Covered Ground and Sparkles Start the New Year

As the new year takes shape in the Washington DC area, the first business day of the year yields unexpected snowfall sticking to the ground (1-to-3 inches) and icicles hanging from our trees. The winter weather warning prediction was for the Eastern part of Maryland, yet by Noon on January 3 the weather found its way down to the middle part of the state. I took a picture of our first snowfall of the season from my scenic backyard and sent it to Josh. I equated the scene I captured to a metaphor for our business and share that with you in this Leadership Letter.

My metaphor is related to covered ground and sparkles. The physical reference was, of course, to the new-fallen snow covering our grass, sidewalk, and driveway as well as the icicles formed on our tree limbs and cars. However, I related covered ground to our intense work effort at the end of last year to complete and submit two proposals to, and have numerous conversations with, potential clients and service partners; sign contracts to conduct multiple-session programs for three new clients; and to become newly certified as a facilitator for a special program. The ground that we covered positions us to start this new year sliding into fast action for a first quarter far more promising than the same time last year.

I related the sparkle of icicles to our shiny outlook due to adding new services to our portfolio, expanding our network of connections and collaboration opportunities, and fine-tuning multiple streams of income that we began creating over the course of the two years of a pandemic that could have stopped us in our tracks.

I share the metaphors and how they relate to our new year start in order to ask you…what ground did you cover at the end of last year, and what were you able to put in place over the past two years that brings a shiny outlook to your business (and life) this year? It’s not too late to get moving out of the doldrums of pandemic uncertainty to create your own metaphors for this year.

Share your creativity and outlook. Let us know what you come up with or already have in place that will significantly — and positively — affect your outcomes for the next twelve months. I love inspiring our network by sharing your stories!

Happy New Year!!