What a year it has been…I feel like I’ve been saying this line at least once a month since January 2021 (2020 and 2021 felt like one long year) – and here we are, at the end. Looking back, the year was sprinkled with highlights, in the business and our personal lives. But I want to take the time to celebrate three people who have been MY highlight. When I started the business back in 2014, it was just me. Then Sunita joined, then René, and last but not least AJ. Like most businesses, ours also took a financial hit in 2020. I had to have a hard discussion with my team about cutting their salaries, completely cutting my own, to keep everybody on board until we could steer into calmer waters again. I was 100% prepared for any of them to jump ship – joining a bigger and more stable one. Instead, the three of them rallied around me and the business, grafting as we’ve never grafted before. I’m honest, there were days I wanted to give up. Without them knowing, it was in those moments when Sunita, René, and AJ and their attitude towards me and our company gave me the courage to try again, and try harder. Because jumping ship was not on anyone of their agendas – they accepted the situation with me, and instead of complaining (which they had the fullest right to do) the three of them stood by me, believing in the work we do, and that things will get better. And they did – they are better! On many occasions, I’ve thought about this experience with the team. As a business owner, it does not leave you untouched or unchanged. Then I found this Simon Sinek quote: “A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”
And then it made sense.
So today – Sunita, René and AJ – the words THANK YOU seem small, but I need to say it, publicly, THANK YOU for:
- Trusting me
- Trusting each other
- Trusting the process
- For being the amazingly talented, intelligent, hard-working, and TRUSTWORTHY people that you are!
- Thank you for being a team, not just in name, but in true action
To our clients and suppliers, may 2022 be a little easier on all of us, on all levels and thank YOU for trusting us!
