I’ve always loved American Thanksgiving (or, as most of our readers call it, Thanksgiving).
It’s such a warm and wonderful holiday to spend with family and friends and I have to say, I gaze a bit enviously when it comes time to celebrate it.
And because Thanksgiving is next week, we decided to uncover some hardcore gratitude in this week’s #SpinSucksQuestion.
We asked:
What are you most thankful about professionally in 2019, and why?
The A-Team
Katie Robbert and Christopher S. Penn are partners in Trust Insights and a great team, so we weren’t surprised by their answers.
Katie:
I’m thankful that we’ve built a company culture where trial and error is an everyday occurrence, failing is a good thing, and constant learning is expected.
Christopher:
I am thankful for great business partners like Katie Robbert. What I’m good at, I’m great at. What I’m not good at, I’m terrible at. There’s very little middle ground for me. And that means on a regular, frequent basis, I desperately need Katie’s help to make my work more usable and useful to the people who pay us money. As we often joke, I build the engine, and she builds the rest of the car—but the car is what the customer ordered.
To which Katie replied:
Thanks. A car isn’t useful without an engine.
I am thankful for my team. We’ve cried together, pulled our hair out together, shared inappropriate memes, celebrated together, and grown a ton this year. I honestly couldn’t do it without this group of mostly stay-at-home moms and I wouldn’t WANT to.
The People
I’m grateful for a robust community of professionals who gather at the virtual water cooler when I seem to need a chat, both here and at SoloPR. But, I’m also thankful for an increasingly frequent conversation about ethics and truth in our profession.
I am thankful to have been fortunate enough to be mentored, coached, corrected (gently), and educated by the most amazing women and men (bosses and peers) throughout my career. Without their sage wisdom and guidance to help me make good choices, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
I’m grateful that I took the risk and moved 1,100 miles to Austin. The community here has been warm and welcoming and it feels like coming home. The new connections I’ve made over the last two months have shown up for me in unexpected and big ways and I’m immensely grateful.
I am thankful for good, sound advice from this amazing group. I’m also thankful that wisdom is finally bearing fruit as I find myself able to prioritize and focus in a way that wouldn’t have been possible for me professionally a decade ago. While I still maintain a high expectation of my work and results, I have tamed the “need to be loved” and the “I can do ALL THE THINGS” urges that left me chasing too many rabbits during my early professional career. I’m also thankful for a company that values what I do and allows flexibility with my hours/days/location. I wouldn’t be working if that wasn’t the case!
The Work
I’m grateful for my work. Specifically, I’m thankful for transparency—we were bought in July and our parent company has made other acquisitions since then. The CEO has gotten on Slack twice for a half-hour each time and personally answered candid questions about the ramifications of these acquisitions. It was impressive and reassuring.
I’m thankful that we’ve completed—or are about to complete—several major website rebuilds. We have good customers who’ve been with us a long time. Most of the websites we did this year, in fact, are the second versions of those customers’ websites. We built their originals, helped them maintain, and they came back for a new site! (That doesn’t happen too often in this industry.)
Grateful for the ability to run my own business, make decisions that benefit me and my clients, and have the ability to take my agency in the direction I want.
Business Growth
I am most thankful for the growth of my business in 2019. This forum is a big part of why I grew. I met someone on Spin Sucks that I have been working with since March. Collaborating with their agency has been great as we make each other better. I have learned so much from them and I believe the feeling is mutual. I’m also thankful for my new home office. It might seem silly, but no longer sharing an “office/guest room” really makes me feel like I’m getting up and going to work. I believe this has also contributed to my growth in a more subtle way. Here’s to more growth in 2020!
Professional Support
Seriously not trying to suck up here … but I’m thankful for the Agency Jumpstart program because it got my agency going in the right direction this year. I’m also thankful for my new hires this year. They have allowed me to delegate tasks so that I can focus on vision and selling more!
I’m thankful to be surrounded by some of the most supportive marketers in the industry. I have felt a wall of support all year which is lucky because it has been a tough one. So, for everyone who listened to me, advised me, and let me be sad without getting squirmy, I salute you.
The Future
We can always count on Howie Goldfarb for his humor and honesty:
Sadly for me nothing, lol. I haven’t had a good year professionally since like 2013. In fact, I haven’t had much to be thankful for in general since then.
Howie, we’re wishing you a successful 2020 so you’ll have something big to report!
What are You Thankful For?
Clearly, there’s much to be thankful for here at Spin Sucks.
And we think it goes without saying, we’re most thankful for our amazing community, AKA you!
If you’re not part of it, it’s free and all you have to do is fill out this form to join.
Any thankful thoughts to add? Share them in the comments below.
