Liz Shepherd, Kidault

The latest Building Black Business podcast episode features Liz Sheperd founder of Kidault, your trusted partner for family transportation. Kidault ensures a safe and comfortable journey with certified drivers and convertible car seats. In Partnership with @DriveToyota

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi everyone. My name is DavidMontague and I am from iHeartRadio, New
York City. I'm the host ofthe Building Black Viz podcast. Today we
are here with Liz Shepherd from kidat All. Kidd all. Excuse me,
Liz, Thank you so much forjoining us today. Thank you so
much for having me. David,So I want to congratulate you first off

(00:22):
for being our quarter one Building BlackBusiness winner. Tell us about kdd all
and how it got started. Justgive us a little bit about you and
then you can jump into kidd all. Oh, okay, well, a
little bit about me. My nameis Liz Shepherd and I'm the owner,
the CEO of Adults. My backgroundis in finance and I actually got laid

(00:45):
off of my job in twenty sixteenand started Adult prior to that. Prior
to getting laid off my job,laid off of my job in December,
I had already had it in mymind that I wanted to start this business.
It was kiss me. And howdid I get started with Adult?
It came out of Adult originated froma personal need. My partner and I

(01:07):
struggled to find safe and reliable transportationfor our children when they started school and
bussing was only available to children withi EPs or disabilities, unlike when I
was a child. Absolutely, Sohow did I get started with you know,
you and your partner saying hey,this is the need we deal with.
How did that come about from youdeciding that we need to do this

(01:30):
to the plan coming into action.So, as I said, it was
very hard to find safe and reliabletransportation for the boys. But I was
lucky that my brother was not workingat the time and he was able to
do it. But the seed wasplanted. So I started looking into what
if there were any services that providedthis and how could I go about doing

(01:55):
this? And I saw Uber andLyft and I was like, Okay,
well maybe I'll drive for Uber andLyft to learn about the driver side of
things. As I said before,I got laid off in December, and
I applied to drive for Uber andLyft in December, and by March twenty
seventeen, I was driving for Uberand Lyft and then by what is it

(02:16):
June? I was I dispatched foranother company so I can learn, you
know, the business side of thebusiness, how to dispatch, what goes
into starting a base, which iswhat you have to be in New York
City to provide rights. It's abase, and so it went from there.
I learned that and then by byAugust I started getting my own clientele.

(02:40):
And that was all she wrote.That was it. So tell us
about adult from start to finish,right, like, if I have a
child that needs to go to school, whatever, what is the initial thoughts
of Okay, no, I can'tI don't want to use Uber, I
don't want to use the bus,I don't want to use Lyft, I
don't want to use this away.Walk me through it from start to finish.

(03:02):
Okay, So you just download theapp on either the iOS or Android
marketplace. You sign up, youcreate an account just for like Uber and
Lyft, and you order a ride. So if you want to recur and
ride weekly, you can do thatthrough the app as well. And we
also, unlike Uber and Lyft,offer phone service, so if any questions
or concerns, you can email usat info atcadult dot com or call or

(03:27):
text us at three four seven threeeight zero six two sixty six and someone
will respond immediately. Correct. Oh, that's great, that's great. Now,
how do I like if I wantedto become a driver, or I
notice, hey, Uber Lyft they'renot paying me as much, or you
know, whatever the case may be. How would I become a driver?
Well, it's funny that you sayUber and Lyft don't pay as much because

(03:50):
adults our prices. We pay driversabout double what Uber at lyft would pay.
But yeah, so we try totreat our drivers correctly because our our
representatives. So to become a adultdriver, you must have a valid New
York City TLC driver's license and vehicle. You can start by emailing info atcadult

(04:13):
dot com. We'll get you startedand our drivers app Then once you complete
our background and DMB check, we'llemail you the schedule for our next training
session. In training, you'll learneverything from installing a car seat to providing
exceptional hospitality and once you're Once you'refinished training on our process, you can
be approved to begin driving for adultHow long do the training sessions usually last?

