I would like to start off with a big congratulations to all of us for making it to the end of 2020 – a round for the house pub master *insert applause here*. I write one of these blogs every year but closing out 2020 is especially sweet and satisfactory.
I’m not even going to cover the pit falls of 2020. We’ve been thinking about them all year, and I really want to highlight all of our accomplishments because through hell and high water, we made it people!
Like many other small businesses at the beginning of the year, we did have to close for a period of time. As a company that specializes in home installations, we needed to ensure that we kept not only ourselves, but our clients safe. Despite that, we did have a small skeleton crew working to help keep our already in process jobs running smoothly and get them installed safely and efficiently.
Coming back in the summer was great. Being home is nice, but there are only so many home projects you can work on and YouTube skills you can learn. And I do I have to admit… I missed my coworkers.
Just a little bit.
We had some pretty cool jobs going on this year. And even some amazing highlights as well.
Antique mirror orders SKYROCKETED this year. Both through our shop site Striptiles.com, and for our local installations. And our new gold framed mirrors also made a dazzling impression on us.
Our Industrial Grid Den Partition that was featured in Home and Design and Gulf Shore Life Home Magazines became a massive hit, and a hot commodity with the demand for home office spaces.
Bar areas and Glass Wine Enclosures were also really big this year. One bar that we did really stood out. With a pink mirror backsplash (yes pink) and U-shaped Ultra Clear shelves, the whole area really came together and popped with a lit countertop.
Vintage View also came out with their Vino Post and Peg racking which has been a really cool change up to the normal line up of racking that we use.
And none of these projects would have been possible without our awesome sales and install teams. We got to celebrate the year recently with our Christmas luncheon, and if you’ve read my closing year blogs, you know that that is my favourite event of the year. Getting to sit together for a time is really rare for us because we are always on the move, but what an amazing team we have.
Thank you all for making this year better.
There is also something to be said about the lessons we’ve learned this year. Because honestly, there were a lot of lessons that were offered to us, and some of them were pretty important.
Kindness is more than appreciated. Whether it is someone that is doing something for you, or if you are helping someone else – it takes less effort to be kind. Even to people who share different points of view from you. What I have observed is a lack of empathy (not to be confused with sympathy) and understanding. I have also observed people going out of their way to express these virtues and make an example of how easy kindness can be. And kindness doesn’t have to be big grand gestures guys, it could simply be a smile or a hello, a thank you – it really is the little things.
Patience is not just a virtue, but a practice. It doesn’t always come easy either. Some days are more trying than others, and even the smallest of inconveniences can tip you over. But recognizing this and thinking outside of ourselves, we can work on improving those aspects and practice patients.
It’s something that I have to check myself on too.
I think overall this year, we’ve been shown to be more aware of others. We all went through this experience of 2020, but we did not all have the same experiences. We have no idea what the people we encounter everyday have going on in their lives, so treat other’s the way that you would like to be treated, hug your loved ones, Happy Holidays and a very, very Happy New Year – check back with us here in the new year to get inspired.
