Gary’s Goings-On
Living in “Total Recall,” Eleven in Eleven,
and more…
At the end of the movie Total Recall, the breathable atmosphere is returned to the planet and people are once again allowed to go out and see the sun. Since the beginning of March, I’ve seen many of the Covid restrictions lifted and feel like we’re all living in a Total Recall moment. We’ve had in-person meetings (hugs all around!), my band has had live shows (for those who don’t know, I play drums), and I’ve become more relaxed. In fact, on a recent trip to Houston, the only time I was asked to wear a mask was at the airport and on the plane. As we see normalcy return to our lives, I want to share a recap of the last year with all of you. A year that was certainly not “normal.”
A year ago, due to an abundance of Covid-related work, we had the best three revenue months in our Company’s history. Much of the new work in late 2020 and early 2021 was also Covid-related. However, we started seeing that work leave us as March and April came to an end. That’s when several of my friends in the industry decided to sell their businesses – launching our string of 11 acquisitions in 11 months.
What do these acquisitions mean to the AnswerNet family?
As the work increased in 2020 and 2021, we added many incredible people to the company in every department and at all levels. Thanks to the acquisitions and other sales-related growth, we were able to sustain the company at its new size – without having to layoff anyone.
Our Total Recall Moment?
While we did lose some folks due to the timing of ending one program and the start-ups of others (or doing the acquisitions) most of those we added have been able to move into new roles when their existing roles and programs went away. While that was happening, we were adding people and companies who were made to feel right at home. I’m so proud of our team for keeping us together and doing an extraordinary job of finding places for so many people.
Also, with our growing size, we’ve faced – and continue to face – challenges of integrating lots of new business and people into our family. Challenges included modifying how we describe our business, how we communicate with more people, and how we would settle in to a more stable future. We are meeting these challenges head-on and finding a path that is uniquely AnswerNet.
While all of these changes are taking place, I watched as we relied on our Core Values (see YouTube video) to speed up the process of making people feel they’re a part of our family. Many decisions had to be made quickly, often with less-than full details. Sometimes we got it wrong – but more often, we got it right.
It was both exciting and challenging – all at the same time.
As we move forward through 2022 and continue to build and operate our business, our top 3 priorities are profitability, sustainability, and maintaining our company culture. We are able to sustain our business because we reinvested the Covid earnings into the company to fund these acquisitions. We’ve been more stable because we have new depth in management as well as the fact that we’re building new education processes that focuses on putting our core values front and center.
Thank you all for being so amazing!
