November 26, 2024 • 13 mins
"The best defense is good offense." Brooke Poling practiced employment law for five years before deciding to start her independent consulting firm, Optimal Employee Relations. Understanding the importance of being informed, Brooke learned more about entrepreneurship by surrounding herself with knowledgeable SCORE mentors. On this episode of My Cincy Small Business Story, Brooke talks about her new business and helping other small businesses overcome human resources challenges.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
My name is Michael Dawson. You're host of my SENSI
Small Business Stories. In this episode, we'll be talking with Grippolling,
owner and founder of Optimal Employee Relations. We'll find out
more about that, but first we'll be right back after
this message.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Did you know twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they have the support from a mentor.
My sincey small business story is brought to you by
the volunteer mentors of Score Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization
that helps launch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year.
Our vision is to give every person the support they
(00:40):
need to thrive as a small business owner. Visit score
dot org slash Greater Cincinnati to request a free business
mentor or share your own expertise. You can also listen
and subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles,
and owning a successful small business.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Welcome, Brooke, How are you today? I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm excited to be here, so thank you for having
me on.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well great, great, So you started business and by breeding
your background, you're an attorney by education and that you
actually practice law before you started your company, optimal employee relations?
What made you decide to move from being an attorney
(01:22):
to deciding to step out on your own and start
this business.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I practiced employment law, working with companies to build their
employment policies and procedures, as well as helping them with
tricky employee relations issues and of course, when the unfortunate
lawsuit was filed. In doing that work, I frequently found
(01:47):
myself thinking, if there only had been more robust preventative
measures taken, a lot of headaches could have been avoided
or at least handled more efficiently and appropriately, thereby saving
the business a lot of time and money. However, I
(02:07):
also realized that business owners are extremely busy, so really
taking the time to build these policies and procedures isn't
always top of the list. So I wanted to create
a company that could take that burden off of employers,
especially small businesses that don't likely have their own in
(02:31):
house HR and certainly not their own in house general counsel.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So I'm a small business and I have five employees.
Do I need a service like you offer?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yes? I think it's really important, not just for compliance,
which different laws dictate whether they're going to apply to
a business based on how many employees they have. But
I also think it's really great because it gives guidance
to the man and to the employees, so when a
(03:03):
situation comes up, people know how to handle it and
there's instructions and it's clear, and the communications better, the
documentation is better, and again it's saving those headaches by
having the process laid out ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So how did you make your transition from being an
employee to being a founder and owner of a business.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I am still going through that journey and it's been
really exciting. I think something that I have found really
helpful because obviously I've never owned a business before. I
know the technical aspect and my expertise my field, but
(03:47):
owning a business and growing and starting a business is
something else entirely. So I found that there have been
a lot of really great resources in the Cincinnati area,
Score being one of them, and I've really been leaning
on and utilizing those resources to help me out because
being a sole founder and owner, I still need people
(04:10):
to balance the ideas off of and make sure I'm
taking the right paths. So it's a journey and the
resources in Cincinnati really have been incredible in helping with that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So how did you find out about Score?
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I found out about Score because I also had been
working with ABHR Accelators, which is yes, it's a women
business accelerator in Covington, Kentucky, and one of their newsletters
they promoted a SCORE event, which I found interesting and
(04:43):
went checked out what SCORE was and saw that SCORE
offers free business mentoring, which is incredible. That's a great service.
So checked it out, emailed Score and now I work
with Rick and Frank here in Cincinnati as my mentors.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
How long have you been working with them?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Probably since late summer. I think it's been I originally
started working just with Rick and one morning we're sitting
there talking ideas and Frank's there, so he jumps in
and now it's the three of us every time we meet.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So I've hit a small business at one time, and
it's very challenging because you have to run the business.
You've got to get the business, and then you've got
to do the work for the business. How are you
balancing those three things?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Still? Trying to maintain my normal sleep schedule is one.
But when I talked about balancing ideas off of other people.
I have found that really useful because I think one
of the challenges I've found, especially as it relates to
trying to get to get business, is finding the right
(06:01):
events to go to. There are so many events which
could take up so much time, and then you don't
have the time to focus on the actual material of
your work and operating the business. So having people who
know the resources better than I do to tell me
I think this would be of most value to you
(06:23):
has been really really helpful to me.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So when you're talking to a small business, what kind
of questions do they ask you?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I think one one of the biggest questions is why
do I need this? Especially if the business is running
smoothly and efficiently and it seems like those sort of
employment policies are falling into place. The question is why
do I need this? Why do I need your services?
