Seasoned Business Leaders: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

As a seasoned business leader, the old adage, “You don’t know what you don’t know,” has been replaying as a reminder in my mind over and over again for the last year. Sometimes when you’ve been doing a certain thing for a long time, you might become insulated from innovation by doing things the way you first learned them. You might even forget the best practices you learned at the beginning in favor of doing what works at the moment in your business. At this point, reminders for seasoned business leaders can be helpful to continue to grow.

So this week I’m sharing here some reminders for business leaders who may need a refresher on the must-dos and must-haves when things are rockin’. And even before they’re rockin’. These apply whether you are a start-up or veteran. I was reminded this week of what I don’t know when I launched a new business of sorts, and finally brought it to life.

Seasoned Business Leader Turned Start-Up (again)

As most of those who know me know, my son is in college in Central Florida. After his freshman year and countless visits to Florida, more for my sake than his, I had an idea. Buy a place in Florida. I’m there all the time to see my son, and when I’m not there I could rent it out to others who would enjoy the beach as much as my family does.

So, I did countless hours of research. Ran numbers backwards and forwards. Consulted my business advisor. Then, did more research. Then, I contacted several owners of rental properties and local small business owners in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Next, I refinanced the house. In addition, I had to take out another significant loan to get this idea off the ground.

As I last blogged, this is not my first rodeo. But, I am here to tell you old dogs do forget the new tricks. As a seasoned business owner, I was reminded in the course of this new project, just how much these business basics matter.

Business Leader Basics to Remember

1. Finances

Make sure you have extra in the budget for unexpected expenses during start-up. Money isn’t made in the first and sometimes second year of business. Remember that. Another thing going through my head these last few months is that real estate is a long term investment, as most businesses are. Seasoned business leaders know to endure the short term pains for the long-term gain.

2. Time

Remember that time is your inventory. Don’t go down rabbit holes. Overthinking and questioning yourself aren’t necessary. Stay focused on what matters. Make decisions and then move on. Most of all, be efficient in all you do.

3. Support Network

Partner with the experts. I don’t know construction. Or anything about the short-term rental space. Nor do know much about HOAs, (but I do now) so I found and made friends with the BEST in these categories. I am so grateful for them and their expertise. Also, my family and friends were there when I needed to vent, cry, scream or say queue #5.

4. Front Porch Marketing Team

If you have two businesses, make sure each of the business teams are in support of the other. The Front Porch team kept the Porch rockin’ while I was bobbing and weaving in and out so I could get Calming Corner (our new beach space) up and running. Seasoned business leaders build teams they can count on in crunch times.

5. Saying Uncle

Yes, you can have too much on your plate. So ask for grace. Be nice to yourself. Realize you do have physical and mental limitations.

6. Good Enough

Our first renters were to arrive at 4 p.m. on the 1^st of April. There was cleaning to be done. Some pictures were not hung, etc. But the place was beautiful. It was time to finish the cleaning and save the rest for the next time she was vacant. Good enough is sometimes perfection.

“The Calming Corner” is Up and Running

I am proud to say that as we are building this rental business, we are also supporting other local businesses. The new couch is manufactured in Florida by a Florida-based company. The patio furniture is manufactured in Volusia County and the business is owned and operated by a local husband and wife duo. And our boutique vacation rental company, Florida Vacay Rentals, is owned by a local female rock star who is also my “Florida Anchor.” And I am honored to call her my friend.

So here is my shameless plug for Calming Corner, our new Front Porch view! Please note, NEW photography coming soon, because there are all new floors, paint and furniture. And there is a fabulous remodeled master bath. Shorehom by the Sea, Unit 54, also has a new bedroom pocket door, a new pantry, a new washer dryer closet and more.

Oh, and, as of April 6, it has a brand new air-conditioner, that was not in the budget … sigh.

Spring Has Officially Sprung — So Let’s Organize Your Workspace?

This year, I’ve added “organizing your workspace” to my spring-cleaning to-do list! If you’re anything like me, you associate spring with spring cleaning. It’s time to dust off the cobwebs of those ceiling fan blades you rarely touch, clean out the closets and tackle the flowerbeds. I love strolling the aisles at my local greenhouse to pick out the flowers I’m inevitably going to see wither away in the triple-degree Texas heat. And, it’s time to get my workspace into tip-top shape.

