It’s important to evolve and to grow and to change with the times. I posted the above on Facebook:
One of my friends mentioned that she couldn’t wait to see Gresham 2.0. I thought it was funny and interesting but the more I thought about it. I thought it might have made sense. Especially being a techy, the concept of evolution from 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0 and on hits home.
I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m going from surviving to thriving. This year marks year 5 in business. I’ve made a focus on growth and evolution personally, professionally and even in my businesses and projects. Some projects I’ve continue to work on and others only served a designated time. I’m not at the evolution period again.
Thinking back to when I started my business, I can honestly say I was nervous and unsure that I would even be able to make it as far as I have. I had so many different positions from being an adjunct professor at NVCC to running sports camps across Northern Virginia.
This surviving mentality has brought me here and for that I am thankful but now I must evolve. It seems that every 3-5 years we seem to evolve and change. That might be ingrained from school where we go from elementary to middle to high school to college. I’m not sure exactly but I know that to take things to the next level, I must reinvent myself.
Here’s what I believe this means:
- Tapping into creativity: When I started my business, I was like a child and had unlimited possibilities of the things that I could create and build. As I developed clarity about my long-term plans, it was important that I focus on the one thing. For over the past 2 years that’s what I have focused on. Now it’s time to tap back into that creativity specifically on some projects that I’ve been eager to work on.
- Getting better: This can mean a lot of things. I’ve mentioned and drawn parallels to professional athletes that reach a certain level and must evolve to continue to thrive. I was a huge Michael Jordan fan and one of the things that he developed as he grew older and his athletic ability declined was a post game. Now, that’s not to say I’m declining, but it’s just an example of the evolution that must take place. My whole focus is on always constantly growing and improving but this is different. This is long-term improvement. The focus on certain aspects of the business which will bear fruits as Gresh 3.0 takes route (3-5 years down the line).
- Purpose-driven activities: I think at some point as you try to grow and develop your business, you become data-driven. Now I think there’s still a big need to focus on analytics but I think when you only practice or focus on one thing or one way of doing things, you don’t open yourself up to innovation aka the ability to creatively change or evolve (see above). It also means to focus even more on what projects and people to work with.
- Focus on wellness: This is often forgotten for entrepreneurs and business owners but making sure to fill your cup up. I have been focusing more on this over the past year or two but it’s going to become an even bigger part of my life. This includes going to the gym, running, playing sports, socially, spiritually, etc. These are the things that will help me to continue to run the marathon of entrepreneurship.
- Clarity on purpose: This is big. It’s not only learning my clarity but also executing and living in my purpose. This is important to understand and to remember. Year after year, I have gone more confident towards not just hearing and accepting my purpose but executing and living in it.
- Understanding an accepting my strengths: Especially true when starting my business was this idea of wearing all hats. This has been evolving and changing for me as I grow and understand what I do best and how to help our team grow and everyone develop.
Many of these things are surface-level but I’m hoping that they will become more obvious. I’ve started to lay seeds for Gresh 2.0 and now it’s important to cultivate and create the environment for those seeds to sprout.
