Incredible Woman #40 - Amy Oakeson. Friday's Question.

KARA: "What are your top 10 favorite things?

AMY:
1- My daughter & husband – seeing them accomplish something new.
2- huge & awesome extended family, good friends
3- snowboarding
4- cracking up with my HILARIOUS siblings
5- growing a veggie garden
6- getting some exercise
7- chocolate anything
8- Zoning out in front of the TV – I’m a junkie – Modern Family, Office, Parks & Rec
9- music … just about all kinds
10- Bear Lake in July/August


KARA: "Tell us your beauty secrets. What helps you stay healthy and happy?"

AMY: "That’s funny because I’m pretty low maintenance. I try to get as much exercise as I can and make it a point to put on at least a little make-up each day.

But I do love my pedicures! I definitely take care of my feet. If my toes look good, everything feels right in the world."

Thanks to Amy this week for a wonderful interview. Amy was nominated by my sister, Kris, who is on the board (with me) of the Four of Hearts Foundation - a non-profit organization that helps feed and clothe little children in Guatemala. We are the charity that is involved with Amy's business - Just Between Friends. I got to meet Amy this year at the Spring sales, and help out a little bit. It was so much fun, and of course it was great getting to know another incredible woman a bit more. I've learned a TON from Amy this week - hopefully it was an enjoyable interview for you to read.

Amy's full 5-day interview will be up on the blog all day Saturday and Sunday. Sunday night - like always - the blog will be UNDER CONSTRUCTION while we get ready to bring you another Incredible Woman. Have a great weekend!

Incredible Woman #40 - Amy Oakeson. Thursday's Question.

KARA: "Your husband described you as "compassionate and caring". What kinds of things do you do to show compassion to others? How does this enrich your own life?"

AMY: "Seriously? Wow. Surprising because I have struggled with this my entire adult life. I’m not very openly emotional with most people. In fact, I’ve even been told I can be a pretty tough cookie. I’m really working on doing better with this. I feel very deeply for others, but struggle to express it. Because I’m not great with expressing my feelings, I tend to be a woman of action. I’m better with concrete things like that... a person has a specific need, so I fill it the best I can. I certainly won’t be the first person to give a big hug or write an emotional letter. But if a friend needs help with her kids, I’m on it. Or someone has a financial issue, I’ll give everything I can. I have to give credit to my husband’s family, particularly his parents, for showing us the value of actively serving others. We’ve had many opportunities to serve together as a family and it’s been a powerful learning experience for me. I cannot describe the joy in doing something for someone that they cannot do for themselves. I came to appreciate this even more after having my daughter. It was a particularly difficult thing physically and there was a lot that I simply could not do. I had so many wonderful friends and family members help with the simplest things and it made all the difference in the world to me! I feel a little selfish sometimes in helping people actually, because I get so much out of it for myself. I guess that’s just the beauty of it, right?"


KARA: "Your husband also told us that you were a cheerleader in high school and college! (Aren't husbands just so wonderful!) I've had several friends who have been cheerleaders... how do you think being involved in this type of activity at a young age helped you prepare for later life?"

AMY: "Gee, my husband is super wonderful … (insert sarcasm) not at all embarrassing.

Cheerleading paid for college, which was awesome because I’m frugal! So that was great. It also taught me discipline. You can’t get up before dawn every morning and have so many time commitments for years and not learn to be a little bit responsible!"

Tomorrow is our last day with Amy. I'm anxious to find out her Top 10 favorite things - and, of course, her beauty secrets. I bet you are too. Come back tomorrow to enjoy the end of our interview.

Incredible Woman #40 - Amy Oakeson. Wednesday's Question.

KARA: "You are a stay-at-home mom in addition to your consignment business. Tell us what you enjoy most about staying at home. Was it hard to go from full-time outside work to full-time at home work?"

AMY: "To be honest, I had a tremendously difficult time transitioning from the role of more-than-full-time breadwinner to mostly-stay-at-home-mommy. I had my sweet baby a little later in life – by Utah standards – at the ripe old age of 30. I’d been in the workforce full-time since I was 18. I had financially supported my husband while he completed his education and then as he built his business from scratch. I was good at what I did and I enjoyed working. I felt active, powerful and in control. I was firmly entrenched in that role and the change was rough … okay, disastrous for my fragile ego. Everything that I felt had defined me was gone, and here I was in a new role I didn’t feel I could fulfill. It was overwhelming and the perfect recipe for a fierce depression that became one of the greatest struggles of my life.

After awhile, I decided to get through the transition the only way I knew how … I got to work! But I had to re-think it to fit my new life because I wanted to be home with my daughter as much as I could. Work for me became time in the gym, becoming a distance runner, and taking on some new challenges on a snowboard. I had the opportunity to run in multiple races since Hailey was born, including the Salt Lake 10-miler, Half Marathon and the Ragnar Wasatch Back! Before training for these, I had never run farther than about a mile without walking or stopping. I truly felt blessed to have those opportunities come to me. In the many hours I struggled along roads, trails and mountaintops around our beautiful state, I learned some powerful lessons about life and about myself.

