Brave People

[00:00:00] God had told me, you’re going to be a shepherd to this flock, you know, this small, humble flock. And I’m at odds with that because I’m thinking, yeah, but why am I letting them go?

My name is Gabe Lopez, and I’m the founder and CEO of Brave People. We strategize, we plan, we design, and we build websites and applications, essentially. The first three years of the company were comprised of really fast growth and very little thinking ahead.

2018 comes. I started to come to these realizations about the business that we’re at odds with the [00:01:00] current outlook and makeup of the business. You know, for where we’re going, we might need to let some people go. We might need to cut down some of our services. We might need to, um, start working with different clients.

I look back on those conversations and decisions I had to make and, and I know I didn’t, I didn’t do it perfectly, you know, and, um, but I was trying to be true to the vision that I felt God had for my life. A few months after we had downsized, you know, pretty considerably, and now there’s maybe three people left on the team.

So while this is all going on, I’m reminded. of that calling that I felt. I remember my wife just telling me and confirming like, you know, I just feel like God is telling us that this place is meant to be a blessing and not a burden. So I just started asking him like, you know, what did you mean by By blessing.[00:02:00]

We started to really lean into this contractor model. And so we were working with a couple of different local folks, you know, here and there. Designers, developers, photographers, videographers. And all of them needed workspace. I talked to a few of them and I’m like, hey, this is weird, but do you want to be professional roomies?

You know, do you want to kind of pay for some space and, you know, I’ll give you a great deal. And so slowly but surely the building starts to come alive again. We had an awesome little community of creatives. I mean, we were doing, you know, holiday parties together. Like it was really special and really organic.

And that’s really what it was, man. It was just a house for creatives to, uh, to feel at home. You know, Brave House has, has introduced me to a ton of amazing young people that are doing very similar things to what I’ve done. And it’s been super fulfilling to come alongside [00:03:00] them and coach them. And you know, after we’re done talking business.

You know, just really asking the, the questions of life, like, you know, why are you doing this, man? Finally finding someone to shoot me in the right direction rather than struggle, you know, giving me X’s and O’s in business, but also giving me, like, spiritual guidance. Yeah, I mean, it’s invaluable. I think it’s truly an environment, um, that makes people feel courageous, makes people feel like they can You know, do what they’re dreaming of doing.

So it’s really, you know, kind of come full circle in terms of what I have identified as, you know, one of my callings is really, like, loving people. He always says that his passion is to help people, you know, make their dreams come true. And, uh, I think that’s an awesome, that’s an awesome gift. Sorry.