The Full Story

First - a little background on me...I grew up right outside of a small town in Perry County, Pennsylvania. My father owned commercial land, right along Route 11 & 15, with an old farmhouse situated on it from the late 1800's. I was around 4 years-old when he built a storefront beside our house for his already established business, Farmer Boy Furniture. 

I grew up running between our house and his store, which was only separated by our average sized yard - back and forth, playing and watching the customers come and go. I learned to make change at the check-out counter, barely being able to see over the top of the counter. 

My school district was right down Schoolhouse Road, about a mile away. I had many friends of all backgrounds and interests. In high school, I was dedicated to singing and dancing. Despite being accepted to several universities, at the end of my high school career, I decided to stay home and attend our local community college. I knew how selfish I'd have to be to make it in the performing arts world, how devoted with my time - and while it was an intense passion of mine, reality hit me. I also wanted to be close to my family, to marry and one day have a family of my own. But what was my career path if not making it big in music?

I spent four years at community college, trying to figure that out. While double majoring in General Studies and Social Sciences, I also spread out a third major - Theater. At the time, I did it to keep my sanity while trying to discover what other career paths may suit me. I thought it was working in Social Services...saving the children! While working towards this goal, I was cautioned several times that this profession would often come with a lot of heartache and less triumphs than one would desire. Nearing the conclusion of earning my three associate degrees, I realized becoming a Social Worker may ultimately result in me buying a huge farmhouse somewhere to adopt all those that I couldn't save by other means! I graduated and entered the work force, taking employment that in no way related to social work.

I had several jobs - mostly involving typing, administrative duties and customer service.

Throughout all of it, I always continued to work for my father, at Farmer Boy Furniture. I knew how to use a computer and taught myself whatever it was that he needed. I'd say, "Dad, you need to be on social media these days!" I started a business Facebook page and Instagram account. I researched web design so I could take over his website - enhancing his online presence, decreasing those expenses and allowing us to handle the maintenance and updates. When Ebay was gaining popularity, I opened an Ebay store and sold our home decor & giftware items online. When that died down, I launched an e-commerce store, having to learn as I went. 

In the past, he'd pay a design company thousands of dollars to lay-out his furniture catalog for print each year...I said, "I can do that!" I'd go on to design and handle all of his advertising and marketing materials, whether it be online or for print, learning much along the way through trial and error and teaching myself how to use different websites and software programs. 
 

I loved meeting new people that would come through our store. Like Dad, I'd sometimes chat for a long time with our customers - getting to know their stories. Growing up in a largely rural county, there were many family-owned and operated businesses like his. Many of the owners were of the same generation as him and would mention the struggle to learn computer related things. The result was these small businesses hiring professionals or companies to do this work for them, often accompanied by a fairly large bill, or missing out on the huge benefits of today's digital age all together. 

I would like to use my skills and knowledge to do for other small businesses what I've done for Farmer Boy Furniture. 

So, I hope you'll check out my services! And if it's not listed, please inquire - perhaps I can help!