The meaning of Awards and Recognition

Okay I admit it. I was a little, what was that feeling, jealous? when one of my competitors got noticed in the newspaper. Upon reading the article I was struck by the inaccuracy of the story, knowing the background myself. Wow , if I hire a PR firm I too can have articles written about my company thereby impressing my customers and maybe even getting more customers! Should I do it?

Why does it feel somewhat "wrong" to me especially given that my dad owned a PR firm and regularly got others noticed. Hmmm what IS that feeling. I think it might be my compass, moral or ethical as it may be sometimes called. For some reason, it seems that doing a good, no GREAT job for my customers is the best use of my energy. Will they see Artscape as a better company if it's written about in the paper? Should I ask for my awards to be published? I was always taught to believe that the best award is the one you get when you know you've done a great job. That feeling of "I did it" . It's a feeling of EARNED pride, some times a quiet, not showy, often silent reward of knowing and sharing a sense of accomplishment is way better than a picture in the newspaper.

I am not taking away any glory from any of my wonderful peers who have won awards. Their trophies and plaques are symbols of their achievements. I have a few of those too. They are in my office and I've never shared them with my customers. I prefer to just quietly go about doing my best, every day and reap the rewards from the satisfied comments and compliments my wonderful customers give to us on their own.

After all, how we choose to celebrate our successes is a very personal matter. Now about that PR firm....... not a bad idea!

Spring

Spring has come with a GUSH... it's raining and raining and raining, making the grass green, the trees bud out quickly and our shoes wet !
This is a great time to think about plants and flowers. Inside and out. Artscape is getting some really cool plants in next week from Florida. Sometimes we even get a chameleon or tree frog with them, no extra charge.
Call us to come see your offices or interior spaces and we'll put a little life into your environment!

As I sit here looking out at the 7" of snow we got last night, unable to get to work but not feeling too badly about it, I realize how much I like the quiet beauty of a snowed in day. When you live in Michigan, it's not unusual to hear people talk about the weather as if it's the most interesting topic in the world. At work "you got your snowblower all gassed up for the big storm ?", at the grocery store counter "looks like you've stocked up on food for the snow storm headed our way", at the gas station "filled up for the storm, did ya?", outside shoveling the sidewalk, the neighbors yell "hey when you're finished with yours, come on over and do my walk!".
The snow creates a kind of comaraderie, as we all prepare for a snow day when schools are closed, work is shut down, people hunker down in their homes and prepare for a day of making cookies, reading the paper or a book, doing puzzles, and just plain relaxing.

Yesterday I had the task of looking at budgets and increasing monthly fees to my customers to catch up with inflation. Not a fun task but one that needs approaching annually. Rarely do I get a complaint about it because any business person knows it's a part of surviving as a business owner. I also reminded myself that not only do I have a great bunch of customers, but my employees "the green team" are the best ! I often forget to say so, but the snow being the topic of the last three days, I had time to reflect on other things, appreciation being one of them. I appreciate my green teams dedication, their loyalty, their talents, and their contribution to Artscape's reputation, which I've been told "on the street" is one of quality and integrity. Cool. Not much more I can ask for.

Except now I have to go shovel snow, happily I might add, and then I think I'll open up that jigsaw puzzle in my cupboard.