When did you last take a holiday?
It’s not often that business owners get to take a holiday. However this year was momentous for Debbie as she got to head overseas or an entire month. Not only that, but she didn’t receive a single phone call or email from the office. Going away without having to worry about what was happening back in the office, was exactly what the doctor ordered. All of the systems and procedures, training and great team work, enabled this to happen.
Our team grows
Our team grew this year as we welcomed Nadia as a permanent part of the team, after she had been contracting to us as a Web Developer for about a year. Amelia joined us as our receptionist and James, all the way from New Zealand joined us as a graphic designer.
Our first Sydney Design Award
You may recall in the last newsletter that we made a decision to no longer enter the local business awards for reasons we explained in the last newsletter. We started aiming bigger which is why we were thrilled to win our very first Sydney Design Award in the Marketing Brand 360 category! Our entry was the WRD Rebrand and was deemed by industry professionals as worthy of such a prestigious award. We enjoyed a wonderful night in the city and met many other creatives from studios all across Sydney. You can view our entry here.
For the love of colour!
The WRD Team and their families were excited to be able to participate in Sydney’s famous Color Run! (Yes, without a “u”!) We had a fantastic time getting colour all over themselves (and each other!) for the happiest 5km ever! Check out the photos for a laugh.
Mad Men DrinksWith our new brand based on The Magician Brand Personality, we wanted to connect and create magical, memorable moments for our clients to thank them for choosing WRD. Leveraging off the popular Mad Men series, we It’s a great opportunity for our clients to come together and mingle over a drink after work. |  |
 | Above the line thinkingPositive thoughts abound in the WRD office, so when something good happens, or we get a great testimonial we pop a note into our Happy Jar. When energy gets low or we need a moral boost, we pull out a happy comment or memory and immediately become re-inspired and uplifted! If you’d like to spread the love, please leave us a Google review. |
Clothes for bushfire victimsWe did a collection drive to gather clothes for the families who lost their homes in the Blue Mountains fires. Thank you to The Detail Devils and Gravitate Group Migration Australia for their kind donations. One generous client has offered to lend her spare car to a family if they need one! Amazing generosity! |  |
 | Australian Small Business AwardsOn the 13th of May the Australian Small Business Awards Dinner was held where we were very excited to be finalists in both the Professional Services category and Debbie in the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. We joined 900 other business owners for a spectacular evening hosted by Gretel Killeen. |
Unsolicited advice #11It’s important to take time to rest. As a business owner it is very tempting to keep going – day and night. Ridiculous hours. Forfeiting time with family and friends in the effort to get the business up and running, to get it profitable, to get it growing. But like a fuel tank – if it is empty, the car just won’t go. The same can be said for us mere mortals. We need time to rest, recuperate, regenerate, time to think, to plan, time to be quiet with ourselves and our thoughts. You need at least one holiday a year. We close down over Christmas which forces all of the WRD team to take a break. It’s a great time as it’s our summer, most people want to see family and friends at this time of year and it ensures that we are well rested to start the new year with a bang!
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Standing Ovation
We continued our quarterly planning and themes. For the quarter with the theme “Standing Ovation” the team decided to get into character and dress up! We then spent the next quarter working hard to create some magic within our clients businesses so that everyone would give us a Standing Ovation! We reached all of our targets so headed to the theatre to watch War Horse.
Introducing Logo VoteOur Facebook ‘Logo Vote’ has been touted as a very popular feature of our Facebook page with both our clients and our followers! It’s something we introduced to engage our followers but to also help out our clients when they were struggling to choose one of the amazing designs. Have you had your say yet on any of the designs that we have created? We love hearing what people have to say about which logo they like best and why. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer so why not join in and have some fun? |  |
| Boost My BusinessAfter much discussion and listening to our clients, in 2010 we were excited to develop the Boost My Business Package. This package has allowed many start up businesses or those wanting to rebrand their business the opportunity to do so in a cost effective way. This package is still our best seller today. |
Semi-Permanent inspirationMarnie and Kirsty were able to attend Semi-Permanent again. One of the largest events of its type, Semi-Permanent is a creative platform spreading art and design inspiration. It consists of a conference and side events which include exhibitions, competitions, workshops and parties. They reported back that it was a wonderful time, with many great speakers! |  |
Chrissy fun
We always finish off the year with a fun Christmas party where we celebrate the year that was and prepare for our annual office shutdown over the holidays. There’s nothing like ten-pin bowling and laser skirmish to see who gets competitive!
