Floor Coverings International Owners Traded in Corporate Career to Raise Kids and Work From Home

When Donna Teagle and her husband, Jay, decided to start a family in 1997, Donna began exploring career options that would allow her to keep working while also staying home to raise their children. Well raise them she did and she deserves a Mother’s Day salute.

After extensive research, Teagle, along with her brother, David Moore, decided to invest in a Floor Coverings International (FCI) business in Wheaton, Ill. It was the perfect solution. Teagle has enjoyed a thriving business for 10 years and was able to work out of the house and schedule appointments with customers around her kids’ schedules.

“I wasn’t ready to give up working all together. Floor Coverings International allowed me to stay home with my children while also running a successful business. It was the perfect opportunity,” said Teagle.

FCI pioneered the concept of a mobile floor covering franchise in 1988. FCI uses mobile showrooms to bring more than 3,000 flooring samples to customers’ homes. The samples are viewed in customers’ homes under actual lighting conditions together with wall colors, furniture and accessories, which eliminates the guesswork from choosing the right color and texture of the flooring. FCI’s products include carpet, hardwood, laminates, luxury vinyl, ceramic tile, area rugs and window coverings.

While it remains a mobile, shop-at-home floor covering retailer, FCI has transitioned from its “mom and pop” roots into a world-class merchandiser of flooring products whose professional Design Associates bring product and design knowledge to customers that isn’t common in the industry. In addition, a new boutique design showrooms are popping up across the country; Teagle is hoping to open hers within the next few years.

FCI’s professional design associates will assist homeowners in the often-overwhelming process of choosing flooring while taking their needs, style and budget into consideration. Design associates can walk consumers through the features of different types of flooring and help them make comparisons.

“We take all the guesswork out of shopping for floors. We sit down with our customers, find out who they are, what they want, how much they want to spend and then find a solution,” said Teagle of her visits to customers’ homes. “Most people don’t have the ability to visualize, so we do it for them.”

FCI has not only grown in popularity with their customers, but also with people like Teagle, who are interested in opening up their own business. The company projects that four to five new FCI’s will open in the Chicagoland area within the next two years and 20 to 25 will open nationwide in that same time frame.

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