Blue Gurus is celebrating nine years… Wow. Thank you!

May 2, 2018 / in General Information / by Jason Terry

By Jason Terry, talking about Blue Gurus celebrating nine years of being in business.

We celebrated being in business for nine years on April 26th, 2018. For anyone reading this post, thank you!!! There’s a good chance you’re actively involved in our ability to make a living doing work that we love. Whether you’re a client, a peer advisory group member, a vendor, friends or family, thank you for helping us succeed.

It really doesn’t seem possible that Blue Gurus has been “a thing” for nine years. Mic sent me a link to a blog post I wrote when we celebrated Blue Gurus’ fourth birthday. The title of the story was, “Top 10 Things I’ve Learned Since Starting Blue Gurus.” What surprised me was that the list really hasn’t changed in the five years since I wrote that story. As a reminder, here’s the list…

(Still) The Top 10 Things I’ve Learned Since Starting Blue Gurus

1. Take good care of your clients and even better care of yourself.
2. You already know the best people to hire.
3. Make time for vacation….and turn your cell phone OFF.
4. Make sure you know what you’re trying to accomplish in the business, and don’t let anyone influence you to stray from that purpose.
5. Recognize your team members often.
6. Evaluate your trusted vendors on a regular basis.
7. Heartfelt apologies go a long way when you’ve screwed up.
8. Don’t be afraid to fire a client that isn’t a fit.
9. Tell your clients that you appreciate their business every chance you get.
10. Adopt a not-for-profit organization on a regular basis, and give back to the community that supports your business.

We continue to focus on these goals, and the business has continued to thrive as a result.

What’s been the focus so far in 2018?

We’re doing websites, LinkedIn training and blogging with more great companies around Kansas City. Some of our recent clients include Lee’s Summit Physicians Group, MEDiAHEAD, and Health Partnership Clinic.

Lee’s Summit Physicians Group

We just launched the new LSPG website. I wrote a blog post about how the relationship started… you might want to check that out here. Our primary contacts are Jody Brown and Matthew Hornung. Their new website was a fun project because everyone at LSPG is engaged and ready with a smile, even when things are busy. We start blogging with them later this month. I’m excited to get started!

MEDiAHEAD

MEDiAHEAD, formerly ColorMark, is led by Kat McDaniel. Our primary contact is Michele Stilwell. Kat and Michele are AWESOME. We launched their new website a month ago and we’re blogging together. We love their mascot, Izzy… who got her own blog post recently. Mic is leading their blogging efforts.

Health Partnership Clinic

We created a new website for HPC and we’ve been blogging with them for a few months now. Catherine is so much fun to work with because of her “can do” attitude. She is one of the most organized people I’ve met. Check out their blog… it’s a good example of an organization shining a spotlight on their people and their work.

Remember #6 Above About Trusted Vendors?

We’ve been collaborating with Jeff Potts of 2020 Creative for three years now. The relationship continues to strengthen as time goes by… mostly because we do business the same way. Jeff and I worked together on the Lee’s Summit Physicians Group and MEDiAHEAD websites. Jeff brings an additional creative element to the table through graphic design. He and his brother Derek bring abilities to the table that we wouldn’t normally have… eCommerce and database driven web applications to name a couple.

And yes, I trust Jeff. And I don’t consider him a vendor, even though by definition he’s a vendor for Blue Gurus. Jeff is my friend. He always does the right thing when a situation occurs. And his heart is all about taking care of our clients and adding an element of “wow!” through design.

And that’s a wrap! (At least for this blog post.)

We’re looking forward to another great year of building websites, providing LinkedIn training and blogging with really good companies. It’s a humbling experience being treated like we are part of the team. And it feels really good when we hear about the impact we’re having on their revenue and culture. From the bottom of my heart… thank you for these past nine years! Hugs.