Cheers, Creative Enthusiasts,
Happy New Year, wonderful people! I hope your year is off to an amazing and inspiring start! To get my year off on the right foot, I have a tradition that my first post of the year is a massive “Thank You” shout out to many who are helping make my humble, boutique creative & graphic design business a success! We have been in business since August of 2014, and the awesome projects and excellent work that makes me come alive just keeps coming through our creative doors, and I could not be more grateful! Please help me get this year started right with major kudos to some amazing people in my life that help Giant Leaps Creative jump for joy! Let’s get this party started! Yeah!
Without further ado and in no particular order, I would like to thank:
1) Mike Goncalves – This AWESOME human not only gave me the idea to create this "thank you” post annually, but we have been working together throughout the past year and beyond on many projects together! We both have a constant thirst for knowledge and pushing to excel. We have taken online courses together, done fitness challenges with his mission The Wellness Bucket, attended transformative retreats, and I know more awesome collaborations and adventures will come in 2017! Mike, I respect and admire you and your dedication to your work more than you know, and I so value your generous and amazing friendship!
2) Chelsea Dinsmore – Live Your Legend’s inspiring leader and champion Chelsea took the torch from her amazing husband Scott after his passing in 2015, and I could not be more proud of her. Scott – with Chelsea by his side – created courses and products with one mission: to help people all around the world find and do work that they love, work that makes their heart sing. Through his course and lifestyle, he helped teach me to run my business leading with generosity and gratitude (with a good dose of fun thrown in!). Nothing can stop this man's legacy from continuing on... both via Chelsea, myself and so many others across the globe. I am so incredibly proud of Chelsea (and amazed!) at her achievements in carrying on Scott's awesome mission and honoring his memory so beautifully, including her awesome presentation at this year's WDS. Chelsea, you are a marvel and an extraordinary woman that I admire!
3) Naz Murphie / Leah Hynes – These Terribly Awesome Twins of The Connection Effect from “down under” have helped rock my purpose, my business and my life! After having made their acquaintance in Live Your Legend's How To Connect With Anyone Course, with their support and encouragement my achievements only keep growing in a positive direction! Their epicly awesome retreat that I attended in Utah last April was completely transformative, highly productive, and majorly community building for me. As I write this, I just spent an illuminating weekend with a fantastic colleague that I met at that very retreat (Michael Garofalo). You ladies freaking rock, and I value your friendship and mentorship! I hope to see you soon!
4) The Wider LYL and Connection Effect Community – No one does it alone. Starting and running a business is no exception. The Power of Community has proved to serve me, my mission of making the world a more beautiful place – one logo and branding package at a time – time and time again. We need to believe in ourselves and what we are trying to do in the world to truly make an impact. These global communities of friends and colleagues ALL are AMAZING and I am truly grateful that you are in my life! I would like to give a special shout out to Troy Young, Dorene Wharton, Harry Lewis, David Ryan, Steven Briginshaw, Bryce Eldridge, and Ellen Watkins. Thanks for your undying support, creative talents, inspiration and positive, joyful energy! Love!
5) Cat Knott – This extraordinary human – whom I yet again met in the How To Connect With Anyone course (see a theme here?) – is hugely inspirational, talented, awe-inspiring and someone that I hope is a colleague and friend for the rest of my life. She and I have collaborated on many projects throughout recent years, including her book design and branding, my website designs, and much more. Cat, if I don't tell you enough, I kinda love you BIG TIME! Your talents and enthusiasm for life, helping others excel, and being a quality human are infectious. Keep going! I got yo back always!
6) Roberto Torres – Running a graphic design business takes lots of hard work, great technology running smoothly, and an awesome team backing it up. This fantastic human is incredibly talented and disciplined at many things including all things technical, working tirelessly to make sure all systems are running smoothly. If my computers are not speaking nicely to each other, it is a challenging day that slows me down – and this lady likes to move forward expeditiously and with the support of a quality team! Thank you, Robert for your wisdom, your talents, your dedication, and being someone I can count on. You rock!
7) Eric Olson & Jeanne Broadwell – Having the support of our families while we go forth and do our best to rock our own lives and businesses is highly important. I shudder to think where I'd be without my amazing husband Eric and my kickass sister Jeanne. These cool cats are not only a ton of fun, but loving, supportive, super smart, talented and I am so damn lucky that they are part of my family. Through thick and thin, these special people hug me close and cheer me on, no matter what I am reaching for or how outlandish it seems. Love you guys to the moon and back!
8) Pauline Goulah – This seemingly fearless, amazing woman started her own graphic design business, Goulah Design Group, about 17 years ago. She worked as one of my lead designers in my creative department way back in the MacVicar Design days, and over the years we became wonderful friends and co-designers, and now are both female entrepreneurs who own our own respective businesses. She is currently part of my advisory team for Giant Leaps Creative and I highly value her insights and wisdom. Thanks for all that you do to help make the world a more beautiful place full of empathy, compassion, beauty and love, Pauline. You rock!
9) Dr. Daamini Shrivastav – I met this fantastic woman through the wonders of social networking and blogging well over three years ago now. I helped crowdfund an important project she was working on, and we became fast friends. Daamini believed in me and my writing abilities, and my passion for helping other people. And she asked me to help her father’s hospital in the UAE, Conceive by authoring the blog, Slow Swimmers & Fried Eggs (SS&FE) that I write with my husband about our struggles with infertility in an international effort to help others who also struggle. Thanks for believing in me across all of those miles, Daamini. I am so happy to report that we got to meet in Boston again this past year alongside my co-author Eric so I could thank her in person! You are just a lovely and gorgeous human being! Let's keep rocking the SS&FE podcast! Stay tuned for more episodes. Yes!
10) Sandy Burkhart – Working tirelessly and efficiently, my bookkeeper Sandy helps keep me line and on budget. I appreciate her diligent and efficient work, and how patient she is with me when I get behind schedule. Sandy also is never shy about singing my praises to other prospective clients and letting them know about the services I offer at Giant Leaps Creative. Sandy, I really appreciate all of the support, hard work and cheerleading over the past year! You are an amazing woman and I am so glad that you are part of my team!
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Giant Leaps Creative would not be where it is today without the love, encouragement and support of these fabulous, inspiring and special people in my life. I thank you in the sincerest way that I know how. And I also thank all of you for reading this post and being here today, supporting one girl’s dream. May you have a fantastic year ahead, and I wish you many happy days!
To your creative endeavors!
Onward and upward.
Cathy Broadwell
Giant Leaps Creative LLC