Over the years, I have come to realize that I am only as good as the people that I surround myself with.  This applies to every facet of our lives, whether it is in our businesses or personally.  Since we started our business a few years ago, David and I have spent a lot of time building and even rebuilding our team.  It's hard to find good people -- especially people that want to work.  For us, there is something within both of us that drives us go the extra mile and to always push the envelope.  And, this inner drive hasn't only been while we have owned and managed our own business.  It's been here all along. 

The more experience we gain in running the day to day operations of our company, the more we think that having this trait of wanting to go the extra step is what seperates the good from the great.  We've gone through quite a handful of employees over the last couple of years - probably because we often expect others to be as committed as the two of us.  In reality, we don't expect over the top commitment from our employees.  We do, however, expect the ability to get things done. 

I was telling (more like barking) David this morning that at the end of the day nobody is going to look at what you 'tried' to do.  Rather, they are going to look at what you actually got done.  There's a big difference. 

David (my husband) and I are now the proud parents of a five year old monthly community-focused print magazine, 14 month marketing and business development firm, and a 14 month small business networking group that we host. On any given day we manage 80-120 advertiser accounts and a handful of marketing clients (who demand a lot of our time). Our networking group meets every Thursday and is literally the talk of the local small business community, yet we haven’t figured out how to earn money from it.

In the past 14 months we’ve managed to grow our business from one person to ten and then downsize back to two with a handful of on and off again part time support staff. The slowing economy is literally sucking the life out of us. We literally feel the slowdown of every small business out there. Sales remain strong but receivables are slow to come in. Although right now is not the time to cut back on marketing, more and more of our clients are pulling back. This blog is intended to be a record of our experience through these tough times.

Back in 2005, I decided to run for public office. It was an all-encompassing experience that demanded more than just the attention of me, the lone candidate. Hence, my husband (a data analyst by trade) needed a job that allowed him flexibility in his schedule so that he could campaign side by side with his wife. A friend of ours owned and managed a community based magazine (Insight Magazine) and she was ready to get rid of it. We had no experience running our own business but we went ahead bought the publication from our friend back in 2005 and have had it ever since.

I lost my first bid at public office in September 2006 (yes, I will be doing it again). As great as my employer was during the campaign, I just could not bear to go back to the same humdrum again. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great job and all the flexibility in the world. But, I knew that I may never again feel the exhilaration felt during the campaign if I did not go out into the world and make a mark for myself.