Clean Your Workspace, Clear Your Mind.

Whether you’re working remotely or in an office, it’s the perfect time to sort through the piles of papers that have accumulated on your desk, clean out those old emails and establish that new online folder organization system you have been daydreaming about.

Now, I realize that not everyone receives the same amount of joy that I do from filling a large trash bag full of unnecessary papers or an inbox with only a handful of emails. Some of you may argue that there isn’t enough time in the day. While others might cite there is evidence that a messy desk is a sign of genius. Say hello to my husband’s top excuse. Ha!

Organizing Your Workspace Has Multiple Benefits

No matter what camp you fall into, it’s hard to argue that there aren’t benefits of a well-organized space.

1. Increased Productivity. How many times a day do you find yourself searching for a piece of paper, email or document? We’ve all been there, but when you have a clean and organized space, you’ll inevitably spend less time searching and more time doing.
   
2. Reduced Stress Levels. Meeting in five minutes. Can’t locate the document you’ve been tirelessly working on. Enough said!
   
3. Boost Creativity. When you’re organized, you’re typically not working under the gun of a million deadlines. When you’re calm and in control, your creativity will flourish.

You might now be asking the question: How Do I Tackle My Unorganized Workspace?

• Start small. First you need to remember,your mess wasn’t made in a day. It might take a little time to organize your workspace into the space you want. Pick the time of day you’re most productive and set a timer for 15 minutes. Grab the stack of papers and go.
  
• Tools and Resources. Hit the office supply store or your supply cabinet at the office. Grab the file folders and organizers and start labeling and sorting. You should now be able to see the top of your desk.
  
• Online Organization. Your inbox really only needs to house emails that require your response. Everything else should have a home. Create folders in your inbox by client or project and file them accordingly. The same goes for documents. Take it a step further and establish a naming convention for your documents to make things even easier.

How to Maintain Your Organized Workspace

Once you’re done organizing your workspace, it’s just as important to maintain it. You don’t want to turn around a month later and be back at square one. Set aside 15 minutes at the end of each workday to tidy up your space. Throw away the papers and go through your emails and documents.

Soon, you’ll find a tidy workspace is second nature and the habits you created will be easy to maintain. Happy spring cleaning!

Front Porch Marketing is now 12 years old, thanks to you. What are our marketing take-aways from the past 12 years? We value your support and confidence in us over the years! You and your brands are our jam.

Marketing Take-Aways to Help Your Business Grow

Reflecting back on client trends and opportunities, on our pearl anniversary, we share common pearls of wisdom we saw at the beginning and continue to see today. We hope these marketing take-aways spur some thinking for you!

1. DIY Marketing

It only gets a brand so far. And, once your brand is established and has credibility, DIY marketing is no longer good enough. Time to take your garage band to the main stage. Hire a professional or firm.

2. Hiring One Marketing Person to Do All the Marketing Things

There are only a handful of unicorns on the planet that can do all the things marketing. If you go this route, know they need support. A marketing generalist isn’t your graphic designer, copywriter, webmaster, etc. Give them the resources they need to do their jobs.

3. B2B Websites

We hear from business owners their websites aren’t a priority and aren’t a sales and marketing tool. Not true. What we see most often is that you aren’t closing the sale or getting to the next round of meetings because you are getting the veto vote when potential clients go to your website to validate your credibility. Important marketing take-away: your website is your virtual office. Optimize it!

4. Marketing Take-Away for CEOs, C-Suite Executives or Managing Partners

Your role is strategy, operations, finances, and managing people. We have experienced too many times when you want to get too far in the weeds managing marketing. At that point, bottlenecks happen and marketing doesn’t happen at its best or consistently.

5. Brand Architecture

Without brand architecture, your branding is inconsistent. Define your brand mission, personality, positioning and affiliation. Let all things marketing flow from there. This becomes the filter and guidepost for branding and marketing strategy as well as execution.

6. Shiny Objects

You have Salesforce, but your team isn’t utilizing it. Then you get Hootsuite and ZoomInfo and, and, and. Stop right there. Marketing operations take-away: Make sure whatever technology you currently have is being utilized to its fullest. Then, if needed, build upon that with other tools.

