Chris and I both grew up in families where our parents were employees. I think this reflects the average American family. They clocked in and clocked out. Over the years they had some jobs they liked more than others. But one thing was consistent, when you went to work and clocked in, you got paid every two weeks. No guessing on what your pay check was going to look like.
Chris and I began dating when we were 16, right at the end of our sophomore year of high school. I grew up as the second oldest of 9 and knew if I wanted spending money, I needed to earn it. When we started dating, I was also starting my first real job, outside of babysitting (other peoples kids, not my siblings). I worked at Cold Stone Creamery. No, I never got tired of ice cream. A Like It size of chocolate with peanut butter and brownie is still my go to.
Since I was working, Chris got a job as well, at Papa Murphy’s. We graduated high school in 2006, and I enrolled in our local community college in the fall. I’d always wanted to be a nurse, like my mom. So I set my courses up to be on track to get into the nursing program.
I really wanted Chris to go to college. I wanted him to earn a degree, that would ensure a job, and that meant we would know what life we were setting ourselves up for financially. (Just remember that these are the naive thoughts of an 18 year old.) This was also more typical of life 20 years ago. Life before social media, Youtube, etc. Before you could get so much education outside of the college classroom. There’s definitely been a shift since then.
Chris enrolled in college shortly after I did. Our approach to college could not have been more different. I loaded up with 17 credits plus a CNA class. Studied hard. Aimed for A’s and learned B’s were ok too. I’d never had anything but straight A’s in school. I went to every class. Never missed a lecture.
Chris found most of his classes to be boring and a waste of his time. He enjoyed one business class, so he read the textbook on his own. He hated the clay texture in ceramics class, so he never went back. Didn’t even take the time to drop the class. Just took an F. It didn’t bother him one bit that the F would be on his transcript.
While text book and classroom learning is not for him. Hands on learning is. No one has ever asked more questions than Chris. Once he sets out to learn something that captures his interest, he doesn’t quit. He’s a hard worker.
Chris had found a really well paying job, for a recent high school grad, and worked there from 2006-2008. It certainly wasn’t anything he wanted a career in. He was a laborer for an industrial manufacturing company. Which basically means he did anything he was asked and it was all hard, manual labor work. He When the recession hit, the company went out of business. So naturally he was out of work.
Although there was not an official engagement, yet. We knew that marriage was in our future. Chris started thinking about what he really wanted to do for a career.
I realized that college was something Chris would never enjoy. This was something he already knew, but he has been willing to try it because I wanted him to. It wasn’t the way he learned or thrived. It didn’t work for him. While he flunked out of college, he simultaneously built a business during the recession of 2008-2009.
We were set to get married in August of 2009. Since his layoff in 2008 Chris has been teaching himself to repair cell phones. The iPhone had not even come out yet! His first repairs were on the Razor phone. He loved what he was doing and making enough money to pay for both of our expenses so that I didn’t have to work during nursing school.
With our wedding approaching, there was pressure from others for him to “get a real job.” Aside from near minimum wage shifts at the onion packing plant, he couldn’t find a job. So, the man who can’t stand the taste, let alone the smell, took a job at the onion shed.
Suddenly his cash dried up. While he was working, there wasn’t time to fix phones. His income plummeted. So he quit his job at the onion shed a month before the wedding. Quit looking for other jobs, and went back to his cell phone repairs.
There we were. Two 21 year olds, married, unemployed, in college. Everyone thought we were crazy! But the proof was in the checking account. He could make more on his own. Life was going to look different than I thought. It was something I couldn’t even imagine. This was the start of our entrepreneurial journey.
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