The alarm clock goes off most days at 4:45 a.m., and Jay Jorgensen is quick to hit the off button with the palm of his hand while his wife Amelia rolls over and mumbles something incoherent. Almost every day before 6 a.m., Jay will get in a morning workout, drink coffee and peruse the morning news online. Amelia is up and running shortly after, usually moving faster after her first cup of coffee, and is in the kitchen, beginning the baking process of one of her cakes for her business. Together, the couple then work to rouse their kids to get up and get ready for school.

Jay and Amelia are a couple of hard workers in their mid 30’s. They see each day as a gift and they truly treasure the life that they have built, but they also understand that they are currently in an extreme season of busy. They live in beautiful Bozeman, Montana, and while they try to take advantage of the area’s variety of outdoor activities, both are kept on their toes most days as they each run their own successful business and work to raise their children.

Family Life

The couple feel very blessed to have two active and healthy kids: Jack, who is six years old, plays t-ball, and loves to float and swim during the summer months on any water that his parents will allow him to be on. Samantha (Sam-bam) is five years old, and is completely in full-blown, princess mode. However, she also loves all furry animals and doesn’t understand why she can’t have a farm in the family’s backyard. The Jorgensen’s delight in their kids and have dreamt about the possibility of having a third child in the next one to three years.

Jay’s Work Situation

Jay is a general contractor that serves the Bozeman and surrounding areas, focusing about 80% on new home construction and 20% on remodels. He has been in business for about seven years and has five loyal, long-term employees. Business has been good, and he is currently booked out for the next three years.

Jay is passionate about being a good boss and employer and takes a lot of pride in doing solid and reputable work, especially in a community where construction needs are plentiful, yet there is a lot of competition. Jay does his best to keep costs at a reasonable level in spite of this pressure, and his attention and reputation for quality continue to be to his advantage.

Jay had a friend, Virgil, that ran a plumbing business. Jay was very close with him and often subcontracted to him on new home projects. Unfortunately, Virgil recently passed away from a heart attack. Jay knows that Virgil was a good foreman and had a solid reputation in the community. Since Virgil passed, Jay has toyed with the idea of buying that business to add to his current contracting business, which would consist of adding five more employees, a shop and three trucks.

Adding this business would enhance Jay’s current business, and it would also take the burden of managing the business off the shoulders of his friend’s widow, Kathleen, who Jay and Amelia dearly love and want to support. She is currently running the business, but a decision to sell needs to be made soon as she can’t maintain the management of it for more than a few months.

Amelia’s Work Situation

Since the time that Jay and Amelia married, nearly 10 years ago, Amelia has worked in specialty shops and bakeries. She has always had a knack for baking, and she especially enjoyed creating buttery, sugary concoctions that wowed the local patrons. When she had her kids, she worked on a more part-time basis. But, about three years ago, she decided to make a go of it on her own, baking her favorite thing - custom wedding cakes, out of her home. It was a hobby business that she did for friends, and it has been steady work through word-of-mouth referrals.

Amelia bakes her cakes as she can around the schedules of her kids’ schooling and activities, but she is especially busy in the peak of spring and summer wedding season. She believes she can do more when both kids are in school full-time; but for now, she occasionally hires a neighborhood teen to help watch the kids as she is fulfilling orders. Amelia wrestles with the balance of wanting to do more with the kids in the summer months.

Amelia’s specialty is tiered, artisan cakes with seasonal flavors and a variety of buttercream frosting delights. She has a basic web page for her work and hasn’t needed to do any marketing of her business otherwise.

Dreams and Values

Jay and Amelia's home is a spec house that Jay originally built for his business. Their original plan was to live in it for two years, but it has now been six. While the home is nice and functional for now, and is a low monthly mortgage payment, the couple have dreamt about one day building their own custom dream home, mostly because they feel that they need additional space for their family and their activities. Plus, they have considered adding to their family.

Jay and Amelia desire to be as present as possible for their kids and maintain a balance of quality family time with work needs and responsibilities. They see themselves as successful in life, and their kids seem happy and well-adjusted. Their faith is important to them, and they try to instill the values and morals they hold dear to their kids, as well as be good members of their community and business owners that contribute and care about the needs of others.

Next Steps

Jay and Amelia have some big decisions to make in regard to whether they purchase an additional business (Virgil’s plumbing business), build a dream home now or put it off for a few years, and how much business growth they want to pursue. There are also other considerations to make on how they want to spend their time i.e. how much time to spend working vs. how much time do they want to have to spend as a family.

CoCreate can help the Jorgensen’s in laying out all the possibilities for consideration so that they can make informed decisions that will truly help them pursue what matters most to them and their family.