Life is one heckuva guide with, ideally, soooo many desirable chapters.
That is definitely true of Rhonda Reed. The West Nashville native has lived in Mt. Juliet for 30 years; she additionally has a home and household in Watertown. In our dialog, she thumbed by the pages of her life.
“Once I was 6, my mom had a jewellery celebration,” she recalled. “That made an impression on me. As quickly as we may, me and my girlfriends all labored half time. Earlier than lengthy, I had the most important events in that firm’s historical past however was too younger to be a distributor. They needed to put it in my mom’s identify, so the journeys I gained went to my mother and father.
“That was my first expertise with community advertising and marketing and I used to be hooked,” mentioned Rhonda. “So, I’ve all the time had a job and a aspect hustle and met a few of the most superb girls alongside the way in which.”
She additionally met a complete lot of nation music greats and made probably the most of alternatives that got here close to.
“One evening considered one of my pals requested me if I’d come right down to PeeWee’s, a bar that was owned by George Jones’ greatest buddy,” recalled Rhonda. “I labored there one evening and made $500 in suggestions.
“I mentioned, ‘Hey, I’ll be glad to fill in anytime you want me to.’ So, I labored for all these nation stars who’d come to his membership. George had Possum Holler in Printer’s Alley; I didn’t actually know what I used to be doing however sort of faked it and mentioned I had expertise as a bartender. After they reduce lemon wedges and these fancy fruits to go on the drinks, I believed uh oh I used to be out of my league.
“I bear in mind Tom Jones rented the entire bar and paid us $1,500 apiece to remain after hours,” she mentioned. “It was actually cool assembly folks like that and I made sufficient cash to get my first bar. I received married and had two children, however that marriage ended.”
Because it does, life continued on.
“Me and a girlfriend, my two children and her daughter had a home behind the bar,” mentioned Rhonda. “It was by the (Nashville) Fairgrounds. Nashville began to vary and we determined to promote. I moved out to Mt. Juliet as a result of I wished the small-time life and so they had actually good faculties for my children. I ended up remarrying and staying.”
She and her husband, Steve, who owns a portray enterprise, have been married for a number of a long time.
“I constructed a multi-million-dollar enterprise in community advertising and marketing,” mentioned Rhonda. “There’s a whole lot of unhealthy ones on the market — there’s a whole lot of unhealthy folks —however there’s additionally a whole lot of good. I signed up some superb girls and put all my time in them, so not solely I turned a millionaire however so did they. My daughter was in faculty making $60,000 a yr.”
Household, she says, is her high precedence.
“I’ve a great-grandbaby and am so in love along with her,” mentioned Rhonda. “I’ve raised eight kids. I had 4 kids after which raised three granddaughters. My final one simply left for cheer follow; I’ll be 67 when she graduates. My father had a daughter when he was 60 and handed away, so I’ve raised her. It has been nice residing in Mt. Juliet and having them develop up right here.
“It’s simply actually necessary to have the ability to be a mother,” she mentioned. “For those who work eight hours a day, you possibly can simply make that 10 hours with journey time. My older two children had been raised by babysitters as a result of I used to be a single mother.
“That’s what community advertising and marketing offered: the prospect to be a mother to my children, go on discipline journeys, be concerned in sports activities. None of that did I ever get to do earlier than. No matter folks’s aspect hustle is, there are such a lot of methods you may make a residing on-line nowadays.”
What about all those that say to watch out for community advertising and marketing?
“I’ve tried firms that ended up going below; that’s a danger,” she acknowledged. “No matter cash I spend, I get to jot down off my taxes. Community advertising and marketing gave me the cash to do all these different issues in life. Now we’re simply chilling and having fun with my senior years, as a lot as I hate to say it.
“Individuals depend Child Boomers out, however we nonetheless have a whole lot of life in us. Individuals want pals; they want connections. They’re depressing within the 9-to-5; then they work their aspect hustle and that’s the place they get their happiness. That’s the story of my life.”
Cheryl Lewis is a author in Tennessee; she could be reached at [email protected].