(06:54):
And there are a few answers to that, one being
let me take the and off of you, because you,
the business owner have so many other things to do.
Two is that implement law is complex. It changes as
society changes, so to have someone navigate that for you
(07:16):
is really helpful and you're going to have the right
material that guides your workforce when you have that. So
the why, I think is one of the biggest questions.
One of the other questions that I get is how
do I effectively implement these policies and procedures with my workforce,
(07:37):
Because especially if we're looking at businesses where there are
frontline workers like restaurants, they're constantly moving and they're on
tight schedules. So how do we work with the business
and what the employees do and for day to day
functions and tasks to actually implement these policies in a
(07:59):
way that makes them work for the business. And it
takes time, you know, it takes back and forth of
just what is going to be the most efficient. So
I would say those two questions probably come up the most.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, I think people don't realize. I mean, I think
it's easy to say, well, I'm not sure I really
need you. I thinks are running smoothly, until they're not
running smoothly. And in employee relations, that is such a
mind field these days that it'd be really difficult for
a small business owner to be aware and be on
(08:36):
top of all of these issues. And it seems to
be changing all the time. I think is that where
you fit into the collgue and that's your niche there
to kind of be that person that will know what
to do if an issue comes up.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Absolutely, because it's employment law is not always inherent, it
doesn't always make most sense, right and especially as we
look at we have an administration change coming up. The
laws may not change, but how they're interpreted and who
is interpreting them is certainly going to change. And so
(09:16):
to have someone who is on the forefront of that
and who knows your existing policies and procedures to say, hey,
this change is coming up, I think you need to
address X, Y and Z so you stay compliant or
if an issue crops up, you're going to be on
the best end of it. Is where I can be
(09:38):
of real help to these businesses and come in.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So when you were working with school, obviously you know
your skill sets and what it takes to do a
good job. What did you hope to get from your
school mentors? Where did they help you that was beyond
your expertise?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Really knowing the other place and resources in the community.
I knew the legal community in Cincinnati, not necessarily the
business all the business owners, the entrepreneurship, the startup organizations,
the organizations that help small businesses with funding. I didn't
(10:19):
know that and I'm still learning. So that is really
what I wanted the help from SCORE with was finding
those resources in the community that one I can use,
but also can help me grow and get my name
out there and become ingrained in the business community in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So how long have you been in business? Again?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So I have been in business. I started working it
up in July, but officially just launched I think the
end of October.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Oh yes, congratulations, Thank you. If somebody wants to get
a hold of you to find out more what you
have to offer, how would they do that. What's the
best way to get in touch with you?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The best ways would either be through the website, there's
a contact form or directly buy email. My email is
Brooke B. R O k E at Optimal Hyphenemployee dot
com and the website is optimal hyphenemployee dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Very good. So you've gone through school working with mentors
and I'm assuming you will still be using them for
a while. So what would you tell somebody? I mean,
if someone came up to you and say, hey, Brooke,
I'm thinking about starting a business, not really sure what
I need to do. I know I've got a good
product or I've got a good service. What would you
(11:51):
tell them?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I would tell them to just take take a leap
of faith. Don't wait until you think you have it
mapped out well enough in your mind to then go
see these resources. If you have the idea and you
want to do this, go ahead and seek the help now,
because then they will help you with mapping out the plan.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
So you would recommend score to other people.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Absolutely, it's been so beneficial, very.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Good, well Brook, Is there anything else you'd like to
talk about. I hope I covered some of the points
that you gave me, which were very interesting. I think
the whole field of HR certainly has changed dramatically over
the years, and what HR professionals do now, and how
(12:40):
important it is to have somebody that they can lean
on and talk good times in bad time. So I
think I'm just very excited for you. I'm happy you
got you know you've got your business started, and tell
us again, how can we get a hold of it?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Absolutely? Thank you. You can get a hold of me
by direct email or through the website. There is a
contact submission form.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
This has been very interesting. I appreciate you coming on
the show.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Thank you so much. Yeah, this has been fun.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I'd like to thank for pulling from Optimal Employee Relations
for being on our show. As always, if you would
like to sign up with a mentor or would like
to become a mentor, go to score dot org click
on the appropriate link.
