On A Very Personal Note…

In 2009, when Zack came to me with the idea of starting a blog and website I was skeptical. First, because I really didn’t know what a blog was and no, I’m not kidding. Those of you that know us personally can tell you that I am not the tech savvy one in this outfit. I do, however, have mad skills for shopping on a budget and using coupons. Combine that with Zack’s stellar tech skills and Coupon Dad was born.

At the time, both Zack and I had full time jobs in the sales and marketing industry. We were working at the office during the day and Zack was working on Coupon Dad at night. One day Zack told me, “Honey, you can quit your job”.  I couldn’t believe it. It was such a blessing and it had come at the perfect time too. Now, I’m gonna tell you this because after almost six years I feel like we are friends. I’m not telling you this for sympathy.  It is difficult for me to work a “regular” job because I have a rare autoimmune disease. When it’s in remission, I’m great. When it’s active it requires more sick days than what “regular” jobs offer and it’s just not fair to an employer, so being a blogger is the perfect job for me. Then, in the fall of 2010, Zack left his job as well so he could stay home and work on Coupon Dad full time and help me when I needed it.

Both of our families thought we were NUTS, BONKERS, CRAZY, OFF OUR ROCKERS when Zack told them we were going to put all of our efforts into Coupon Dad. They didn’t understand how we were going to make a living. In fact, almost six years later, I still don’t think my mother gets it. Well, it’s a fair question. How do we make our money? We make money in a number of ways, but the two main ways is through the ads that are on Coupon Dad and we also have affiliate links through some, but not all, of the stores that we feature on the site. We make a very small commission if someone makes a purchase through our site. Paying us a commission is a lot cheaper than having a brick and mortar retail store, so it actually cost you less to shop online.  You can read the article why shopping online saves you money .

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, just like anything else, you have a choice when you are looking for that Denny’s coupon,  Macy’s coupon,  or any other coupon for that matter. You could visit the “big” national guys like Retail Me Not or Brads Deals or you can visit the small businesses like Coupon Dad, Coupon Geek or CouponingFor4 to get your coupons.

Instead of going directly to Coupons.com print your coupons, do it  here.  Bookmark it and print them through that link. It’s the exact same coupons that you find on Coupons.com. You can also print your Target coupons from our homepage too.  By doing so,  you are helping the little guy!

If you are a frequent shopper of  Macy’s, Kohl’s, Best Buy, and so forth, buy through us. We have a whole list of stores to choose from. By shopping through us, not only are you saving money, but you are also helping this business stay afloat so we can continue to help you and others save.

When clicking on one of our coupon links and making a purchase, no matter how large or how small that purchase is, you are supporting our small business.  You are helping us buy cleats for our son, books for our daughters, art lessons, drivers ed classes, school supplies, pay medical bills, buy groceries, give to charities, and so much more, for that we are forever grateful. By you clicking on our links, we can continue to keep the site up and running.

We all love supporting small businesses. Did you know that, according to Forbes, that 63% of the new jobs that are being created in the U.S.are coming from small businesses?  The reason I bring all this up is November 29th is Support A Small Business Saturday. I have just shared a way you can support a small business almost every time you make an online purchase. Do you think of Coupon Dad as a small business? You should. Statistics show that the average small business will go under within five years. We are approaching year six! Help us keep the doors open for many years to come!

I will tell you it takes a lot of work to keep up with a website of this magnitude. We are just a two person team and we work at least 10 hours each day, every day. There are no vacation days or other benefits that come with “regular” job.  There are only four days each year that we don’t open our computers. Sure we have some great benefits of being self employed. Our cars have very low mileage on them. My work clothes are yoga pants, and we don’t have to worry if I have enough sick days when I’m not feeling well.

It’s our dream. This is our job. It’s how we pay our bills. This isn’t our hobby, it’s our passion. It’s our livelihood. We also want this to grow so spread the word and tell your friends about us. We would love to be able to even hire a couple of employees some day.

If there are coupons that you are looking for or questions that you have please reach out to us. If you have budgeting or money questions, let us know.  We would love to hear from you!  On the other hand, if there is something that bugs you, let us know. We look at the site everyday and it makes sense to us, but it may not to you.  We do this for you! Our readers are our business. Without you we would not have a  business. So again, we thank you!