The end of every year is the opportunity reflect on a 365-day journey. 2020 may have been a bad year for especially due to COVID-19 pandemic while to others, it was a great year. Many businesses were launched and others were closed. Pivots were made and goals were shattered. In the last few days of 2020, we took some time to ask a few entrepreneurs and businesses what their biggest business accomplishments were.
#1- Being able to survive the pandemic
I am most proud that we were able to survive the pandemic, grow and maintain quality. We were not forced to lay anyone off and actually added employees during the pandemic. This was not the easiest task but we trusted in our process and it worked. Finally, we also were able to consistently maintain our high quality of service. All in all, 2020 was a great year at Hill Law Firm.
Thanks to Justin A. Hill, Hill Law Firm!
#2- A business I built IPO'ed
I know everyone is talking about how 2020 is such a bad year but it's been great for me. A business that I built just IPO'ed (yesterday actually and I am still smiling). I would say this is what I am most proud of but I am also proud of the traction that my new business has built in its first full year of operation. These 2 businesses are the opposite end of the startup journeys and I am so proud to achieve that in this trying environment.
Thanks to Steve Keighery, Home Buyer Louisiana!
#3- Pivoting
I am most proud of pivoting in 2020 after exploring where I could provide the most value to my clients. As a startup, we have been using the opportunities that 2020 has presented to narrow in our focus, refine our marketing techniques and hit the ground running in a direction that we know will fulfill our purpose to help others. During a year of uncertainty, I am proud of us for finding the certainty within our industry and business model.
Thanks to Taylor Drake, Bluestocking Society!
#4- Satisfaction about service delivery
Accomplishments for 2020 have been daunting for anyone running a business. Transforming our clinic to render safe care and the confidence to instill in our customers that they are in a safe place can be a stressful situation. Thankfully our employees have been wonderful during these challenging times, but keeping morale and positive energy during these crazy times has also been challenging. But I have to say the biggest accomplishment of 2020 is the satisfaction that we are doing a good job and patients are thrilled we can deliver our services safely during these trying times.
Thanks to Dr. Robert Applebaum
#5- Teaching others to invest in real estate flipping
As a Real Estate Broker, 2020 was a year that saw my regular pool of Relocation clients to the Central Florida area diminish significantly. Seeing this extra time as an opportunity allowed me to teach my 18-year-old son (who was home from college due to COVID closure) how to flip his first condo. This experience highlighted how much I enjoy teaching others the beauty and significant benefits to real estate investing and flipping. So, I started a website dedicated to walking people through real estate flips, the projects involved, the elements of structuring the deal, the expenses and the true profits. I am proud of this work, especially as I read emails from readers who take the time to write and let me know how much the information helped them! I'm thrilled I taught my son a wonderful skill and also so very happy that I've found a way to share this with anyone who wants to learn.
Thanks to Marcia Socas
#6- Revamping and growing my blog
I've come a long way as a blogger. My biggest accomplishment of 2020 was gaining 1000+ visitors to my blog. I've had the blog for about 2 years and struggled with traffic. And so I decided to hire a blogging coach in June 2020 and she has helped me tremendously in growing my business. I revamped my whole blog and within the first month that I worked with her I had more than 2,00 visitors to my blog. My goal by the end of this year is to have 10, 000 visitors to my blog.
Thanks to Marcos Martinez, Men Who Brunch llc!
#7- Winning a third award
In 2019 our agency was proud to receive two Grand Stevie Awards for helping entrepreneurs enter and win awards, and in 2020, although many of our client's businesses had struggled, we managed to win a third consecutive Grand Stevie Award in 2020. We are only successful when our clients are successful and they are the reason we stand out and shine., We are so proud of them all.
Thanks to Lauren Clemetet & Annette Densham, The Audacious Agency!
#8- Getting into the Mediavine advertising program
Since investing my time, energy, and money in the best SEO practices, I've seen significant growth in my traffic, and Mediavine accepting me into their program is an amazing success for me. This means that I've monetized my blog enough to support myself financially. My success with Mediavine has turned my blog from a hobby into a business and this can only be a stronger motivation for me to invest even more in it.
Thanks to Ivana Kurilić, Artful Haven!
