You know – a little time away really enriches the writing soul and makes one remember how much they miss the exercise.
Translation – I’m back from my summer break and I’m really excited to be back and writing again!
It’s really been a great summer away! We’ve made some great memories, made some progress on our business, and learned a few financial tidbits as we’ve enjoyed the local pools and splash-pads. Here are a few updates from my time away from the blog:
- After pregnancy, the newborn stage, and getting our business off the ground (while I was working a different full-time job), I can say that it feels great to be able to adventure together and share some great memories as a family this summer! Pregnancy really knocked my wife out the last go-around and without the stress of moving our dental office or trying to come up with a few thousand dollars, just enjoying our time as a family has been so sweet… with or without the traditional summer excursions.
- We took a family trip to Hilton Head, SC and had a blast! That’s when my blogging break started, and that week’s vacation represented the first consecutive multi-day stretch (4-days) when I didn’t open my computer or think about work or writing in some capacity. My mind, body, and soul needed that respite – and I was so grateful to have it.
- We’ve been 4-months without a gym membership, and contrary to popular opinion – I haven’t put a home gym in my garage (and probably won’t for a while). I’ve been doing a lot of running, walking (more on this in a moment), and body-weight exercises, and while I love the cost of working out for free – I really do miss the feeling of weights in my hands and a variety of equipment and racks to choose from. But for now – we press on without.
- Our dental office is currently competing with a local orthodontist’s office in the first annual step challenge, and I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, but we’re walking away with this one. I loved the idea of starting this challenge, and every year (for the past 2 years we’ve been in business), we’ve given a gift to those employees who’ve been with us throughout the previous year. (With their agreement) This year we gave out Fitbits and decided to issue a challenge to another office. We’ve really all learned a bit about being active and moving throughout the day, and both sides can honestly say this challenge has helped our fitness and general health-awareness this summer – winning!
- Our business is continuing to grow! And while that’s awesome (!!!!), I’m learning that growth doesn’t simply solve your problems – it just gives you new ones. One awesome thing that I’m really proud of is the brand new website we built for the business. Our goal was to make it easier for our patients to find what they needed and we also added a few of our own unique twists, too (a page entirely in Espanol for our Spanish speaking patients is just one of them). Head over to check out the site here, if you’d like.
- I’ve decided that this season’s iteration of the blog will differ slightly from the previous 3 years (which is crazy to think that it’s been this long!!!). Specifically, I posted a ton of content last year, and I did so pretty frequently. We’re talking 3-6 times per week for nearly a year. This year, I’m aiming to post once each week (Wednesday’s). And the majority of MikedUp Blog’s posts this year will focus on entrepreneurship, personal development, what’s going on in our lives (and how it relates to these other categories), and our Current Events Fridays posts that you all seemed to enjoy last year!
We’ll be diving back into our regular posts next Wednesday and I can’t wait to get started! Thank you so much for taking the pilgrimage back after my summer away and here’s to a great Year 4!!
All my best,
-Mike
