Strengths and weaknesses… What areas do you excel in, and where are you lacking? Often, we try to stretch our boundaries. We want to get stronger in the areas where we’re weak. From a growth perspective, that can be a good thing. Constantly learning new things and stretching ourselves leads to growth. At the same time, there are moments where we need to step back and reassess.

From 1997 to 2002, "Think different." was Apple's ad slogan. It showed up in TV commercials, print ads, and posters, and the campaign honored a collection of individuals who were known for thinking different and innovating. The list included Albert Einstein, Jim Henson, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King Jr., and Pablo Picasso. The ad agency that created the campaign, Chiat\Day, referred to them as the "Crazy Ones" in the TV commercials which Steve Jobs narrated. The message is still influential today...

The exact date will differ for everyone who reads this, but we’re each coming up on the anniversary of that day last year where we realized that COVID-19 was going to impact our lives in dramatic ways. For most of us, we didn’t understand at the time what that impact was genuinely going to feel like or how many things would change, but we all had that moment where it hit us – things were going to be different for a while. Personally and professionally, everything changed in what seemed like an instant. Now, a year later, it seems like a good time to reflect back a bit. Here are three questions to ask yourself…

How do we attract more customers and clients? How can we be more magnetic to them? Whether you provide a service or sell a product, collecting some basic insights on what your customers and clients need and want is an essential part of becoming magnetic. You can't create compelling content marketing, design an engaging new website, or pitch your business to a prospect unless you know how you can help them first. Here are a few questions we ask in our process at OrangeBall to help guide this...

We walk into work in the morning we have some idea of how our day is going to unfold. We're going to focus on a handful of projects for the day – work to be done for our customers in the business, and work done on our business too. But what happens when we shift from doing business to putting out fires instead?

“Push to Elevate.” We’ve shared this idea in the past as one of our core values. But what does Push to Elevate really mean, and how does it apply to you?

It’s our birthday! Today, OrangeBall turns nine! What’s a birthday, really? They’re more than just a marker for another trip around the sun. Birthdays are a time to reflect, to look backward and celebrate the past, and to cast our visions forward into the future. Where have we been and what have we learned, and where do we want to head from here? When looking back, what are we proud of?

Visibility. Of all the things we do in our work, using our eyes may be one of the most important keys to success. Cells in our eyes, the retinas specifically, take light and colors and convert them into signals that speak to our brain. These impulses are relayed to us, and we’re able to take that information and use it to make decisions, read our environment, detect danger, and see opportunity. It all happens so fast that we take it for granted most days, but the reality is this – what we see, we do. Here’s how to turn this reality into immediate impact, both professionally and personally...

The idea of including play and joy in our work can sometimes feel foreign. There's so much to do, so many things to get done, and so many responsibilities… how in the world is there time in the middle of all that for a joke? A better question is this. If there's no margin for fun from time to time, is this all worth it?

In this morning’s team meeting (our virtual water cooler sessions), Ciara from our team shared something that hit us all. In her words, “For 2021, I’ve embraced the idea of being the change I want to see in the world. I know that sounds cliche, but I realize that I have power over me and how I show up, and I’m going to work on that this year.” The phrase "Be the change" may be one we have heard many times. But have you stopped to think about what that could mean for 2021?