It is easy to forget how far you and your business have come since you started out.
The overwhelm of busy periods, the stress of slow times, the boredom of the mundane plateaus... Well, let’s celebrate the fact that you are still in business (no matter what life has thrown at you), and how much you have moved forward since you began.
I just stumbled across a newsletter I sent out ten years ago. A lot has changed since then; primarily our company name, (previously Dipped In Ink). In the newsletter we announced that we were still operational after the major earthquakes that ravaged Canterbury in 2010 and 2011. That seems like a lifetime ago!
This year has also definitely not gone to plan for us – although I don’t really think anyone could have planned well for a pandemic. Everything we have all gone through mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, personally, and professionally … it has been tough.
Throwback Thursday!
So, let’s do a throwback to the year you started your business. Mine was 1998! The top-grossing movie was James Cameron's 'Titanic', and New Zealand’s top song of the year was ‘No Matter What’ by Boyzone. Okay, now THAT seems like a lifetime ago!
My greatest challenge in business at the time was not being taken seriously by the occasional new client – I was female, blonde, and only 21! However, as soon as we started discussing design and marketing, and I showed them samples of my work, they realised I knew exactly what I was talking about.
Your Biggest Challenges
What year did you start in business? What was your biggest challenge when you first started out? And how does that compare to your biggest challenge now? Email me with your answers - I would love to hear some 'back in my day' or 'I thought it was all over' stories!
23 Years and Counting
Here are a few major events of the past twenty-three years to get you thinking:
1998 Google is launched
1998 Auckland power cut crisis affects the central city for five weeks
1998 Black Ferns become the world champions, NZ’s women’s rugby team
1998 Worst tuberculosis breakout in a decade in South Auckland
1998 Prime TV was launched
1999 APEC held in Auckland (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)
1999 Alcohol purchase age limit reduced from 20 to 18 years
2000 International Space Station opens, orbiting the earth
2001 9/11 terrorist attacks on America
2001 Student Loans interest accrual is removed while studying
2002 Kiwibank is formed
2002 Canterbury’s population reaches 500,000
2003 Supreme Court of New Zealand established
2003 New Zealand’s population exceeds 4 million
2004 Facebook was founded
2004 Civil Union Act was passed in New Zealand
2006 NZD $11.5 billion surplus announced by NZ Government – the largest in NZ history
2006 Five cent coins are discontinued, others replaced with smaller versions
2006 South Island population reaches 1 million
2007 Apple iPhone was launched
2007 Freeview digital television was launched in NZ
2007 Willie Apiata receives Victoria Cross for New Zealand, a military medal
2008 Sir Edmund Hilary dies
2009 Swine flu pandemic discovered
2010 Canterbury’s major earthquake hits at magnitude 7.1
2010 Pike River mine explosion
2011 Canterbury’s major earthquake hits at magnitude 6.3
2011 All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup in Auckland
2013 Same sex marriage is legalised in NZ
2013 Analogue television is turned off
2014 Eketahuna’s moderate earthquake hits at magnitude 6.2, near Palmerston North
2015 All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup – the only team to win twice in a row
2016 Kaikoura’s major earthquake hits at magnitude 7.8
2017 Emirates Team NZ wins the 35th America’s Cup
2017 Waterview Tunnels open in Auckland, NZ’s longest road tunnels
2019 Christchurch mosque shootings
2019 COVID-19 virus pandemic discovered
2019 White Island erupts
2020 COVID-19 reaches New Zealand
2021 Emirates Team NZ wins the 36th America’s Cup held in Auckland
Yes, that's right. I've been in business as long as Google, and longer than Facebook, Prime TV, and the iPhone have been around!
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