For Jen and Steve Chou, the best part of running their own businesses isn't the combined $1 million annual income — it's the ability to spend as much time as they want with their 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son.
Fourteen years ago, Jen, now 45, and Steve, now 46, began the process of leaving their 9-to-5 jobs.
Jen started Bumblebee Linens in 2007, which produces custom-designed handkerchiefs, aprons and towels. She co-founded it with Steve, who also found success documenting Jen's business journey>Running their own businesses
Jen started Bumblebee Linens while she was pregnant with her first child, quitting the financial analyst job that kept her in meetings from the early morning with her company's European team until late at night with the team in Asia.
She and Steve had been successful selling off excess handkerchiefs that they purchased as favors for their wedding, so they figured that a similar e-commerce business would be a good way to create a new income stream. The initial investment was about $600 to order a few hundred handkerchiefs as well as a digital camera to photograph them.
"My goal for the business was initially $5,000 a month," Jen says. "At the time, I was like, 'If I can just help pay the bills, that would be awesome.'"
But Bumblebee Linens grew quickly, and within five years had expanded out of the couple's garage into a warehouse space with two employees. Bumblebee Linens now has about $1 million in annual sales, with Jen taking home half that figure.
Though both Jen and Steve work at Bumblebee Linens, they share no responsibilities. Jen runs the company's day-to-day operations and is in charge of orders, packing, shipping and the embroidery process, while Steve handles all of the marketing.
Jen Chou packing boxes for Bumblebee Linens.Tejas Doshi
"The way we have it now is really good," Steve says. "We don't step>What they spend in a month
Here are the couple's monthly expenses as of November 2021:
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- Retirement: $9,600 to an SEP IRA account
- Kids' education: $5,400 for private school tuition and extracurriculars
- Housing: $3,650 for their mortgage and property taxes
- Insurance: $2,800 for life, auto, home, dental and medical insurance
- Food: $1,800 is split between groceries ($600) and dining out ($1,200)
- Discretionary: $1,050 data-test=”Pullquote”>We both have this philosophy that our biggest investment is our kids. We really want them to be well-rounded.Jen ChouCo-founder, Bumblebee Linens
Steve and Jen contribute roughly $9,600 each month to a simplified employee pension (SEP) account, but are currently holding off>Finding balance, and keeping a lid>Looking forward
Steve and Jen have no plans to leave Silicon Valley and their $2,100 monthly mortgage any time soon, but they don't see themselves staying there forever.
"We joke that we're going to move out of California as soon as the kids go to college because it would be so much cheaper to live out of state," Jen says. "The employees [at Bumblebee Linens] would be cheaper and the location would be cheaper in terms of rent for our office."
Steve admits that he thinks about going back to work "every now and then," though he relishes all the time he is able to spend with his kids. Once they're away at college, he says he may look to fill his schedule again.
"There's a part of me that misses working with other really smart engineers," he says. "But it would be impossible to find a job that I could work really flexible hours. More likely, what's going to happen once the kids are in college is I'll probably end up starting my own software company."
For now, they are content to enjoy their success and their family.
