Dear Ambitious World Changers

(yes, that includes you.),

This is the time of year when we reflect on all of the successes and accomplishments of 2017, but I'll be honest—Sometimes I can ONLY see failures. As a mom, as a wife, and especially as a boss and small business owner—a late project or misspelling will haunt me in my sleep. Doesn't matter if there have been 15 approved designs in between. Forgotten sack lunches or picking the kids up late and I'm automatically the "worst mom ever."

I'm 10 years into being a mom and only 2 years into running Silverlake, but I know I'm not alone in feeling like the failures are way louder than the victories.

With all that said, this is as much for me as it is you: if you're out there and you have worked hard to see your dreams come to life in 2017, you are making a difference! Not just in your town, our country is better off because of you and your mission. You are innovative, you are quality driven, and you listen to your customers. To the women in business, you literally add $9.5 billion to Arkansas economy alone. You're amazing!

As we wrap up 2017, I want to encourage all of you to remember your victories.

Every Tuesday, we talk about the week's wins at Silverlake. And every week I forget about them about 5 minutes later. So I'm trying something new and literally hanging our victories up on the walls. Comment below and tell me how you'll celebrate yours!

Here's to bringing more dreams to life in 2018!

If you run a local business, non-profit, or have a new business idea—I'd love to grab coffee with you and talk about how to start 2018 off strong. Shoot me an email here!

–Jessica Crum

Thrift lover, creative director, and appetizer advocate

Next up:

We'll be selecting our "Brand of the Year for 2017!" Get on our email list to see Team Silverlake's favorite project from this year!