PixelMEDIA Inc.

So I was asked to write a year in review of 2009.  I was challenged trying to remember all the “awful” things that happened due to the worst recession since the depression, chaos in the financial markets, and a stock market that was about 30-40% off its peak.  These things are usually a recipe for the three most common things we hear when we are having challenges closing new business – “The proposal is sitting on the CFO’s desk”, “I cannot approve that amount like a used to”, and “That person does not work here anymore.”   So, yes, we did have a few of those, but that did not deter us from pushing forward in spite of these challenges.

For starters, we moved into a brand new, LEED certified space on July 31^st, less than a .5 mile from where we had been the last 10 years.  The new space was designed to be more open, more collaborative, have more natural light, and quite simply, be a more fun place to go to work.  Based on the amount of ping pong and Halo being played, I think we succeeded.  Secondly, we did not have any layoffs.  Instead we all took a few hours off each week during the unproductive times, spread out over the summer months.  This approach allowed us to save the equivalent of 1 payroll during a time where we had to deliver a little more, and get paid a little less, for the same services to help our clients through their budget challenged times.  Thirdly, we all had a common goal – that goal was to not let the economy impact a business we have worked for many years to build.  With the this common goal, some of the daily disturbances that get each other’s blood pressure up, don’t seem to have the same effect.  Everyone’s ability to work together, and solve problems together, dramatically increased.

So now, we are setting a new common goal for 2010.  That goal is to get back to growing the business.  This goal has eluded us with relatively flat business results in 2008 and 2009, as it has for many.  However, in an industry that has many new areas that are growing rapidly  – mobile, video integration, and the most popular term of 2010 “social media” – we in fact need to grow, just to keep up!  As I sit here on 12/23/09 and write this, I was just emailed one of the largest  single Purchase Orders we have ever received for work that will take place in 2010.  And even though that purchase order did sit on a CFO’s desk to be signed longer than we may like, the need for the services we provide – web professional services – will not be going away.  With that as our foundation, the only obstacle that can get in the way of meeting our goals in 2010, will be  our own ability to make the hundreds of small decisions each and every day about how and where we focus our time and energy, that cumulatively, achieves the results we are looking for in 2010.