What Becoming a Widower Taught Me About Business and Vice Versa (Part 1)
Last year, I lost what was most important to me. I’d like to share a little about what that horrible experience taught me, and how I’m trying to turn it into a positive.
Twenty-four years ago — about six years into my career — I was fortunate to meet the woman of my dreams, the one who would become my partner in life, the mother of my children and, as it turns out, my business partner as well. She was the incredible Andrea Tyler Evans, whose infectious energy and brilliant smile made her well-known as the years went on in the Phoenix business community.
Andrea and I built a wonderful life together. We bought a beautiful house in central Phoenix together, became the parents of two exceptional children and became the owners of two businesses — a successful consulting firm, Evans Communications, which we founded in 2003 and merged with a larger firm in 2020, and a publishing company, Frontdoors Media, which we bought in 2017.
But starting in 2012, we had a black cloud over our shoulders. Andrea was diagnosed with esthesioneuroblastoma, one of the rarest forms of cancer in the world. She fought wave after wave of recurrences, endured countless surgeries and treatments and somehow made the most of her time with family, friends and colleagues. I will always be proud and somewhat in awe of the way she battled. But on August 17, 2025, her battle came to an end after 13 years.
It wasn’t sudden, and it wasn’t a surprise. It was the end of a long journey, one that — if there was somehow a bright side — gave me the opportunity to prepare and process. I have endured sudden loss and the grief it creates. Losing Andrea was different, much more gradual, and I suppose in a way that has made life after her passing somewhat easier to comprehend.
I lost a wife and a business partner. I could go on forever about the former. But the latter has led to some interesting insights and lessons, ones that might be valuable to share.
Andrea and I met through work in 2001. Since then, we’d worked as a team to build our networks and reputations in the Arizona business community. With her gone and with our businesses both sold (we sold Frontdoors shortly before her passing), I was forced to re-evaluate what I wanted my final professional chapter to look like.
Here are some of the things I learned. If they sound a bit matter-of-fact, please note that I’m focusing on the business aspects, not the emotional ones.
• Networking is harder now. If you knew Andrea, you know she was one of the best networkers who ever existed. She was far better at it than I am. When she passed away, one of the side effects was that I lost a lot of her network. That’s not a cry for help or anything, it just is what it is. I realized I would have to completely rethink my approach to networking because I didn’t have her to carry me on that front anymore.
• The quality of time. But while networking is all on me moving forward, one thing you learn from the experience of losing someone you love so much is that the creation of quality in the time you have is everything. You learn to consciously cast aside disruption and those things in life that have no benefit. Lots of people talk the talk on this, but I see the importance of this practice more clearly than ever before.
• Doing work that’s meaningful. I’m entering what are likely the last chapters of my career. Going back to the previous point, it’s become time to ask myself, how do I want to spend that time? I’ve been fortunate to do work that’s had an incredible amount of impact over the course of my career. Doing more of it is my unwavering commitment moving forward.
• Solving complex problems. I’ve solved complex problems my whole career. But there is no more complex a problem than losing a spouse. And I’m surviving it. I’m navigating it. I’m figuring out how to do business, to be a father, to keep my existing relationships strong and celebrate new ones. Every day brings a new challenge that can be traced back to losing Andrea. My job is to continue to solve each one so that I can move my life and career forward.
• Balance. This may sound counter-productive in a blog post that’s focused on business, but to be honest, business will never be quite as important to me again as it was before Andrea’s passing. That’s not because I don’t care. It’s because I have the learned experience to put business in its proper place. It’s important, often even incredibly important. But it’s not everything.
• Resilience. I’m slowly making my way through this experience. It’s awful, but I’m surviving it. And part of surviving it is realizing that if I can do this, I can do just about anything.
Losing Andrea was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. But if she were here, she’d somehow try to focus on a bright side. She’d want me to find ways to create joy and feel successful. She’d demand that I keep moving forward and try to create a positive impact on the world. She’d want me to be the best version of myself I can be.
And when you think about it, that’s one heck of a way to approach doing business.
In Part 2, I’ll flip the equation, and write about what business has taught me over the years that I am applying to my new reality as a widower.