Marketing Take-Aways to Take You Through the Next 12 Years

Cheers to you! Thank you for trusting in us, believing in us and getting us to our 12^th anniversary. Without your support, we wouldn’t be rockin’ on the Porch today and lovin’ every minute of it. We hope these 6 marketing take-aways will be helpful for your business as we grow together over the next dozen years!

Whatever your industry, you can no longer afford to ignore the importance of optimizing your website for mobile experience. Google recently revealed that more searches take place on mobile devises than on desktop computers in 10 different countries, including the United States and Japan. That means failure to optimize your website for mobile could leave you with as much as 30% fewer conversions!

How to Increase Your Mobile Conversion Rate

So, where do you start? You’ll need to decide whether your website will be responsive. This means it will automatically adjust based on whether the visitor is on desktop or mobile. Or if you’ll have a separate, mobile-friendly site you direct customers to. Regardless of how you get them to your site, designing your web pages with mobile users in mind is key to avoiding abandoned carts and a high bounce rate.

Optimize Your Website’s Bounce Rate with UX

A ”bounce rate” refers to the “percentage of people who visit [your] landing page and then ‘bounce’ without converting on a form or making a purchase.” Here you want a low number. Design is key to keeping potential leads and customers on your page for as long as possible. HubSpot completed an experiment by re-designing one of their content landing pages, placing an emphasis on UX design, and saw their bounce rate decrease by an average of 27%!

User-focused pages designed with mobile in mind tend to focus on simplicity. Good UX (User Experience design) can help. If a form is too long, there’s too much text to read, or the physical navigation of a page is overly difficult, visitors are likely to become frustrated and leave the website altogether. Poorly formatted pages are also more than aesthetically displeasing, as they tend to feel less reputable than their well-designed counterparts.

Safety Optimization Keeps Visitors On Your Site

It’s important that visitors feel safe while exploring your site. “Mobile users are more likely to have their passwords, app login info, and financial details sorted on their phones,” making them extra vigilant about the websites they visit. Optimize safety on your website. Make your website secure with HTTPS and displaying trust badges. This will put users’ minds at ease. Further, payment method mistrust results in 19% of customers abandoning their carts. If you don’t already make use of e-wallet payment methods like Android Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal, consider adding them to your payment offerings.

With mobile traffic contributing to the highest percentage of global web traffic, businesses need to optimize their online presence for mobile use. The information here will get you started on the right track.

Front Porch has currently four clients, both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C), with paid digital media campaigns ads and paid social media running. These clients are across different industries from financial and non-profits to insurance and ecommerce. These clients’ marketing strategies include paid digital media advertising because it works for them. We recommended integrating your digital marketing with your brand strategy as part of your overall marketing plan.

Maximizing A Digital Media Budget

Our digital ad philosophy is to consider what formats deliver the maximum opportunities possible for the budget available, to an audience most likely to be interested. This approach maximizes the resources of our clients.

Here is a sampling of paid digital media advertising tools that we are using currently to serve our clients in this space:

• Social – Ads served on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to build awareness, build relationships with the audience, and drive traffic to a website
• Digital Banner Ads – Ads served through browsers and in-app to build frequency and drive traffic to a website
• Streaming Audio – Ads served within music and/or podcast content cross-device, including smart speakers

How We Determine A Plan’s Effectiveness

So, what is the predicted ROI of a paid digital media advertising campaign? When the campaign is for business to business, not an “exit now for cheeseburgers”, it is trickier to predict. But this is how we view the situation, and read our analytics.

Here’s an example for a paid digital advertising campaign for a service business client of ours. Our standard average CTR (click-thru rate), which is the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of times it is shown, is typically .03-.05% for digital ad campaigns. (Social and Native can trend higher with more mobile impressions than Banner Ads served computers.)

So a digital media plan with about 1MM impressions per month would generate 300-500 clicks. These are the customers that click and come to our client’s website. But, the bounce rate can be high in the 90%. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. Thus with 300-500 clicks, this leaves 30-50 quality prospects per month. Which is a fantastic number for our service client.

If you’d like to know more about how a paid digital media plan might work for your business, just ask!

First Job Lessons to Remember

My youngest kid just started his first job. Having a first job means experiencing some serious adulting, and it comes with many lessons learned. And a lot of these lessons are ones that you can keep with you for your entire career — from intern to CEO.