I’m still fairly new at being a mom and being at home so much. And I still struggle often with feelings of sadness and difficulties with this transition. But I have learned that I am so much more than just my ability to make money for my family or what I am professionally. I learned that I can and will do whatever I train myself to do. I’ve learned that each of us have tremendous value for no other reason than that we are people, children of a loving Heavenly Father. I’m glad I struggled so much with the transition to “mommy.” I truly wouldn’t have it any other way."


KARA: "I've always thought I'd like to own rental properties someday. Tell us a little bit more about that. What are the challenges and blessings of this type of work?"

AMY: "Since I talked about this a little in the other question, I’ll give you the Cliffs notes version...

Challenges — work, work and more work! When our other young married friends were out playing, we were working to improve our little properties. We sacrificed financially for the sake of the properties, too. I’m sure our life in the short-term would have been more comfortable without the properties. It took some time to get them “in the black.” And to most couples, a fabulous vacation would have been more enjoyable than a down payment on a tri-plex!

Blessings – It’s no secret that our generation doesn’t have tremendous faith in the government or the stock market. I feel a lot more comfortable having a little more control over our investments and retirement vehicle. It feels nice to have something tangible. Our goal was to create enough cash flow each month from our properties to pay for our personal mortgage. When we reached that goal as a couple, it was bliss! Accomplishing something as a team feels amazing and we get a little of that every month that the properties turn a profit. It’s also great to see young families move on from our apartments and purchase their first home. It’s exciting! And it has made us stronger together."

I'm learning so much from Amy this week! Come back tomorrow to find out what two words Amy's husband used to describe her...

Incredible Woman #40 - Amy Oakeson. Tuesday's Question.

KARA: "You own your own business. Tell us about what you do. Why did you choose this particular business? Tell us some of the ups and downs of this business. What is your favorite thing about it?"

AMY: "I own the Utah franchises of Just Between Friends. JBF is the nation’s leading children’s and maternity consignment sales event. We hold sales events twice per year (Spring & Fall) in Davis County and Utah County. We provide a venue for families to sell their outgrown, gently-used children’s items and put some money back in their pockets. They tag their items & bring them in. Then we sell them at a 3 day event, and pay the consignors 65%-75% of the sold items’ prices. It’s also an opportunity for families in the community to purchase items for their children at drastically reduced prices … usually 70-90% off retail. We get everything from clothing to books, games, toys, sporting goods … it’s awesome!

There are certainly a lot of ups and downs in this business. There is so much work going on “behind the scenes” to make a sale successful and it requires significant energy and financial investment -- I’m sure more than most people realize. And every sale is an exercise in faith. You just don’t know if it will be successful until it’s all said and done. But the ups far outweigh the downs. Seeing what a blessing the sale is to the families in the community gives me so much joy! I love writing big checks to consignors after the sale, and putting money back into the pockets of local families! And I love seeing families of all ages, sizes and situations saving money and stretching their budget so they can do more for their kids. And of course, being able to make a significant contribution to our partner charity – The Four of Hearts Foundation – feels wonderful!"



KARA: "How did you and your husband meet? Tell us your love story! How do you keep your marriage fun and exciting?"

AMY: "We worked together and we were great friends. Not the most romantic love story, really. But I already told you I’m not super girly – no mushy stuff for me! We were just great friends at first and, lucky for me, it turned into a whole lot more. We dated about a year before getting married in 1999.

I think our marriage stays fun and exciting because of a few things: what we have in common, what we don’t have in common, and good ol’ fashioned hard work!

We have a shared love for real estate and investing, so naturally we worked together in the area of investment properties. We started a rental properties business in 2000 and have been growing it ever since. It was such a sacrifice of time, money and effort. But we did it together and it felt amazing to build something as a team. Aaron found his passion through that endeavor and began managing property and finding investment property for others as his career. Today, we’re both licensed realtors / property managers but work in very different spheres and focus on totally different things. But our roles complement each other and, I think, come together to make a successful business as a whole.

It doesn’t sound like the most romantic thing, but spending time apart pursuing separate passions has helped our marriage stay fun too. Aaron is totally in love with his two sports: basketball and golf. He plays basketball anywhere from 5-7 times per week! And he golfs just as must as possible. I really try to accommodate his hobbies because it’s been great for our relationship. And he’s great to make sure I get to work out and snowboard as much as I’d like, which is a lot! I swear I’d spend every winter day on a mountain if I could! Because we work together, and we’re together probably more than most couples, time apart helps keep us interesting to one another.

Probably the most defining characteristic of our marriage has been WORK. We make a point to work together and serve others together every chance we get. We are the happiest when we are working together to achieve a common goal. It doesn’t even matter what the task is. It has been anything and everything from buying our first rental property to roofing on an August day to getting out of debt. And now, raising our family. We even have a little family cheer … Teeeeeaaaam Oakeson!"

Come back tomorrow, when Amy will answer questions about being a stay-at-home mom (kind of), and a little bit more about the rental business.