Faith, family, friends and career has always been the motto Paul Schaumberg lives by. “I couldn’t ask for a better life.” But he’s taken quite the journey to get here. Paul grew up the son of a general contractor and as early as high school he was helping his dad and brothers with all the details of that work. The vision they held for the future is that they would each own some aspect of the business his dad built, and eventually, work on it all together.
It was in college that Paul discovered interior construction and knew that it’s what he was meant to do. While he studied, he continued to help out where he could on the family business from afar. After College, life took him and his then fiancé, Ellen, to Milwaukee where he worked at several architecture firms during the day and on his dad’s business on the side. He always felt like he should be heading back home to work on the family business full time, but other opportunities continually pulled him in new and exciting directions. “I was learning so much. It was all so valuable.”
News that his dad was moving the family business to Florida, coupled with his now wife being offered an opportunity to move back to her home state of Minnesota, gave Paul and Ellen an opportunity to consider some options about where they wanted to be located. It wasn’t an easy decision but it “…all ended up being a blessing in disguise” and they headed to Minnesota.
Once settled in Minnesota, Paul and his wife started a family. Not only was work busy, but life was busy too. Among other opportunities he found a position at Lifetime Fitness where he felt the most challenged he’d ever been in his career. It was about this time that his dad passed away. His brothers kept the family business going, but only here and there as they also perused careers of their own. “The dream of working on the family business died with my dad.” Paul thought his only option was to climb the corporate ladder, so he continued on.
The causality of a pandemic layoff, Paul ended up consulting through several other firms with lots of opportunity to work on various, exciting projects but always found himself working 60-70 hours a week. With a young family at home “The work life balance was not making me happy.”
It was at this point that Paul took a step back and really assessed what was important to him. Paul realized that the dream he had of the “family business” was possible for him, it just looked different than he grew up envisioning.
“My dream came true. I live and work in a community that I love.” Paul started his own firm, Paul Schaumberg Design, and works out of his home. He’s thrilled to be 5 minutes from his boy’s school and on his boat in 10. He’s still busy, but “good busy” and reflects daily that it took him 21 years to get to this point, but that he got something from every one of those years. Every morning he wakes up grateful and goes to bed grateful knowing that his dad would be proud. “We absolutely love Waconia. We’re putting our flag in the ground. We never want to leave.”
Paul lives in Waconia with his wife Ellen and their two boys. In his free time, he loves to boat, relax with his family on their deck and cheer on the Green Bay Packers.