Cut The Tie | Success on Your Terms
1st - Define your success on your terms.
2nd - "Cut The Tie" to whatever is keeping you from that success
Cut The Tie is not just a podcast; it's a movement. Hosted by Thomas Helfrich, this highly impactful show features short-form interviews with remarkable individuals who share how they redefined success by boldly cutting ties with fear, doubt, bad habits, toxic environments, and limiting beliefs. You'll hear exactly what they cut, how they did it, what it felt like, and how their lives — and the lives of those around them — changed forever.
Each episode is inspirational, motivational, and — most importantly — actionable. You'll gain real strategies and mindset shifts you can immediately apply to your own life and career.
Plus, every day, Thomas drops solo short-form episodes designed to fire you up, challenge your thinking, and remind you that the only thing standing between you and your potential... is the tie you need to cut.
Join our free community at facebook.com/groups/cutthetie to connect with others on the same journey, and subscribe to our growing YouTube channel with over 1 million subscribers at youtube.com/@cutthetie.
Own your success.
Cut the tie.
Change your life.
Cut The Tie | Success on Your Terms
“I Didn’t Want a Promotion—I Wanted My Life Back” — How Christine Sugrue Reclaimed Her Time and Redefined Success
Cut The Tie Podcast with Thomas Helfrich
Episode 279
Christine Sugrue spent 25 years in education as a Brooklyn middle school teacher—but a simple scooter ride changed everything. In this episode of Cut The Tie, host Thomas Helfrich sits down with Christine to talk about the leap from classroom to founder, the mindset shift from “just a teacher” to entrepreneur, and why you don’t need to wait for permission to start.
Christine shares how her small business idea, sparked by a friend’s family trip, evolved into Scoot, a micro scooter rental service helping kids explore NYC like locals. From burnout to bold moves, Christine reveals the power of trusting yourself even when it feels scary—and how AI gave her the early momentum to launch.
About Christine Sugrue:
Christine is the founder of Scoot, a micro scooter rental company for kids visiting New York City. With a background in education and a deep understanding of what brings kids joy, she combined her experience and entrepreneurial spirit to help families have more fun, less fatigue, and truly memorable NYC adventures. Christine is also a passionate advocate for late bloomers, reinvention, and saying yes before you’re ready.
In this episode, Thomas and Christine discuss:
- Leaving the classroom:
Burnout from 25 years in education led Christine to reimagine her purpose—for herself and her family. - The accidental business idea:
A casual favor for a friend’s kid sparked Scoot, a unique scooter rental concept with real market demand. - How AI helped her start:
Tools like ChatGPT and Canva gave her the momentum to move from “what if” to “why not.” - The identity crisis of reinvention:
Letting go of being “just a teacher” took emotional work—but unlocked personal and professional growth. - Why starting scrappy works:
Christine didn’t wait for perfection—she took action, pitched boldly, and built as she went.
Key Takeaways:
- Your identity isn’t your job title
You’re not limited to what’s printed on a contract. Reinvention starts when you give yourself permission. - Sometimes a great idea just needs space to breathe
A moment of inspiration—paired with action—can turn into something far bigger than you imagined. - You don’t need permission to try something new
Waiting for the “right” moment is just fear in disguise. Start before you feel ready. - Burnout is often a signal—not a failure
When you feel drained, it’s time to realign—not double down. - Validation often comes from strangers, not friends
The proof that your idea is real often shows up in the people who don’t know you—but still say yes. - Starting ugly is better than never starting
You can refine it later. Take the first step now.
Connect with Christine Sugrue:
🛴 Website: https://www.skootbk.com/
📸 Instagram: @skootbk
💼 LinkedIn: Christine Sugrue
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: @thelfrich
📘 Facebook: Cut The Tie Group
💼 LinkedIn: Thomas Helfrich
🌐 Website: cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
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Welcome to the Cut the Tie podcast. I'm your host, thomas Helfrich. We're going to help you cut a tie today, something holding you back so you can unleash the best version of yourself and, if you're an entrepreneur, the best entrepreneur you can be. Today, I'm joined by Christine Chagrou. And Christine, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm very good. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm delicious. Thank you for asking. Just returned from a week of camping, so I don't know what up or down is or what technology is supposed to do, but we'll get through this together.
Speaker 2:It's going to be great. Christine, do you want to take a moment introduce yourself? So my name is Christine Chagrou. I recently founded Scoot, a micro scooter rental company aimed for kids.
Speaker 1:I've done this after 25 years as a public school middle school teacher, so professionally I had a very safe career until now, where I feel like I've sort of jumped off the edge into the unknown. It isn't the edge in the unknown, probably less administrative bullshit, but you're a different kind of BS.
