I am not one for change and I sure as heck don't like to take risks. Trust me, I am not the one you take to Vegas to make crazy blackjack decisions with then proceed to bungee jump off the Hoover Dam right after. I am the one who will meet you by the pool at 10am with two pina coladas and a cabana boy to lotion up your backside and bring us more pina coladas. So when it comes to gambling on the business and the future of the business etc. I tend to take the safe road every time. Besides, someone has got to stick to that resolution of intention. I guess this is why I am the bookkeeper and not the decision maker.
Here is why.
Dave and I originally bought this property with the intention that we would have everything together all in our very own little compound. Work, home, chickens, kids etc. etc.. Big huge honking decision to move out of town and "buy a farm."The one thing that sold us about this property was that it came with a 40x60 shop for Summit to operate out of. Ok, I am lying it was the barn actually for me. But seriously, the shop has been great and is home to all of the space we could ever need in addition to the outdoor corral to store materials. Our office was in the house until a year or so after I had Calla, then we recognized we needed more space. So we renovated the barn. Downstairs is still the original dairy operation straight out of the 1950's. Glass pipes, stainless steel tanks and all. Upstairs is our office. All be it a bit chilly on windy days like today, it is the perfect homey space for us to be creative and "pretend" to actually separate work from home. Then India made her appearance in this world and the girls shared a room. That was working just fine, but the 1 bathroom situation was getting old quick once she was out of diapers. So we decided after 10 years of talking about it to go forward and make our tiny 900 sq. ft. 1 bathroom farmhouse into a 2400 sq. ft. 3 bathroom farmhouse. (I am still trying to figure out how we go through an enormous amount of toilet paper each month now, but that is beside the point).
We are happy as clams, peaches, insert whatever food you choose these days. But because we are business owners we are constantly striving to make things better for our clients. Be it the experience, the process, or pretty much the whole shebang. There is always that tick in the back of our mind that says we can take it one step further. January is our strategizing month. The one where we pick apart what we did last year and tweak it to be that much more efficient, easier etc.. It could be as simple as a job work order, what color to paint the barn door upstairs, or how to get guys and equipment to the job site daily. For example, one of the things we are currently working on is merging the work/client relationship with our shop and barn. Nothing crazy, just making it a bit easier for our clients to pick out materials, and colors to help them see the big picture. More on that to come later. But every once in a blue moon one of us comes up with an idea so crazy and different from our competitors it requires a bit longer discussion to see if it would even work.
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| FYI the barn door is now Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze:) |
Let me explain how our creative process works. First, Dave and I get geared up to sit down and talk about an idea. Occasionally along the way during the process we throw things at each other. Next, we rip apart the idea. Let it go. Come back to it. Possibly go "Office Space" on the ink jet printer while discussing it. (#not it ) Throw in a trip to an Industry Convention in Denver in the middle of it all which typically motivates us, but this year actually made us question what were convinced would work. Sometimes, we talk about an idea civilly over chips and salsa and beer and margaritas. But afterwards, we proceed to throw everything previously discussed in the trash because the beer and tequila told us to. Only to have a brilliant idea come to one of us at 1 am. This is when we usually get super excited and make it happen.
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| Meet Epson. He will print 13x19 color landscape design plans wirelessly in my office once I unpack him. |
Now you see why I don't like taking risks. Big decisions, and changes are exhausting and leave me "hung over" for lack of a better term. In the end they are always the right decisions, but damn it makes my brain hurt.
Tomorrow Dave and I are going to take that big shiny crazy idea so different from everyone else that we have been mulling over and over and roll with it. Literally….. roll with it. I am excited, nervous, and still a bit hesitant, but I know it is the right decision. Please cross your fingers and say good juju, and hope all goes well. The gentleman I spoke with yesterday said the whole thing was serendipitous.
In the meantime while I sit on my hands and wait patiently like a good little girl waiting for her hippopotamus on Christmas morning (thanks Michele), the kids and I plan to make cookies like we did last week. It is our new thing. Here's to hoping I don't nervously eat them all before tomorrow. If I do, it is because the tequila told me to.
P.S. Here's a hint! Stay tuned.