#9- Sticking up for other small businesses
One of the things I'm most proud of from this year was our business' ability to really stick up for other small businesses that needed the help. The travel industry took a big hit and none were hit harder than smaller businesses in the industry. We did everything in our power to provide support and funnel customers to local RV parks and campsites that were struggling. Now many of them are thriving with travelers realizing RV travel is a great way to ease the travel bug while still staying safe.
Thanks to Ravi Parikh, RoverPass!
#10- Following the path to right livelihood
I have been running a PR Firm, Whitegate PRINC since 2007. I started the company when I was 25 years old and had just moved from California to NYC. I was an entrepreneur and I worked long hard hours to build my company. After one year in business, I decided to focus on the pet industry, almost exclusively. I had many phases of the business, working from home, having an office, hiring a team, to moving the business back to a home-based business with freelancers also working from home. Fast forward to 2020, I am now 37 years old and am aware of my gifts to help and heal and shift the world. I am no longer interested in helping big companies (or any companies) make more profit. I am interested in using my life force energy to impact the world positively. I am launching a life coaching business to empower women to follow their path and live in their creative flow. I have known for a few years that I wanted to shift careers and finally, I had the courage to follow the path to right livelihood. Right Livelihood is an important aspect of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. The Buddha encouraged his disciples to engage in compassionate activity, and to make their living in a way that does not cause harm and that is ethically positive.
Thanks to Dana Humphrey
#11- Started a new business
Some people might say starting a new business during a pandemic is unwise. I saw this time as an opportunity to disrupt the recruiting industry. The threat of our business potentially coming to a halt for an indefinite period of time forced me to problem solve and think of a solution to offer a “better, faster and less expensive” offering to our clients. Talentfoot started a sister company that has now generated half a million in revenue in the last few months, delivering on its promise.
Thanks to Camille Fetter, Talentfoot!
#12- Providing jobs to those who lost their jobs in the pandemic
In July I lost my job. I was working in a digital marketing agency. I was heart broken, when my family stood beside me and I opened my own Digital Agency in September. It all started with a single chair in a co-working area. In a span of months, we are a team of 12 people all of whom lost their jobs in the pandemic and now we are ready to move into our new office next month!
Thanks to Anirban Bhattacharya, The Rank Company!
#13- Quit my day job
In 2020 I finally accomplished a very important goal of mine: to quit my day job and dedicate myself on my creative business. This was something I had been planning for a long time but I was fearing to loose my steady income and social benefits. I was also worried that working on my own would make me anxious as I had been always working with many people. The pandemic helped me to take this decision faster: first because it forced many people, including me, to work from home and practice social distancing. And it turned out I liked working on my own. In addition the company I worked in lost a few clients due to the situation and there was not a suitable position for me any more. All this brought me to the realisation that now was the time to become the CEO of my own company. Currently, I am working on growing my food photography business and I feel happier and less anxious than ever. It was the exact time of my life when I had to take this step and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Thanks to Daniela Lambova, Danis Cookings!
#14- Creating a global virtual 3-day virtual summit
I had been thinking about producing a virtual summit event for actuaries for a number of years. Finally, in 2020, I realised that resistance was holding me back. I, therefore, decided to stop analyzing and instead to ‘bite the bullet'. The idea was to create a global virtual 3-day virtual summit conference event for actuaries across the world eager to learn more about data science, AI, and general digital information relating to our profession. We are a small profession of only approximately 75K qualified actuaries worldwide and hence getting a big audience was going to be a challenge. However, I focused my time and energy into leveraging my network and pulling together 22 great speakers from 10 different countries and making the event the best it could possibly be. The work paid off. The Digital Actuary Virtual Summit was born and 4,257 people from 60+ countries attended and provided amazing feedback such as: It was enlightening to learn what is happening at the forefront of our profession all around the world. I feel the Digital Actuary Summit was one of the events that I will cherish for a long time that I was able to take part in. I am definitely looking forward to the next edition!
Thanks to Dr Mark Farrell FIA, ProActuary!
#15- WhitePaper launch
We managed to launch our WhitePaper, which was a research paper on blockchain technology we spent two years working on. The press we got from it resulted in a readership of over 2 million readers all over the world! Even though the research was conducted before the pandemic hit, our paper seems more relevant than ever as it highlights the need for businesses to have an online presence and digitalize processes. Despite the huge volatility and uncertainty in 2020, I am proud of my team for continuing to push forward with projects as best as we could given the circumstances.
