Monthly Brags

This will wrap up my 2018 brag posts. I actually just went through the other months to revisit some of my highlights from the past year, and it was so much fun!

I’m making this post a 2-in-one since I was so busy at the warehouse in December that I never wrote my November one.

Here are my wins in no random order:

1. I was on Facebook and saw this post:

It prompted me to ask my assistant if this was a thing in school districts near us. It turns out it was, so I paid for 3 elementary schools’ worth of lunch.

I don’t really post about this stuff on Facebook anymore (although I know a lot of people say it’s motivating), but it was probably my favorite win of the past couple months so I’m sharing it here.

2. The warehouse CRUSHED IT this holiday season. We were up 54% in December, 224.95% in November, and crushed records from last year. There were a few days we produced 8.000+ items a day and several that were 7,000+.

After hearing a little more about some numbers from other companies, I think we’re the 3rd biggest mug warehouse in North America at this time, which is crazy since we’re still relatively new.

3. OMG. Low Hanging System. People inside there are doing PHENOMENALLY.

That feels AMAZING to see.

4. I filled out my gratitude list 57 days out of 61 in November and December and my “clarity” list 39 days.

5. Don and I went to Wichita for Christmas which is always really fun. I enjoy seeing everyone there. I was a little sick this trip, but I am still “bragging” about spending time with loved ones.

6. We had a super fun holiday party at the warehouse! It was so nice to see so many people show up. We all let out so much of the build-up of stress that came up throughout the season and had a super fun night that I think everyone enjoyed. It was a blast.

7. I did a much better job eating healthfully during this holiday season than in years’ past, thanks to my assistant ordering food for me and keeping it in the fridge. I had plenty of pre-cooked veggies and low carb food around so that I didn’t need to resort to processed food as I have in past years. 

8. The warehouse processed a TON of orders in November and December. I gave % increases before, but in terms of numbers, we made 105,000 items in November and about 163,000 in December.

9. We started making doormats on a bigger scale for one of our clients, which was fun.

10. So many Jumpstart students have been KILLING IT!! Some of the testimonials above are also from Jumpstart/LHS people. We’ve had so many people talk about how much the Jumpstart has been helping them and so many have been reporting sales. That is wonderful to see.

11. We had another workshop with the consultants we hired for my warehouse, and it went very well. 

How about you? Any brags you’d like to share? I’d love to read them!

Welcome to my latest brag post, where I go over the previous month’s wins.

Here are some of last month’s big wins, in no particular order:

1. October included a lot of really fun travel. We went from PA to Vegas where Don hosted a marketing event and CRUSHED IT, then to Nashville where I met up with my mentor and mastermind group, then Kansas where we celebrated Don’s birthday, then back to PA.

We had a great time exploring each different place.

Vegas was fun because it was great to see Don do such a great job, hang out with the speakers that we love, and visit our old haunts.

This is a picture of some of the people at Don’s event:

From there we arrived in Nashville a day early and spent a bit of time exploring which was very fun, and on one of the nights at the mastermind we got a special private concert from some fabulous local Nashville artists. Here’s a video Don took of that night.

Kansas was great too, and I love our family and friends there. It was awesome catching up with people and I need to take better pictures when I’m in Kansas! We rented a very cool speakeasy-type home and had people come over each night to celebrate Don and hang out. We had a really good time there.

2. I hired an in-person Executive Assistant, Heather, to help me with a bunch of things personally and business-wise. She is a gem and has already helped a LOT, and I am so grateful to have less things on my plate. I’m already feeling huge effects from her presence.

3. We had a phenomenal meeting at CustomHappy where we got clear on our core values, our “big hairy 5 year goals”, and a lot more. It’s so nice to be on the same page with the managers, have no drama, and watch things going SO WELL there.

Here are our core values:

FOCUSED ON CUSTOMERS
We are passionate about keeping every customer happy at every step.

ACCOUNTABLE FOR RESULTS
We are committed to getting the job done and answerable for outcomes.

MILES ABOVE AND BEYOND
We bring our best to everything we do, and then stretch to go the extra mile.

IN THIS TOGETHER
Working together we amplify our ability to achieve our shared vision.

LONG-TERM HIGH QUALITY
We are consistent and exceptional in all we do.

YOUR INTEGRITY COUNTS
Our word is our bond and our actions the testament. We’re honest.

I just LOVE that it spells out “FAMILY”. ;)

Our “Why + What” is: ”We create and ship happiness to you and your customers with our best-in-class order fulfillment and our high-quality print-on-demand capabilities.”

4. Speaking of the warehouse, we had 212.88% business growth over October 2017 and shipped out over 57,000+ new items (not including our fulfillment business). They’re rocking and rolling over there!

