Family Matters | Aimee & Jimmy Visney

ASB is incredibly proud of the familial bonds that are shared all across our departments and positions. Husband and wife sales team, Aimee & Jimmy Visney share the story of their life and business as new members of the American family.

How did you meet?

Jimmy: Blind date arranged by friends…although Aimee wasn’t aware it was a date.

Aimee: My good friend Shawnna was dating Jimmy’s best friend, Jesse. Because I had zero interest in dating at the time, Shawnna told me we were going out with a group of Jesse’s friends. I show up to Jesse’s in old jeans and a tee shirt, very unimpressive. I was surprised to find it was just Shawnna, Jesse and Jimmy.

Jimmy: My friend told me “this girl really wants to meet you.” So basically our entire relationship is based on a lie. But it all seemed to work out in the end.

Aimee: 17 months later, Jesse and Shawnna were the maid of honor and best man in our wedding.

How long have you been together?

Aimee: We will be married for 19 years in May.

How long have you been working together American?

Aimee: We have only been with American for a little over a year. I was working for another distributer when we first met and, at the time, he was a freelance writer who just so happened to be writing for Corporate Express catalog programs. The owner of the company I was working for talked Jimmy into trying his hand at sales, and he started a month before we were married. So technically, we’ve been working together for 19 years but closely for the past 9.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on together?

Jimmy: Not sure about favorites, but one of our most memorable has to be an order I got early on in my career for the St. Louis Science Center. They were showing a film about F-16s called Fighter Pilot on their 5-story domed Omnimax Theatre screen, and wanted 10,000 airplane barf bags with a label that had $2.00 off admission. Problem was, no one at the time was printing or labeling these things, so we had to peel and stick labels on all of them ourselves! We enlisted co-workers, family, friends, friends’ kids – anyone we could find to get the job done. We sat in front of the TV every night for weeks sticking those things on. Of all the items I’ve sold over the years, it’s one of the only ones I actually kept a sample of as a reminder.

What’s the hardest part about working with your spouse?

Aimee: Always talking about work. Even if we make a conscious effort not to, something inevitably comes up. Working from home has its benefits but it’s extremely hard for us to shut it down when it’s right here all the time.

Jimmy: There’s always an order, a problem, a process that’s needs discussing and fixing.

Aimee: Balance is something we’re still learning after all these years. We’ve also learned how to extend grace to each other on those hard days.

What’s the best part about working with your spouse?

Aimee: Jimmy and I work well as a team. His strengths are not mine and vice versa. I feel like over the years we’ve learned to embrace and lean into that. I’m a “jump of the cliff and learn how to fly” type and he researches everything on flying first. (We love to travel.)

Jimmy: Our flexibility. We can work whenever and wherever we want. (Although the “whenever” lately is more like “always”.) Because of our jobs, about 5 years ago we were able to pull our twin boys out of grade school and travel the US in an RV continuously for a year. We worked on the road, and “road schooled” the boys. It was an incredible experience and virtually impossible with traditional 9-5 jobs.

Why do you recommend working with family?

Aimee: Working together allows us the freedom to just go, and we try to take advantage of that as often as possible. We road trip almost everywhere, taking turns working in the car when necessary. I know spending as much time with your spouse as Jimmy and I do isn’t for everyone, but it works well for us.

Jimmy: Not sure I do recommend it! I don’t think it’s for everyone, but it has worked for us. Mostly because Aimee is incredibly patient and understanding and long suffering. I don’t think I could have done this with anyone else. Or rather, I don’t think anyone else could do this with me. She’s the stable force and positive voice that keeps me from going off the rails…and gets me back on track when I do.