Happy New Year to all Expand a Sign employees and customers! 2014 was a year in which we gained valuable new customers and staff, and was also a year when we bid farewell to some of our long serving ‘family members’. Although the 2014 chapter is now closed it doesn’t mean it is forgotten – valued lessons were learnt and experience gained which will be carried forward and built upon to make 2015 the best year yet for Expand a Sign!

With every passing year our company gains new insights into business and looks at lesson learned in order to improve in the future. Any good business understands that in order to grow one needs to keep learning and never fall into the trap of ‘knowing everything’. Each new customer and employee brings with them experience and a new outlook, and as long as we are willing to listen there is much to be gained. I was always told when growing up that we are only really living as long as we are learning and this is why I believe we should all make an effort to be open-minded and learn from others even if it conflicts with our current way of thinking.

As a team we have learnt lessons not only in business but also in a personal capacity. The fitness challenges set to us by the company were extremely fruitful and after the Jeep Warrior Challenge, the fitness classes (which are still well supported), and the Crazy Cats cycling the Shova we all learnt that friendship and teamwork are as important as any business plan. If we make the time and effort to learn the things we have in common with the people we deal with on a daily basis it gives us common ground to create solutions and to find ways to solve problems together. We hope to see even more challenges introduced to push us mentally and to help us bond as a team.

In my personal capacity, in the studio, we have big change this year in management. Our Tough Lieutenant, Ann Dryden, joins our Joburg office and our newly appointed General, Adrian Cooke, will take on the task with a wealth of knowledge and experience. We wish Ann and her family the best of luck as they settle in to their new life. I know it is not farewell … I’m sure we will get screamed at over the phone sooner rather than later.

Embrace 2015 with positivity and excitement for the challenges that lie ahead. It is up to us all to make 2015 a year to remember at Expand a Sign.