Off to the ATL We Go!

Today marks a bittersweet time for our Altair family. We are saying goodbye to some of our colleagues as they travel down to open an expansion office in Atlanta, GA. We are so happy for them on their new adventure. We will also miss them in their absence.

Elizabeth Brennan has been with Altair since September of 2013. She was promoted to our Executive Team Leader position in October of 2014. She has developed many of her colleagues into the leaders they are now during her time at Altair. We are excited to see what amazing things this new opportunity holds for her.

Ryan Ruiz has been with Altair since September of 2013 as well. He's our resident talker (and by talker I mean it's a GREAT day if he says more than three words). I can see amazing opportunities in his future with this company.

Elicia Johnston started with Altair April 1st, 2014. She has such a lovely personality and an infectious laugh that will be missed in her absence. Her consistent performance has earned her a wildcard spot at our Top Performers Retreat in the Bahamas coming up in April.

Grant Viekman is on of the newest members of our Altair family, starting in August of 2014. It has been amazing fun watching Grant grow into a leader and entrepreneur while he's been with us. He also has the prettiest hair I've ever seen. He will be joining other members of our Altair family in a few weeks aboard a cruise ship in the Bahamas for some fun in the sun. Grant has also been proving his potential as a business owner over the last few months.

Jaron Watkins started out in our Ann Arbor office and transferred to our Grand Rapids office back in September. He has recently proven to be a top performer within the office and has been invited on our all expenses paid trip to the Bahamas. Jaron also holds many of the sales records we have standing in the office currently. It only goes to prove Jaron's will to succeed within our business. Because of this, I know we will see great things from him.

In our business, we spend so much time together as a group. We've all built relationships on both a personal and professional level. It's not that we'll never see you again. We will be seeing you in the near future at our Top Performers Retreat in the Bahamas and again at our company conference in June. But we won't see your faces every morning around the office. We won't see your posts to the team in our group text. We won't get to sit down with you and ask you how your weekend went or see you at events outside of the office. We will definitely be visiting you in your new, warm and sunny location in Atlanta.

Take the skills you have learned here and pass them onto others in your new location! You will be greatly missed. But this isn't goodbye, it's see you later.

The Truth About Success

Humans are fickle creatures. There are many "fair-weather friends" of celebrities, businesses, trends, politics, and individuals. While something looks glamorous we are all for it! Winning the lottery? Promises of grandeur? Any random trend is good for a while, but when the hype wears off, that's the end of the fan base.

We hear what we want to hear. Commercials on the TV will say "Call now and get a $500 value for $19.99!!!" Sounds great! Then we look at the fine print or call and buy it and here's what we missed: 19.99 per month for 3 months. Plus S+H. Small fee when paid for with a credit card. Any late payments will result in the end of the promotional price. 
Now it's not near as cool; and for good reason!

So now what happens when there's actually a good thing? People go to college and expect a 60k job right after graduation that they can just swoop into and live their dreams because they want to college! College is a great accomplishment to be sure, though the hard work continues after graduation. From one job to another, barely making ends meet, that was hardly the dream we thought it would be when someone signed us up to be adults!

The road to success is rarely, if ever, the straight arrow we think it will be. It's full of color and life! Ups and downs, wrong turns, huge learning curves, failures, small victories, and so much more!! Lets not make ourselves blind to the fact that no matter what goals we have, there will be a lot to learn on the way to success. We can make it there with patience and endurance of the junk that can make the hardship seem unbearable and not worth the prize at the end of the tunnel.

Just like TV the good thing is good, but it comes with things that could make it difficult, that could ruin the deal if you mess up-and lets be honest, not everything is within our control! So do we give up?

Now that, that is up to you!

Business: According to Settlers of Catan!

Settlers of Catan: a much loved board game. If you've never played or never heard of it, it is a game of development, of building cities and roads with the resources you gain from the land you build on. If you build on the wrong places, there is no way to get resources that you need to develope and (really) to win the game! The game of Catan symbolizes those resources with different cards. You can hold them in your hand for as long as you want, but you eventually can lose them if you keep too many undeveloped.

It is somewhat complicated to explain, but it is a great metaphor for a business or managing a team.

Owning a business requires that you have certain pieces or skills to really sustain that. Build in the right places and you have the correct resources to sustain and develop. A grocery store with no groceries will soon cease to exist! Advertising with no capital is rather impossible! A manager with no people to manage...is quite a laugh.

Without the necessary resources one cannot expect to be successful.

Not "cashing in" our resources can be just as detrimental. If you know the game, holding onto a ton of brick and wood does nothing for you, you have to use those to build roads! In the real business world, we can get so excited about our business that we don't realize that our plans for expansion aren't sustainable. We can be too generous with capital and end up closing the doors for lack of funding. On the other hand, there are some developments that need to be saved for, which means turning down a smaller opportunity for the bigger picture.

Being aware of what needs to be spent and what needs to be saved, what needs to be delegated and what you just need to do yourself, is a great skill that must be learned by any successful business person.