2006: Four Lightyears Ago

Instead of the usual housework (ick!) I do on the weekends, I decided this spring weekend was a good time to eliminate a pile of supplier binders and information that had been accumulating. I didn’t think it had been sitting there that long. But then I realized that much of the information dated back to 2006.

2006…

That was before Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and social media in general became the phenomenons they are only four short years later. How did we live without them? It was also before I went as paperless as possible with my business. At that time, I was still trying to be a graphic designer and bookkeeper while still being a salesperson and business owner. I was also less focused in promotional products marketing efforts, although this continues to be an evolutionary work in progress.

Those four years seem like lightyears now.

For the incredible changes I’ve been able to make in my business within a relatively short time, I just wanted to thank some very special people:

Margie Manietta, CPA, R.J. Manietta CPAs, Ltd. – Helped me supercharge my networking efforts and got me to go paperless. You cannot imagine the far-reaching effects, both ecofriendly and practically, of eliminating paper. It’s helped me save money, save time, save trees, save space, and facilitated some outsourcing of administrative tasks.
Tom Gosche, The Business Strategist – Helped me ask some difficult questions about my business… and get some answers.
Cindy Schroeder, Bright Bookkeeping – My QuickBooks Pro Advisor who’s taken on a goodly chunk of my administrative workload so that I can do what I do best.
Scott Kolbe, Sikich Marketing & Design Services – Scott and his graphic design crew have helped me help my clients clarify their marketing image and got me out of doing the graphic work which was eating away my time and energy (and they are exponentially better at it, too).

There are so many other incredible people who were not in my life in 2006, but who have now become a valuable part of my network. In particular, all my networking friends in the Chicagoland area from BNI, Carol Stream Chamber of Commerce, and iConnect. Add to that all the fantastic people I follow on Twitter and who follow me. I’d especially like to thank the #eventprofs on Twitter, the hashtag for event and tradeshow professionals. They’ve been such a fun and resourceful group.

One thing that is clear is that our businesses and our communicating strategies are changing rapidly. Wonder what the world, and my world, will be like in four more years.

But I can guarantee you one thing will still be around in 2014: housework. Unfortunately, some things never change.