We’ve been talking about “Famous Last Words” in our business lately, those things we say that we are so certain of that very quickly prove to be incorrect.

For example, for the first year or so of our business, my friend Angie, who worked with us then, always said “We don’t do websites.” Now web is a large and important part of our offering. As recently as May, I told my team “We’re not ready for office space.”

Now, just a couple of months later, we are fully occupying our recently leased space with plans for expansion. It’s modest space, true, but there’s a sign!

The addition of the sign ended up being far more exciting to me than I’d anticipated. I wasn’t sure it was even worthwhile to hang a sign; after all, we serve clients mostly virtually. The entire time I’ve been in business, we’ve served ONE LOCAL CLIENT. I don’t market for local business and don’t expect many of our clients to visit our offices from far away — although all are welcome! My husband encouraged me to get the sign, and now that I’ve seen it, I’m happy he did.

As I left the office yesterday, I looked to my right for traffic and there it was. The sign! I reversed my car to a safe spot, left it running, and walked around to take pictures of both sides of the sign.

Our leased space is on a busy route, a main north/south road that crosses the Ohio/Michigan line and is traveled by many people in our community who travel across the border for work or shopping. Though I’m not expecting or even desiring that the sign bring us business, the excitement is how real the sign makes this hard work I’ve been doing the past three years feel, how it seems to legitimize and formalize our company.

My sign. For the company I’ve built.

It’s not just the sign; it’s the progress it represents.

It’s not just the sign; it’s the growth it represents.

It’s not just the sign; it’s the people it represents.

It’s not just the sign; it’s the opportunities it represents.

Add, “We don’t need a sign” to my list of Famous Last Words.