Meet Melissa Hartley of Grand Rapids

 

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Hartley

Hi Melissa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello I am Melissa Hartley I am a single mother of four children who grew up in South Haven, Michigan and graduated from South Haven High school in 1999 and fell in love with Education of young children and I went to school for Early Childhood Education and fell in love working with young children. My first teaching job started in Benton Harbor, Mi working for Tri County Head Start. Where I had to attend a training in Washington, DC where I fell in love with traveling and flying. I worked for Tri County Early Headstart and then wanted more in life and for my children. So I moved us to Grand Rapids, Michigan where i worked as an Early Childhood Education Professional and started my own travel business to help single mothers travel and let them know they can do it on their own. I started traveling with my own kids when my oldest was 6 and the rest was 4, 2, 1 and now they are 24, 22, 20 and 19 and travel on their own. We have been traveling all their life taking 1 to 3 trips a year and I help mothers take trips as well with their children to create memories. Travel is a booming business and if I can help create memories and new experiences for single mothers I feel like I have done my job and more. I love seeing the world just this year my kids and I went to Minnesota to visit Mall of America taking a road trip and I just got back from Las Vegas for the fourth time.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No it has not been a smooth heck no there will always be bumps in the road and road blocks. Some of the struggles I have encountered is people will think you are better than them because you rather give your children memories and experiences traveling over buying them things. Also people think you have an endless supply of money, which is not true they don’t know I work two jobs and a lot of overtime to provide great memories for my children. Struggles also include learning about starting your own business and people not supporting you.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My two favorite passions are Early Childhood Education and Travel. I am a preschool Teacher during the day and have been doing it for 14 years in the field of Early Education and I do travel on the side. I love both very much. Traveling allows you to open up and go explore the world and see things from other’s peoples perspective. I also enjoy helping single mothers plan a trip for the first time to create memories for the first time. I will develop great relationships with the families I serve and let them know I also do travel on the side to get them out of their home state. I am most proud of the experiences my clients come back and tell me that they have had traveling and feel confident in traveling as a single mother. That brings me great joy that families take advantage of the events and traveling that I provide to them. To be able to combine my love of education with travel goes hand in hand kids are learning and mom is making memories with her children which brings the family closer together.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I am a risk taker in different ways. One way I am a risk taker is I like to think outside the box and be different or unique and not like the rest. I took a risk on myself and started my own travel business not knowing if it will be successful or not its slowly getting there in due time. My views on risk taking is its needed if you don’t take the risk you will never know what could be and its okay to take a risk. I always say if you don’t take risks in life you aren’t living. Risks are apart of life and are needed in personal and business life. Also taking risks for me is part of who I am I take risks in leaving jobs that don’t fit my kids schedule when they were younger so I didn’t miss anything they did in school. I have struggled with fiances just to make sure my kids know I’ll always be there for them I’ve lost good jobs but my faith has seen me through.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Melissa Hartley