Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is my four-year anniversary at work, where I am the Office Manager, Bookkeeper, Human Resources Director, and Chocolate Supplier. On July 23, 2004, American Vision had six employees, three full-time and three part-time. We occupied 4,000 square feet of office/warehouse space. Today, there are seventeen employees, twelve full-time and five part-time, plus two contract workers; and we have something in the neighborhood of 18,000 square feet of space.

Here's a small example of how far we've come: When I first started, I had a tiny office (maybe 10 x 11) and in addition to the computer on my desk (which was one with an old-fashioned L-shaped typewriter return), there was a typewriter. It took me about two days to get up the nerve to ask if there wasn't someplace else I could put the typewriter. The response was an incredulous, "But how will you do envelopes?", to which I replied, "In my printer." "And what about labels?" "In my printer." Within the next few weeks, I went around to everyone's desk and showed them how to print envelopes through their computers. You would have thought I'd invented it! Today, we have not only the requisite desktop computers, but several other high-tech pieces of equipment, along with complete audio-video recording and production studios. We still have the typewriter, but it's rarely used, and the employees under age 30 don't even know how to feed the paper in it!

Our active customer base has grown from about 5,500 to over 30,000, and we've gone from an annual revenue of $450,000 to over $2,000,000. God has been good to American Vision, especially in sending our Executive Vice President who came about six weeks after I did. I tell him that for six glorious weeks, I thought I could do my job. Now, I'd just like to catch my breath occasionally! He & I are a lot alike in that we both suffer from OCD --- we can't stand a crooked line or an uneven stack. However, his favorite business motto is, "Go big, or go home," and mine is, "Does the president know about this?" Our responsibilities and the working relationship we have is sometimes described this way: Brandon makes things happen, and Joan goes behind him and cleans it up. (Sometimes with a whisk broom, often with a front loader.)

A ho-hum staff meeting and lunch....