Today, as the snow falls quietly and I look out the window of our home office, and with the baby down for a nap, I get a few minutes to contemplate the fact that, six years ago today, Epiphanies, Inc. was incorporated.
Would it kill the Secretary of State’s office here in New Hampshire to at least send a card?
I’ve heard the stats quoted about how most businesses shutter up within the first year, and most of the survivors shutter up after five years. So a sixth anniversary ought to be a big deal, and that’s why we’ve decided to have an anniversary sale, from now through Epiphany (natch), which is January 6th.
But first, the bit about stubbornness.
My older son is very particular about his diet. Some would say “fussy.” Others would “he knows what he likes.” Whichever option you choose, the irresistible force met with the immovable object on New Year’s Eve, when my mother-in-law tried to get my son to try apple butter instead of regular butter.
He said no, she didn’t take the first no for an answer, and the course of the ensuing back-and-forth highlighted what an incredible streak of stubbornness runs through multiple generations of our family.
It runs through our business, too. Lani and I, at the end of 2008, considered the possibility of winding down the business. We’d been hit hard that year, and the recession didn’t help matters, either. But we’re both stubborn. We set out to create a certain kind of life and a business to support it. The reality doesn’t always look like the vision, and the choice at the end of 2008 was to say the heck with the vision, or commit to course-correcting the reality.
We’re still here a year later and, as Lani and I shake our heads in wonderment, with more opportunities for success than we’ve ever had before. 2009 was a pretty choppy year, and from what other local business owners are saying, if you were down just a bit compared to last year’s numbers, you’ve done “damn good.”
We committed, we stuck with it, we rode it out. And here we are, celebrating our sixth anniversary in business. We chalk it up to stubbornness, in the best way possible. We believe Year 7 is going to be even better, and we want you – fellow entrepreneurs, global brand managers, and mission-driven professionals – to do better in 2010, too.
You can look forward to even more practical, useful information here on the “A-Ha!” Blog in 2010 (as well as our social media platforms, linked from our blog’s sidebar) to support your work ramping up your visibility, competitive edge, reach, community, and results.
And for the next few days, you can also take advantage of a break on the tools we’ve used in our own business to help us survive 2009. These are our best-selling products, developed with that “stubbornness-in-a-good-way” mentality – through our own trial and error, taking the best of what we’ve learned from multiple sources, and put to work in the trenches of our own business:
50% off our Down ‘n Dirty Marketing Planning package, complete with 3 different marketing planning templates and samples, plus additional bonuses. Start your year out right – if you don’t have a plan, how will you know where you want to go, or how you intend to get there? (Use coupon code AHA50 at checkout)
33% off our Social Media Kick Start Virtual Bootcamp, with six webinar-style tutorials, micro-guides, and all the templates and checklists you need to build a successful social media foundation for your business. You could spend days and weeks researching and muddling your way through without it, or accelerate your learning curve and results with it. Your choice! (Use coupon code AHA33 at checkout.)
Remember, these discounts only last through Epiphany – January 6th, 2010, at 11:59pm Eastern time. Don’t put off investing in the tools that lead you to quicker, more reliable success in your business.
That would be being stubborn in a bad way. 
