Nick Reed lived in a van while saving money, then joined Augusta as an employee in April 2019. By January 2021 he owned a franchise in Marysville, Washington. He describes the psychological toll of van life and how mentorship from the Bellingham shop made the difference.
April 2019
January 2021
I moved into the van, and I didn't know that I wanted to start a franchise.
When I did it.
I knew that I just wanted to save extreme amounts of money just so that it would open a door in my life. I was willing to make a short term sacrifice of a year worth of comfort and, you know, lack of showers.
And lack of quality food to put myself in the position that I'm in now.
You know, psychologically, it's not an easy thing to do, especially when it's like the middle of the night and you hear, like, people making noise, talking outside of your van, and you're in a dark parking lot and you're the only one there.
Like, it is kind of intimidating a little bit.
But, you know, I can't lie and say that, like, when I started, I had the goal in mind of, like, starting the franchise and being able to, like, sacrifice my comfort short term to.
Be able to provide for people in the long term.
But it was definitely just happened to be a step in the road.
My name's Nick Reed, and I'm a franchise owner over here in Marysville, Washington. I had always done landscaping as, like, a kid and stuff, and when I first interviewed, there was a lot of people walking around in uniforms and talking in the background, trucks driving in and out, and I was like, wow, this is like a serious operation. And I. I had no idea what it was like. And I was honestly pretty intimidated.
But yeah, no, everyone was very, very.
Welcoming, very open to training, and super team oriented.
Definitely made me feel like I was at home.
I've been with Augusta since April of 2019. I worked as an employee for a couple years, and I've been a franchise owner since January of this year.
It is really nice when I can.
Come up to someone who's stressed out of their mind.
You know, their grass is a foot.
Tall, everything's overgrowing, and it's just another weight on their shoulders. And I can step in and just say, hey, listen, tell me you need done, and we'll step in and take care of it. This is why we exist.
And then I can go in and clear it out.
And you can literally just see their sigh of relief once everything's taken care of, because they have a million other.
Things going on in their life.
So that's really, really fulfilling.
If I was to thank anybody, it.
Would be everybody at the Bellingham Augusta shop.
They poured into me and they all supported me and believed me, and I'm.
Just another person on this planet going through my life journey, and it's nothing.
Special by any means. Just to have people who were willing.
To pour into me and invest in.
Me and push me towards higher levels that I wouldn't have pushed myself to on my own. Just to have people care about my well being was pretty monumental in my life. It made all the difference.