(04:38):
The training sessions usually last about sixhours. It's learning about the car
seat, teaching you how to installit correctly. You watch a couple of
videos about car seat safety, andthen we teach you how to install it
correctly, and then you leave,and then you come back another day to
be tested on this installation. Andthen we also try you know, hospitality,

(05:00):
how to greet clients, so onand so forth. So it's not
just like other apps like hey,I need to watch this video. You're
going to get two to three standardwhatever easy questions and then that's it.
You you take the time, yougo through everything correct, we go.
It's very hands on. We meetyou, we see your personality. It's

(05:20):
we, like I said, takeyou through the training. Then you come
back. Because of course anybody cando a car seat right after you've listed,
but we want to make sure it'ssunk in, so that's why we
wait a day or two after andthen you come back and see and then
we test you on the various installationsof the car seat. So and do

(05:42):
you only provide rights for children,No, we don't. We have expanded
our services. We offer sprinter bustransportation. We if you are an adult
and you want to use our service, you can. We also were recipient
into two contracts from the from NewYork City, so that's good. And

(06:02):
we are trying to actually get intocorporate transportation now. So for if iHeart
wants you know a company, youcan always absolutely absolutely. That's sorry to
know. So everything worked out,started, this got everything up and running.
What were your backup plans if thisdidn't happen? Did you have a

(06:25):
backup plan? But did that evercross your mind? Like, what were
you thinking about? There was nobackup plan. Well, it's working and
we have faith that it will continueto work. This service has a significant
need, so we even expanded toinclude special needs transportation, and remarkably,

(06:46):
remarkably, we haven't invested in paidmarketing. All of our growth has been
driven by word of mouth within ourcommunity, and this organic support underscores the
necessity and value of our service.Absolutely. Oh, I love that.
I loved not having like a backupplan and putting going ahead first into what
your your your plans are and justbelieving in it. That's great. That's

(07:08):
such a great mindset to have.Thank you. And just a little tidbit
during COVID, while most of ourcompetitors were shuddering, we actually switched our
ride sharing to do nanny transportation.So we pivoted and that that held us
up until the city opened up again, opened back up again. That's great.

(07:29):
So it wasn't so much the kidswe were working on you were working
on the people watching the kids,correct, because parents, even though they
were home, those that weren't firstresponders, they still had to get their
children watched so they can work.So absolutely, absolutely. Now, what
can you say to our I'm sorry, going back a little bit, what
advice did you follow when you firststarted. I'm sure there was a lot

(07:51):
of doubt in your mind and youknow a lot of uncertain areas and the
whole world that you didn't know ofthat you were being into. What advice
helped you. One early piece ofadvice I received from a mentor was to
join all the mommy groups on Facebookto spread the word about Condult. Until
today, I still receive referrals frompromoting my business in those groups. Absolutely,

(08:18):
just realizing, you know, butthat's that's where you can't hands on,
and that's where you learned about what'shappening right in your community. The
Facebook groups and dealing with the momsand talking to everybody. Oh, that's
such a great idea. I wouldn'tI never have thought about that. That
was very That was very beneficial.What can you say to other small business

(08:39):
owners or people that are looking totake their business to the next level?
What would you What would you sayto them? To other small business owner
owners, I'd say be organized andconsistent and follow your passion. There are
lots of resources in New York,such as score that can provide valuable assistance
for your businesses. Remember you arenot alone. Find your community and thrive.

(09:05):
I know that's right. This isso You're so positive and just seeing
very upbeat, and you could tellthat you really love what you're doing.
This is so so great. Mylast question before you wrap up is,
obviously we are at iHeart Radio andvery big about music here. If you
had your own iHeart Radio station layson our app, what artists and songs

(09:28):
which you play? Does it haveto be, you know, in inappropriate
in the year you have them inthe back of the car? What would
you what'd you be thinking about?So, David, I am a Soca
junkie, so it would be allSoca music. My favorite song is far
from Finish by Voice, It's itwould be Kess Bungee, Garland, Patrece

(09:48):
Roberts, Michelle Montano, Ricardo Drew, all of those artists that can really
pump you up, absolutely get mein the mood. I want to go
now. Liz, thank you somuch for talking to us. How can
people connect with you? I knowyou mentioned it a couple of times throughout
the interview, but how can peoplefind you? People can find condult at

(10:11):
www dot KI, D A UL T dot com. You can email
us at info atcadult dot com,and you can also call or text us
at three four seven three eight zerosix two six six. Thank you so

(10:33):
much, Liz. I hope youhave an amazing rest of your week,
and thank you for joining the timeto talk to me today and want your
congratulations on being our Building Black BusinessWinner for quarter one. If you have
a black business and you would liketo nominate yourself, please head to our
website at radio dot com to enter. You could also go to Power one

(10:56):
O five dot one FM dot com, put your business info in submit and
if you're lucky, we will becontacting you shortly. Thank you everyone,
have a great rest of your week. Thank you David, Bye bye bye