My name is Ginger Schmidt and besides my new company Brigade Jobs, I also own a custom motorcycle paint shop.  I’m also a welder and previously worked various skilled trades jobs in the construction and auto body industries.

I created Brigade Jobs as a business owner who was frustrated with trying to find skilled employees.  As a small shop that works on a variety of different projects, I’m often in need of people with different skills at different times.  I know from working various skilled trades jobs that many employees are often looking to pick up extra hours or sometimes can’t work a regular job due to family care etc. and so work odd jobs here and there when they can.  My problem was I didn’t know how to find them, so I decided to create a platform where everyone could connect.

This is only the beginning of many other projects I have for the future.  Working in the skilled trades industry, mainly through social media, I have met thousands of other business owners with the same problem.  An even bigger problem is that it is getting harder and harder to find skilled trades workers due to lack of exposure to young people, (it’s rare to find any shop classes in high schools these days…)  After my son was accepted into a 4 year high school that focuses on art (music, acting, dancing etc)  I thought, why don’t they have those for skilled trades?  I for one didn’t fit in at regular high schools, and sitting in a classroom listening to people talk was very difficult for me due to an ever wandering brain.  I would have flourished in a hands on education, and as someone who grew up in poverty and didn’t have family to help me through college, I would have finished high school with skills to get a good job, which would have drastically changed my life as a young adult. I couldn’t begin to explain the hardships I went through to get to where I am now.  With future profits from Brigade Jobs, I plan on working towards trades schools for high school students.

I have already invested my own money into building Brigade Jobs. The app is complete and has been launched, and has also gained some users.  What I didn’t anticipate is how expensive marketing can be, and I’ve run into a problem with trying to keep my paint shop running  so I can pay my personal bills and cover marketing costs, and then not having time to go out and canvass Brigade Jobs.

I would like to raise $100,000 as a start to get Brigade off the ground.  It would cover some of my personal bills, giving me the time to go out and introduce Brigade to companies in person, as well as visit trades schools and job fairs to get job seekers on board.  It would also help vamp up the current radio ads I have running, as well as pay for other forms of advertising, such as social media ads. Most importantly, I would use it to hire some help.  Brigade is currently only available in the San Francisco/Bay Area, so for now it’s only local advertising. 

Like I mentioned earlier,  I have met many people around the world that face the same hiring problem as I do, and everyone I have pitched Brigade to has been excited about the concept, so once it gains momentum in the Bay Area, there is a definite plan for expansion.

I know there are always risks in investing money and starting a new business.  I did a huge amount of research and pitched my idea to everyone I knew in and out of the trades industry before I invested any of my own money.  I feel like most start-ups that fail are due to lack of ambition, people give up too easily or get distracted by other projects.  It is not in my nature to give up, when I set my mind to do something, I do it.  I started my custom paint shop from nothing, painting in friends back yards and sometimes even my own living room with everything covered in plastic when I didn’t have shop space.  It is now a well known shop not only in the Bay Area, but people ship parts from around the country to get painted by me.  I don’t plan on giving up on Brigade ever, and it is starting to gain momentum, I just need help to gain more exposure.  I actually recently hired someone for my paint shop through the Brigade Jobs app and the experience was fabulous for both me and the person I hired, and I need help spreading the word.

That being said, ANY help, not just monetary help, is HUGELY appreciated.  I have my shop workers, but for Brigade I am only one person…..