Blog Interrupted

A Night to Remember

Sometimes you just gotta zig when your plan says zag. I had a cool blog ready to blast out—all about the importance of having fresh content on your website. Then last night happened.

Bam! Blog interrupted.

Yesterday morning, just before heading out to an important brainstorming/strategy meeting downtown, the call came in.

One of our best clients was asking could we, would we pull off the editing, design and printing of a 44-page, 4-color booklet for his presentation with Los Angeles city officials for a huge multi-million-dollar development? And could we somehow deliver 20 of these printed booklets by 10:30 a.m. the next day?

SF Valley Business Journal Tribute Makes Us Smile…
An Indelible Spirit Surpasses the Woman Thing

When I was growing up, it never occurred to me that girls wouldn’t be viewed with the same respect or career opportunities as boys.

If anything, it seemed the boys in my elementary school classroom were not quite as academic as most of the girls; nor as eager to excel. Even athletically, the girls were often the winners. In high school and college, the idea of female versus male professions still never crossed my mind. Maybe it was because my parents taught me that I could do whatever I set my mind to; no holds barred. Or maybe I was just born with an indelible spirit that did not see obstacles.

My first entrepreneurial endeavor was born in my ‘20s, after I left an executive editor position where the publisher valued form over substance; and dollars over values. And I never looked back. I started in my home producing newsletters for large corporations and organizations. Then came marketing and public relations and branding. Then came everything else.

HELP ME WIPE OUT THE DIRTY DOZEN!

Not so long ago, I adopted a policy of trying to speak in my day-to-day business life the same way all of us at DDCC try to write: tight, crisp and concise. I vowed to embrace the silent pauses in my own prose, instead of trying to fill them with unnecessary, redundant or contrary words or phrases. It’s a journey, not a destination, though I’d like to think I’m making progress.

Along the way, those “fill in” phrases uttered by random people around me became even more obvious. It’s kind of like purchasing a new car and then noticing so many more of those exact cars on the road. It just happens.

In the same way I would resist giving the thumbs up to all those drivers in our common new vehicles, I’m now trying very hard to resist correcting those unnecessary (and oftentimes opposite-meaning) phrases among my friends, family and associates.

PEOPLE WHO NEED PEOPLE ARE THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE…IN THE WORLD

 

I always say, “People don’t do business with companies; they do business with people.”

Sometimes we get so caught up thinking of companies as entities; instead of a group of individual people with their own frailties, families and personal lives. Here at DDCC, we have eight team members who benefit each time a client chooses us over the competition. Our clients are not simply selecting “DDCC the company,” you are electing to help and support all eight DDCC team members with our own personal and professional goals. Each time one of our clients awards us a project, you impact not only our valued team members, you benefit those team members’ children and their entire family’s wellbeing. In short, your choice makes a difference in each of our lives.