Thanks to Sukhi Jutla, MarketOrders!
#16- Two accomplishments
Many law firms found themselves having to pivot their practices during the pandemic. My firm worked to expanded our criminal law practice and online presence in 2020 to domestic violence, child protection, and Connecticut Department of Children & Families defense. During the initial quarantine, we saw a surge of domestic violence and child protection cases in Connecticut and immediately pivoted our digital marketing strategy. We used the court closure downtime to create dcfdefense dot com, Connecticut’s only website dedicated to child protection and Connecticut DCF defense. We also took time to re-launch our domestic violence website ctdomesticviolencehelp dot com—the State’s only law firm sponsored website dedicated to domestic violence.
Thanks to Mark Sherman, Law Offices of Mark Sherman!
#17- Wrote and published my first book
In 2020 I finally found time and courage to write and publish my first book. The idea for You've got this: How to continue your freelance career when you become a mother popped into my head two years earlier, but I could act on it only when the lockdown forced me to slow down and redefine my priorities. I contacted and interviewed several female business owners who are combining their career with motherhood, and then wrote down my thoughts and ideas as well. All this happened while I was running my own business and taking care of my 1,5-year old child. To make my dream come true, I had to learn to schedule my goals and keep the promise I made to myself, even if it meant giving up on other, seemingly important business tasks. Writing and self-publishing is an eye-opening adventure, so I’m very proud that I could experience it, and I hope my book will inspire and motivate other female entrepreneurs.
Thanks to Dorota Pawlak, DP Translation Services!
#18- Turned to our technology already implemented to onboard new clients
Our personal injury law firm in Tampa, Hancock Injury Attorneys, felt the effects of the pandemic early on. With less cars on the road and less people shopping in stores, there are less car accidents and slip and fall accidents and therefore less potential clients to help. With this “new normal” we are proud that we were instantly able to turn to our technology already implemented to onboard new clients. Our process has gone nearly 100% virtual, from Zoom consultations, DocuSign document signing, and added forms of communications such as texting. Being flexible with our business processes has allowed us to maintain, our averages from last year, despite an 18% decrease injury cases on the roads in Hillsborough County according to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Department.
Thanks to Gabby Massari, Hancock Injury Attorneys!
#19- Socially responsible company
I entered 2020 with an aim to prove the social image of my company, a socially responsible company that wanted to do something for society. 2020 gave us that opportunity to prove ourselves and our business. We worked day and night for the welfare of our society. Being a medium-sized business owner, it was really challenging for me to take work on my goals in a year of the pandemic with lower resources and budget. I failed multiple times but never stepped back. We went out of the way to sponsor various clubs, arranged tours and provided assistance to schools and colleges in improving curriculum. In short, we did our best to play our social part in unique and interesting ways. It was the most rewarding time of the year when our social efforts for Corporate Social Responsibility were appreciated.
Thanks to Damon Routzhan, Concrete Candles!
#20- Created digital trainings
This year has been a wild ride. In May I contracted Covid-19 while working as a therapist in a nursing home. After recuperating, I started a private practice and I am creating digital trainings about the mental health impact of Covid-19. I have always dreamed of opening a business and never had the push. Covid-19 pushed me.
Thanks to Larissa Malcolm, Flourishing Focus!
#21- Two accomplishments
One of my biggest accomplishments in 2020 has not just been launching a clean premium haircare brand, MASAMI, but also partnering and supporting other female-founded brands. We have built a great support system of brands that have helped each other with engagement through social media, blogs, videos and promotions. This has been a bit of the silver lining of social distancing. That even while we aren't in person, we can still support one another.
Thanks to Lynn Power, MASAMI!
#22- Hit $10k/mo
One of my BIG goals for 2020 was to hit $10k/mo consistently in my business before the year runs out. Never knew I'd get there earlier than I expected. But as I may have it, I got there in March. Maybe I aimed lower or underated myself but that was indeed a humbling accomplishment for me. If I was told a year ago that I'd be making such an amount in a month. I would have doubted that 101%. I know it isn't all about money but hitting such a milestone hasn't just given me freedom to live on my terms. But it has enabled me see the world in an entirely different way. In the sense that, having money doesn't guarantee happiness. It is the lives impacted, and being actively involved and enjoying the process is what makes one happy and fulfilled.
Thanks to Khris Steven, KhrisDigital!