I’m a Woman… I Changed My Mind!

I was going to do another top ten list. It was logical, it made sense. Until I started to do it!

Truth is, I don’t use very many online services. If I can do it with a self-hosted program on my server, or a program on my desktop, I’ll own my own functionality, thank you! I haven’t run across a free service that impressed the socks off of me in many moons.

I was hard pressed to come up with THREE extraordinary servcies that I use regularly, let alone those that were any kind of news. The one that came to mind is kind of a trade secret – one of those that is a real find, not highly popular, and something we use in our business to both help our clients, and to sound impressive when we need an answer that nobody else has.

Besides, compiling those list when you DO know what to list is more time consuming than the average post because you have to make sure all your links are valid. So I opted to babble instead.

Business has picked up for us, and we have reached the “sustainability point”. This is the point where we have the number of contracts coming in per week that we set our goals for a year ago, where we knew we’d be to the point where we could make the money necessary to sustain the business and to get Kevin and I onto regular salaries that were liveable – not grandly, mind you, but enough for us to get ahead bit by bit if we are wise.

So we are now strategizing to maintain this level of workload without outsourcing any more than we are now, and planning for outsourcing more once we exceed this level. If business continues as-is, we’ll have a slump again in the winter and spring, then exceed this level this time next year by a significant amount (our business is more than double now what it was this time last year). We’re not out of the woods, but we are galloping toward reaching our goals. That is good.

What is getting us here?

1. Building relationships first. That is the beginning and end of our marketing. The value of those relationships has given us benefits that are incredible. We’ve come to know many wonderful people who have chosen to help us along the way. Their value and friendship is beyond price.

2. Helping before asking, Giving before soliciting. We try to help wherever we can without giving away our services wholesale.

3. Doing our best to serve our clients. We like our clients, and if they like us, it is because we try our best to give them more than they pay for.

4. A truly different set of services. They may look the same on the surface, but once we get into it with the client, the difference is obvious.

5. Determination to do whatever is necessary and honorable to grow our business. We don’t give up. We stick to integrity.

6. Prayer and blessings. We pay a tithe on our earnings, and we consult the Lord in what we do. This should perhaps be first, because if there is wisdom in what we do, it comes from the Lord, and if there is anything wondrous in our growth, it is a result of trying to give back to the Lord as we have things given to us. We surely need to do more in that – but I must acknowledge the hand of God in our growth, and I must acknowledge that when we give to the Lord, He returns it ten-fold again.

So it is fall again, and I am still harried and too busy to possibly do it all, but I’m also working smarter, more focused, and seeing great things come together.