For those of you that don’t know this, my husband owned a business, grew it quite substantially and sold it back in 2012. He co-founded http://questglobal.net/ It was a monster and trumps any responsibility I currently have. It honestly grew and became way bigger than he ever anticipated and probably wanted. When I met him and we got married he was where I currently am in my life. He was the go-getter and was eagerly building a future, hustling and growing a company.
Owning a business is not always easy and I saw that first hand living through him. I was a solo entrepreneur for 7 years prior to STARTplanner, but it has a completely different meaning when you have employees and assets leveraged for ROI.
In 2008, the economy tanked and the trucking industry was one of the first industries to take a hit. We had a newborn. I was not the sole provider at that time nor could I have been with where I was in my business. I remember the look of disappointment and fright in his eyes when he came home and they had just lost 50% of their business to a supplier. While laying in bed that night he said, “Kristy I am not sure if we can keep our house if something doesn’t change fast.” The next day we took my car and traded it in for something modest and we spent the next 6 months preparing for the worse.
My husband and his partner busted their butt and turned it around but, it left a huge impact on us both. Since then, Jeremy and I only buy things in CASH and personally, we leverage nothing. As a woman and myself, I knew in that moment, no one was ever going to be in control of my life again and that next year is when I turned my business up a notch. Working is not for everyone. I honestly get some backlash with my views on women working, balancing, and overall saying women can do what men can do, and to be honest, I don’t care. I will continue to stand up and let those few quiet voices be a silent noise in my life because, in my opinion, women should do what makes them happy. Work, not work, and ultimately that is up to her and her spouse to decide how to make their family unit work. Yes, I post about my business, but my family ALWAYS comes first and I think if nothing else, that makes me a stronger leader because I want that not only for myself but for my team as well.
Currently at this moment here are my job roles. I get asked all the time. Kristy, what do you do? It is not an easy answer but here is a brief synopsis.
- CEO and co-founder of STARTplanner
- CEO sole owner at Kristy Dickerson & Company which encompasses speaking engagements for private firms, conventions, and Universities. It also encompasses KristyDickerson.com Under this umbrella it also is my current one book but I have two more on the boilerplate that it is just a matter of when I will write and of course current author of Start Balancing (www.StartBalancing.com)
- co-founder of START LOVING YOU INC (www.StartLovingYou.com). – A women’s conference. This is happening in May and I would love for any of you to join! Grab your girlfriends, escape to San Deigo and let’s have an amazing weekend connecting! The speaker lineup is unreal!
- My business partner with STARTplanner and I also purchased a new building recently and it has been a fun project renovating and getting moved in. Here is my new office there at the new place.
And also here is the new and improved and all natural Kristy that is ready to bring it in 2018.
Also, as I sit in this new office, of something that I have helped to build, I am proud, I am also hyper-aware of the responsibility it entails and in case you haven’t seen I am ready to work to make it all happen!
Challenge, growth, pushing myself and others is my passion and this feeling of being alive and in control, nothing can compare. Nothing. It makes me a better wife, mom, friend, etc. I hope one day maybe my boys will look back on this blog of mine (that encompasses so much growth and change) and be proud of how we have learned, endured and grown not only professionally but personally. I have grown up sharing it with all of you and I have no intention ever of taking down any old posts. Those stages of uncertainity, fear and growth are something we all can relate to and it is more story that I will always embrace.
Keep dreaming with me friends!
Kristy
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Your story is truly inspirational, uplifting. I admire you and what you are accomplishing. I am a senior citizen that is contemplating making a business out of my love of photography.
you are amazing and a total inspiration to women. I love to work and feel judged by others who are a full time mother and don’t work outside the house. I love to help those very same moms who volunteer countless hours at the elementary schools, find and sell their dream homes! I, like you, KNOW, we can do it all!
I can sympathize with you. In 2010 as the economy went further down the hill so did we. We lost everything we had worked so hard for over the years. It was hard to be in our early 40’s and start all over. My husband had to burden all the financial troubles himself as I was in the fight of my life with medical problems and we had three young kids. It took some time and a lot of hard work and as you say a lot of hustle. We now own our home mortgage free and pay with most all things with cash. I believe things happen for a reason we will never ever again put our lives in the hands of greedy banks and financial institutions. Congrats on your success. Thanks for the post
You inspire me so much!!!! I am a mom of 2 and I work outside of the home and currently studying to get my Accounts Payable certification. I mostly struggle with balance especially since I do work outside of the home and come home and work also. Every time I feel like throwing in the towel there is always something inside my self pushing for more. I love reading your post and you always inspire me to push even harder. Thank you