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Last week I was fortunate enough to be able to enjoy a few days of R&R on vacation. We ate too much, enjoyed seeing the beach, and spent time laughing with good friends. On one of the days, my friend suggested that we go get massages, which I was thrilled to do. We scheduled our time and went to get our massages. As I laid on the table, it felt like the hands of God himself began working all of the tension out of my body. It was magical. And then I came to a funny realization. I became aware that I had a tension headache- but it wasn’t new. I realized I’d had it for a very long time. This ache was an old companion of mine that I had simply learned to ignore. I have been putting my body through long days and short nights and have not

This is a true story. Many moons ago when I was getting married at the “ripe” age of 21, I went to a hairdresser to style my hair for my wedding. I had been growing my hair out for months with visions of it being down and long and wavy. It sounds ridiculous saying it now, but when I sat in her hair to get my hair styled, she told me it would look better up with my strapless gown to show off my dress and so I let her put my hair up in a french twist instead of how I’d been planning for months. I’ve become aware of this conflict avoidance tendency of mine and have worked on it over the years with some success, but for my wedding – my hair was up on the most photographed day of my life and I really wanted it down.

As I made my way to work this morning, I admired the beautiful sunrise. I was reminded of new beginnings, new opportunities, and new learning experiences. Along with the sunrise, over the fields I passed along the way, a thick fog had settled. The breathtaking scenery reminded me that in every new beginning or opportunity, there is an element of the unknown. Personally, I have always struggled with the unknown. I want to feel like I am in control. The past year, I have moved more than once, I have been promoted to a leadership position, and I got another dog. There’s plenty more to my year, but this year has been a year of many changes. Each of these situations brought about new excitement but also fear. Fear of the what if’s in the situation. Fear of failure. However, out of the situations, I have been successful and learned

This past week marked our 3 year anniversary! In some ways, it feels like it has been eons that we have been doing this, and in others, it seems like just yesterday Megan and I were sitting on those beanbag chairs in the Renasant Center for Ideas while we were waiting for our furniture to come in. Our third year in business has been remarkable – our best ever! We’ve completed some amazing projects. We’ve helped some new (and old) businesses launch their online presence for the first time, which is always exciting. We’ve launched our IT business this year – we’ve been dabbling in IT for years but with the addition of two full time IT professionals, we’ve taken it to an entirely new level and our customers say things like “I never knew IT could be this good!” We’ve also reached new heights with our Software development team.

Helping small businesses is really synonymous with helping your own community grow. Major corporations that operate within your community obviously employ and sometimes contribute locally, but it’s irrefutable that their profits are shipped out elsewhere. Helping local businesses is investing in the businesses that are invested in our community. It’s giving business to your neighbors and friends. It’s helping a community partner that will likely be in the position to return the favor. It’s choosing to be able to work with someone that you will run into on the ball field or grocery store aisles. Helping small businesses is good business. Some may ask “how can I help small businesses?” We’re glad you asked! Patronize small businesses. This might be obvious, but where you choose to “vote with your dollars” makes a big difference. Even if it’s just a burger, I’m sure Trish at Neon Pig appreciates it a lot

In business and life, there will always be things to celebrate along with things that are not as celebratory. Despite these less enjoyable times, it should still be a priority to look for the good. This is, of course, easier said than done. But when we shift our perspectives and stop looking at the bad as much, everything else will shift with it. As a leader, it is important to lead by example. If you are consistently dreading and stressing over your work, those you are leading will begin to feel that way too. On the flip side, even if you are not in a position of leadership, you can encourage others with your joy. Joy is contagious. Personally, I have begun to focus more on the small victories. For example, I am in the process of moving. I had several small goals for packing, however, I only completed a

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that I do my best thinking while I’m mowing my lawn. I personally get out and push mow it. I have for years, and I enjoy it. There are no distractions, it’s good exercise,  and I have free time for thinking while getting some Vitamin D. What I’ve never mentioned before is how much I LOVE my electric lawnmower itself. If you’re a “You’ve Got Mail” movie fan, it almost reminds me of Frank’s obsession with his typewriter. Every time I use it, I think about how much I love it. I like that I don’t have to crank it but rather push a button, I love how much quieter it is compared to a gas mower,  I love that I don’t have to buy gas or oil for it – or really maintain it much at all. I

In full disclosure, I may or may not have the Shawn Mendes song stuck in my head at this particular moment. My girls, Layla and Vivienne, are currently obsessed with that song, as well as the rest of the Sing 2 soundtrack. But the thought of “nothing holding me back” got me excited all over again. That’s why I started my business in the first place. I wanted to be able to succeed or fail according to my efforts and abilities. I wanted to be able to say “YES!” to my customers. I wanted to be able to unconventional if needed to take advantage of opportunities for me and those that depend upon me. Business ownership is the epitome of “nothing holding me back.” The dark flip side of “nothing holding me back” is “nothing pushing me forward.” There is no one double-checking to see if I am making wise

I’ve been working in the marketing and technology industry for more than a decade at this point, and I have discovered a trend. Technology in business is a very specialized niche that is not necessarily all that easy to fully grasp. A lot of people understand specific aspects of it, but it isn’t intuitive to the masses. The trend that I’ve noticed over the years is when people know they need a specific thing in their business but don’t necessarily know that thing inside and out, they tend to throw money at it. I’ve seen businesses select entirely inappropriate computers – either way more power than they need, too little and they ultimately have to upgrade again or invest in the wrong specs for their needs. With digital marketing, I’ve seen businesses invest in channels that have a good result but could have been achieved far simpler with less investment.

Vitality South’s Services For many businesses, you never need to ask the question “what do you do?” For a caterer, they cook and deliver food. For a dentist, they fix and prevent dental issues. Maybe that’s an oversimplification, but most customers walking in the door have a pretty good idea about the majority of their services.  Vitality South is interesting because a lot of people are familiar with a particular subset of our services and in their mind, that’s what we do. When they have further discussion with us, they tell us all the time “Oh! I didn’t know you did that.” Kind of like when you think of a company like Pepsi and you think – ‘yep, they make soft drinks’, so it doesn’t surprise you when you hear they make Sierra Mist. And then you hear about their Tropicana Orange Juice – and you didn’t know it but

Ready for Business This morning as my alarm went off, time for me to get ready for work, I felt fatigue catch up with me. It’s near the end of Spring Break week, having worked the week in full, and I was tired. In fact, I really just wanted to roll up into the office wearing pajamas. Before your imagination gets the best of you, for me, pajamas means sweat pants and a t-shirt. When I looked at my appointment book, I didn’t have any scheduled in-person meetings today. As the CEO of my marketing agency, I wouldn’t be hearing from Human Resources about this decision. I was chilly. I was tired.  And I wanted to just relax. But after a little self-pep talk, I reminded myself that I don’t go to work to relax. I go to work to help businesses. Help my business. Seek new opportunities for myself

Cybersecurity for Businesses When I was in college, my sister and I decided to take a SCUBA diving class just for fun. We practiced each week in the college pool with our oxygen and masks, and then eventually took a trip down to Florida to do an open water dive and get certified. One of our classmates asked what we needed to do if we encountered a shark. Our instructor grinned and replied that we don’t have to outswim the shark, just our buddy. When we help businesses with Cybersecurity, many of them find it absolutely overwhelming to never make any mistakes, never use weak passwords, always recognize scam attempts, etc. And the advice we offer our customers is the same that my dive instructor offered us; you don’t have to be perfect, just don’t be an easy victim. The truth in online security is, even if you let us