Speaker 2:You know one where I'm in charge of the decisions that get executed. We're working in public service, so much of things that I'm asked to do aren't necessarily the things that I think should be happening, so that was one of the one of the things really motivating me is I wanted to be the master of my own destiny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's well. That's. That's one of the biggest draws of entrepreneurship. There's a there's a lot of things that get challenging with it. Talk about your companies a little bit about what it does and why people you know should, should pick the, the scootering ideas that you have with the world.
Speaker 2:Well, I live in downtown Brooklyn. I live right next to the Brooklyn Bridge. So for the past 20 years, pretty much every time I step out of my apartment, I'm giving somebody directions to local landmarks, whether it's the best ice cream place, the best pizza place or simply how to get on the walkway to the Brooklyn Bridge. So, as a resident in a really touristy area, I've always had this sort of inkling that what do people need who come here? And when families come and we see them walking over the Brooklyn Bridge every day from our window you see kids being dragged by their parents, like often literally dragged hands pulling. And kids are here in New York City having what should be this awesome experience to travel to New York, and they don't always look very happy to be doing it.
Speaker 2:You know New York is a walking city. Look very happy to be doing it. You know New York is a walking city and people are coming from all over and not most places don't have that level of walking that New York does. So After a friend came to visit, I actually said what. What's missing for all of these families that are visiting is a way for their kids to get around and enjoy getting around. And what I realized is that's actually how New York kids get around, and if you walk through New York City, if you see a New York family going someplace, chances are their kid is on the scooter, whether they're scooting to school, scooting to soccer practice, and it's how my kids got around. So I feel like when people travel to a place, they do want to have that more local experience.
Speaker 1:And it seems to be something that's missing from the tourist market in New York City.
Speaker 2:Well, in your journey to doing this, just talk about your journey a little bit more, about how you became an entrepreneur and at the end of that, tell me. One of my best friends had just left after a two-week visit and I said to my husband I have an idea, and we've been married 20 years. On Wednesday and I've said I have an idea a lot of times over the past 20 years, but usually we kind of pick apart the idea and then it goes away until the next one comes. So this one I had the idea, and the first step after one of my ideas is always Googling it to see if it already exists. And often my brilliant ideas were discovered by somebody prior to me. So this one, like it, doesn't exist. There's no place for people to get this here. You know there's people rent bikes in New York City the brave few who want to bike through New York City, usually older kids or adults and people rent carriages when they visit. So from there, this was. You know I went to sort of that next step. Well, what would I need to do? And ChatGPT makes finding out what you need to do pretty easy and quick. So I started using AI. For, you know, give me 10 things I would need to do to start this business and then from there you kind of have this synopsis and obviously you can't just trust ChatGPT with your time and your money and all the things that go into starting a business. But it gave me sort of that quick overview that I was then able to investigate the steps and I was able to take a step and then break it down further. Then able to investigate the steps and I was able to take a step and then break it down further.
Speaker 2:So I realized with this type of venture there's obviously a lot of liability when you're dealing with children and mobility. So I knew I would need an LLC to offer protection and so I said, well, it's a couple of hundred bucks, let me, let me spend a couple of hundred bucks and and get the, the LLC. And you know, then it was like, okay, what's my next? You know, my next biggest expense it's well, I need the scooters, but that's actually not the biggest expense the. The next biggest expense was insurance. So then I started calling insurance and it just sort of one step at a time, like, and I started off with a to-do list. You know, I just a simple to-do list. That was what do I need to do if I want to start this business. And from that to-do list, which was my overall starting a business list, it then was like, oh, I'm going to have a to-do list, which was my overall starting a business list. It then was like, oh, I'm going to have a to-do list by month. And now I'm at the point it just kind of evolved because with each step I took there were 20 other things that needed to be done. Now I have the daily to-do list as we get ready to really to really launch our, our business. So it was. It was really one sort of one step at a time and as I did each step, um, I was further committed to the idea.
Speaker 2:One of the one of the big pieces that that started happening was I had to reach out to people which, professionally, as a teacher, was not really in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 2:So I reached out to MicroKick scooters. That's the brand of scooter that my kids always had. It's what you see all over New York. They're really high quality. They're sort of rubberized wheels, are great for the city streets so they hold up for the amount of miles that kids put on it. And when I reached out to them and they got back to me and spoke to me as the founder of a business, that was really sort of reaffirming, and you know I would get off a call and have sort of a giggle like I'm a teacher, I'm not a business owner, and you know my mindset started to shift with each call and ultimately I ended up in a meeting with the CEO of the company who then sponsored the scooters for our business because she believed in the idea and actually believed that our idea would support their company. That was the I'm all in. This is more than just me thinking I have a good idea that this is something that could really work.
