Meet Kim Brant-Lucich

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Brant-Lucich.

Hi Kim, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In 2022, I was laid off from my employer of ten years, along with numerous others. After exploring other opportunities, I determined that the job market for people over 50 was difficult. With the aging population, financial downturn, and transition to hybrid and remote work (increasing competition), there has been a huge uptick in older workers seeking employment and competing with younger, lower-cost resources. As a result, many are considering alternatives to traditional careers, such as the gig economy or portfolio careers. Over the past few years, there has also been a trend to workers “quiet quitting” their jobs due to fatigue, burnout, and lack of inspiration.

Early in 2023, my former colleague, Alex, and I decided to form our own business, Riff on Jobs. Alex and I found ourselves “in transition,” trying to determine the next best step for our lives after we were laid off. We are former colleagues with 20 years of experience working together at several organizations. We both have strong consulting, information technology, project management, and healthcare industry backgrounds. Our experience with job search, freelance work, hiring, firing, managing others and navigating healthcare, Medicare, Social Security, and caring for elderly family members put us in a unique position to help others. Realizing that there were thousands of others in the same boat (over 50 and figuring out their next steps), we felt we could help others by building a virtual community and sharing our stories, offering compassion, humor, wisdom, education, and support.

Our business is evolving, currently consisting of a website, blogs, newsletter, social media, podcasts, and video. We are continuing to expand in all the areas, and will be adding training and coaching and will be producing many more podcasts, videos, audiobooks, and eBooks that offer guidance ranging from job search to career transition, building businesses, and retirement. In the short term, our goal is to grow a following and provide tools and support for others in their career transition.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t been a bumpy road, as much as a slow road with various fits and starts. Like any new business, the biggest challenge is determining the best way to monetize the business and continue to grow and evolve the business model. Our initial months were spent building a business plan, filing our LLC, dba, and trademark registration of our name as well as opening a bank account and establishing an address.

While we have technology backgrounds, building a website and learning the secrets of growing a social media network has taken time. Progress has been slow, and we have redirected our focus a number of times. We’ve consulted with some professionals in the digital arena to determine the best growth strategies for us; i.e., which social media and online communities make the most sense to grow our following, and what affiliate marketing opportunities are out there for us. In some instances, we are throwing darts to see what sticks while at the same time slowly expanding into areas that can produce a longer-term annuity income stream.

Our biggest struggle is how and when to actually sell our products and services (training guides and programs, career coaching, podcasts, etc.) and what products and services make the most sense to sell.

To add to our challenges, both Alex and I also do other work to supplement our incomes, so we cannot devote our time 24/7 to growing this business as much as we would like to.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Professionally, I worked in consulting and healthcare IT, with a business process improvement background. I started my career post-MBA as a management consultant and morphed that into working for health systems on the IT process improvement and strategy side. With my background, I was also able to work as an adjunct faculty at Cal State Long Beach in their MHA (Masters of Healthcare Administration) program for about seven years.

What sets me apart from others is my other outside of the traditional workplace. Prior to getting my MBA, I was an actress and stand-up comedian. I am fluent in French and Spanish as well and for many years, worked as a tour guide to support my acting career. This exposure to a variety of people and cultures always gave me an edge with marketing, communications, and solid presentation skills.

Over the past several years, my proudest accomplishments have been outside my day-to-day job. These include working as a DEI facilitator, leading meaningful dialogues about race, gender, disability, and LGBTQ+ to half a dozen cohorts at work, and also leading similar dialogues in my local community. I am also very proud of a social justice-oriented newsletter I have produced over the past two years locally.

Within the work setting, I was very proud (and fulfilled) to go to Guatemala as a translator on a Surgical Medical Mission, which helped individuals receive necessary surgeries and wheelchairs that they would otherwise not be able to afford without these medical missions.

I’ve always felt that my outside interests have rounded out my background, adding breadth and depth to differentiate me from others with similar careers and to provide me with empathy and compassion.

What are your plans for the future?
I look forward to growing our business to a point where we have a large following and are making a steady income stream from affiliate marketing, eBook and Audiobook sales, and hosted web-based training sessions. We also hope to expand into speaking engagements, TED Talks, etc. to build our brand. Just like this publication, we hope to secure more interviews and expand our reach.

The biggest change will be slowing down the effort spent growing the business and potentially hiring an intern or student to keep developing our social media content and/or better automating the process so that we can spend less time on media and more on coaching and training.

I look forward to taking some time off. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with Voyage LA!

Contact Info:

• Website: riffonjobs.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riffonjobs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091079102148
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/riffonjobs
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiffonJobs
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RiffOnJobs
• Other: linktr.ee/riffonjobs

Image Credits
The photo entitled “Passion Led Us Here” is a photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@goian. The other photos are screenshots from our own created videos and/or Instagram video posts.