Amber Venz Box's Recipe For Success? Slow Living For Her Family *And* Her Business

Before Venz Box sat at the helm of LTK alongside her husband Baxter, she was known as the young girl who crafted things for her classmates. "I was literally making and selling jewelry in high school. I figured out how to make the popular earrings Jessica Simpson used to wear and would sell them for $20 when it cost $18 to make them," she said with a laugh. It was her first hard lesson about learning how to effectively price items so she could profit from them.

From there, Venz Box's unique style inspired her to move to LA so she could learn the ropes of being a stylist. "I spent so much time carrying around heavy loads of clothes and realized it wasn't as glamorous as I thought it would be," she said. This caused her to pivot and turn her attention to blogging while working as a personal shopper in retail. She was also maintaining her jewelry business as a side-hustle.

"I was dating Baxter around this time and since he has a background in engineering, he helped me create the basis for what LTK is today. He was like 'You're doing all of these things for your blog but they're cutting you out of your business,'" Venz Box said. She never thought about it like that until he pointed out she could build something lucrative. Eventually rewardStyle was born, and the couple were able to secure brands like ShopBop and Net-a-Porter as the first retailers for the app. Eventually, rewardStyle became LiketoKnow.it — AKA LTK.

Being a first-time mom means that I'm always curious about how other moms navigate having a family while working or maintaining their own hobbies. For Venz Box, trial and error have been the name of the game. "Honestly, my oldest daughter Bird is eight, and I'm just now figuring things out so that should tell you a lot," she said. On a more serious note, she says three things help her move through her roles more efficiently — prioritization, delegation, and boundaries.

"When Bird was younger, she was always with me whether I was traveling or being watched while I was in a meeting. But, my second son Boyce had digestive issues so I found I couldn't travel with him the way I could with Bird," Venz Box noted. In addition to trying to figure out a system that worked for her children, Venz Box realized she wasn't good at setting boundaries. She said, "Sometimes I would leave for work before my kids woke up and not get home until after bedtime. I was literally missing spending quality time with them in order to finish work. To make matters worse, I'm a people pleaser so I was having a hard time say no to just about anyone. Guilt always crept in."

When she learned to started prioritizing what matters to her — family first — Venz Box was then able to begin delegating work tasks to others and setting boundaries. "My number one rule is that Baxter and I don't work on weekends. That's time for us to spend together as a family and pour into the kids," she said.

Prioritization, delegation, and setting boundaries led Venz Box to discover the art of slow living. "Being on the go all the time was not only starting to affect Baxter, but our kids were also becoming anxious," she said. She also mentioned they lived in a busy area of Dallas and this probably contributed to that anxious feeling her family was beginning to feel. The desire to make a change came to a head when Venz Box realized she wanted to consider moving in January.

"When I first told Baxter about my idea, he just laughed like he usually does when I present him with something big or wild. But, I made him listen so he knew I was serious," she said. Once Baxter decided he was on board with moving, Venz Box said she had a brief moment of panic. " We were watching TV so when he said he was ready to move whenever I was, my chest got a little tight. I thought, 'Oh no. This is really happening,'" she said.

With that, the family moved to a sprawling ranch in West Texas and continue to thrive as a result of slower living. However, not all of the kids were okay with it at first. "The two younger ones — Bizzy Jean and Boots — were super excited about moving and being able to go to school with their older siblings," said Venz Box. She shared that Boyce was fairly indifferent and only cared about being at school with his older sister Bird.

"Bird gave the most pushback out of anyone. She'd spent two years building a friend group in Dallas so she had anxiety about moving," she said.

However, once the family got settled into their ranch, Bird opened up and she's been excited about where they live as well as her new school. Venz Box told me she feels the benefits of slow living have been presenting themselves for not only her family but for herself as well. "I'm finding I'm able to spend more time with my family, get rest and not have so many people coming in or out of the house. Stress is even reduced which benefits my overall health," she said.

Aside from being excited about school, her kids have been looking forward to activities outside of the house and don't have a hard time when Venz Box or Baxter have to leave. "We can do something as simple as leave to go to the grocery store and it doesn't result in meltdowns," she said with a smile.

LTK also receives the benefits of Venz Box's more intentional approach to life. There 700+ global employees who are able to work remotely as opposed to being required to work in Dallas. They're still required to her in person — known as 'hoteling' — but remain remote for the majority of their employment. "This opens up the door for people to do things like take walks in the afternoon to refresh themselves and focus when it's actually time to work. There's also less of a disruption because they're not being interrupted at the office by constant doorbells, boxes being opened from deliveries and more," Venz Box said.

Now that LTK's team is able to focus on being productive, they've been able to have incredible collaborations and rollout new features for the app that are going to benefit brands as well as content creators. During NYFW, LTK partnered with Influencer Management Firm Kensington Grey Agency Inc. to host a happy hour event and panel discussion that highlighted various Black creators. "So many of Kensington's influencers use the LTK shopping app and since we've been huge supporters of each other, it only made sense to collaborate in this huge way during NYFW," Venz Box proudly said.

Recent Rollouts — LTK Cart, LTK Marketplace and LTK Comments

LTK Buy Now With LTK Cart

One of LTK's first rollouts this fall was the launch of Buy Now with LTKCart. Creators will now have the opportunity to shop and checkout with select brands — including Lucchese Bootmaker, Misa LosAngeles, Buffbunny, and Roe Wellness. This not only helps creators have a more seamless app experience but it benefits the brands who are participating in LTKCart as they've seen a 2X conversion increase since the launch.

LTK Marketplace

Introduced at LTKCon, LTK Marketplace is a new feature that allows creators to submit proposals to brands whose campaigns they'd like to be a part of. Venz Box said, "For the last decade, Influencer marketing has been like a dating app where only one side gets to pick who they want to date. Now, vetted, professional creators get to pitch the brands they love to participate in their upcoming campaigns and this dynamic is industry changing."

LTK Comments

Also introduced at LTKCon, LTK Comments will grant creators the ability to comment on each other's posts for a more interactive experience. Of the new feature, Venz Box said "Creators have made emotional connections with their community, which serve as the heart of the creator-guided shopping experience. Empowering these audiences to connect provides a powerful engagement dynamic that furthers the trust and engagement shoppers have with the creators they have chosen to follow."