Renga - year end (2019)

A year ago I knew that I was at the beginning of a formational period. I had a one month old and was negotiating with Matt to become the first Renga employee. It’s hard to believe that this was only a year ago, as I can hardly remember what life without Elliot or the Renga team was like.

Over this transformational year I have learned a lot about myself. I have had many skills and strengths affirmed and even more weaknesses and blind spots exposed. The main surprise over the last year has been how natural being a father and a leader of an organization has felt. Although I have many more challenges, I know that I am right where I need to be.

Since Matt joined in January we have also had Ben and Landon join us full-time.  My good friend Ross also joined us for a several months as he was trying to determine what his next move was. With this small team we have been able to do some amazing work as well as learn a lot about who we are as an organization.

A year ago we were open to helping your business in any way that we could. Very much in survival mode, we took any piece of revenue that we could, because we knew that we needed to grow the team to be able to handle what was coming. Now a year later, we have a very clear idea of what our core offerings are, we know what we do best and where we want to go. Narrowing our scope and specializing in brand strategy & design, allows us to do our best work.  When given the opportunity to start from the beginning and question all assumptions that are around the brand.

We have been so blessed to do this type of work with some incredibly talented entrepreneurs. We truly view ourselves as a core part of the teams that we have worked with. We have passion for every project and are really excited to be able to share some of them with you as they launch.

If this past year was about discovering who we are as an organization, then this next year will be about refining how we work. This year is going to be a lot about systems and iteration to better systematize our work. A key word for us is adaptability. We have been learning a lot about our process through failure. Experiencing adversity and complications  in client services can feel defeating, but we have been celebrating them as a team as we know it’s a lesson that will make us better. This year we will continue to take these learnings and refine our processes, creating better work. We are going to be growing our team with key personnel that will be able to inform and shape our process.

I am so encouraged by the past year, it gives me full confidence in the year to come. Confidence in the adversity ahead and our ability to deal with it well.  I sit here writing with excitement and anticipation what I will be writing a year from now.

What has the last year been like for you? Any major lessons?