A Look Back at 2009

It’s time for my take on the overused yearly retrospective. Like many people, it has been a stressful year. However, I think it is important for all of us to look at where we have come from so we can better set up our goals for the future.

For 2009 a few particular moments stick out most prominently in my mind:

I left a dead-end job and returned to my old job as director of marketing and technology for a title and escrow company. Needless to say, working in the real estate industry has contributed to my stress levels greatly.
I helped move both a mother and mother-in-law out of their houses due to financial difficulties. For those of you who’ve moved once or twice, you know this is a stressful event as well.
I helped plan and participated in perhaps one of the best weddings I will ever attend. As groom. This will definitely be one of the most memorable days of my life, but again for those of you who have been through this, you know that planning wedding a stressful.
I take the moment I said “I do” to be the turning point of this year. After this moment, the rest of the weekend was just a party. Then I was able to head off on my honeymoon to Fiji. This trip to Fiji was when I rekindled my semi-dormant love for SCUBA. On the flight back, I decided to combine my knowledge of Internet marketing with my passion for the SCUBA industry.
I dusted off my instructor certification cards, received more instructor credentials and began assembling my staff.
Regarding New SCUBA Marketing, as of this point, the site has been live for close to six months. We have a young but growing community here on the site, our Facebook page, on our Twitter account and via our e-mail newsletter.
While still relatively new on the SCUBA marketing scene, I chose to attend the DEMA conference as a member of the press. The event opened my eyes even further to the realization that the SCUBA industry needs more discussion about advancing the marketing capabilities of all members of the industry.
I have received many e-mails, comments and tweets asking for advice and recommendations for local SCUBA business owners and their online marketing efforts. It is a real pleasure to see what various people around the world are doing to advance their SCUBA business.

I definitely feel like I’m reaching the point where my day job is consuming too much time to allow my SCUBA marketing consulting business to grow, so I fully expect a variety of changes in the coming year. I have met a great group of people, both in real life and online who share my passion for modernizing marketing in the SCUBA industry. I look forward to expanding this group and the conversation as the weeks and months progress.

How about you?

As cheesy as these types of posts are, I find them incredibly valuable. I think we all need to occasionally step back and take a look at what has brought us to the point we’re at. I urge you, whether online or on paper, to write down your reflections over this past year including the good, bad and ugly.

Tomorrow, I will be sharing my goals for the coming year. I firmly believe that we all need to work together to expand the SCUBA industry. If there is any place where our goals for next year a lion, please let me know because I am very interested in collaborating with as many people as possible.