Currently being an entrepreneur doesn’t signify you generally have to go it by itself.
Not that Lindsey Epperly has a problem doing items herself. Significantly from it.
The summer time prior to her junior yr at UGA, Epperly walked into a travel agency to pick up a brochure. She struck up a conversation about her review abroad expertise via Grady at the Cannes Movie Competition that spring and walked out with a position. She used her weekends promoting vacation offers at bridal demonstrates throughout the Southeast. That gave her the strategy to get started a journey-connected enterprise and the self confidence to pitch it at UGA’s Up coming Best Entrepreneur contest.
Epperly AB ’11, an English important, was the only non-organization main to compete in the 2011 competitiveness. She finished next but was told by the judges that she didn’t need their help. She was now very well on her way to good results.
“That gave me a great deal of self confidence to press forward with this thought of generating my have firm and performing it on my individual,” Epperly claims.
Spouse and children Company
The ink was scarcely dry on Epperly’s diploma when she released Vacations by Lindsey. It is a feather-light-weight title that she chuckles about now—one that she rebranded in 2014 to Epperly Journey, a luxurious agency that delivers arranging with a particular contact.
Slice to 2018.
Epperly’s client foundation experienced developed, and her rapid loved ones was growing also.
Epperly fulfilled Jeremy Sulek when they were being still UGA college students. A finance major, Sulek BBA ’12 walked on the Georgia soccer staff and performed linebacker for two seasons.
Sulek and Epperly stayed in touch after graduation, receiving jointly for meal or drinks as their schedules permitted. They didn’t start out dating till a person of their friends—in the most rom-com-esque way—quizzed Sulek on why he hadn’t questioned her out on a real day. Matters progressed from there. But Sulek noticed the toll the career was taking on Epperly.
“Lindsey had established this extraordinary enterprise, but she was acquiring burned out,” Sulek recollects. “She was a 1-girl present and she experienced all these wonderful tips, but there were only 24 several hours in a working day.”
When he questioned her to expend the relaxation of her daily life with him, that was the simple portion. His notion about them doing the job alongside one another? Possibly not so a lot.
“I advised her that I actually labored effectively with programs and operations and finance, all things she did not like,” Sulek claims. “I could find out below her and give her the liberty to adhere to through on almost everything she preferred to do.”
But Epperly was skeptical.
A single day, while speaking about options for their wedding day at Starbucks, Sulek even introduced his resume. Epperly left it on the table.
But Sulek didn’t give up. The same week they acquired married, he stop his finance job and stepped in as the company’s COO with Epperly as CEO.
“We obtained married and then I forced her to retain the services of me,” he jokes.
Epperly remembers Sulek’s job pitch a bit in a different way. “Oh, I would have employed Jeremy,” she laughs. “We determined that though we’re youthful and we really do not know any improved, we’ll just discover how to do this: side by aspect, superior, bad, and indifferent. It’s labored out for us.”
Setback and Successes
Lindsey Epperly and Jeremy Sulek are vacation pros as effectively as specialist vacationers, as this visit to Cuba demonstrates. (Image by Natasha Fourcade)
The company continued its upward trajectory and even joined the Bulldog 100 list in 2020. Then COVID hit. Travel might have stopped, but Epperly and Sulek did not. They established an marketplace support work identified as Nourish and invited as lots of journey specialists as they could find—including competition. They shared company programs, marketplace contacts, and other practical hints to continue to keep spirits up.
“We opened up all of our conferences and just encouraged other folks to be a part of the discussion,” Epperly says. “Let’s use this as an chance to be more powerful on the other side.”
People are traveling now in increased quantities just about every day and the company is trying to keep tempo. Over the summer months, the business acquired a different agency, Jetset Environment Vacation. Now they have additional than $25 million in annual sales with more than 50 employees. With the addition, they made the decision to rebrand again and keep the Jetset Environment Travel identify.
“Over the yrs, I’ve scaled Epperly Vacation from a a single-lady exhibit to an total group,” Epperly suggests. “The rebrand is a immediate reflection of how we’re heading from ‘me’ to ‘we’ in the firm. It’s no for a longer period just a solopreneur journey it is all about elevating our crew for the betterment of the planet around us.”
Evidently, Epperly is no for a longer period on her personal, individually or professionally. Organization is booming, and their family members is expanding as properly with the addition of a daughter past yr.
“We are so pleased to be carrying out this once again,” Epperly suggests. “There is a amount of humanity to our perform and the associations with our consumers are specific. We have a entire new batch to work with now, and we are quite psyched.”