One Year Later.

There’s a lot of truth behind the statement that we overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year.

And, while it’s easy to measure the results of a 24 hour period, measuring a full year can be a good deal trickier. I say ‘tricky’ because not everything that can be measured matters and not everything that matters can be measured.

So, exactly how does one go about measuring a year? (On a side note, Kristin just started singing a song from Rent to demonstrate how to measure a year… “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred miiiiinnnnutes…” and now we all have that Broadway classic stuck in our heads).

But, back to our discussion of measurement. I could outline the number of tasks completed, revenue generated, web trends or any other number of statistics to try and measure this past year. However, while those numbers and trends are useful in their own right, I believe the system of measuring that matters most is the one that lets us know the resulting positive impact we’ve had on the world around us and the people in it.

About one year ago, I had just finished making a significant change in my life after departing what was a great company, filled with truly amazing people. I set sail leaving behind a corporate career for a challenging, new and exciting lifestyle in the uncharted waters of the world of entrepreneurship. Thus, Destination Tree was founded. Our mission: to inspire each other to enjoy and appreciate life’s events, challenges and destinations through the joy of custom crafted, meaningful artwork.

Now, that being said, in looking back and measuring the last year, I can honestly say it has been a success!

• With a lot of hard work, TONS of trial and error, and long brainstorming evenings, we’ve been fortunate enough to build on our idea and grow our inspirational presence to a global level.
• Originally, Kristin was helping both with Destination Tree and succeeding greatly to help grow a different, awesome company, but has since joined in the full time development of Destination Tree.
• We’ve had the pleasure of working with some truly wonderful clients who have let us in on their lives so we could help them tell their stories through our artwork.
• Through the process we found renewed inspiration in our own lives and kicked off an adventure traveling the US while we pursue our entrepreneurial dreams and inspire others to follow theirs (whatever they may be).
• One of our greatest successes, is that we no longer wait for the time left at the end of the day or the end of the week…we now spend more quality time together than ever before.

The funny thing is, once we made the decision to create, build and then transition this business (and our life) on the road, it helped us reaffirm that we truly can accomplish any challenge we place before us. One thing’s for sure, it takes hard work…and perseverance…and flexibility…and patience…and persistence…and the willingness to keep learning. Just like so many things worth doing require. There have been and will continue to be challenges, but it’s worth it. And we haven’t had a single moment of regret.

What’s next for the business? One thing’s for certain, we have no plans to become a mass produced chain store novelty. Our plan is to grow, but grow on our terms, in accordance with the original mission in mind: Custom, hand-crafted inspiration!

So, thank you to everyone who has supported us, helped us, guided us, partnered with us, purchased from us, spread the word about us, and even doubted us. Your fuel has played a role in driving our cause.

With one year now come and gone, we are very excited about year number two and the future beyond. Looking back, perhaps we are a little crazy… but we are definitely inspired!

So here’s to our supporters and cheers to the future!

Matt