By Laura M. Thieme
I’ve owned Business Research International, Inc. dba Bizresearch since 1997. I created it thanks to an opportunity but didn’t do anything with it until I lost my job from American Electric Power (AEP) in June of 1997. So much happened between 1997 and 2007 that was positive. Numerous employees, interns, subcontractors or vendors, and industry colleagues and numerous industries resulted from thousands of hours of work, passion, kindness, compassion and interest in helping others. Most of our clients in those years were small to medium sized companies, until we landed Pier 1 Imports. Then we began to work with mid-to-larger companies for SEO, or search engine optimization, search engine marketing (SEM), paid search marketing or cost per click advertising (CPC), website analytics and much more. I developed a syllabus for The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, pitched it to the Interim Dean, and taught that class in the spring quarters of 2007 and 2008. I travelled to Antarctica in December of 2007, by way of Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, and back to Columbus, Ohio.
My daughter and I began an incredible journey in 2008. Her twin spirit has joined the journey in numerous ways seen and unseen. So much to say that is positive on every level of motherhood. The greatest purpose of life for a woman is becoming a mom, and being a mom every day.
When a woman chooses to run a business, it’s because she sees an opportunity that others do not yet see. By having a business, I was able to support my daughter and I, and many other individuals and their families. I knew of my value, to an extent. I felt like I had purpose in everything I did, every single day. I knew my compass was pointing me in the right direction, every single day. I developed SMI Analytics, in 2010, a SaaS company, to provide for my daughter and In the years ahead. I partnered with someone I cared about, trusted, and respected. I asked advisors to join me to get funded. I did get that funding, but had to walk away from it because of what they asked me to do, at the last minute. I also wanted to hire a female CTO. I wondered if some denied the ability for her to run it, because she was female and also happened to be Indian. Perhaps bias played a role. Only those individuals truly know why they added a clause to block success at the last minute. I still have that plan for Bizwatch in my papers.
My daughter and I moved from Columbus, Ohio to Irvine, CA in 2015. We visited family before we moved, then in June of 2015, we began to move cross-country with Lucky, our dog, and our two cats, Monroe and Kitten. Looking back on pictures, and memories, I observed a happy daughter exploring the landscapes of United States of America (USA). We began our California life and immediately started with Girl Scouts in Orange County, started ballet, and started softball in the spring of 2016 with Irvine Girls Softball.
In 2021, one year into the pandemic, something began to change dramatically. A softball coach died in a Tesla, in Irvine. I had known him for a few weeks. He was helping to coach our softball practices along with other coaches. My daughter was pitching. Her softball BFF was catching. We were in the process of buying our home in Orange County. I felt the sense of tragic loss, meanwhile we tried to keep going on every level. I was working at Monster Energy as Director of Analytics since February 24, 2020.
Then, in April of 2021, my mom fell. She had a fractured neck. My daughter and I immediately went to Savannah to try to help in whatever ways needed. It was the first time we had seen each other in approximately two years, perhaps slightly longer. I haven’t checked all the records. But, during that time in Savannah, I observed a very different and difficult situation that I had never dealt with prior to then. My mom really needed help. The biggest regret after your parents have passed away, are wishing you had done more to support them, help them in every way possible, in person, in proximity. I feel that way frequently, now that both have died. Regrets are in fact massive.
What I didn’t realize then, is that something else was taking place in our family. I managed the surface crisis, not yet aware of everything that was really happening since perhaps 2008. I didn’t see it then. I really didn’t see it until November of 2024 and then had no way to interpret it, because I was just managing one crisis after another. My mom died November 23, 2022. She had sustained three serious injuries, with broken or fractured bones, between April of 2021 and October of 2022. Investigations are open at federal, state and city levels. I asked the FBI to investigate it on January 1, 2025. I have yet to have one FBI person communicate with me, about that request placed online. I filed with the Tallahassee Police, but that wasn’t easy either. I had to travel there in person, provide at least one set of medical records, before I could get them to even take a police report. I was shocked that it was so difficult to even report the possibility of a crime taking place. I had tried previously to file a police report, but it was actually rejected until I had medical records. Getting medical records, despite being my mom’s daughter, and even Medical POA, was not easy. It was overly difficult and a concerning trend. There was another crisis taking place, but I didn’t know it at the time. I managed family requirements, work requirements, sports requirements, lessons, and fitness requirements.
