Jan 8: Renewal

After two Tuesdays off, we returned to the air on January 8, 2019 with the topic “Renewal” and welcomed Casey Thompson of Beef O’Brady’s on Hardscrabble Road to talk about a renovation to her business space. Here are the show notes:

Introductions:

Dr. Kasie Whitener, President Clemson Road Creative and Co-Founder of the Women’s Business Center of SC

Shennice Cleckley, Smart Cookie Coaching and WBC of SC business coach

Theme for the day:

Renewals

Agenda review:

• What does it mean to renew?
• Some renewable categories
• Some steps for re-committing to your business
• Interview with Casey Thompson
• Events for this week and beyond

Segment 1:

It’s a new year! Did you make any resolutions for this year? How are they going so far?

What does it mean to “renew” something?

So the results to “business renewal” in a Google search are all about business licensure. Basically, the idea is that you’re going to continue doing business so you renew your license saying, ‘yes, keep us registered, nothing has changed.’

In the City of Columbia, business licenses expire on the 31st of December. The City sends out renewal reminders as a courtesy and you have until April 15th to renew. Here’s a link with the details.

In a broader sense, “renew” means to come back again, to pick something up again, to return to or reestablish.

In December, we talked a lot about goals and then last week at our First Friday Coffee meet up at Curiosity we talked about resolutions. I think this concept of Renewal is an evolution of those discussions.

You might resolve to spend less time on social media channels that don’t reach your audience. Then have the goal of connecting with 10% more people on the selected channel in which you hope to gain traction (maybe radio). Where would a renewal fit in? What if you’d already worked that channel, but in a dull, lackluster, or unintentional way? You might decide to renew the channel with new branding, a new name, or fresh content, format, or guests.

As much as Start Something, Columbia! has been great in 2018, I think there are areas on our show ripe for renewal. For example, we used to feature the 1 Million Cups presenter in a radio interview every week. We’ve stopped doing that. Should we renew that practice?

We had a book we were reading every month and we took a lot of content from the book. But we didn’t do that in November or December. Should we renew that practice?

Over the summer we had a lot of guest hosts. Should we renew that practice?

Renewal decisions are about deciding what’s working and what’s not and then addressing the what’s working with some fresh commitment.

Why do people “renew”?

The topic immediately took me to “wedding vows” which made me think of you and Brian because you have your business of workshops and coaching called Our Marriage Rocks. Sometimes these ideas we have are put on the back burner, or sometimes taken off the stove all together as we prioritize other things.

3 Reasons to Renew Your Wedding Vows from Huffington Post:

• You didn’t get the wedding you dreamed of — so a “do over”
• The marriage has suffered emotional turmoil — and you’ve decided to recommit
• A landmark anniversary is imminent — 15, 25, 30 — a date that should be celebrated as milestone

Of course there are blogs about the proper etiquette, the do’s and dont’s and even how renewal could actually hurt your marriage rather than help it. Tons of stuff out there. The first three pages of google search for the word “renew” are blogs about marriage vows. It’s a significant commitment and one with a serious market that we think of as one-and-done, but really you could carve out a niche of renewal ceremony planning or something.

Maybe that’s a business you could consider renewing?

Some things we renew without knowing it: Amazon Prime membership, gym membership, subscriptions to newspapers, clubs, and magazines.

What about Self Renewal? Renewal is so hopeful, it’s optimistic at its core. Here are five ways to renew yourself:

Streamline your life: declutter your living space, declutter mental and emotional space (from the blog):

• Reorganize your highest priorities and re-evaluate your commitments.
• Allow yourself to let go of the past to make room for new things to enter your life.
• Commit to making decisions you’ve been putting off.
• Challenge limiting beliefs about yourself and about how things should be.
• Reframe your attitude about what happens to you. Think positively even if you’re having a hard time. Pair a negative feeling with a positive one.

Begin something new: take up a new hobby, enroll in a class, start a new routine

I like the idea of using January as an excuse to renew, to recommit to something. Mabe a practice that got too hard or just lost momentum. I like the idea of reworking something so that practice can fit back in.

Segment 2:

A big commitment, a big renewal is a remodel of existing space. Our call-in guest is Casey Thompson of Beef O’Brady’s on the Upper East Side. She’s just completed a remodel of the restaurant and we’re having a ribbon cutting there on Thursday. Welcome Casey to the show.

Briefly – how did you come into ownership of Beefs?

What has surprised you the most about being a business owner?

Tell us about the renovation- why do it? What’s scary about it? What’s exciting about it?

Segment 3:

This week at 1 MC — New Hope Charter School, a statewide nonprofit led by Steve Scoma, organizing charter schools across all the districts. Get more info at http://NewHopeCharterSchool.com and visit 1MC on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. at the Richland Library.

The ribbon cutting, of course, at Beef O’Brady’s on Hardscrabble Road on the Upper East Side. That’s  4 p.m. on Thursday. Register here.

LeaderSHIFT is enrolling now, that’s a program for women managers with executive ambition. Register here. The first session is next Thursday, so it’s coming up fast.

The City of Columbia’s Office of Business Opportunities is running a FastTrac program beginning January 15th. Register here. FastTrac is a Kaufman Foundation program that delivers start-up business acumen to new business owners. It’s a great program, we know dozens of graduates. It’s worth investing your time and money in that professional development.

Ready to support the Women’s Business Center of South Carolina? Click here to donate!

Start Something, Columbia! thanks the City of Columbia’s Office of Business Opportunities for its support.