How many true friends can you say that you have had for more than 30 years? You might have a couple, but the number is probably very low.
For Adam and Beth Katz, the list begins and ends with two people: Andy and Jane Albright.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1991, Beth and Adam accepted elementary teaching positions in Harnett County in North Carolina as part of their Teaching Fellow Scholarship requirement. Each new teacher was assigned a mentor. It just so happened that Adam Katz and Jane Albright were assigned to the same mentor.
Eventually, that mentor started a “side hustle” with Andy Albright in Amway. Andy asked the mentor for a list of names and Adam and Beth Katz were on the list of people to contact.
30 years later, it’s hard to imagine not seeing the Katzes and Albrights not “doing life” together.
“We realized early that our salaries were not going to get us where we wanted to be,” Adam said. “I was very open to ideas of how to make money outside of teaching.”
Andy, then 27, visited with Beth and Adam, who was 22, at their modest townhome, which led to attending an opportunity meeting. They liked Andy and the rest is history … 30 years later!
A lot of “life” has happened during the last three decades. The two couples have been there for the good, the bad and everything in between. The birth of children, the loss of loved ones, the highs and the lows … they’ve experienced it all together.
From 1992-99 the Katzes and the Albrights were working outside of their “9-to-5” jobs building their Amway businesses. If they weren’t teaching, Adam and Beth were working to bring in more income. When Albright had an idea, they were “all in” and tried a number of different money-making ideas.
In 1999, Adam Katz got his insurance license. The reason was to actually make more money that he would be able to invest into his Amway business. Slowly, it became clear that it was time to shift his entire focus into building an insurance agency.
“I knew Andy was working on something and it was probably going to be insurance,” Adam Katz said.
The Katzes said it didn’t matter what direction Andy and Jane went professionally. They had decided to partner in any endeavor with them and “do life together.”
“I just wanted to find somebody to do life and business with,” Adam Katz said. “I always had the dream of having my own business. We were lucky that we ended up with them, and it all started because we liked them and built a relationship with them long before we made any money working with them.”
Pretty quickly the Katzes were able to replace a teaching salary with a multiple six-figure income with The Alliance. That number rose to $1 million annually and the Katzes have enjoyed the ride beside their long-time friends.
They’ve traveled the world with the Albrights in places they never imagined they would see in person. Another constant during their travel is ice cream. It’s a tradition that started on a cruise in Germany. Every trip they are on together, no matter the location, Adam journeys out to find ice cream for his wife and Jane, who loves coffee-flavored ice cream.
“I started a tradition that continues all over the world anywhere we go,” Adam said.
Adam and Beth have went from living in a small townhome to living on the coast in Wilmington, N.C. in their dream home where they raised their three children – Sarah (married and expecting a baby this year), Emily (an agent with The Alliance) and Andrew (a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill).
“We’ve always believed in Adam and Beth from the beginning,” Andy Albright said of his long-time friends. “There’s no couple we want to be successful more than Adam and Beth. They have been by our side when things have been very good, but they’ve also been there when things were not so good. Their loyalty is something we honor and cherish greatly. It’s been a blast hanging out with them all over the world.”
Good or bad, the Katzes said they always had tremendous support from the Albrights.
“They’ve never given up on us even when we’ve given up on ourselves,” Adam Katz said. “They believed in us more than we believed in ourselves. To have somebody in your life that will speak that kind of life into you is just an incredible thing.”
Beth Katz said repaying Andy and Jane for all their help and guidance during the last 30 years is impossible. However, Beth said helping others is their way of showing the Albrights gratitude.
“Adam and I need to be to others what Andy and Jane were to us,” Beth Katz said. “That’s the way we can give back to them for what they’ve done for us.”
The book of Ruth in the Bible talks about making the Covenant Commitment. In a literal sense, a covenant means a binding agreement, a legal contract. It is a seal between two or more parties.
Ruth 1:16-17 reads:
“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
Adam and Beth believe that sums up their relationship with the Albrights. It’s a special bond they don’t believe will ever be broken.
“We didn’t worry about our differences were, we found the commonalities that we could build on,” Adam Katz, 53, said. “It’s been so beautiful to watch come together over 30 years. The next 30 years is going to be more of the same.”
“The idea of us being able to live like we live the last 20 years is crazy,” Adam Katz said. “We decided to be beside them. We have 30 years of great stories.”
Beth added that there is no question in her mind that the relationship happened because it was meant to be.
“We are where we’re supposed to be, we are with the people we are supposed to be and we are just looking forward to what the future holds,” Beth Katz said. “We love doing life with Andy and Jane.”
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