Speaker 1:Was the tie then? Just getting over the identity you assigned yourself? I'm just a teacher.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's I mean for 25 years. And there's risks in teaching. I mean standing up in front of middle school students every day. You're taking certain risks every time you work with kids, because they will tell you how it is and they will let you know if they don't like what you're doing. But it's very different and I know it and I know kids and this thought.
Speaker 2:You know I've heard of imposter syndrome, but then, making that shift, it became such a real term to me, like I don't have to. You know, no, I don't have to just be a teacher. I could. I could be something else and actually the things I learned as a teacher and the things I know about kids are part of my business model that I've. Actually, I feel like as teachers you do sort of feel pigeonholed. It's like you've never left school. You almost feel like you are still a student and it's been interesting to sort of take this, embrace a new identity, but realize that I've had a wonderful career but I'm also ready. I'm ready to do something else, and after 25 years of working for the city of New York, it sounds like a long time.
Speaker 1:You talked about a little bit, but do you remember the moment when you knew you were going to cut the tie? But do you remember the moment when?
Speaker 2:you knew you were going to cut the tie. When I got off that meeting with Micro Kickboard, I was all in, I said this is it. I just conducted a meeting, I had an agenda and I you know, and I followed it and I was able to to talk about my plan with them and make a deal ultimately, which the and the people in the meeting, the CEO of Micro Kickboard and the other women it was all women which was also really empowering to me, like seeing these other women in business and working together to sort of bringing it bring an idea to life. I was like they're doing it. I, I could do it.
Speaker 1:Right, you do, and so would you have ever imagined that a year prior, that after just one meeting, you were like I'm all in.
Speaker 2:Right and you know, I think one of the one of the things is sort of like timing. You know, and if, if I was to give advice to anyone, it would be that, like you almost can't worry about the timing, that if you do, the timing's never actually going to be right. Like I took a huge chunk of our savings to make to make this happen, to pay the insurance company and to start this. I have two sons who are juniors in high school right now and, luckily, a very supportive husband, but the decision it was like I had this meeting. I'm like I'm doing this. I'm doing this despite looking down the barrel of two college tuitions in the next two years. I'm doing this because, if anything, I look back and I gave it a shot. I rather look back and think, well, I tried something.
Speaker 1:You could always teach again. I think, there's always a fallback.
Speaker 2:You know and I'm still teaching now the beauty of a seasonal business as a teacher is, you know, my husband and I are working on it. We're using weekends now, but I'll have the summer off to really build our business and we also the teacher in me is always thinking of like, what do kids like to do? What makes things fun for kids? And I added a scavenger hunt component to our business. So you know, our whole sort of spiel is scooters and scavenger hunts. So you know our whole sort of spiel is scooters and scavenger hunts so that for families who, for whatever reason, might not be interested in a scooter or it actually works really well with scooters but local scavenger hunts that are interactive and built into our website so that when kids are out and you make it interesting, they actually end up learning a lot If they're having fun.
Speaker 1:You're having fun, you do learn a ton and the teacher who might become might be a young entrepreneur's teacher as well. You know it's like where does it go next? And there's, it just becomes. Once it's open, you're like oh well, look at all the opportunities.
Speaker 2:Right. Well, exactly that's. You know, sort of one idea has kind of led to another and the people we've reached out to with the scavenger hunts, we've ended up. I've ended up creating some collaborations with other local small businesses in our area. So yesterday I was at Odd Fellows Ice Cream, which is a really it's a franchise around the country now, but it started in Brooklyn and they are featured in our scavenger hunt. So they're you know, they're handing out our postcards and they're promoting us on their social media and they loved the idea of kids coming in to get ice cream as part of their scavenger hunt, exploring the local sites.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. I think you said it, but just for the purposes of edit. What advice do you give to the listener?
Speaker 2:You just have to take the chance that the time will never be perfect, that if you keep waiting then things don't happen, that they're sort of jumping off that cliff into the abyss and knowing that something positive will come out of it. I'm hoping that I build a wildly successful business that supports lots of travel and excitement in the next couple of years. But if that's not the outcome, I have learned so much. I have a whole new vocabulary that I've developed around this. I've had fun doing it, going out and creating scavenger hunts. It's made me look at where I live in a different way. So there's numerous parts. There's numerous ways you could be successful and while financial success will hopefully come and be wonderful, it's not the only success. So you have to take the chance.
