Peacemaking May Be The Ultimate Spring Salve During Turbulent Times Filled With Change
Greetings *|FNAME|*,
Spring has sprung in Tallahassee! Everywhere my husband and I hike, we look up and see new green buds bursting out all over the trees... which means it's THAT time again. Paul's seasonal allergies have kicked in full force, and our black Ford Ranger is now yellow with pollen. But flowers are also everywhere now, which is a treat for the eyes and helps make our long walks pass by much more pleasantly than in Winter.
As we march through so much new life around us in the season of renewal, we have a lot to celebrate. Last month I talked about the 14th anniversary of my company and shared key things I've learned since starting the business. This issue marks a related but different anniversary: the first birthday of OOMPH! This month, one year ago, we started sending email subscribers the Change by Design newsletter. Like Change by Design, OOMPH! has continued to grow and refine with time, simply by practicing continuous improvement. I've asked for feedback and you have sent it, with the team working each month to make this newsletter even better.
In that very first issue last April, I shared a brief glimpse of something personal that I was building in parallel to running Change by Design. It's called Salt, and it is a 4-hour training journey for church members and community member attendees alike to learn how to live the beatitudes as peacemakers. The program has a biblical focus on the beatitudes in Matthew, most specifically:
- "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" and
- "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."
In my business and my personal life, I've pursued my passion for effecting change. Salt was born out of my great desire to see a healing to the divide I've felt in our country. Salt is designed to help my fellow Christians transition from a habit of judgment to a practice of compassion, kindness, forbearance and love for our fellow human journeymen and women, without compromising our principles. I've been honing this ability in my own life for more than 30 years (with, still, lots of metaphorical clay on my feet). Recently I realized it would be timely to share more about Salt... especially around Easter, and during this period of conflict and war abroad. If anything about Salt piques your interest, please email me for how you can get more involved.
Speaking of new, we've also been heavily engaged in onboarding new team members for the next round of Change by Design projects. I recently hired a performance recruiter to scout talent, and completed an initial round of interviews in Q1. Since then, Robin, Melissa and Jonathan (my core leadership team) have held several rounds of second interviews with the candidates who pass my screening and gut test to validate the capabilities of instructional designers, graphic designers, interns, project managers, quality specialists, and other professionals for specific contracts. We are on track to double last year's revenue, which makes it even more critical now to have the right people involved, delivering on all our quality promises to each client.
As a small business owner, I believe it's never too late to learn something new. Therefore, I was thrilled recently to be invited to join the Jim Moran Small Business Executive Program here in Tallahassee. This program is built for expanding companies like mine, providing a 360-degree perspective on what we need to focus on as we grow. They encourage a 'Business Model Canvas' to align our value proposition to specific client segments. While in Cohort 16, I'm looking forward to building several Canvases that will help develop greater clarity around my long-term strategy.
Whether you are improving your own business, working to make a difference in the community, or even suffering from seasonal sniffles, I hope you find time to go outside and enjoy the new in the air. It's beautiful, healing and so necessary. Remember that we never know when things may change for the worse, or for the better, because new never lasts forever.
Yours Truly,
Sue
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