Remember that book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”? The lessons learned in your first job are kind of like those kindergarten lessons. Be thoughtful and kind to everyone. Do a good job at every task. Be helpful. Be on time. Simple stuff, really, but foundational to having a good work experience in every job you’ll ever have.

Learning the Ropes

My 16-yr-old son is learning a whole new set of adult-life rules of employment. From me, from his new boss, from his co-workers. And from his fluffy charges: he works at a doggy daycare. That boy loves dogs more than people, so I am thankful that he has this particular job as his first job. He is passionate about caring for dogs. He texts me pics of his furry friends during his shifts with their names and some anecdotal cuteness they’ve just accomplished.

My son’s first job reminds me often of MY first job (not that I took care of dogs). But I did something I loved too. I took care of books, my passion. I shelved books in the Kansas City Kansas public library after school and most weekends. For an introvert who was already plowing her way through the entire science fiction section of the library anyway, it was a dream come true to work there. I checked out all the new releases first. I could put books on hold when I saw them come in. So I never missed out on reading the lastest and greatest. And did I mention that I loved putting things in alphabetical and Dewey Decimal System order?

Big Picture Lesson: Do Something You Love

Having a first job is one of the first times that you experience interacting and getting along with people who are not your family or school mates, on a regular basis. You are all working together toward a common goal. That’s something to remember. Whether that’s stacking boxes in a warehouse, flipping a burger, walking a dog or shelving a book, you are now a part of a team. You can take pride in doing a good job not just for yourself, but for the team. The feeling of a shared mission is one you’ll take to every job you will ever have, and use for inspiration.

Best Job Lesson: Know your worth

As a teenager, the best part of your first job is you are getting paid to do this! Earning an hourly wage — large or small — definitely makes you focus more, and work harder on the task at hand. You are considered helpful and sometimes even an expert at SOMETHING! So much so that they want to pay you for your knowledge or your handiwork! The realization of that first paycheck moment is your first glimpse into your ability to build skills to create value. With every job, pat yourself on the back for your next pay raise, or promotion — you’re doing great!

Use your first job to enjoy any job

As you grow in skills and get higher paying jobs, remember to savor your accomplishments, and the fact that someone wants to pay you to do something you already love doing! Remember the work friends that you’ve made and kept even when you’re no longer working together. Think about that new skill you learned, and then fell in love with and became an expert at doing. And how much that made you feel smart and valuable.

Sometimes work can feel like a grind, but when you look at your job through your 16-yr-old eyes, maybe what you’re doing is actually pretty cool. And look how far you’ve come!

Ready to skill up this year by attending a great conference for marketers like you?

Why are conferences for marketers important? They’re a tool for growth in your marketing career! First, you are learning new skills. Next, you’re exposed to best practices from peers and mentors. Then, you’re growing your network for future collaborations and opportunities. And most importantly, any work experiences outside of the office give you a fresh perspective and renewed enthusiasm for your job. It’s a win-win-win-win.

Attend one of these conferences for marketers this year:

Adweek: Outlook: You can join AdWeek for a value-heavy program to talk about the benefits of monetization strategies. Explore new tools disrupting the industry. Speakers in attendance include top names in media, marketing, and tech. This program aims to figure out how to use these innovations to supercharge growth and revenue. Over three days, you’ll learn how to connect with customers. Plus, you’ll tackle talent and transformation topics.

Content World Marketing: Content Marketing World stands out among brand marketing conferences. First, it provides a space for you to improve your content creation skills. Second, it helps you connect with other creators. At this conference, you will meet important professionals in the industry, meet potential hires, and gain knowledge to improve your marketing systems.

INBOUND: INBOUND’s key goal is to connect professionals in the marketing industry. Every year, this marketing conference is one of the biggest marketing events. In fact, it attracts thousands of world-class professionals. At INBOUND, you will meet some of the best and brightest minds in sales and revenue operations. You also get to network with leaders in marketing and customer success.

SXSW: Advertising & Brand Experience: SXSW is not your typical marketing conference. But their Advertising and Brand Experience track is a great way to expand your mind and your perspective. This SXSW track is designed for agencies and organizations. Find forward-thinking strategies to connect with communities.

SEO

MOZCON: MozCon is like a summer camp for marketers. This conference brings together digital marketers from all over the world for three days. During the program, marketers learn to overcome all the common and specific obstacles in the current marketing world. The speakers range from leaders in performance marketing, SEO, conversion optimization, local search, digital marketing strategy and conversion optimization.