Speaker 1:Well listen, financial success is often a marker because you have to pay for things and do things.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And it's also the thorn that you're like you love what you do, but it doesn't make enough. Sometimes too, and we've all been through it. I mean, my business faces that cyclically, like you know. Once a year we call call it the winter whenever it hits, where you're like, oh, do I still want to do this? And you know. And then and then, when the times are gray, you're like, oh, of course that's part of being an entrepreneur is facing that cycle of it doesn't make enough. The benefit you're seeing, I believe, is it's fun and it probably brings energy into your, your day job, because you have something to look forward to beyond this, which is secure. And it might be like, hey, I trade time for money here, but my real passion is this other thing, so it keeps you going for the other thing because you're like I need this.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I have built this very secure, stable career that doing something different is really motivating, Having just like the intellectual exercise of what else could I do? If this, then that. Well, if this doesn't work, how am I going to pivot? Who am I going to talk to? And that I mean. And then the sort of all right, that note, they didn't respond. So what am I going to say next? How am I, you know, just walking, walking into?
Speaker 2:One of the main ways that we're looking to, um, rent our scooters is through hotels. So, walking into hotels and saying, hi, can I please speak to your manager? Oh, you know, and people assume you have a problem. Um, oh, no, no, I just, I just want to introduce myself and share, share what I'm doing and just having to, like, have the guts to walk in there, um, and and sell myself. Really, you know what I'm selling, and I mean the beauty of dealing with hotels is that people in the hospitality industry are very nice, even when they say no. But that's been, you know, that's been a really sort of gear up to walk in and ask for somebody and speak to what I'm doing and try to convince them that they should work with me, even though I have no real experience yet.
Speaker 1:Well, they don't know.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you know, and I've been told to know, I'm still reaching out. The best is when, when I'm not told to know that, then they keep hearing from me. But there's been quite a few people who are like, yeah, this sounds cool, like I would.
Speaker 1:I guess the we guess the boutique ones are. We need an advantage in any way we can to make it fun. The Marriott's are like no.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly, I do have one Marriott and one Hilton. That are a little further.
Speaker 1:My guess is those are not corporate owned and they're franchise owned, yes, and they're probably breaking a rule and they do it.
Speaker 2:So Some of the like cool boutique hotels there they are. They're looking for something different, something that sets them apart, um, and especially like the hotel. Right now we're only in hotels in brooklyn. I've done that as a as choice. I wanted to sort of test the waters right in our neighborhood. There's 15 hotels in walking distance of where I live, and then the next step is to get into the Manhattan hotels.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Then you got to deal with the mafia. It is New York. What's been the impact?
Speaker 2:It's become this sort of new conversation piece in our family. I have two teenage sons and for all of us my husband, my sons it's sort of reinvigorated dinner conversation it for me. I just feel so supported by my immediate family, by my friends, supported by my immediate family, by my friends. It's been really exciting to have people have my back in trying something new. I feel like so often you hear of haters and people not supporting new ideas and I've kind of come away with like wow, I have so many wonderful people in my life who are like what can we do to help? What do you need Like good for you and you can do? You know. This really has made me feel happy with the people I have in my in my life and appreciative of of their support.
Speaker 1:Well, there's a lot of people say no because it makes them uncomfortable more than the real thing. The real measure I'll say it this way is when a hotel who doesn't know you says yes, yes, that's like that's the only really proof you need, is they? Well, they say yes and then they renew the next year and you've made money from them and that's it. I mean like that's the measure initially, but yes, I'm proud of you for that. The uh, let's do a couple rapid fires. Who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2:who gives me inspiration? I have a good my friend who was visiting who her family was really the inspiration for the whole idea. She has also entered the field of entrepreneurship and was a successful businesswoman prior to that in her own right. So watching her go out on her own and start her new business has been inspiring, and just her ideas. From her experience for the past 30 years in business you know she's been sort of the cheerleader of. Of course you can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you can or you can't, they're both true. They really are Kind of in your journey, what's been the best business advice you've gotten?
Speaker 2:Read, listen, you know, from whether it's a webinar with the Tory Burch Foundation to reading the e-myth, Just finding all sorts of taking in all the information and then kind of weeding through it to decide which works best for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. That's a tough challenge when you take information, because it also can be a distraction. Though a very good idea, it just might be the wrong timing of your distraction or of of what you need it's. So it's uh, I'm always conscious of that. It's like, oh, that's a great idea, but like, but, that would require so much work and I'm not ready for that.
Speaker 2:And so you know, that's always one of those ones to know what is your recommended kind of book, the must read book making sure that, from the start, that you're working on creating a business that could be replicated and scaled, that you want to create something that gives you freedom, not where you're so entwined in everything that you could never separate yourself out.
Speaker 1:That's hard to do.
