Rand & Jo's Big Adventure...

We couldn't have chosen a more appropriate name for our business.  Little did we know 21 years ago what a crazy adventure this would turn out to be.  Yet life is like that.  We have a plan, we start making choices, and 21 years later, we are still in the community, in a new building, but still making the countries best bread. (Yep, we just won the award again!)

Rand & Jo's Big Adventure came about as we were sitting with the franchise folks and they explained we needed a separate business name to set up our franchise.  Of course, being the practical person I am, I'm thinking "Kneaders and Bakers" or "Bakers of Taylorsville" - Rand laughed and said, "Rand & Jo's Big Adventure" - and the decision was made.

Truly though, to be honest - our Big Adventure began in February of 1988 when we committed to each other to love, laugh, and live passionately for the rest of our lives.  One of the promises Rand made to me at that time was that my life would never be boring!  He has fulfilled that promise without stumbling.  Boring would never be a word I would use to describe any part of our life together.

When we bought the bakery on May 1, 1995, we really didn't have much of a plan.  We just thought it would be a great idea to run a bakery.  Rand is an English Major and I was a licensed Recreational Therapist.  Not a business class between us.  We purchased the Taylorsville Great Harvest from Paul Maurer.  He was the original owner of the Holladay Great Harvest, and he had opened the Taylorsville store in 1992.  

Both Rand and I were working for Paul at his Holladay store when Paul decided to sell his existing stores.  We considered ourselves blessed, and we moved forward with faith.  Rand had been baking for several years before we bought our store, so the actual process of baking bread didn't overwhelm us so much.  It was the financial end that seemed a bit daunting. 

Our biggest challenge was figuring out how to increase sales quickly - for truth be told - we had a debt payment to make, and it was truly a leap of faith to think that we would be able to do it on what the bakery was currently producing in sales. 

When we started this adventure Rand was 34 and I was 28, we were young, willing to risk all we had (especially since we didn't have too much :o), and eager to try our hand at creating our own little corner of the world.  At the time, Tyler was ten, Alesha was two and Jackson wasn't even born yet.  We jumped in and simply started figuring things out through trial and error.  

Lesson 1:  Dare Greatly!  Life is lived a day at a time, and truly, we get to choose if we LIVE it or if we OBSERVE it...  Rand and I decided to jump in with both feet and LIVE it...  We haven't made that choice perfectly through the years, and we each have had seasons of simply hanging on and trying to breathe through the next moment, or day, or week.  However, the lessons remains - We learn the most when we Dare Greatly!  

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for, as Paul Harvey used to say....  "The Rest of the Story"...