Social Media

Social Media Marketing World: Social marketing is changing more and more each day. If this industry has taught us anything, it’s that you’ve got to embrace change to get ahead. Join thousands of the world’s smartest marketers and influencers — brought to you by Social Media Examiner. Walk away with real business-building ideas. And then put them to work for your business or clients right away.

Regional Traveling Conference for Marketers

Digital Summit Series: Digital Summit Series happens across the United States in more than 15 cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. The summit includes sessions covering digital marketing best tactics and practices, SEO, content, social media, analytics and strategy. Plus, you can choose either a virtual event or attend in person.

Virtual Conference

AMA Conferences: As the global leader in marketing knowledge, the AMA provides a broad range of opportunities to collaborate, network, learn, and grow professionally. Here you’ll virtually learn from industry and academic leaders, speakers, and training instructors that you will encounter in the AMA community.

The benefits you’ll receive from a conference pay off all year long.

By attending a conference for marketers this year, you’ll be able to see the results in your work. Start applying what you learned to your everyday tasks. Then, begin a new project that will take your marketing department to the next level. You might meet your future boss. Overall, you’ll be inspired to try new innovations. And finally, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment for having invested in yourself and your future career.

Attend marketing conferences to learn, grow and connect with other leaders.

Attending a branding or marketing conference can not only expand your knowledge, it can expand your network. It can also broaden your opportunities and your outlook! To begin with, when you go to a conference, you’re hanging out with people who do a job like yours. These are people who face the same leadership challenges that you do. You have similar interests, as far as work goes, so you can all learn from each other. At a marketing conference, you can share experiences and gain best practice knowledge from others who do your job.

Improving your knowledge is another reason to attend branding and marketing conferences. For instance, you might learn new cutting edge information about your profession. Or you can learn how to enhance the work you are already doing. The impact on your upskilled performance is worth the price of admission.

Gain valuable insight into your industry, profession, or specific job.

First of all, attending conferences gives you the opportunity to meet people who do what you do now. And secondly, you’ll get a chance to network with people who do what you’ll do next. Meeting people you admire in person gives you the chance to ask questions, have a chat with them, and get to know them and how they think. The best leaders surround themselves with other experts.

Marketing conferences to attend as a senior professional:

Senior Leadership

CES: CES is the most influential tech event in the world — the proving ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators.

This is where the world’s biggest brands do business and meet new partners, and the sharpest innovators hit the stage.

World Business Forum: Organized and curated by WOBI each year in cities across the Americas, Europe and Asia, World Business Forum is a two-day event that brings together thousands of restless minds united by their passion for business.

• Learn from and be inspired by some of the world’s most renowned figures from business and beyond. It’s a blend of content comprised of CEOs, entrepreneurs, innovators, thinkers, artists and sportspeople.
• The conference focuses on the issues most relevant to today’s businesspeople, stimulating new thinking and inspiring action.

It provides a unique networking environment to connect with like-minded professionals.

CMO/Senior Level

B2B Forum by MarketingProfs: The B2B Forum is a great space for B2B executives to meet and share advice on the best digital marketing tactics and technology.

While at the conference, you will get the chance to network. And you can connect with other driven marketing and business professionals. The sessions cover authenticity, logic, empathy, and building trust with your potential and existing clients. Overall, the program gives insights into your marketing style and what could be missing.

B2B Marketing Exchange: This is a core event for B2B marketing, covering the current issues in B2B, including Demand Generation, Messaging Frameworks, AI and Audience Centricity. Is there yoga in the morning? You bet.

Meet amazing B2B marketers and stay in touch with everything B2B.

BrandSmart: BrandSmart 2023 will be structured as 10+ TED Talk-style presentations. They’ll feature leaders from all over the world. They will be talking about the cornerstones of brand resilience. They’ll discuss the most recent trends and innovations, and give out the BrandSmart Awards. This conference lets professionals network in a uniquely styled format. Featured speakers include executives from Edelman, American Dental Association and SiriusXM & Pandora.

Strategic Marketing 2023: A Reuters Event, Strategic Marketing 2023 brings together leaders from the world’s most recognizable brands to define the future of marketing. This is the global platform to inspire and empower marketing leaders. Map the digital DNA of your consumer, foster brand loyalty and community, and unlock innovation.

