Chapter 14: My Life In Business - Building a Future (2016)

My life as Co-Founder of Thirty-One

20 chapters from my 20 years

Including never before shared stories

To say that 2016 was a year focused on my family’s future would be an understatement. After purchasing 10 acres of land in 2015 we had already broken ground and had our new home under construction as we welcomed in the year 2016.

We had only arrived back in Tennessee 18 months ago but we felt like we had found what we had been missing for the past several years. Being able to live in our home state again was such a blessing and I don’t know if I would have had the same appreciation that I have now if we hadn’t have spent five years away from our true home.

My two older kids turned 13 and 10 early in the year. Big milestone birthdays had me all sentimental and extremely grateful for the opportunity to raise our family in Tennessee. Our youngest was three years old and this new home was likely going to be all she remembers when she thinks of home.   

While my personal life was full of decision-making regarding our new house, the company was on the other side of what ended up being our peak years. Until this point our business challenges revolved around growth. We outgrew facility after facility. We exceeded inventory sales numbers and dealt with backorders. We seemed to be constantly hiring people to accommodate all that it took to make everything keep rolling. We still had two national conferences with nearly 10,000 consultants in attendance. The first event was in Salt Lake City and the second was in Columbus. With our theme of Better Together we were focused on finding the upward momentum we were so familiar with.   

When challenges in business arise they are often related to growth challenges or struggles with decline. I was on the optimistic side of hoping for the business to steady out at a healthy annual sales number that was manageable and rewarding. I was of the opinion that growth year of year indefinitely was not the definition of success. A healthy company with strong values and exceptional employees that were not looking to leave at every new opportunity was what I appreciated.

In September we held our annual incentive trip in the Dominican Republic. I enjoyed these “work weeks” the most. Who wouldn’t love to work Oceanside at an all inclusive resort and spending face to face time with so many amazing people we typically see only a few times a year.

A week after returning from the Dominican Republic we finally got to move into our new home. I was thrilled with the end result and sincerely thought we were going to spend many decades there. I was enjoying the honeymoon phase of having a new house and all the fun aspects that it entailed.