11/03/2024
To the Newly Established - "Private" Businesses/Agencies / Organizations!
Finally, to reach to a 10-yr milestone of forming a very successful establishment w/a Blessed team, you would believe one should feel very satisfied & happy; especially knowing, that our contributions has helped individual(s) & family's w/ resources & feeling safe.
So, as I remanence on past annual fundraising events & our contributions, I can truly say, we're Blessed regarding how far God brought us from a small local hotel banquet rm holding up to 50 to where we're now w/perm contractual venue space- which can hold up to 150-200- along w/having a very diverse team of contractors from different cultures, religions, nationalities, genders, & ages from 13 to 78. Also, having our own gourmet chef / servers whose always ready to prepare whatever meal request provided & to our faithful photographer & Senior Contract Vendor of 10-yrs. Sadly, we lost several past vendors & frequent flyer guests; due to, several have moved on to forming their own LLC's, 501c'- others passed from COVID, illnesses or natural causes. Thus, yesterday was a wakeup call for me, b/c I'm a perfectionist; therefore, I tend to wear my NCO cap 24/7-365 even after detachment from the military. Sometimes it's hard to shake & b/c of being a perfectionist I expect a lot from myself & those around me.
Granted, I have to stop- breathe & remind myself, only "2" on my team are prior mil (AF/AR) the rest Civ; therefore, it's unfair for a bar so high, for them (the civilians). Well, after helping w/the venue setup b4 the early bird guest arrivals, I returned home to get ready and while at home I broke down- I cried- was angry-upset-frustrated & disappointed at myself as this was the very first time I felt defeated - b/c my phone was constantly dinging from text messages & calls from past guests who were requesting if they could still attend even after the registration ended to being asked could their family & friends attend - to individuals notifying me of their non-attendance on the day of the event.
This continued for what appeared to have lasted a good 1-1/2hrs until I turned off my phone, spoke to God & cried some more. God opened my eyes to see & understand that, now we've made it to the 10-yrs milestone and there will be times like this - feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, choosing to respond or not- to naysayers who prefer & rather see this small self-paid organization fail; so while delegating w/several hats - and taking care of me I often Slack (pulling 24-48 some-times close to 72 hrs of non-sleep) b/c of not wanting to fail myself or anyone whom I'm helping. Another eye opener was, not everything is going to pan out just the way I want it "all the time", life happens to all of us, emergency(s) happens.
Fortunately, w/God's help, all turned out well as we made a few provisions for our speaker & she was "Awesome", while captivating the guests w/her delivery & powerful msg of survival & resilience.
From our entire team to You, Thank You,
Ms. Laura Cowan.
In short, while operating one's "private" entity, everyday won't be Sunshine; but the Storms will pass. ❤️ 🙏
Send a message to learn more