Life happens – build a practice that can love you through it
December 2024 was NOT ideal for me, to put it mildly. There was terrible loss, serious injury, and tough conversation (incoming and outgoing), along with a lot of complex logistics to figure out.
But December 2024 also showered me with love, and taught me a LOT. Resilience, the importance of knowing what’s really important and when, the deep kindness of truth being delivered with love, and how to SHOW UP for the people around me (because they showed up BIG for me, and I learned from their examples). In that sense, December was absolutely beautiful.
In our business, December taught me (among other things):
– I have the best partners and team in the world, hands down. Together, we’ve built a culture of care and partnership that allows us to step in for each other when life happens (as it inevitably will), and also to acknowledge that work is just one aspect of the web of priorities in our lives. Gwen Griggs, Sarah Stroscio, Kelsey Gulick, Christine Hill, and Kristen Hansen – you’re absolute treasures!
– Being choosy about who we take on as clients, and then treating our relationship like we’re partners and teammates, pays off big time – our clients have been an incredible support through life events. There have been heartfelt conversations, texts and calls, offers of expertise and connections, clients going out of their way to shift timing of projects, and even attendance at my dad’s celebration of life. Just wow.
– Being clear about what kind of life you want your practice to deliver – and then intentionally architecting your practice to deliver it – is the key.
Sometimes, tough or tragic life events teach us what we need to fix or change in our work lives. This January, I’m not reflecting on what to fix. Instead, I get to be grateful for this practice (and its people) that has loved me back through a really tough December.
(A little note to 2025: let’s not do that December again, ok? All blue skies and sunshine for a while?)
Here’s to building practices we love, that love us back, in dark days as much as the sunny ones.
– Whit
Video: fireworks to celebrate my dad’s life & legacy of love and laughter – I hope when I go, my people want to gather and remember me with that much joy!