The Magnolia Story

This book is the biography of Chip and Joanna Gaines. They are the stars of Fixer Upper on HGTV. This follows both of their lives from the beginning. Chip started out as an avid baseball player. He got a sports scholarship to a junior college. He majored in Entrepreneurship. During college he got a job with a man who had the contract to cut the grass on his campus.

Joanna went to college hoping to be on TV. She did a stint in NYC. But it turns out she did not quite like it. She ended up working for her dad's franchise selling tires. That is where she met Chip, who as a customer needed new tires on his truck. Joanna states that Chip was around 2 hours late to their first date. It was almost a no go.

One business Chip was doing when the two got married was flipping small houses near college. They both moved into one of his project houses. They got it all fixed up. But after the house was ready, Chip made them move out so they could rent the house. Joanna found this pattern repeating many times. It was quite chaotic. After a while they scaled up their business creating new homes. But they were maxes out on loans when the housing crisis hit. They were saved by a small private investor.