A Big Thank You!!!! A year in review.

Let me tell you people, it has not been an easy year. After making the decision to stop working, purchase a home (in need of major renovation), move from Arizona to South Carolina and launch our new business…. (deep breath) I am looking back to a year ago.
 

When we showed people pictures of our new home, we were told many things...

Too much work needed to be done to it, don’t buy it.

Why would you want to move to Union, SC? That’s in the middle of nowhere.

The renovations will cost too much.

Blah, blah – negative – blah

But did we listen? Hell no!! All we saw was the vision. A steal of a deal…a home that my son was going to grow up in…a small community where you know your neighbors… a home that was built for a family – already full of happy memories.

We emptied all of our savings, borrowed a small loan from my family and we walked into the lawyers office, handed them a check and this house was ours. All ours! Paid off!

Brandon works day and night fixing things in our old home. We are constantly cleaning, fixing, gardening…. Every day…. We go to bed exhausted each night and wake up the next morning to do it again.

I decided to stay home to raise my son. A $45,000 a year pay cut….. Financially, it has not been easy at all. But who cares when you have the most wonderful son in the world? He is happy, healthy, smart and strong. I am positive this is because Apollo is being parented well. We play and laugh and sing and clap together. He wakes up every morning with a HUGE smile.

So when it is suggested that I go back to work, the answer is: Hell no!! Knowing that my son is content; that his needs are met is the most important thing.

Instead of “going back to work” we decided, to launch or business and build a team in S. Carolina. Again, I hear all the blah, blah – negative – blah.

Some think it’s not a “real” business because we don’t have four walls as a store front and bunch of overhead.

Some say that I don’t work because I don’t get up at the crack of dawn, sit in traffic all morning just to be greeted by an asshole boss. I wake up when Apollo does, take care of his needs, the house and in between breastfeeding and nap time I “work” until I finally fall asleep at night. Do I have a fat paycheck to show for it every week? No. And when we do get money, it goes to our bills or back into our business.

But, that is what it means to be an entrepreneur. It means working your ass off, whether you are paid immediately or not… when people believe that all you do is eat bon bons like Peggy Bundy because they have no idea what it means to succeed at launching a business…  to create our future, our legacy.

So a big giant THANK YOU!!!!! to all of our family, friends, fellow Mommies and customers that have supported us. 
 Thank you for listening to me complain and whine and vent.

Thank you for letting me know that you support our decisions. It is your words of encouragement that I repeat in my head when times are tough.

Thank you for signing up and supporting our online store ShopArea8.com. Thank you for each and every purchase.

Thank you for every little bit of positivity and prayers - they drown out all of the negative comments and people in our lives. Thanks to my best friend, Sara, who is there for me when I call and supports me during all this change.


During this year we have managed to create a home - even if it's a work in progess... We spent today working on the house. I was peeling off 40 year old wallpaper and Brandon was pulling down one of the chimneys brick by brick. We stink, we're tired...
We celebrated Apollo's first Birthday! Our business has recently launched worldwide. How awesome is that?! So many reasons to be grateful.

If you haven't yet, please go to one of our pages and sign up as a preferred customer. Take a look at what we think is a great business. And of course, shop and save!

 ShopArea8.com    Isotonix   Motives   
If you are outside of the U.S. then go to GLOBAL.shop

Now I'm sitting with my family watching my son clap and giggle aloud at the television.

I gotta say.... It's all soooooo worth it, every moment!

THANK YOU!!!
xoxo

Lauren