How we've arrived is the result of the need to survive... (in a nutshell)

Prior to 2008 my Wife and I were gainfully employed, making the most money either of us had ever made. I was in the enterprise software industry and my wife was enjoying working as an estimator for a precast stone company. Our daughter was 6 years of age.

We had the cars, a rental property, the home on the hill, with a pool and tennis courts. We traveled enjoying the time of our lives.

In 2008 my Wife and I lost our jobs. We were thinking and trying to figure out what we could do to make ends meet. We were trying this and trying that. I was always working on one thing or another, but nothing was working consistently.

My Wife thought about renting linens; providing party linens for events. We started with chair covers and tablecloths; she used Craigslist to market our services. Though it began under a different name, this was the beginning of Budget Wise Linens.

The experiences were many. My Wife would gather flowers to place on the sweetheart tables as "signature gifts" for the brides of weddings we served. We purchased a motor home and would use it for events in far away places.

We certainly made the best of it, though in 2012 we lost our home. I took on some small jobs and we continued providing our services for some time. We were able to rent two different homes over four years, and eventually became gainfully employed to the point that we... believe it or not, we purchased a condominium quite a bit south of where we had lived.

We ended up providing our services for a total of seven (7) years and when we purchased our new home we moved all of our inventory into our garage. Low and behold, our previous clients found us and spoke of how it was cheaper and better to buy than to rent the linens -- they wanted us to continue making the party linens available. We really didn't want to . We had become gainfully employed again. Our daughter was still going to school 25 miles north, so we had a lot of different business and personal obligations.

Then, in speaking with many who came to purchase our inventory many of them were those seeking to begin providing the same event services as we had. They either didn't have jobs or where simply looking to be self-employed doing what they could enjoy, instead of just working to work.