Time is a strange and wonderful thing. It seems like only yesterday I was graduating from my first stint at university, celebrating my 21st birthday, our children were little peeps, and suddenly, here I am now on the wise side of 50. Time isn’t measured so much in weeks and months in my mind, but more in the memories of those moments and people that create true meaning.
So, it’s by this same “measure” that I am currently stopping to reflect on what it means to have a company celebrating its 10th birthday. Yep, The Elevation Company is 10 years old this month and we are looking back over the journey and taking stock of what we have achieved in that time.
The first thing that stands out to me is the PEOPLE. The people in my family who have supported and believed in me, those who have joined me along the way as part of our staff team, the ones with whom we have partnered to make certain things happen, those from whom I have learnt or by whom I’ve been mentored, those I have reached as a speaker, the children who have attended our Green SuperCamp® Australia programme, the children we work within Myanmar, Indonesia, New Zealand, India and Guinea, those running or working within the businesses with whom we consult – it’s all about the people!
In fact, we recently undertook an exercise to determine the number of people we have reached directly through the full range of activities and services provided over that 10-year period and it measures well over 92,000, which has me feeling very humbled.
Ten years ago, I set out on a journey to share my unique “weirdness” with the world and as I look back now, I think I had my savings in one hand and my courage in the other as I took the leap. I paid no attention to the statistics that say 50% of small businesses fail within 5 years and another 30% within 10 years. Failure was never even a consideration for me and the reason was because my WHY was so unshakably strong. There’s a saying that if your WHY isn’t big enough, your excuses will be, and I had no need for excuses.
I fundamentally believe all any of us really wants in life is to love and be loved, and to be known, loved and “got” for who we really are. With the certainty of this belief, I set about creating and delivering programmes and services that connect people with a greater sense of their own truth and help them find the inspiration to share more of themselves with the world. In our increasingly fast-paced world, it is the moments of true human connection that I believe are the most important and profound. It is the matters of the heart that must get our greatest attention if we are to lead meaningful lives and create great businesses. My motto is, “your business must be “good” for everyone for it to truly be good business!
Our General Manager recently asked me, “what’s been the highlight of the last 10 years in business?” My answer was simple and resonant – the PEOPLE!
Happy Birthday people!
