As 2017 draws to a close, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on a year that we have truly considered to be a success. Nine years ago, we never would have imagined this kind of explosive growth from our humble beginnings as two founders with very different backgrounds coming together to make something great.
I feel it is imperative for businesses (small, medium, enterprise and otherwise) to look back and determine what lessons were learned from the previous year. That said, here’s what we learned in 2017:
1) Building a strong team is not about finding top talent
For the first few years in business, we had outsourced (as many small businesses do) specific parts of our work to contractors. As we grew, we learned that not having someone on the ground managing all of the moving parts was hindering our progress. 2017 was the year that we added some key members to our team who weren’t specialists or rockstars, but generalists who were able to grease the wheels and keep things on track. The improvement to the business as well as the strength of our team was better than we ever could have expected.
2) Streamlining workflows leads to greater productivity (no, really!)
You’d think that this one would come as no big surprise, but a lot of startups thrive on momentum, things like workflow and processes control have a tendency to get lost along the way. This might be bearable when a company is in its infancy, but it causes problems at scale. 2017 was the year where our growth meant nailing down processes to ensure that we were managing expectations with our clients as well as our employees.
3) A multi-disciplinary approach to team building gives companies much needed perspective
If you’ve read our story, or parsed through our bios, you’ll already know that we all come from some very different backgrounds. Each and every member has worked in a variety of different industries and disciplines. From retail to corporate, fast paced startups to small business, we’ve learned that in order to make a digital signage business work, we’ve had to harness the collective superpower of a diverse team with an eclectic approach towards growing better businesses.
We have so much more exploring and growth to do in 2018, and are so thankful that you’re taking this journey with us!
Wishing everyone a peaceful 2018,
EcoDigital Media