5. A few affiliates promoted Low Hanging System and did well. It is always nice to bring in new people, especially when results still come in like this:

It feels very, very fulfilling to be part of this.

6. I filled out my gratitude list 27 of 31 days in October and worked on getting clarity 18 of 31 days.

7. The Jumpstart continues to do well and I am proud to offer it. People are getting excellent results which makes me very happy to see.

8. I hired a finance team that is doing a GREAT JOB already, and I am so so so SO happy to have clarity around my finances again. My past accountant got over-worked and stopped giving me things on time, and I am loving having monthly meetings and discussing P&Ls and looking at data and all the fun things. hehe. I am so happy to be on top of this again.

I think that’s everything for now. If you have any brags, please feel free to share away! I’d love to read about what you’ve got going on.

Welcome to the newest edition of my brag posts, where I brag about the prior month and encourage you to do the same thing. It’s a great way of staying present to wins without always focusing on the next thing.

With that said, in no particular order, here are some wins from September.

1. Don and I got engaged! He planned a perfect day for my birthday on September 25th.

First, on the day prior, we’d found a really great bakery while walking around NYC. That night while I was on a call downstairs in the hotel lobby, he snuck out and got a bunch of treats I could wake up to on my birthday.

He had pre-planned a bunch of things as well: brunch at a delicious restaurant, then sent me to a spa for 2 hours of bath time and a massage, then we went on a 2 hour limo tour through NYC. After that we went to a 9 course dinner at Per Se (an insanely good Michelin rated restaurant) and were supposed to do a Broadway show after that.

Somewhere between the 4th and 5th course at Per Se, he got down on one knee and proposed.

It was perfect.

2. I made so much time for personal FUN in September. I flew out to Denver for a dear friend’s wedding, reunited with some of my best friends in Denver, went on a “food tour” in NYC with some friends and family, attended a bridal blessing for my friend, and spent every weekend filled with people I love. It was wonderful.

3. I filled out my gratitude list 27 of 30 days in September. It’s a great habit that I’m proud of continuing.

4. For 17 out of 30 days I took time to have silence and journal on things I wanted to get clarity about. Ideally I’ll be doing this more, but still – I did it over half the month and I’m counting that as a win.

5. The warehouse shipped out over 52,000 items (not including another several thousand from fulfillment clients) in September. And speaking of the warehouse, our survey results I mentioned in the last brag post are still going great. People love our services.

6. I finished a big chunk of the relaxation room in our house! Here’s an image of some of it. I love this room!

7. I started going to cryotherapy on a whim. I saw a Groupon for it and thought I’d try it out — and while it’s a bit uncomfortable going into a tank that blasts you with cold air, it’s done wonders for my mood and has all kinds of other benefits.

The first day I went, I’d been having an extraordinarily rough day. I noticed that after I left the appointment I felt way more zen. Everything felt very natural and I didn’t even notice the change until I reflected how much calmer I felt versus before going in.

8. I found an incredible naturopath to work with! A few months ago I was diagnosed with “Premature Ovarian Failure”, while other specialists say I have “PCOS”, and from what I understand, I can’t have both at the same time.

Anyway, I did a podcast search for “Premature Ovarian Failure” and found exactly one episode about it. I reached out to the woman giving advice, not having any idea if she did individual consultations, but as it turns out – she does! We will be talking once a month or so and I’ve gotten started with her protocol. I’m excited for hopefully turning my hormone nonsense around.

9. This is sort of a bummer, but I’m concentrating on the “brag” part of it.

A few months ago I found out that one of my ex-employees, who I really loved, was stealing from the warehouse. He was selling overstock mugs to someone and pocketing the money (and telling the buyer that all proceeds were going to the warehouse).

We took him to court.

I haven’t been to court before and assumed it would be a scenario where the judge would ask us questions, make a decision, and we’d be done…

But I was wrong.

The ex-employee brought a lawyer. The judge asked who was “representing” CustomHappy. All at once, I suddenly had to be a lawyer.

Now, my childhood dream was to be a lawyer (and then president). I didn’t end up pursuing that, obviously, but being put in that position almost got to ignite the little girl’s dream in me.

The situation was unfortunate and makes me sad. BUT… I killed it in court. I cross-examined and asked great questions, read statements while listening to testimony and found discrepancies in stories and asked about them, and overall really explained our point.

I could have had more finesse had I been prepared — but in the end, we won. Over the lawyer.

Again – the situation sucked, but the “win” from it is that the little girl in me felt so redeemed.

10. We started up a new Jumpstart this quarter and I feel very happy with the value the attendees are getting each week, and happy with all the people who signed up. It feels nice to be able to help people on a bigger scale like this.

11. People in LHS and the Jumpstart group are getting great results. Here’s some of the wins from September: