By the age of 23, Ryan Rydell had 3 kids, and was spending most of his life working in sales and small business management to pay the bills for his family of 5.
Life was OK. He has a family that was healthy, and a job he was good at, really good. By the age of 26 he was taking a piece of the American dream when he bought his first home in 2007. Things were going well enough.
In 2009 Ryan went through a knee surgery and had been off work for about a month when the recession hit the area. It affected his industry, but not nearly as bad as the hit his family took in October 2009 when their house caught fire. They lost almost everything they had. Clothing, furniture, photos, their home… and Ryan’s sense of direction with it. Our insurance claim was denied, leaving him with a family of 5 to care for, a sense of defeat, and a sales management job that demanded too much of his time. They had no place to live, no money to rebuild what was lost, and no idea where to go next.
Ryan dove into learning the legal system and was fighting 2 court battles to get his home back, one against a national insurance company and another against a national bank. The worst part is he had to do it Pro Se (representing himself). So he spent a lot time learning about contract law, the litigation process, and legal documentation. Rydell was also spending any available time tearing apart and rebuilding the house piece by piece, a skill he learned from his father, and from his time as a framer. This left him with almost no time for his family.
In January 2011 while at a management training meeting in Indiana, the Regional VP was reviewing a few marketing pieces Ryan had put together for his sales team. He remembers his exact words to this day:
Ryan, if you were not such a great sales manager for me, I would say you were in the wrong business. You should be in marketing.
He took his words to heart. “If I were to start my own business I could have the extra time necessary to rebuild my house, learn the legal system and fight in court for my home, and still be able to spend time with my family.” – Ryan reflects.
In Jan. 2011 Rydell took the dive and started a business – RyCOM Creative (originally called “The Ryan Company”). Initially, RyCOM offered only graphic design and digital marketing services. Things grew slowly that year, but soon Ryan had moved out of his basement to a small office in Downtown Rockford. In 2012 RyCOM had tripled their 2011 revenues, and in 2013 it grew by another 200% – thanks to Ryan’s willingness to learn, to serve, and to expand his services based on client and community need. Things were going great for the business.
Unfortunately, Ryan was still fighting in court to get his house back, and laboring away on the house rebuild. Plus, he was completely wrong about having more spare time. Ryan remembers thinking “Running my own schedule was supposed to give me more time, but I was running a business – spare time was nonexistent. I had a choice to make – my house, or my family.”
Through this process, Ryan was locked into getting back what was taken from my family. “Rebuilding the walls of our house is how I envisioned restoration. I was wrong…so very wrong.” The entire time Ryan was spending at a construction site, in a courtroom, at his office, or in meetings – his kids was desperate to spend time with him; to connect with him; to recover with him.
By the end of 2013, Rydell had finally realized that he was fighting for the wrong things. By starting his entrepreneurship journey, he wasn’t giving himself more time to rebuild his house, Ryan was building a future for his family that wasn’t going to rely on anyone else – not an insurance company, not a bank – he put his future in his own hands.
So – Rydell expedited some resolution to all the unimportant stuff. Since then, RyCOM has become a great company serving over 500 clients, and has helped Ryan refocus on what matters, recover from the loss, and establish roots in a community that he loves. Needless to say, the Rydell’s don’t live in that burned-down house anymore – but who wants to live in the past?