Julie Blumberg, Founder of Houston School Options
Name: Julie Blumberg
Founder: Houston School Options
Who is Julie Blumberg?
I was an elementary classroom educator for 7 years and then left to begin tutoring full-time. While tutoring students, I realized for some kids their families were pouring hours upon hours and dollars upon dollars to help keep their kids heads above water and that maybe it wasn’t the student, but instead the match of their school for them. So we started looking for the RIGHT school for those kids. That’s when I came across Dee Dee — she was helping families who were relocating from overseas understand and navigate our school system. We merged forces and have them thriving together ever since!
In less than three sentences tell us about your company and what you do.
Don’t be fooled by the Houston in our name— while we are based in Houston, and know the schools in our city like the back of our hand, we are educational consultants who help find schools ANYWHERE. We are passionate about spreading the word about the importance of students being in the RIGHT school for them. We refer to ourselves as education matchmakers and we love when we find students and their families a perfect match!
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
It’s showing my children what working hard looks like. It’s waking up in the morning and being excited to do work because you love what you’re doing and it doesn’t feel like work. It’s learning how to go from teacher to business woman, even when it feels quite uncomfortable. And most importantly it means pride and joy for what I’ve helped build.
How do you support other female founders and women in business?
In my personal life, I’m a great shopper and love support new products, especially female made ones ;) — but in the business world, we love highlighting women owned educational services that can help students. We love connecting our families to female entrepreneurs who are all in the business of helping kids succeed!
What are three strategies you use to market your business, grow brand awareness and generate bottom line growth?
1) Sharing schools and tours with families, which the schools then share and helps bring awareness to us
2) Posting in mom/parenting Facebook groups
3) Connecting with therapists, education professionals, realtors, business professionals, etc to make them aware of our services so they can help spread the word!
What was an obstacle you overcame to get your business where it is today? Please share the story behind it.
The obstacle I am still overcoming is being a businesswoman. I’m an educator by nature and by trade— putting our business out there and being a “sales” woman is uncomfortable at times. Using my brain to think about customer acquisition, marketing, finances and all of those things is definitely something I have had to learn and work hard for.
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