Author Archives: Amy Rees Anderson

“Not a One!” on Valentine’s Day

Tonight I went with a group of young women who decided to spread a little Valentines love by heart-attacking some of the neighbors front doors.  For those of you who don’t know what a heart-attack is, it is when you take a bunch of cute construction paper cut out hearts and stick them all over […]

Great Employees Are Not Replaceable (Forbes Article)

One of the greatest lessons I learned during my time as a CEO was that great employees are not replaceable. It isn’t the technology or the product that make a company great, it’s the people. And companies who see their good employees as “replaceable” are wrong. Good employees are not replaceable. Let me clarify what […]

Valentine’s Day Advice for the Single and the Taken

I was married five years ago, but prior to that I was single for ten years, and for every one of those ten years I dreaded Valentine’s Day. It was as if there had been a holiday created just for the purpose of torturing anyone who was single! They may as well have renamed the […]

“What Screws us up Most in Life is the Picture in our Head of How it is Supposed to Be.”

We all have a picture in our heads of how we think our lives should go.  We plan it out perfectly in our minds, laying out what seems to us to be the ideal plan for our lives.  We set goals toward it, we take action based on it, and we kneel down at night […]

Tony Hsieh and the Creation of Happiness

Today I was invited to attend the Credit Suisse Entrepreneurs Conference being held at the Sundance Resort.  For our dinner tonight Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com spoke to us.  Years ago I read Tony’s book “Delivering Happiness” which, by the way, is an excellent book and a must read for entrepreneurs and leaders.  His understanding of […]

A Great Reminder of How Fortunate We Are

I came across this reminder of just how blessed each of us are and I was grateful to have this reminder.  Life is amazing and beautiful and I feel incredibly blessed for all the good in my life.  I have to give a special shout out to my amazing daughter Ashley today as it is […]

The Entrepreneur’s Addiction (Forbes Article)

Some days I get really frustrated at the fact that there are a million things I really want to get done, yet there are just not enough hours in the day to do them all!  And trying to pick and choose which things to put first can be one of the most challenging parts of […]

Things You Must Give Up To Move Forward

As I start off each new week I always try to find some sort of quote or thought that will help inspire me to improve myself as I head into that week.  I am a HUGE believer in the importance of trying to constantly improve ourselves.   I think when we allow ourselves to become complacent […]

It’s Thursday Night – Let the Romance Begin – At least that’s what the study says…

First of all, never let your husband watch morning talk shows with you, unless you are prepared to deal with him when he hears them announce that a recent research study showed that women are most likely to give their man some lovin’ on Thursday nights.  All day today I have had to listen to […]

Learn to Trust People with Firsthand Experience (Forbes Article)

Just over five years ago, my husband and I were married. At the time, I had been a divorced, single mother of two for many years with a daughter who was 11 and a son who was 14. We were married on New Year’s Eve, so winter weather was in full force here in Utah, […]

Attention all Men: Never Let Your Wife’s Car Run Out of Gas!

So it started like this:  I was leaving the house early the other morning in the middle of that terrible snowstorm.  The roads were horrendous and it was freezing outside.  I had an appointment clear on the other side of town, and then I had to head to the opposite side of town for a […]

“How Others See You Isn’t Important, How You See Yourself Means Everything”

You cannot control who will like you, who will vilify you, who will speak kindly of you, who will judge you, who will love you, who will treat you unfairly, who will support you, who will spread lies about you, or who will be your biggest fan. We literally cannot control how any other person […]

Juggling Glass Balls in a Quest for Balance

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the […]

Every Person Matters in a Company, and There is No Such Thing as an Insignificant Position (Forbes Article)

Every single job in a company has vast importance, and far too often people lack an appreciation or an understanding of just how impactful each position is to the overall success or failure of a business. In my many years as a CEO, I would often watch as employees across various departments would either feel […]

Funny Quote Leads to a Great Reminder…

So I came across the funniest quote that totally made me think of my something my daughter Ashley does (thus her avatar on today’s post).  The quote goes like this: When your home alone and someone knocks on your door:           10% say “who is it?”           64% look through the peep hole.           25% open […]

“The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.”

Today my Grandmother Helen Rees passed away after having a stroke.  She had lived a beautiful and long life full of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.  She had lost her husband many years ago and since then she had longed for the day that she could be together again with him on the other […]

Take Time to Have a Little Fun in Your Life

Sometimes we get so caught up in doing “stuff” that we forget to take time to have a little fun in life. Between work, children, cleaning the house, community involvement, doing laundry, church responsibilities, etc, etc, etc, we simply don’t take time to get out and have a good time. Tonight I was reminded how […]

“We Do Ourselves the Most Good Doing Something For Others”

“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one’s self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something […]

Good Leaders are invaluable to a company. Bad Leaders will destroy it. (Forbes Article)

Good Leaders are invaluable to a company.  Bad Leaders will destroy it.   When good leadership is in place in a company it can be felt throughout the entire organization.  There is a corporate culture that isn’t forced, it has been developed.  Communication is daily and open. Everyone understands the vision and goals of the organization […]

Be a Problem Solver and Discover Your Inner Genius!

Some of the greatest inventions in life have come about because someone saw a problem and decided they wanted to fix it!  One doesn’t necessarily have to be a great genius to solve a problem, in fact, some of the most amazing ideas come from people who simply want to find an easier way to […]

“I wanted to send him something sexy for his birthday, but the mailman made me get out of the mailbox!”

Happy Birthday Rollin! Yes, January 10th is my better half’s birthday, and since the mailman made me get out of the mailbox I decided to instead take a moment to publicly wish him a very Happy Birthday and to tell the world that I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world to be married […]

“It’s only by saying “no” that you can concentrate on the things that are really important” – Steve Jobs

One of my biggest weaknesses in this life is being able to say “no” when someone needs me.  I struggle when I see any situation where I know I can be of help to not make time to help someone.  And I know the real reason it is hard for me is because I desperately […]

Photo Montage of Grand Opening Event

 Rather than writing a blog tonight I thought I would share a few of the fun photos taken of our Grand Opening Event.  First I will show photos of a few of our friends who attended and then I will post some of the other photos of the inside of our offices as not all […]