(Top- Size Up OG HeadQuarters at my parents house 2011, Bottom- Size Up Shelby the Day we Got the Keys 2012)

Eventually, it came to the point where I did not have enough space to store all the inventory and started thinking of options. Initially, I was set on getting a storage unit and running everything out of there but after weighing out the Pros and Cons it would have been a burden to do so and all the units that had AC built in costed a fortune.

This lead me to shift my mindset to finding a warehouse but out of luck, the father of one of my classmates from high school had a vacant lot at one of the plazzas he owned that had been vacant for quite some time. He wanted to get someone to move in so he offered me a deal I could not pass up.

Everything was looking good and I was expecting to get the keys in the next few weeks when one morning I got a call from him saying; “Sorry for the bad news but we can't lease the unit out to you, your credit score is nonexistent". At the time I was 19 years old, never had a credit card in my life, paid for everything cash which meant I had no established credit. He told me I could get my parents to co-sign on the lease it should work but what he didn't no was their credit was worse then mine from the foreclosure.

I was pretty beat down over the whole situation and thought it wasn't going to happen anymore. That's when Kristjan came along - Kristjan was one of my good friends at the time. We both transferred to a new high school at the same time and both played football so we shared some common traits.

I used to drive Kristjan home from Football practice everyday since at the time he did not have his driver's license then. After High School we both initially tried the whole “College” thing but that didn't last long. Kristjan knew all about my dreams an visions and saw the position I was in.

At first I only planned on having the space for the online orders and for local friends/customers to pick up their orders so I did not have to drive around and deliver anymore.

The space had no sign or store hours. What started happening was when I would leave for food or whatever I had to do for the day people would leave notes on the door saying we needed to have set hours and such.

I didn't consider this before because I didn't want to work there 7 days a week at all times but eventually after numerous notes and emails I said screw it and announced we would be open to the public.

I moved an old couch I had to the back room, bought a fridge and microwave and ended up moving in and living there. I gave my car to my mom at the time since I was there 7 days a week and everything I needed was within walking distance. The Shelby Location is right in front of a Life Time Fitness so I would shower and freshen up there whenever I needed to.

The first few months were rough. I would see a few people all day if I was lucky. However I always tried to keep a positive mindset and never stopped believing. I eventually decided to have a “Grand Opening” which was a way to show people there was a new local supplement store.

It was announced that any customer who came that day was given the now called “Size Up OG Tee” a Size Up shaker cup, Size Up Sticker and samples provided by companies I sold. Not thinking much of it I thought maybe I would get 25-50 people all day, majority of them being friends or current customers.

The day of the “Grand Opening” I remember waking up at 830 to go to the bathroom and there was already a line of people at the door waiting for the store to open at 10.

I was shocked.

The day ended up finishing up with 310 total customers with a line out the door almost all day long, that was the turning point for Size Up. This is also when I hired my first employee Eric, another friend who was a hard worker with a good heart.