05/23/2026
The other day I was walking through our warehouse and found myself staring at one of our trucks.
Not because it needed anything.
Not because there was a problem to solve.
Just because for a moment, I remembered when it didn’t exist.
I remembered when Lovitt by Design was just me, a vision, and a whole lot of determination.
Back then there was no warehouse.
No rows of furniture.
No moving division.
No truck with our name on the side.
No CRM.
No SOPs.
No team.
No systems.
No roadmap.
Just a dream and a willingness to work harder than I ever thought possible.
Over the years there have been thousands of decisions.
Some exciting.
Some terrifying.
Some that kept me awake at night.
I remember ordering furniture and wondering if I had just made a huge mistake.
Writing checks for inventory before I knew where the next project would come from.
Taking chances on pieces that would eventually fill model homes, luxury listings, condos, and cottages all across our market.
I remember walking through a larger warehouse for the first time and wondering if I had completely lost my mind.
The rent was bigger.
The responsibility was bigger.
The risk was bigger.
I stood in an empty space and tried to imagine it filled with furniture, artwork, rugs, lamps, movers, designers, and possibility.
Today that warehouse is full.
But at the time, all I had was faith.
I remember buying our truck and thinking, “This is a lot of money.”
Then spending even more money to have it wrapped.
Not because I wanted a pretty truck.
But because I believed our company was worth investing in.
I remember the late nights researching software, comparing systems, building workflows, creating checklists, writing SOPs, fixing SOPs, and rewriting SOPs again when they didn’t work the way I had envisioned.
Nobody applauds those moments.
Nobody sees the hours spent creating systems that prevent problems before they happen.
They only notice when something goes wrong.
And then there are the people.
The part of business ownership nobody really prepares you for.
I remember interviewing candidates and seeing potential.
Hiring people and genuinely wanting them to succeed.
Training them.
Coaching them.
Encouraging them.
Celebrating their wins.
Believing in them.
Sometimes even more than they believed in themselves.
But ownership also means having difficult conversations.
Holding people accountable.
Protecting standards.
Making decisions that affect real lives.
There have been moments when I’ve had to let people go, and despite what some may think, those moments never feel good.
They feel heavy.
You drive home questioning yourself, replaying conversations, wondering if there was something else you could have done.
Those are the parts of leadership nobody celebrates.
There have been days when everything went exactly as planned.
And there have been days when a truck was loaded, the crew was scheduled, the timeline was tight, and we arrived only to discover the house wasn’t ready.
Days when employees didn’t show up.
Days when schedules fell apart.
Days when unexpected expenses appeared.
Days when problems arrived faster than solutions.
Days when I sat quietly for a few minutes before tackling the next challenge because I needed to gather my thoughts and find the strength to keep moving forward.
What many people don’t realize is that as an owner, every problem eventually lands on your desk.
Every risk.
Every responsibility.
Every hard decision.
Every consequence.
You carry them all.
But there are rewards too.
The look on a homeowner’s face when they see their house transformed.
The excitement of a client who finally sees the vision come to life.
The phone call telling us the home sold quickly.
The team members who grow into leaders.
The business milestones you once only dreamed about.
And those moments make every difficult decision worthwhile.
Standing in that warehouse the other day, looking at that truck, I realized something.
The warehouse isn’t the accomplishment.
The truck isn’t the accomplishment.
The inventory isn’t the accomplishment.
The accomplishment is having the courage to make thousands of decisions over twenty-two years.
The scary ones.
The expensive ones.
The unpopular ones.
The exhausting ones.
The decisions nobody sees.
Because ownership isn’t about being the boss.
It’s about being responsible.
It’s about carrying the weight when things go wrong.
It’s about taking the risks.
Making the investments.
Owning the outcomes.
And continuing to move forward even when you’re not completely sure how it’s all going to work out.
Twenty-two years later, I’m still learning.
Still growing.
Still taking risks.
Still believing.
Still betting on the dream.
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this:
Building a business isn’t one big leap.
It’s thousands of small acts of courage repeated over and over again until one day you look around and realize you’ve built something that matters.
Not perfectly.
Not without mistakes.
Not without sacrifice.
But with heart, grit, determination, and an unwavering belief in what could be.
And that’s a life worth building.
Design a life you love… because you deserve to Lovitt, by Design.