Hyper-digitalization is driving an overload of online content. So marketers must stay ahead of industry trends and champion creativity as we look towards 2023. 

Join CMOs, trailblazers and experts at SM23 for the most crucial learning and networking opportunity of the year.

Take a step toward growth and learning this year at a marketing conference.

Make a commitment in 2023 to grow as a senior professional by attending one of these valuable conferences. Start finding your peer group. Then learn best practices. Maybe discover a new vendor. There are many benefits to including attending a senior level conference in your growth plan this year.

Why Staying on Top of Public Relations Trends is Valuable

Public relations professionals play an integral role in a client’s online reputation. Part of a PR professional’s job is to stay atop the latest public relations industry trends. Trends can play an important role in managing a client’s account.

What was important to consumers in the past might look different today. PR is all about cultivating an image in the minds of consumers. So certain tactics and strategies may resonate with an audience at any given time.

According to the online media monitoring company Meltwater, the five top PR trends that should pilot brand strategy in 2023 are:

Data and Analytics:

In 2023, tracking the impact of a client’s public relations efforts will be key. PR teams need, at a minimum, basic KPIs like brand awareness and favorability, social media engagement, and quality web traffic. With today’s analytics and PR reporting technology, data will play an increasingly essential role in PR strategies. It is an important public relations trend to stay on top of during the year.

Diversity and Inclusion:

More companies are doubling down on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and for good reason. When employees can show up in a workplace where they can be their true selves they are more engaged. Employees are productive, and satisfied in their jobs. It is more than a public relations trend. It’s a shift in the way business will be done. As more consumers and employees raise their expectations of brands to embrace DEI at work, PR teams can expect it to be a recurring theme in their PR campaigns.

Influencer Marketing:

In 2023, focus on maintaining good relationships with existing influencers and connecting with new influencers. To fully leverage influencer marketing, PR teams need a good understanding of the influencer’s audience, niche, and content. These aspects go several layers deep and are full of nuances that can vary from one influencer to the next.

Without learning about these nuances, a company could end up doing more harm than good to its online reputation. One way to avoid potentially damaging influencer experiences is to add dedicated influencer resources to a PR team.

Personalized PR Pitch:

Tailoring PR pitches to individual journalists or influencers helps create messages that speak directly to their interests. It steers away from one-size-fits-none pitches. Instead it presents an eye-catching idea that’s hard to miss, even in an unpredictable news cycle. This helps to create instant trust and credibility. When pitching new sources you deepen the trust with media outlets and professionals. Keep this public relations trend top-of-mind when you practice media relations this year.

Authenticity:

As more marketers and PR professionals are using technology to develop custom experiences, it’s essential to maintain the human element. This makes personalization authentic. Consumers have increased their expectations of the companies with whom they do business. They expect brands to be transparent about ethics and values. Go beyond “marketing speak.” Authenticity is the intersection of these things. It’s no longer enough to spew generic phrases like “We’re in this together,” but back up your statements with actions. The bottom line: people have had many months to re-evaluate what’s important to them. They’re more discerning over how they use their time, which brands they engage with, and how they’re spending money.

Utilizing Public Relations Trends Helps Build Brands

Paying attention to PR trends can assist brands know the who, how, and when in addressing challenges and opportunities. This helps companies recognize and then embrace PR opportunities.

2022 reflections from The Porch are in!

I enjoy seeing where the commonality lies each year between each of the Rockers as we all offer our reflections on our individual lives. This year, slow and steady was the name of the game. We need the steady years in life – years without major personal and/or professional events or milestones.  They are the rebuilding years. They allow us to identify areas we’d like to see change, to set goals upon a solid foundation, and to take a breather for those years that catch us by surprise.

We hope you had the 2022 you wished for, and that our reflections foster a connection to your own.

Alison Moreno – Rock Collector

I feel 2022 was finally “back to normal” following the height of Covid in 2020-2021. My son began learning how to drive, my daughter began the decision process for which high school to go to, my husband moved up in his company, and we added a new dog to the family. My family was making advances and I kept things steady.  Professionally, I felt comfortably steady, but not did not experience any growth. Some years are meant for a “steady pace wins the race” mentality and this was one of those years. With the freedom from being my kids’ chauffeur, I am excited to set and focus on my own professional and personal goals moving into 2023.

