Chime Digital launched in February of 2015 and we are now upon our five-year anniversary!
The first word that comes to mind is GRATEFUL.
I am so grateful, first and foremost, to my team; an incredible group of like-minded industry veterans. I am also extremely grateful for all our wonderful clients who trusted us to bring their brand vision to life and develop custom programs with their precious marketing dollars.
Over the last 5 years, we have run campaigns for over 50 brands and have received positive industry press. We are so proud to be a part of these campaigns, from driving donations for CNIB’s Phone It Forward program to working with notable influencers to drive awareness for Yves Veggie Cuisine and creating an innovative campaign to fuel the plant-based movement for Iron Vegan.
Running Chime Digital for five years has had its ups and downs. Clients have retired and all that business retired with them. We have poured our hearts into RFPs that have been well received and even voted favourite, only to lose to another company because ultimately our creative ideas were considered “too risky.” We have had our creative ideas completely stolen, only to find out by seeing them come to life and featured in multiple news outlets with no mention of Chime. I have been ignored. Ghosted. Stood up. There have been days when opening a taco stand on a beach somewhere seemed like a really good idea.
Despite this, I truly love what I do. I love meeting new people and I flourish throughout the creative process.
In Brené Brown’s recent talk, “The Call to Courage”, she mentions a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that altered the course of her life and changed her outlook on everything. So many things from this talk resonated with me, but these are my favourite takeaways:
– This quote has everything to do with vulnerability – which at the end of the day, is not about winning and not about losing – it’s about having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome.
– I made the choice to live my life in the “arena” – I decided I’m going to be brave with my life. I’m going to show up. I’m going to take chances. And here’s what I can tell you for sure – if you choose to be brave with your life, if you choose to live in the arena, you’re going to get your ass kicked. You’re going to fall, you’re going to fail, you’re going to know heartbreak. But it’s a choice that I make. Every day. Before my feet even hit the floor, I will choose courage over comfort.
– If you are not in the arena, getting your ass kicked on occasion because you were being brave, because you were “daring greatly”, you will never know either victory or defeat.
My daughter recently read a book on launching and growing new business ventures and the stats showed that 85% of start-ups survive the first year of business, 70% the second year and 51% make it to five years. We took an evening out to celebrate our five-year anniversary and she says to me, “Mom, you made it to five years! You had 50/50 odds to get here and should be proud of the business woman you are.”
I am so proud of what we have accomplished. We were brave, we took a chance – I still remember starting out with a simple “Let’s call it Chime” and not knowing where we would go from there. I have learned to stay focused, stay positive through the set-backs, and above all, to continue to get up each day and live in that arena – and I am so thankful I did.
I thank everyone for their support and trust in us as a young company with ambitions to do big things.
I would like to give special thanks to my daughter, Sydney, who has been with Chime since day one. Her steadfast determination, amazing attention to detail and passion for our client’s success has, without doubt, been a huge part of Chime’s milestone. I am also so fortunate to be working alongside my talented and creative sister, Karen, and her partner, Matt – founders of our sister company, Door Knocker Media.
Here at Chime Digital, we love meeting new people. If you want to chat about some of the projects we’ve worked on or discuss ideas for your brand, give me a call!
