Eleventh Blog Post - From Bare Bones to Warmhearted Dreams: A Couple's Journey Through Self-Employment and the Insulation Industry
Hi, friends! I’m back with the 11th episode of “History of Us,” and I want to thank you all for reading along this far. Next week it will be the final blog in this series, and I’ve had so much fun sharing these stories with you. I hope they’ve brought camaraderie and comfort to those of you who relate to self-employment, small business, spray foam, or just life in general on this amazing planet.
Today, I’m reminiscing about more side-quests we’ve embarked on. Last blog’s stories were mostly about Luyk’s hard work; this month, I’m sharing things I worked on to contribute to our little family’s life.
My Real Estate Adventure
One side-quest I tried was getting my real estate license. This was before the Great Recession, very early in our marriage, with our tiny newborn Ethan. Whenever I look back, my first thought is always: What were we thinking!? The Twin Towers had just fallen, the world was in chaos and mourning, and my secretarial job at a machine tooling company wasn’t available for me to return to after my maternity leave. With Luyk sheet-rocking homes and leaning toward building houses, real estate seemed like a perfect fit for me.
The flexibility was amazing. No one minded when I brought my adorable infant to showings or open houses. My love for houses, decorating, and cleaning all came together beautifully, and I offered my clients as many perks as I could to earn their trust in selling their homes. The paperwork came easily to me—thank you, secretarial experience!—and I’ve always loved working on budgets.
But at that stage of my life, negotiations were tough for me. I also discovered that I didn’t enjoy the drama of the closing table, where lenders often revealed surprise details, like interest rates that weren’t as low as promised. It frustrated me to have no control over such critical aspects, especially when they affected my buyers’ long-term payments. I tried hard to iron out these details ahead of time, but something always seemed to slip through the cracks. My idealism about humanity took a hit, and I found myself feeling deeply disappointed. I loved most of the job—but not the parts I couldn’t control that were disappointing for my customers.
When a bank offered me a position, I jumped at the chance, thinking I could make a difference there. But, long story short, my young idealism was challenged, frustrated, and ultimately thwarted there as well.
Building Our Next Steps
Thankfully, Luyk always had my back and gave me hope that we could be something different in this world—different from all the disappointment I was encountering in jobs. Together, we focused on building our next goal and working full-time as a team. He had started building homes, and we decided to take the plunge and build our first home for a customer. We were thrilled! Soon after, another project lined up, but as you know from a previous blog, that house ended up being the one we lived in for quite some time. During that time (not all at once!) I sold Lia Sophia briefly, worked cleaning houses with a friend, worked medical billing with my mom and sister, found rummage sale gems to restore and resell, coupon-ed like a queen, and learned the best ways to utilize specific store savings programs such as Menards!
The Moral of the Story
I may not have always known what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I’ve always had a sense of who I wanted to be. Trying on different hats helped me find my niche in the world. Ultimately, our who—our character—has built our reputation, carried us through economic and life challenges, and kept us striving for our customers’ happiness over the years. I believe it’s important to figure out who we are, strive to be our best selves every day, and offer that gift of ourselves through our work and everyday life. It’s served us well so far.
Your Turn to Share
What is your self-employment or small business story? Have you faced similar challenges? What side-quests have you embarked on that taught you more about yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments below—I’d love to hear from you!--