A Step In Time Chimney Sweeps
Our story here at A Step in Time in Virginia
Beach, VA is a fun one worth sharing.
It all started in the year 1991, at a time where
there was a recession and many college graduates had difficulty finding a job.
Ray had just graduated from Virginia Tech in civil engineering came
face-to-face with the same difficulties in finding employment. From there, he
decided to attend graduate school at Old Dominion University to obtain a
master’s degree and hopefully attract the attention of potential employers.
Ray continued applying for positions at various
engineering firms while pursuing his second degree. Finally, Ray landed an
engineering job by offering to work for very low wages. This didn’t phase him
because viewed the job experience as a continuation of graduate school. While
in graduate school and working for a local engineering firm, Ray also had to
balance his time with his new family— which included raising his little
daughter, Kaitlynn.
Times were tough and money was very tight. Ray
started to reminisce about his time in high school when he had a fun little
lawn business during the summers. This inspired Ray to follow his old tracks
and once again open a lawn business.
On weekends, Ray would cut lawns to bring in
extra money. The business became an instant success! Ray quickly started
earning more money on weekends than from working full-time at his engineering
job.
One day, while cutting the lawn of his parent’s
house, a family friend named Donny Gummer stopped by. Donny was in his 60s at
that time and noticed the lawn business was going very well for Ray. He went on
to mention that he was considering starting a chimney sweep company. Donny told
Ray that he was inspired by his time in New York, where he found the chimney
sweep business to be booming. It seemed like everyone needed a chimney sweep!
Donny then asked Ray if he would help him start
this chimney sweep company, in addition to giving him advice on how to acquire
new customers. Ray agreed to help Donny in the fall— when his lawn business was
expected to calm down and when chimney sweeping demand was expected to pick up.
When the fall season finally approached, Ray shut down his lawn operation and
set off to begin cleaning chimneys.