Three Lessons Learned in 2021
As the year comes to an end, it is a great time to reflect and look back on lessons learned from the previous year and build on them as we move forward. There has been a lot of growth for us in the past year; personal, interpersonal, and business-wise. Each new year is a chance to do and be better, and here are three lessons we learned in 2021:
Processing Loss
The recent years have been challenging for everyone, and we are all still in a state of adjusting to the changes the world is dealing with. One of the things that everyone deals with is loss. From a business perspective, processing loss allows us to reflect on important questions that can help us fine-tune our business strategies moving forward. Questions such as “how did it happen,” or “what did I do wrong,” can bring light to things we can do as entrepreneurs to avoid painful losses and improve our approach to things.
Celebrating the victories is one thing that boosts our mood, but being able to process our losses allows us to rise stronger from it. Taking time to understand what we lost and what we can do to avoid similar situations will allow us to hold on to more opportunities in the future.
Slowing Down
Regular programming, the hustle and grind, and the demands of the world sometimes force us to speed things up just to get things done. While this can and does work most of the time, it doesn’t necessarily mean it lets us achieve the ideal outcomes we picture for our business. For Aquamaid, slowing down meant taking a closer look at who we hire to be part of our team. We have been in the industry for about seven years, and within those seven years, we have been able to refine our hiring process that has allowed us to choose suitably matched individuals who now make up our stellar team.
Slowing down allowed us to ask questions that really make potential applicants think, revealing more of their character, allowing us to read more into their personality. Telling them “they don’t fit with us” and seeing how they react and reply to that statement also gleans important personality traits that help us determine who we want to be part of the Aquamaid team. By slowing down the hiring process, it has enabled us to find the best of the bunch, and have employees available and in the waiting list for when jobs arise.
Trusting and Verifying
There is an adage that goes “Trust but verify.” This holds true for entrepreneurs in the sense that interpersonal professional relationships are also built on trust, but while trusting the people we work with, we must also do the necessary which is to verify that we have put our trust in the right people. Letting go and allowing our network of professionals to do their jobs lets us form a trust-based relationship. This communicates that we trust their skills and expertise, but at the same time, it is important to verify and see for ourselves that they have done it to the standard we hold them up to.
Things We’ve Done More Of
Along with the lessons we’ve learned, we realized that we’ve done more of the following as we look back on 2021:
- Giving back – As entrepreneurs, we believe in giving back to the community and we have done and will continue to do it for Grande Prairie. We are able to enrich not only our lives but others’ as well and have a renewed sense of purpose each year.
- Networking – We find ourselves surrounded by more like-minded Grande Prairie individuals; investors, people in real estate, and overall more people who are now aware of our work ethic and loyalty.
Each year, we welcome the changes in our mindset and take to heart the lessons learned that enable us to grow as a business, and as a community.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article “Three Lessons Learned in 2021.” We care about you and our community. Request a a FREE, no-obligation quote HERE.
