Photo credit: floodllama
Another Thanksgiving is upon us and no matter if you like your cranberry sauce from a can with the can lines still on it or you make homemade cranberry sauce, it is a time to be thankful. Thankful for friends, for family, for what we have and so much more.
We have had a pretty amazing year over here at Hall Web Services, I am also very optimistic for next year. We have some big changes coming that are super exciting!
We wouldn’t be even close to where we are if it wasn’t for the people we surround ourselves with. We have a lot to be thankful for.
I wanted to use this post to tell you three quick things I find myself thankful for (work related) and remind you to take a look at your work life too. We all should be planning our goals for next year but with any strategy and goals you need to start with a current inventory of what you have.
- Our hardworking staff – We are just a lil ole Internet Marketing company in Portland, Maine but we have an amazing staff. They are innovative, dedicated and excited to constantly be learning and growing. We have big dreams and goals and we won’t get there without the people we have in-house. The people who want to be here, are here. The people who are helping us achieve our goals are here and exceeding expectations regularly. The people who are no longer here, each served a purpose and each still had a part in getting this company to where it is now.
- Our network – Over the last few years especially, we have grown our network of partners, peers, thought leaders, up and comers, vendors, interested parties and fans. Without this tribe of people we would never have the vision, courage or strength to be where we are in this space. If just one or two things were different in our network, we would be a completely different company. I think we have built trust, thought leadership and likability by being there when people need us (if not before) and by generally not being creepy, jerks, slimy and genuinely being in it to help people. It has been awesome. We have learned so much from the people we surround ourselves with. There was a cool MP3 in Chris Brogan’s last email newsletter, that sparked this post. The MP3 is about How You Grow, growing is less about tools and more about the people you surround yourself with, the people you assign tasks to, the people you relate to. Give it a listen and think about who you have decided to ‘partner with’, grow with and associate yourself with.
- Our customers (obviously) – This is gimme. Hall Web Services has always made customers and not projects a priority. We have tried to make each customer happy and done a really good job. One thing we learned over the last few years is how to choose the best customers for our company and the services we provide. We know (now) that we don’t need every project, we just need the right ones. To go back to #2, we have built a great network of other web designers, developers, SEOs, social media experts and more. As new potential clients come in, we can determine if we are the right fit for these people and their unique problems, or is someone else in our network better for what they need. This is hard for some businesses to grapple onto, but in our experience it has worked out really well.
That is it, for now. Those are three things I am thankful for here at Hall. Notice they are all people related and not hardware, gadgets, gizmos, money, awards or anything else. Maybe I get mushy this time of year but I think having good people around you makes most aspects of your life easier. This isn’t a top-down ‘look at us, we made it’ post, but this IS a we are here and right now, right here, I am thankful for these things post.
So what are you thankful for in your business life? and have you started your goals for 2011 yet?