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
My name is Michael Dawson. You're host of my SENSI
Small Business Stories. In this episode, we'll be talking with Grippolling,
owner and founder of Optimal Employee Relations. We'll find out
more about that, but first we'll be right back after
this message.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Did you know twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they have the support from a mentor.
My sincey small business story is brought to you by
the volunteer mentors of Score Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization
that helps launch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year.
Our vision is to give every person the support they
(00:40):
need to thrive as a small business owner. Visit score
dot org slash Greater Cincinnati to request a free business
mentor or share your own expertise. You can also listen
and subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles,
and owning a successful small business.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Welcome, Brooke, How are you today? I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm excited to be here, so thank you for having
me on.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well great, great, So you started business and by breeding
your background, you're an attorney by education and that you
actually practice law before you started your company, optimal employee relations?
What made you decide to move from being an attorney
(01:22):
to deciding to step out on your own and start
this business.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I practiced employment law, working with companies to build their
employment policies and procedures, as well as helping them with
tricky employee relations issues and of course, when the unfortunate
lawsuit was filed. In doing that work, I frequently found
(01:47):
myself thinking, if there only had been more robust preventative
measures taken, a lot of headaches could have been avoided
or at least handled more efficiently and appropriately, thereby saving
the business a lot of time and money. However, I
(02:07):
also realized that business owners are extremely busy, so really
taking the time to build these policies and procedures isn't
always top of the list. So I wanted to create
a company that could take that burden off of employers,
especially small businesses that don't likely have their own in
(02:31):
house HR and certainly not their own in house general counsel.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So I'm a small business and I have five employees.
Do I need a service like you offer?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yes? I think it's really important, not just for compliance,
which different laws dictate whether they're going to apply to
a business based on how many employees they have. But
I also think it's really great because it gives guidance
to the man and to the employees, so when a
(03:03):
situation comes up, people know how to handle it and
there's instructions and it's clear, and the communications better, the
documentation is better, and again it's saving those headaches by
having the process laid out ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So how did you make your transition from being an
employee to being a founder and owner of a business.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I am still going through that journey and it's been
really exciting. I think something that I have found really
helpful because obviously I've never owned a business before. I
know the technical aspect and my expertise my field, but
(03:47):
owning a business and growing and starting a business is
something else entirely. So I found that there have been
a lot of really great resources in the Cincinnati area,
Score being one of them, and I've really been leaning
on and utilizing those resources to help me out because
being a sole founder and owner, I still need people
(04:10):
to balance the ideas off of and make sure I'm
taking the right paths. So it's a journey and the
resources in Cincinnati really have been incredible in helping with that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So how did you find out about Score?
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I found out about Score because I also had been
working with ABHR Accelators, which is yes, it's a women
business accelerator in Covington, Kentucky, and one of their newsletters
they promoted a SCORE event, which I found interesting and
(04:43):
went checked out what SCORE was and saw that SCORE
offers free business mentoring, which is incredible. That's a great service.
So checked it out, emailed Score and now I work
with Rick and Frank here in Cincinnati as my mentors.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
How long have you been working with them?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Probably since late summer. I think it's been I originally
started working just with Rick and one morning we're sitting
there talking ideas and Frank's there, so he jumps in
and now it's the three of us every time we meet.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So I've hit a small business at one time, and
it's very challenging because you have to run the business.
You've got to get the business, and then you've got
to do the work for the business. How are you
balancing those three things?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Still? Trying to maintain my normal sleep schedule is one.
But when I talked about balancing ideas off of other people.
I have found that really useful because I think one
of the challenges I've found, especially as it relates to
trying to get to get business, is finding the right
(06:01):
events to go to. There are so many events which
could take up so much time, and then you don't
have the time to focus on the actual material of
your work and operating the business. So having people who
know the resources better than I do to tell me
I think this would be of most value to you
(06:23):
has been really really helpful to me.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So when you're talking to a small business, what kind
of questions do they ask you?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I think one one of the biggest questions is why
do I need this? Especially if the business is running
smoothly and efficiently and it seems like those sort of
employment policies are falling into place. The question is why
do I need this? Why do I need your services?
