By Laura M. Thieme
# Surviving Displacement
By Laura M. Thieme
I have owned Business Research International, Inc., dba Bizresearch, since 1997. After losing my job as a market research analyst from American Electric Power (AEP) on June 4, 1997, I developed market research services, website development services, e-commerce marketing services, search engine optimization (SEO) and website analytics services. To get through the first 2-3 years, I walked dogs, worked at a restaurant, and taught Saturday computer classes for approximately $15 an hour.
Then I landed my first major SEO contract. Abbott Labs. I was asked to get their website ranked for “infant formula”, “baby formula”, every major brand name, product name, and other keyword description type phrases “protein drinks”. I was prepaid $50,000 for one year of service. I worked on ten brand websites for one year. Then, I learned how much the paid search marketing agency was earning. I thought, we are definitely not charging enough for our services.
By 2001, Bizresearch was helping small businesses and major brands improve search visibility, e-commerce, and website measurement. I bought a home in 2002, filed for a business-process patent in 2003, and later taught marketing at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. My daughter was born in 2008. Life was fulfilling and purpose-driven from the moment I planned my pregnancy, to the moment of delivery. I’ve never done anything better in my entire life than create children.
In 2010, I developed SMI Analytics, a software-as-a-service company.
I knew my work helped people. I could pay my bills and support my family.
Motherhood gave that work an even greater purpose. It seemed that I was no longer meant to have office space. I moved out of office space in Worthington Ohio in 2014. I began to consider moving the business and my family to California. I held an executive retreat at Balboa Bay Resort in 2014. My daughter and I learned more about life in Orange County, CA. And we planned the move for 2015.
My daughter and I moved from Columbus, Ohio, to Irvine, California, in 2015. We built a life involving Girl Scouts, ballet, softball, school, work, pets, friends, and family.
Elementary school. Middle school. Highschool. Ballet. Girl Scouts. Softball. Travel ball. Cello. Consulting. Work for a public company between 2020-2024.
Then a series of crises began occurring after I took on the job at Monster Energy.
In 2021, a softball coach on our team died. Soon afterward, my mom fell and fractured her neck. My daughter and I traveled to Savannah to help. My mom sustained three serious injuries involving broken or fractured bones between April 2021 and October 2022. She died November 23, 2022.
I then moved into caregiver mode for my father. He died in 2024. One day after visiting him while he was dying in Tallahassee, Florida, I lost my full-time job.
What I did not understand then was how quickly overlapping crises could create displacement.
So much more has happened since 2024, but what it made me realize is that perhaps something else had happened long before then. Doubt is the devil at work. Unfortunately, some may do this intentionally to someone else in order to get at their finances, assets, and the most important part of your life: your family.
Displacement is more than losing housing. It can mean being removed from what you know, what you love, and perhaps even whom you love. Family crisis, medical emergencies, loss of income, court proceedings, and geographic separation can overlap until a person can no longer afford rent, a mortgage, transportation, or basic bills.
You may be only a series of crises away from displacement.
I am now writing about surviving displacement, the psychology of displacement, and the products and services people desperately need. I also want to explore how artificial intelligence, businesses, churches, community organizations, and government agencies can help people document crises, locate resources, and rebuild.
If you see someone walking along a highway in extreme heat, help.
If you are a beverage company with distribution networks across this country, consider how those networks might also support emergency humanitarian assistance.
Send water. Send healthy food. Help people find safe shelter. Provide financial assistance through responsible programs.
Help. Do not hinder. Click on the links under Surviving Displacement. We’re not a 501c3, but purchase a minimum donation amount of $25 to go towards a mom, a teen, a young adult surviving displacement because of court cases and related family crises. Don’t assume it’s because someone is an addict. While that may be the challenge for some, it is NOT necessarily the norm.
You never know whether the next displaced person will be you, your mom, your father, your child, or someone you love.
Survive. Help others survive. Then help one another thrive.
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