It’s the 7th Anniversary for The Partner Marketing Group!
By Cheryl Strege, The Partner Marketing Group
Many people believe in the significance of the number 7, as in…
- 7 year itch
- 7th inning stretch
- 7 dwarfs (and their friend, Snow White)
- 7 colors of the rainbow (their names are famously abbreviated as ‘ROY G BIV’)
At The Partner Marketing Group we celebrate 7 for another reason – it’s our 7th anniversary! Anyone who has started a business can look back at the good, the bad, and the ugly (thank you, Clint Eastwood) of those early years, especially if starting a business during the “Great Recession”, officially 2007-2009.
The Good:
- Michelle Glennie: At The Partner Marketing Group from its inception. Her belief never wavers.
- Andrew Glennie: Was usually the “behind the scenes” guy who kept a bunch of non-technical marketers from pulling out their hair when something (a computer, O365, SharePoint) wasn’t working.
- Cheryl Salazar, Barb Pfeiffer, and Barb Levisay: Adding this strong bunch of renegades (and I mean renegades in the nicest sense) to the team was a real coup. Brilliant marketers with a far-reaching collection of talents (and their own crowd of enthusiastic fans).
- Our clients, domestic and international, who trust us with their marketing needs and challenge us to push the boundaries. We love it when that happens.
- Our “tribe” of influencers, colleagues, friends, and associates who believe in us and celebrate the successes. We look forward to events just because we get to see you there.
The Bad:
- As all of you reading this would know, partners, ISVs, and publishers pulled back during the recession and marketing budgets were fairly lean. The business was steady but wasn’t growing.
- With slow growth, profitability was sluggish. Although all the bills were paid, there wasn’t a lot extra in the piggy bank those years. Thankfully those years are behind us.
The Ugly:
- I’ll save this section for a future “confess all” article. Maybe.
The Bad and Ugly are just part and parcel of starting a new business. I’m thankful for them because it highlights how much Good we’ve truly experienced in the last 7 years. My sincere thanks to our clients, colleagues, and especially to the team I’m lucky to work with every day.
P.S. A special shout out to Richard Mattson, one of our contractors in the early years, whose contributions were important to our corporate health and sustainability. Thank you, Richard!
