Friday, April 16, 2010

Five Years and Pondering


I have never been one of those people who are disappointed in birthdays. You know, the friend that had a list of things, that when they got to a certain age, they were going to have done. The friend that is disappointed with their birthday and upset about what they haven't gotten done on the list. Not me, I never have had a list of that type. I was fine at 30 and 40 and even 50. So what happened to me last week? This five year thing really threw me for a loop. Then I realized, I had made a list, in my head, but never the less I had made a list. A list of where I would be with HiHo when we were five years in. Let me share some of my list, we would have sidewalks, a speed limit through town, a number of other businesses would be promoting the Gardiner Hamlet, and most importantly money wouldn't be a worry. WHAT WAS I THINKING. Silly right? If you noticed many of the things on my list are beyond my control.
My list, if I really needed to have one, should have been more like this....create relationships with customers, give back to the community, challenge my creative side, explore new channels of promoting, expand product selection, develop the HiHo brand. Right? I wouldn't have been so disappointed.
So much accomplished and so silly of me to let emotions blurry my real goals.Five years and HiHo is just fine....and me too.

4 comments:

Erica said...

Beautiful reminder!

Anonymous said...

But Heidi, just remember--smack in the middle of your half-decade came a once in a century recession! And you not only survived, you came through stronger and better, and in a leadership position to take Gardiner everywhere you want it to be and it should be! You are a small business role model!
Elizabeth (Mrs. Gunk)

Suzen Larsen King said...

Oh for crying out loud Heidi; face it, you are terrific, the shop is overtly delightful and everyone loves you. Deal. Cuz the rest of us can't even come close to those goals try as we may. (Plus your dog is way too cute!)

Tamara Jansen said...

Loved your post! It's amazing how easy it is to lose sight of what's truly important when we are busy building a business. Thanks for the reminder :)