills to expand someone else’s business, I wanted to use them to benefit my family and me. Doing that felt like a way to honor the generational trauma that my family had been through, sacrificing and working so hard to get to America.
Doing everything myself started to catch up
That’s when Luba, the business owner, was born. I started going to all the Jewish clubs and churches to see students. I was juggling seeing patients with building a practice, billing insurance, and raising awareness about speech-language pathology within my Russian-speaking community.
I was constantly trying to do a little more before hiring someone. I worried I could never teach the business to another person, and that no one would treat the business — my baby — as well as I would.
Five years in, I was burned out. I realized I was missing payments because I didn’t have the systems in place to track them and follow up with clients. I was good at juggling, but some of the balls were starting to drop.
Creating standard procedures helped me grow
I had just crossed into seven figures of revenue when I came across a survey asking business owners about their challenges. It was a targeted ad, but it was just what I needed. Through that company, I connected with a business course and financial management.
Those resources changed my entire business. I realized I didn’t have standard operating procedures or a management structure. Once I established those, my company flourished. In 2020, we did just over $1 million in revenue. Last year, we did $4.95 million, and we’re still growing.
My kids are benefiting from generations of hard work
My business is 11, and my children are 10, 8, and 4. They’ve been raised alongside the business. When I do community presentations, my little one loves to tell people to come talk to his mom.
My older son sees how the business’s financial success has impacted his life. He used to play in a little inflatable pool; now, we have a large house with an in-ground pool. He likes to joke that his little brother doesn’t remember how things used to be.
Their lives are very different from mine growing up. My family always had enough money, but we lived in apartments, and my brother and I shared a room for most of my childhood. I tell my kids that, and make sure they know everything they have come from hard work: not only mine, but my parents’ and grandparents’ too.
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