Greatful (full of great)

You know what a pre-programmed response is, right? Someone asks you how's it going, and you reply, 'fine, how 'bout yourself' without even batting an eye. There's nothing wrong with these types of responses, it's one of the benefits of being human, we can react without thinking... the other benefit of course, are the opposable thumbs... they're really neat.

The reason I bring up the pre-programmed response thing is only to underline the fact that were extremely busy and that when I say it, it's not a pre-programmed response but rather based in fact. Some pre-programmed responses include, 'busy', 'I'm busy', 'really busy', and even, 'busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest'. Followed by, 'I guess it's better than not being busy'. Again, there's nothing wrong with these responses, I'm not picking on people for using pre-programmed responses, hell, it's half of my own vocabulary. I'm just illustrating the point that when I say 'we were busy', I really, consciously mean it.

We were busy.

In fact, 2007 has been the busiest year that I can remember. Since our summer vacation in July, I have taken only about 5 or 6 days off... a fact that I am not really proud of, but a fact nonetheless. When 2007 started my goal was to increase business by about 50% while adding another staff member. We are all but at the end of 2007 now and looking at all the numbers we have more than doubled in volume and added 3 more staff members.

In the last 6 months a lot of things have fallen through the cracks, fortunately for our clients, none of their jobs were on the casualty list. Our team is always able to make things happen when it counts... and, I think our clients know this well. There were a lot of things that I really wanted to do in 2007 that we didn't have time for, like making it out to visit all my clients before the holidays. Every year I look forward to dropping in on clients to wish them a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or whatever holiday they hang their socks on. It gives me an opportunity to thank them for their business throughout the year and let them know that they are an important part of our business. This year, a courier did this for me... who knows, maybe some preferred this - I didn't, I ran out of time and had no choice though.

So, here are some of my new years resolutions, goals and/or predictions for 2008:

1. Work smarter
2. Provide better service (gonna shake the post, baby)
3. Be home on weekends, not at work
4. Lose 20lbs
5. Hire a customer liaison
6. Double business volume once more
7. Host weekly creative meetings
8. Set the bar high, on everything
9. Double the amount of blog posts
10. Hand deliver cards and gifts to clients

That's it. I'm sure I could come up with a bunch more, but these are the main ones. The ones I will focus on in the coming year... it's gonna be a good one.

If you are one of my clients and you are reading this, thank you. (not a pre-programmed response) I really mean it, thank you - I really appreciate your business and thank you for your patience as we have rapidly expanded this past year. 2008 will be a year of changes and growth with Francomedia, all for the better.

We have a great staff of creative people doing great things for great clients... and we are grateful. Thank you.