(06:54):
And there are a few answers to that, one being
let me take the and off of you, because you,
the business owner have so many other things to do.
Two is that implement law is complex. It changes as
society changes, so to have someone navigate that for you
(07:16):
is really helpful and you're going to have the right
material that guides your workforce when you have that. So
the why, I think is one of the biggest questions.
One of the other questions that I get is how
do I effectively implement these policies and procedures with my workforce,
(07:37):
Because especially if we're looking at businesses where there are
frontline workers like restaurants, they're constantly moving and they're on
tight schedules. So how do we work with the business
and what the employees do and for day to day
functions and tasks to actually implement these policies in a
(07:59):
way that makes them work for the business. And it
takes time, you know, it takes back and forth of
just what is going to be the most efficient. So
I would say those two questions probably come up the most.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, I think people don't realize. I mean, I think
it's easy to say, well, I'm not sure I really
need you. I thinks are running smoothly, until they're not
running smoothly. And in employee relations, that is such a
mind field these days that it'd be really difficult for
a small business owner to be aware and be on
(08:36):
top of all of these issues. And it seems to
be changing all the time. I think is that where
you fit into the collgue and that's your niche there
to kind of be that person that will know what
to do if an issue comes up.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Absolutely, because it's employment law is not always inherent, it
doesn't always make most sense, right and especially as we
look at we have an administration change coming up. The
laws may not change, but how they're interpreted and who
is interpreting them is certainly going to change. And so
(09:16):
to have someone who is on the forefront of that
and who knows your existing policies and procedures to say, hey,
this change is coming up, I think you need to
address X, Y and Z so you stay compliant or
if an issue crops up, you're going to be on
the best end of it. Is where I can be
(09:38):
of real help to these businesses and come in.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So when you were working with school, obviously you know
your skill sets and what it takes to do a
good job. What did you hope to get from your
school mentors? Where did they help you that was beyond
your expertise?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Really knowing the other place and resources in the community.
I knew the legal community in Cincinnati, not necessarily the
business all the business owners, the entrepreneurship, the startup organizations,
the organizations that help small businesses with funding. I didn't
(10:19):
know that and I'm still learning. So that is really
what I wanted the help from SCORE with was finding
those resources in the community that one I can use,
but also can help me grow and get my name
out there and become ingrained in the business community in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So how long have you been in business? Again?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So I have been in business. I started working it
up in July, but officially just launched I think the
end of October.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Oh yes, congratulations, Thank you. If somebody wants to get
a hold of you to find out more what you
have to offer, how would they do that. What's the
best way to get in touch with you?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The best ways would either be through the website, there's
a contact form or directly buy email. My email is
Brooke B. R O k E at Optimal Hyphenemployee dot
com and the website is optimal hyphenemployee dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Very good. So you've gone through school working with mentors
and I'm assuming you will still be using them for
a while. So what would you tell somebody? I mean,
if someone came up to you and say, hey, Brooke,
I'm thinking about starting a business, not really sure what
I need to do. I know I've got a good
product or I've got a good service. What would you
(11:51):
tell them?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I would tell them to just take take a leap
of faith. Don't wait until you think you have it
mapped out well enough in your mind to then go
see these resources. If you have the idea and you
want to do this, go ahead and seek the help now,
because then they will help you with mapping out the plan.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
So you would recommend score to other people.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Absolutely, it's been so beneficial, very.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Good, well Brook, Is there anything else you'd like to
talk about. I hope I covered some of the points
that you gave me, which were very interesting. I think
the whole field of HR certainly has changed dramatically over
the years, and what HR professionals do now, and how
(12:40):
important it is to have somebody that they can lean
on and talk good times in bad time. So I
think I'm just very excited for you. I'm happy you
got you know you've got your business started, and tell
us again, how can we get a hold of it?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Absolutely? Thank you. You can get a hold of me
by direct email or through the website. There is a
contact submission form.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
This has been very interesting. I appreciate you coming on
the show.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Thank you so much. Yeah, this has been fun.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I'd like to thank for pulling from Optimal Employee Relations
for being on our show. As always, if you would
like to sign up with a mentor or would like
to become a mentor, go to score dot org click
on the appropriate link.
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