A week ago was the start of Spring (and what beautiful weather we’ve had here in NC!), Passover is this week, Easter comes this weekend… let’s see, there was a full moon last night…  Sarah Palin’s apparently getting her own reality show…

…and I FINALLY got my own Website updated!

I got tired of telling people NOT to look at my Website, with the excuse of the cobbler’s kids having no shoes and all…I had to take the counsel I give to my clients about the importance of an up-to-date Website! So, I finally just sequestered myself (and hubby – my trusty, if somewhat cranky, IT guy), put the cell phone on MUTE, stayed in my pajamas for most of the weekend, and JUST DID IT.

Spring’s here, and we’re all in the midst of spring cleaning, making a fresh start, yadda, yadda, yadda. I’ve been itching to get the site redone for hmm…. maybe 6, 7 months? Regardless of how richly filled my project schedule is right now (I need to hire someone part-time, but working on finding the time to write a job description and post it for oh, 2 months now), it was well past time.

What broke the dam is that I just have so much to share, so much to say, and my business has developed quite substantially since I wrote the original Website almost two years ago. I love what I do, I love the clients that are continually coming my way… and I LOVE the fact that I know (and have been able to help) so many small and medium businesses that have persevered – or better yet, started up and gotten rolling – during such a tough economy!

Here’s something that I’ll bet you haven’t heard anyone say lately: This has turned out to be one of the best periods of my life.

Here’s why: Instead of these tough times causing people to cut each other’s throats and becoming vicious and petty with each other, this time around, it seems many (and a great many who have thus far survived and thrived) have taken the better road – we’ve huddled together, collaborated, and supported each other. Instead of becoming completely myopic and self-consumed, we’ve looked at those around us and learned from, helped, and listened to each other over the bumpy seas – even competitors! Somehow, at the end of the day, many of us have simply decided that we’re all in this together, and I think we’ve all become better businesses, better businesspeople, and better people for it.

I think back over the years before I became a business owner in 2006, and no matter how well I “knew” most of the people with whom I worked, there are fewer than I could count on one hand that I knew even a fraction as well as some of the clients, colleagues, and friends I have today. I also don’t remember noticing my community as much, knowing what’s going on around me as much, or caring about the rest of the world so much, either.

It’s funny – all this has come about regardless of the rough sailing almost all of us have been going through!

Now, I know that the steering is still difficult worldwide. However, if our business community isn’t the exception and becoming more the rule, it makes everything worth it, don’t you think? That even though it’s taken such a tough time to wake many of us up to take part in the world around us, all I have to say is, at least such a number of us have woken up.

It reminds me of a saying my great-grandmother used to repeat to me over and over again, when I was a child: That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. I’m going to add to that: and better.

The same goes for both the person and the business, doesn’t it?

My good friend (and client) Loni Holm of Holm Made Cookies (http://www.holmmadecookies.com) pulled off a nice, short, and sweet presentation last week to a great group of women business owners to which I belong (Women’s Power Networking – commonly called Coffee & Contacts). To make a long story short, Loni makes an AWESOME product, but one of her least favorite things is getting up and speaking in front of a group of people. She’d much rather let her baked goods – now carried in more than a dozen Whole Foods stores in the Southeast, as well as other local specialty stores – do the talking for her. In addition, this one was thrown at her in a pinch, during an overwhelmingly full week for her; however, instead of talking about baking or any of a thousand things having to do with just her business in particular, she spoke about why starting a business during a difficult economy can be the BEST time to do it.

She was awesome!

Anyway, to get back on topic: With such a mutually supportive business and personal community, it has become far easier to look beyond ourselves, our little communities, and at a wider expanse and bigger picture.

How about the planet, and how we (don’t) take care of ourselves?

I’ve had a number of clients that fall into the green and whole health categories; all of the thinking and strategy I’ve had to do for them has made me think, well, why doesn’t everyone else do all of those little things, too? Why don’t more people use Web hosting services that use renewable energy? Or make sure to print their materials on recycled paper with veggie-based, low-VOC ink? Or go electronic in the right situations altogether? Prices have become pretty comparable, so that’s not typically an excuse anymore, but the list goes on and on…

So, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to start doing all of that myself – and to encourage others with whom I work to do the same. Not force it on them, but at least educate them about what they could do, and give them the choice – because many people don’t realize they have one!

At the same time, I’m HUGELY proud of the work we’ve been able to do across the board since I started this business in 2008; it’s been an increasingly painful thorn in my side that our own Website – a key representation of AboutFace Marketing – up until now hasn’t done a good job at showing how exciting things have been, as well as the awesome businesses we’ve had and continue to have the pleasure of doing business with! As we continue to grow this year, I wanted to make sure I had a great place to use as the “home base” for all the exciting things that will be going on – not just for us, but other great businesses and business owners, as well!

So, since it’s prime time to put the dark winter behind us, open the windows, clean out the cobwebs, rake and weed the gardens, change out all the curtains and bed stuff, do that Spring cleaning, jump in rain puddles, and put a breath of renewed life into everything… what better time to get the new Website up?

 Print

Bookmark It

Hide Sites