Vanessa Hickman – Rock Star

Recently, someone mentioned a “covid blessing”. A covid blessing could be a lot of things. For me, it became a positive outcome from the unusual and unprecedented circumstances everyone weathered during the previous two years. The 2020-2021 timeframe created a lot of change for my family. My now teenage boys started at a new school. We attended a new church. Also, we found new ways of working. And, we are grateful for the people those changes have brought to our lives, but I am also thankful for 2022 which allowed us to focus on restoring something old to make it new for our family.

At the end of 2021, we acquired a lake property. So the beginning of 2022 was spent renovating that property. We rebuilt from the ground up, floor to ceiling. We even raised the roof (which still brings me much joy to say)! I draw similarity between the lake house renovation and the year. Reflections on 2022? It was a year of setting new foundations, rebuilding, reinforcing, redesigning, and raising the roof!  

Natalie Rosga – Rock Enthusiast

Thinking about 2022, I’ve tried to make a conscious effort every day to remember to slow down! One step at a time, one task at a time, one breath at a time. It’s ok if not every task is checked off the list at the end of the day. It’s more important to call it a night and wake up feeling happy and rested and ready to tackle the new day. 

This year has also been about carving out time for myself. As a mom, taking care of yourself typically falls to the bottom of the list. I’m learning that making time for myself is ok. Whether it’s a run on the treadmill, a pedicure, drinks with girlfriends, or a night out with my husband…it’s important to focus on myself. 

Slow and steady wins the race! Let’s also not forget that the house is happier when mom is happy! 

Lea Ann Allen – Swiss Army Rock

2022 has been a year where I definitely felt the notion of “the older you get the more you become yourself” take hold. I was more able to focus on important things and simply drop everything that I didn’t need in my life any longer: the naysayers, the time sucks, the unnecessary complications. I felt able to experience some of the joy of my early career in the work that I do, and constantly surprised myself when I found more patience, more stamina or more appreciation that I thought I had in me.

Last spring, my family replaced all the siding on our house which made it stronger and more able to withstand whatever the Texas weather plans to throw at us. At the same time, I honed self-care, exercise, and nutrition to make myself stronger and more able to withstand whatever life plans to throw at me next. Reflections on 2022 make me look forward to 2023 as a better version of my 2022 self!

Christine Finnegan – Media Rocker

In 2022, I practiced gratitude more than any other time in my life. It truly allowed me to view life through a positive lens. My thought process became increasingly optimistic and focused on solutions rather than problems. In the new year I am going to continue on this track by noticing simple pleasures and acknowledging everything that I have and having an awareness on a continuous basis of how I have been given. 

Julie Porter – Chief Rocker

Speaking of gratitude; in our 11^th year, I continued to be humbled by the amazing, talented, genuine folks I get to work with, those who entrust us with their branding and marketing, as well as the leaders who refer us to their contacts. Thank you to each of you.

This year my son, while also venturing into leadership roles in college, was able to intern on the Porch, where he too, received the gift of working with the Front Porch Marketing team, clients, and advocates.

I had the pleasure of once-again managing amazing volunteers, assisting with event coordination, and working with an amazing committee so the Jesuit Women’s Auxiliary Christmas Bazaar can steadily grow bigger and better each year.  I have had the honor of regularly spending time with my daughter in her quest to volunteer helping animals. Our experience at Dallas Animal Services (DAS) has enriched our lives and relationship.

I am also grateful for the opportunity to take on a physical building project this year. The beach is my happy place.  It is a consistent vacation choice for my family because it allows me to rest and reset. In January we purchased a beach condo. We envisioned saving money on trips to the coast and creating a revenue generating rental experience. As these endeavors often do, the condo process has not gone as quickly, as smoothly, or as cost-effectively as I hoped. However, I cannot help but be grateful for reflections on the lessons I’ve learned and the people I’ve met along the way.  I have also been able to view first-hand the awe-inspiring tenacity and resilience from the people of Florida as they rebuild following a catastrophic hurricane season.

On a Steady Path: Reflections On Gratitude

Some seasons are awash with major developments, milestones, or life-altering events. Some are meant to keep us on a steady path. I have learned there is a lesson in all of them and to find gratitude in each.

We hope that you had a relaxing 2022 holiday season with family, friends, and we wish you steady growth in 2023.