Lillian and her husband Dave are the team behind Brummet Media Group, high-fiving cheerfully as they pass each other on the way from checking off one item or other from their long to-do list. Their business includes the Angle Hill Studio (drum teaching /repair services), The Brummet Media Channel (on Youtube), numerous award-winning books (on Amazon) and 2 very popular blogs.
Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our reader. They love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.
Hi everyone! I’m Lillian Brummet and have been married for 33 years. We reside in the Kootenay region of BC (Canada), where we have been working on the home and property for 12 years. My passion falls in the realm of making a difference – our blogs feature non-profits and offers free resources, networking opportunities, interviews and more. We donate books, drums, gift certificates, to fundraisers and silent auctions locally, we donate 10% of the business income to charity, we adopt fur-kids from shelters or re-home situations, we grow 60-70% of the fruit, nut & vegetables and purchase the rest locally. Sharing processed foods and wine, syrup and juices made from items we grew on this property is a great way to cut down on the cost of purchasing gifts for every celebration there is, and people really seem to love the gifts. We share excess harvests with friends, neighbours and clients who then share their excess harvests with us in return. You never know when someone is going to drop off a box of pears or walnuts or something! It is a fun, organic, totally natural, casual thing. We gladly donate books, drums or gift certificates to local charities, fundraisers and as prizes to various events (ie conferences, festivals, fairs). Our business, too, focuses on creating positive change, helping others become more proactive in making the world a better place.
Oprah once quoted ‘You’ve got to follow your passion – You’ve got to figure out what it is you love – who you really are. And have the courage to do that. I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams.” Please share, how you had the courage to follow your own dreams.
Following a dream, pursuing that goal, means that we are stepping into the fears and that vast ocean of self-doubt. Taking the uncertain journey, stepping into that unknown arena, means we are feeling that fear and doing it anyway.
By doing so we slowly become better at overcoming the inner judge, the inner critic and the inner saboteur. For me, well I’ve been on my own since before the age of 14 due to a broken family home… very broken. To survive I did a lot of odd jobs for farmers and garden nurseries – basically any thing they needed done, I’d do. These jobs were rarely in a group setting, so I became used to holding myself accountable and making decisions on the spot.
As time passed, I took on jobs in the fast food outlets, restaurants, newspaper outlets, and janitor genre services. Doing so meant I had to follow their rules, their policies and politics. I saw so many areas that were done incompetently that could be fixed easily – yet no one wanted to create change, to evolve or improve.
During slow times I was discouraged by others to find work projects, such as deep cleaning, because they felt entitled to stand around when it was slow. I found all of this really weird, awkward. One day while cycling to work a car hit me as they pulled out of a busy parking lot. That incident put me on crutches for 6 months and another 6 months of therapy before I was ready to work. The former job was no longer waiting for me, of course, but I felt a bit jilted by that because I had sacrificed so much for them and did anything they wanted or needed.
I learned that loyalty did not go both ways. It also meant that I would be starting at the bottom and working the way up the ladder somewhere else. I felt exhausted and depressed and started looking for alternatives.
There was a program happening at the time to help people start their own business, so I took the course and got the sponsorship (a minimum monthly allowance – just enough to get by for a few months) that helped me start my first business: Incredibly Clean. I loved being the boss, the one who made the decisions and being on my own. Sadly another accident took that business away, but it also created the first sparks that led to Brummet Media Group.
Tell us what the word “Entrepreneur” means to you?
The term Entrepereneur brings to mind freedom and responsibility. It means we have the freedom to make decisions and the responsibility of making things happen – because no one else will, we are on our own. Therefore we have to be strong enough to be independent, self-disciplined enough to follow through, tenacious enough to pursue dreams, and flexible enough to bend around obstacles.
What has been the biggest lesson you have learned from being an entrepreneur?
Truly, there is no such thing as one standard path for all to travel. Every one is unique and while much of the standard business operations and marketing methods apply, we have to tweak things to suit our unique situation. This means we have to look at many things from who we are as an individual and our unique situation at that moment – including our passions and the things we care about. We then blend that with the business plan, house policies, Internet presence, marketing efforts and events. Every business action must then represent what we have come up with. Imagery, colour design, keywords – everything. Second to that comes networking and keeping organized records for follow through and follow up activities.
What inspired you to start your own business, and how did you go about identifying a need in the market that your business could address?
I have been an entrepreneur since 1992, when I was 22. Back then I had no budget left after purchasing the necessary equipment and supplies to run a cleaning business. So I strapped on the walkman and strolled my target region – hand delivering fancy flyers, rolled up like a scroll and tied with a ribbon. It took only 2 weeks before I was in business with a steady roster of clients.
Because I provided an excellent, reliable service I was turning away clients within a year due to word of mouth alone. Sadly I lost that due to a car accident, and not having a contingency or succession plan in place.
A few years later (1998)I delved into the world of writing as a freelance writer, and then staff writer.
Entrepreneurial burnout is a real thing – working with a spouse and running the business for 25 years trying to evolve with the constantly changing world and keep up with all the demands can be very straining. Throw in an anxiety disorder, two relocations, a crashed website, and fixing up 2 different homes… and you’ve got yourself a recipe for collapse.
Somehow, together, Dave and I survived. Fast forward to present day:
https://linktr.ee/LillianBrummet Brummet Media Group began over 25 years ago by identifying our unique situation, and then examining various careers and services that would align with this.
Writing was one of them, drum repair and teaching was the other. The latter was pretty easy to start up since Dave already developed name recognition and contacts, but the writing took a while. First, we started with a writing business course that taught us how to run the writing business – you know, how to query, the process, dealing with lead times, taxes, etc.
From there we dabbled our toes in many different directions. In the past 25 years I have been a free-lance writer, a staff writer, as well as an assignment writer. I also ran a talk radio show for 10 years, a podcast for 2 years, published a newsletter for 6 years. About 10 years ago I did a couple of gigs as a professional product reviewer and also book reviewer.
I think that is the exciting thing about being a writer – there is so much to try, so many experiences, and so many new things to learn. I’ve been blogging for about 20 years, published numerous books on Amazon, and started a Youtube channel in 2022.
The Brummet’s Conscious Blog focuses on inspiring, positive, proactive topics offering a fresh outlook on the world – celebrating amazing individuals, businesses and organizations doing wonderful things.
The Drum It With Brummet Blog serves drummers and percussionists. The Brummet Media Channel on Youtube currently hosts 5 playlists offering conscious living, entrepreneur, networking, marketing and writer advice.
The business also embraces writing and casual dog-sitting services as well. As you can see the business has evolved to allow for many different services and this helps balance the ebb and flow of the entrepreneurial income.
What is your favourite quote about “following your dreams”?
“Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?
Learn as much as you can about running a business in your niche. You might know a lot about coaching couples, but you need to understand the logistics of running a coaching business. To do this simply head over to the computer and search for interviews, blogs, groups, podcasts and channels that offer tips for running a coaching business. Make an appointment with the accountant to discover office procedures and write-offs. Take the time to design and periodically review the business plan, succession plan, marketing plan, action plan, mission, in-house policies, employee duties outline, and contact files. Be organized, and be gracious.
https://taplink.cc/brummet
