July's Mompreneur of the Month is Carrie C., the founder of a self-defense preparation and training business called Beating Disaster. Carrie teaches people how to be safer by providing tools participants are willing to use. Beating Disaster is the evolution of Carrie's training and teaching in the area of self-defense – and the evolution of her journey as a parent.
Carrie's own experience in self-defense began with training in martial arts around the age of 13, with Carrie earning her black belt by age 15. Carrie began teaching self-defense in 2010, and kept it up as something to do for fun. Originally, she focused on teaching adults, but it was the birth of her daughter that spurred her to expand her teaching to include safety training for children. She explains, “I’ve been teaching martial arts and empowering all that cared to listen to me since I got my black [belt]. But after my daughter is when I started teaching children’s safety. I wanted to arm my daughter against sexual abuse, bullying and human trafficking, and she is excessively social and friendly with everyone, even strangers, – and more often than not there is nothing unsafe about that. In the library I found a plethora of information for children that was flat out unsafe, and it concerned me that there were moms out there that didn’t know the difference. Children deserve to be empowered to set boundaries and take responsibility for their safety, too. And so Beating Disaster offers age appropriate training for just that.”
Her daughter also motivated Carrie to take the teaching she had been doing and turn it into a full-fledged business with a focus on its mission – to empower others to take responsibility for their safety through avoidance and setting boundaries (even if it's inconvenient or unpopular) – and a focus on bringing in an income for her family. “I was already teaching because it has always been my passion,” Carrie says. “I just put a name on it and started marketing because I needed to find a way to pay my bills while being available for my special needs child.”
Beating Disaster offers incentives to that participants can repeat their training for free as necessary. “We are only as good as our training,” Carrie explains. Beating Disaster offers public classes at Renaissance Unity in Warren and Detroit Arms in New Baltimore, and private training in a variety of settings, including: real estate offices, courthouses, dance studios, gyms, private homes, salons, schools, etc.
To learn more about Beating Disaster and how to get training or bring the training to you, visit this link.
About the Macaroni Kid Ferndale-Royal Oak Mompreneur of the Month Series: We created this series to showcase and highlight local mom-entrepreneurs each month. We want to honor the dedication and passion that other moms like us bring to their families, businesses and communities.
