If I’m recalling this correctly, it happened like this...
Aaron (my brand new fiance :) ) said late one October night, “I think it’s time we make our way to California. That's where we're supposed to be. What's keeping us here? Let's just go already.” I remember laughing and asking him this question in response… “What’s keeping us here? Maybe it’s our beautiful home, or that we have lots of friends, or that your entire family lives in Michigan, or maybe that we both have amazing jobs with a growing company.” What’s keeping us here you ask?”
After weighing the pros and cons a bit we both realized that an incredible opportunity knocked and we needed to answer. Not to mention, I’ve always been a big believer that the things in life that are meant to happen will happen and you’ve got to take risks to grow. Life happens outside of your comfort zone. We are both working on "being comfortable, being uncomfortable".
Fast forward ….And we’re now in California, but you’re probably wondering about what this great opportunity was, so here’s how it all started.
For the past two years, we've been listening to my folks talk about FASTSIGNS. After nearly 18 years of owning an independent photo company, my mom, Gaby Mullinax was able to become one of the few co-branded FASTSIGNS centers in the country. After a successful first year, my dad Bob Mullinax quit his 35 year career in the retail grocery industry and together they bought their second location, FASTSIGNS® of Brea, CA. If those two moves alone didn’t convince us, they’d call us and say things like “the franchise is growing so fast, the organization is extremely supportive for franchisees, there are a ton of younger couples in the network that have left careers seeking a better work-life balance and the opportunity to become their own boss”. They've openly shared their journey with us and really never stopped raving about their experiences.
During our decision making, we tossed around the options of one of us working for FASTSIGNS and the other putting their head down to make it somewhere else. But, at the end of the day, we just decided we'd be better together. It was an all or nothing deal. While to this day we don’t think we really gave my folks the choice… we just said, “You get us both or you don't get us at all!”
So here we are, one month in, starting the new year with new careers, a new state, a new home (uuugh-living with my parents #roommates) and the world at our hands.
We’d love for you to join us as we document our journey. Our goal is to share lessons learned from working with each other, living and working with family, making it in California with a business owner mindset and finding joy in all that we do.
Cheers,
Kaitlyn & Aaron
#LetsDoThis
#FASTSIGNSDIDIT
#FASTSIGNS