Rebecca Buls and Rachel Barker give sisterhood a new meaning. For several years, the sisters worked together in the blinds and window repair industry, taking after their father, who\u2019s been in the business for 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, Rebecca and Rachel share over 25 years of experience in the blinds industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early in her career, Rebecca handled customer service and inside sales for a local shutter manufacturer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was the first time I was exposed to the fabrication,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During that time, Rebecca met\u00a0Bloomin\u2019 Blinds CEO Kelsey Stuart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe knew I was familiar with the industry and asked me to come work for him,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interested in the opportunity, Rebecca headed to North Dallas, TX, to work for Bloomin\u2019 Blinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Rachel entered the blinds business at 21-years-old following in her father\u2019s footsteps working for a manufacturer in Carrollton, where her dad worked for 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, she went to work for one of her customers on the retail side for a few years and then later joined Rebecca and Kelsey at Bloomin\u2019 Blinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Rebecca, the decision to work with her sister was a no-brainer, but the decision to join the Bloomin\u2019 Blinds franchise was a big one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew this was either the best thing or the worst thing I could do,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca\u2019s kids were young at the time, and the drive to the office was about 45-minutes long. Thankfully, Kelsey developed a new role for her at the time and allowed her to work from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was able to get more done that way,\u201d Rebecca explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After five years of working at the original Bloomin\u2019 Blinds, business was going exceptionally well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the franchise brand took off, Rebecca and Rachel saw the success their own Bloomin\u2019 Blinds franchise could provide. The sisters decided to take a leap of faith and opened their East Dallas location in May 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With\u00a0the support from Kelsey and the Bloomin\u2019 Blinds team, the process of opening their franchise was pretty seamless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe enjoyed the training. Plus, the industry experience and knowledge we\u2019ve gotten over the years also helped,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Communication is key for the sisters, who frequently spend a lot of time together outside of work. Despite being total opposites, the sister duo knows all about blending business and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe bring different perspectives to the table, and that allows us to work things out easier,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With their blinds franchise up and running, Rachel and Rebecca finally saw their vision come to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI love looking at the final result and making the customers happy,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Rachel has the flexibility of being with her family and making her schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like that I don\u2019t have to worry about asking for time off or feeling guilty when I have to miss something for my family,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The duo is tackling every aspect of the business by themselves for now, but they anticipate hiring employees this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the busiest we\u2019ve been in a long time,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the challenges due to COVID-19 and having to close their business for a week, the sisters have bounced back, bringing in even more business this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith more customers at home and saving money from things like family vacations, they had more time and money to put into their house,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pair utilized social media and sent regular email updates about the business to adapt to the changes throughout the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLast year, we didn\u2019t know what to expect, but we knew we\u2019d get through it,\u201d Rebecca added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While their first few years being business owners was no walk in the park, the two credit their ongoing success to their persistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to be persistent because the first couple of years aren\u2019t easy. You have to make it happen for yourself,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to stay positive and keep your head in the game,\u201d Rebecca said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s definitely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca Buls and Rachel Barker give sisterhood a new meaning. For several years, the sisters worked together in the blinds and window repair industry, taking after their father, who\u2019s been in the business for 30 years. Together, Rebecca and Rachel share over 25 years of experience in the blinds industry. Starting Out in the Blinds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-franchising"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":817,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions\/817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloominblinds.com\/rochester-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}