Sweet Sixteen: A Business Birthday Worth Celebrating

Rachel Cannon Limited is turning sixteen, and for the first time in all those years, I threw a proper party. Not a networking event disguised as a celebration, not a quick toast squeezed between client meetings – an actual party with champagne, friends, and the kind of joy that makes you realize you’ve been taking yourself too seriously for far too long.

Florals by Forage Floral

Sixteen years. When I say it out loud, it sounds impossible. Not because the time flew by, but because I’m genuinely amazed that way back in 2009, a girl who had $300 in her bank account and a fresh LLC filing managed to build something this meaningful.

The Accidental Entrepreneur

Let’s be honest about how this started: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It was 2009, the economy was imploding, and I’d just been let go from the design job I’d held for five years after finishing school. My brilliant plan? Freelance until things got better and someone would hire me back.

Three years later, I looked up from my drafting table and realized I might actually own a business. Not because I’d set out to be an entrepreneur – that wasn’t even on my radar – but because survival has a funny way of turning into success when you’re not paying attention.

Those early years were a masterclass in figuring it out as you go. I invested in business coaching because I knew I needed help, even when I couldn’t really afford it. I set boundaries I didn’t know I was capable of setting. I learned to believe in myself when there wasn’t a lot of external validation coming my way.

I was living to work back then, but not in the hustle-culture way people talk about now. I was working to save my own life.

The Real Foundation

Here’s what I couldn’t have written in a blog post ten years ago: my business became my lifeline out of an abusive marriage. While I was building client relationships based on trust and respect, I was remembering what those things actually felt like, and coming to the realization that in order for me to not just survive, but thrive, I had to leave.

It’s strange to think that interior design – something I’d always loved but never thought of as particularly life-changing – would become the thing that literally changed my life. But maybe that’s how God works. Maybe the talents we’re given are always intended to save us, even when we can’t see it at the time.

I spent those years not just building a business, but rebuilding myself. Learning to trust my instincts about design meant learning to trust my instincts about everything else. Learning to stand up to the occasional difficult client prepared me to stand up for myself in ways that mattered more than any project ever could.

The Celebration I Never Had

Which brings me back to our Sweet 16 party. As I watched my team laugh with clients who’ve become friends, and as I listened to people share stories about projects from years ago, I realized this party was more than a business milestone. It was a celebration of the woman I became while building this company.

The girl who started Rachel Cannon Limited was scared most of the time. She woke up nervous and went to bed exhausted, not because of the work, but because of everything else. She measured success by survival: making payroll, keeping clients happy, keeping her head above water, successfully making it through another day without being berated the minute I walked through the door at the end of the day.

The woman celebrating sixteen years wakes up excited about what she gets to create that day. She works hard so she can enjoy her life, not the other way around. She throws parties and makes jokes and actually means it when she says she’s grateful.

What Sixteen Taught Me

Sixteen years in business has taught me that success isn’t just about the work you do, it’s about who you become while doing it. I’m proud of the spaces we’ve created, the lives we’ve made more beautiful, and the problems we’ve solved. But I’m prouder of the woman who built the company that does all of that.

I’m proud that we’ve created something where my team loves coming to work, where clients trust us with their most personal spaces, where everyone feels like they can be themselves. I’m proud that we’ve built something sustainable and meaningful, not just profitable.

And I’m proud that somewhere along the way, I stopped being afraid.

Here’s to the Next Sixteen

As I look toward the future, I’m excited in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I started. We’re expanding into lifestyle content, integrating fashion and travel and beauty into what we do. We’re sharing more of who we really are, not just what we create. We’re having more fun.

But the foundation remains the same: creating beautiful, functional spaces for people who trust us with their homes and their lives. It’s just that now I get to do it as someone who knows her worth, celebrates her wins, and isn’t afraid to take up space.

To everyone who showed up to celebrate, to every client who’s trusted us with their vision, to my incredible team who makes all of this possible – thank you. You made that scared girl with $300 believe she could build something extraordinary. You literally changed my life.

And to anyone reading this who’s in their own version of that dark place, wondering if they’re strong enough to build something better: you are. Trust the talents you’ve been given. They might just be exactly what you need to save yourself.