To be able to say Cherubini Designs has come full circle is an understatement.
We are just starting a new chapter in our book of life and business.
As I reflect back when we started our business Cherubini Designs 21 years ago I always come back to the reasons why.
Was it money? Well sort of but not exactly.
I always knew I wanted to do something creative and I loved talking to people. Yep Type A here…if you know me you know what I am talking about! Pat was a part owner of Boat Boys in Heath and we needed an income from me to get us by in the winter. Boats don’t really run well in freezing weather and boy does Ohio have too much of that! We KNEW we didn’t want to put Chase (our oldest son) in daycare so we had to do something. We wanted at least 1 parent to be able to experience the milestones and be there for every sickness or school function. It was just our choice and we were willing to give up money to do so.
So, Pat purchased the newest website design software on the market for me; Corel Website Design Suite. Honestly, it was the ONLY thing on the market back then! Heck, Yahoo was the only search engine and there were no joke only 2 entries per page or maybe 5 for a search. Yep I am THAT old!
I began to teach myself design from a book that was 3 inches thick. Again, if you know me I don’t read manuals. It is easier for me to just dive in and play. That is the artist in me! So I started with friends and family sites to build my portfolio and that is all she wrote!
Ok, now what do we do?
I began cold calling and visiting local businesses sometimes with Chase in tow. Newark is a small town where everybody knows everyone else and who doesn’t love a baby??? Not only are babies chick magnets they are business magnets too!
After a year and a half of this, it was finally time to really take our business to the next level and I needed Pat home to do so. It took him all of 2 seconds to say yes and I now had a partner in the business and most importantly in raising our kids all day long!
We were able to now scale the company quickly by adding more auto dealerships to our list. These brought us a monthly recurring income while I was gaining new design clients. I won’t go into all the details but the years to come we would build a large portfolio and start and develop online marketing at the same time coaching our boys and girl (yep 3 kids now) in almost every aspect of their athletic endeavors.
Yep we can honestly say we were there for them through it all. Pat coached and went to almost every soccer, hockey and lacrosse game. We were and are able to see every volleyball game even though my butt hurts to do so! Who ever invented wood bleachers should be shot! lol
So I guess I am saying we did it for time and family and lifestyle. Money came too, not as much as we really would like but we live comfortably even though most of my family and friends haven’t a clue what we do. They think we sit in the hot tub all day drinking margaritas.
Well, we do….have our staff meetings in our hot tub! Our staff meetings are usually in the morning and evening which include our kids now. Yep, they want to finally do what we do. How freaking cool is that?
So this is why I say we have come full circle. My oldest just turned 21. My business just turned 21. I used to haul him around with me to land and take care of clients. I carried him around and now, he wants to carry on the business along with his brother. So this is why we changed the logo and have a new website.
And so Chapter 2 begins….
Join us in our journey! Tell us about yours or tell us what you really want to do. Maybe we can help! Lord only knows we have been through more ups and downs in the market and still survived. Somehow we survived. I think we were “Destin”ed to help others do the same. Our picture is from my favorite Florida vacation spot Destin. Our logo for this site and for the group encompasses what we love about Destin. Join our group on Facebook at: Flipfloptribe.com