Speaker 2:I could imagine, because already I I know that at some point I'm going to need other people doing things and the thought the thought of it is is frightening. But I think it's a good sort of mantra to have. Like creating systems, if I'm the one who creates the system, make sure that system is good enough that it doesn't need me to operate.
Speaker 1:That's right, and that is definitely a cyclical piece. Sometimes I'll give you an example, just an autobiography of this you have a marketing agency. I'm the lead on the strategy all the time, and that's why people buy. And I'm like, oh man, that's not a very scalable business. And so I'm like I'm going to pivot the whole business because I don't want to do that when I'm 60. Right, I'm like, but it's what we started as. And I'm like, oh, but I've learned some things. So what could we become? And that I remember. Michael Gerber writes that I remember listening to that book on like CD, like driving my car like 20 years ago almost. So, anyway, it's, it's yeah, it's uh, yeah, good stuff there. If you had to start over today, what time period would you start over from and what would you do differently?
Speaker 2:I would. As soon as I started to build the website, I would have hired a graphic designer. That is, design is not my strong suit. I could look at other people's things and love how they look and know what I like, but creating it is challenging for me and I wish I had somebody right from the beginning so that I wasn't doing work over that didn't need to be and constantly like I think this looks good and then changing it, that I should have just paid someone from the beginning to set me up and then I could just follow that design piece, because building a business business where you know instagram is a major feature in marketing and in, I think, just in tourism in general. Aesthetics matter and it's a challenge for me and it's not something that I love to do I will tell you.
Speaker 1:I tell you, I'll take it a step further for you. On the e-myth, look how AI can help you do it now. You may not need to hire anyone.
Speaker 2:I've played with AI with graphics. They never quite get it the way I want it. I tried to use a few different AI tools, but I think, when it comes to art and creativity, there is something about a human doing it, and those humans I feel like probably could use AI to create something because they have the vision so they could guide it. They have the vision so they could guide it.
Speaker 1:My make something that looks nice isn't getting any of the AI tools where I need them to be. The AI in the future will definitely do it. I would even argue that people spend lots of times on colors and logos and the truth is it doesn't really matter. Some of the best producing websites are horrible and they do great because it's just straightforward. Anyway, that will probably make the editor. I hope that's true. The truth is like they're buying into you and your idea and as long as that's simply presented and you show up with the scooters and they work and you do all the things you say you're going to go do. After that, it's just an invoice.
Speaker 2:And so if there's one question I should ask you today, but I didn't have asked that but it was this sort of reaching out to micro kickboard and that validation of somebody who doesn't know me, the people knowing you, supporting you, helps you, helps you go on but ultimately, hearing back from somebody who doesn't know me and had no reason to buy in other than they truly believed that what I'm doing could benefit their business, was the point where I knew I had something that I had to see through to the end. Hopefully, hopefully it creates a profit and there isn't an end. But there is only so much money in the bank and I'm going to see what, what I could do with it.
Speaker 1:We got to pause.
Speaker 2:I think we're frozen, you're frozen All right, we're back.
Speaker 1:That was weird. I think I caught it. Shameless plug time for you. How should someone get a hold of you and who should get a hold of you?
Speaker 2:So our website my website is wwwscootbkcom and I am at at ScootBK on Instagram, so either place is great to get an idea of what I'm doing and to reach out, either on DM on Instagram or the contact me on my website DM on Instagram or the contact me on my website. I would love to hear from families who are traveling to New York City, but also anyone who's working in the tourism industry and thinks that what I'm doing could work with what they're doing, whether it's tour operators who cater to families and think, huh, this might make my tour go a little more smoothly, or people in the hotel industry who are saying, wow, our guests would really appreciate that Maybe there'd be less whining kids in the lobby at the end of the day if they didn't realize they were being traipsed all over a city because they were having so much fun doing it.
Speaker 1:I think when we went to New York, by the way, I think we walked a marathon over two days. It was something crazier. Three and a half is some crazy number and I was like cause we just we walk everywhere and we're like? Kids were like oh, it's so tiring.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of miles. That's our when, our when my friend was visiting her seven-year-old had a day of 20,000 steps, and all seven-year-olds' legs are not meant for 20,000 steps.
Speaker 1:We had an eight-year-old I think at the time. She might have been seven when we went, seven or eight, but we did 26 miles, or something like that, over three days. She's a trooper, though the other two complain ridiculously. Thank you so much for joining me today, Christine.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure talking to you. It's exciting to talk about my new venture.
Speaker 1:I love it and guys listen. If you're still listening, get out there. Go cut a tie to something holding you back. Go unleash the best version of yourself. Thanks for listening.
