A couple of weeks ago, I shared the first part of an interview with Scott Durbin. Durbin is taking an entrepreneurial leap, leaving behind a safe job to pursue a dream, starting a rock band for kids. This is the second part of the interview.

What was your family’s financial situation at the time you started the Imagination Movers?

At the time the Movers started, I was entering my sixth year of teaching. Picture if you will, being the ‘bread winner’ on a teacher’s salary. Ahhh, the luxury of it all. My better half worked full time-ish as an office manager for a web firm and was earning a little less than me. Our income, however, was supplemented by a rental property. Even so, we rented to friends and consequently asked for $150 month lower than market value for the area.

Having two wee ones, we were quite honestly living paycheck to paycheck. We had some credit card debt but nothing crazy.

Our biggest financial problem — and this sounds strange — was vacations. Here’s the recurring scenario: we would finally get ourselves into some kind of financial stability and then boom, we would go on a family vacation and put ourselves right back into a mini-hole. Not trying to shift blame from self, but ‘we’ were not as frugal when it came to vacations as we should have been. My wife having been raised in a close knit family that always took summer vacations, was pretty adamant that we take similar family vacations. The problem with vacations is that you’re more apt to splurge thus obliterating your vacation budget. It’s the mentality of saying to yourself, “Hey, we’re on vacation! We won’t be able to do this for awhile or eat this good or whatever.” And soon enough, your food budget no longer exists and you’re stuffing your face with $20 crab cakes. Viva la vacation!

Look for further installments in the future. And look for more interviews after this one is finished. I hope to learn some interview skills so that I can actually conduct real in-person interviews to share with you all over the coming months.

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This article is about Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Real-Life  

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