After mom died, then I went into caregiver mode for my father. As we approach Father’s Day, there are a lot of responsibilities that go into all that happened. My dad had helped us for years. Anyone who has gone through helping their parents at various ages, works with several conflicting needs at the same time. As a society, we need to do more to encourage families to support one another as they age, especially if the family experiences some form of crisis.
There are some aspects of that family crisis that I can’t discuss YET here, but know this, in the event, you are related to me, and are reading this at some point in the present or near future, or whenever. Know that I’m trying on every single level, to address what I’ve learned, observed, and realized in the past two years.
It is June 19, 2026. I’m in the middle of what I’ve realized has become such a massive extended family crisis, that is so incredibly devastating at times, I do not know where to turn on a daily basis, or for that matter, sometimes on an hourly basis. I’ve seen people I trusted turn into a personality I no longer recognize. I’m trying to survive it, pray through it, and look for the helpers as we all try to get through it.
What I’ve realized through this process is that asking for help or asking for prayer gets you through the day and night, but it does not replace actions needed by many to change what’s happening, or to change the trajectory.
But, as a business owner who needs income to support her family, as well as anyone I care about, or do business with, there are in fact products and services that result from family crisis, that ends up causing displacement for multiple individuals including family and myself.
The question is how many times has that displacement occurred? What technologies and agendas were utilized by some to displace us, with intentions?
There are numerous products and services needed to help a person survive displacement. I choose that word instead of another word, because displacement means that you are removed from what you know, what you love, perhaps even whom you love, and are moved to another location, due to someone else’s decisions made, and perhaps a few of your own decisions.
Displacement is life-altering. The prayer is that we survive it. Then move to thrive, somehow, someway, God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, St. Francis, and all other saints, including a St. Michael, St. Anthony, and a few others.
What people don’t realize is that displacement can happen to you too. You are a series of crises away from displacement. It takes one environmental situation, or family crisis, or loss of full-time income, to realize that you’re in th middle of a sustained crisis or series of crises that you no longer can afford your mortgage, rent, or other bills. That doesn’t mean an algorithm should just begin to cancel your life, or your family’s life, although there are signs of such. A colleague referenced cancel culture. There is a book on this topic, perhaps many books on that topic. However, every day, we have to try to demonstrate that we’re at least trying to survive it. And when we’re not sure we can survive something, the helpers better step up, and take actions, to help the person and or persons going through that crisis.
I’m going to write about surviving displacement, products and services desperately needed, and how AI, can help, as well as individuals, churches, community organizations, and governmental organizations can assist.
As A trained SEO professional since 1997, I’d like to think that this blog article shows up in search engines on the following words: displacement, and displacement psychology.
But more importantly, is surviving displacement.
If you see someone walking along the highway, and you work for a beverage company, send the helpers: Get that person water and something to eat. Companies and governmental organizations organizations need to do more to help displaced individuals, families, children, teenagers, and ensure that they’re not taking advantage of that person in any way as I’ve observed in the past two years since losing my FT job from Monster Energy on April 29, 2024, one day after seeing my dying father in Tallahassee Florida.
I call out to ANY beverage company, send the trucks, cars, to offer assistance along Route 66, Route 15, Routes throughout this country and overseas, offer people water, shelter, and financial assistance.
Help. Do not hinder. You never know if it’s you, your mom, your father, your child, who has been displaced due to what’s happening in this country, as of the past two years. Perhaps much longer, only I didn’t see it then. Having driven the country, multiple times since 2015, and 2022, I’ve seen a very serious situation developing that requires you and I to help. Even me, who is displaced.
Send water. Send financial assistance. Send healthy food. Survive, help others, because it could be you next.
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