Back in January I posted a similar update, one from Maxwell's Daily Reader, a book my Brother Will got for each person in my family for Christmas 2 years ago. It's a book about leadership primarily, but also on so many other positive characteristics. Every morning I read it and am glad I do, but sometimes I'm more than just glad- I'm totally amazed and appreciative for the lesson I learn from it. Today was another one of those days. :)
April 19
SECURITY
During the term of President Ronald Reagan, leaders of seven industrial nations were meeting at the White House to discuss economic policy. During that meeting Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau strongly upbraided British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, telling her that she was all wrong and that her policies wouldn't work. She stood there in front of him with her head up, listening until he was finished. Then she walked away.
Reagan went up to her and said, "Maggie, he should never have spoken to you like that. He was out of line, just entirely out of line. Why did you let him get away with that?"
Thatcher looked at Reagan and answered, "A woman must know when a man is being simply childish."
That story surely typifies Margaret Thatcher. She appeared to have no doubts about herself or her beliefs - and she was absolutely secure in her leadership as a result. That is the case for all great leaders.
Secure leaders are able to believe in others because they believe in themselves. They aren't arrogant; they know their strengths and weaknesses and respect themselves. When their people perform well, they don't feel threatened. They go out of their way to bring the best people together and then build them up so that they will perform at the highest level. And when a secure leader's team succeeds, it brings him great joy. He sees that as the highest compliment he can receive.
-The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
DO YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF ENOUGH TO GRACIOUSLY TAKE THE HEAT AS A LEADER?
I think this concept can and should be be applied to everyone's life, whether you're in a leading role or not! Read that last paragraph over again... It can just as easily say "Secure PEOPLE are able to believe in others because they believe in themselves." It's true! It's about taking criticism in, but not taking it personally. And more than that- It's about knowing yourself and your abilities well enough, and TRUSTING in them and yourself, to decide when to take criticism and when to tune it out completely because it's just untrue. Definitely something I need to get better at. But hey I'm trying.. :)
Hopefully you guys found this to be as helpful as I did!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
GREAT 8 CREATIVE Final logo concept
Welp, after lots of great feeback from friends on Twitter and Facebook, I've been able to come up with what I strongly feel is the winning design for GREAT 8 CREATIVE! As always though, I'm open to suggestions and thoughts on the concept and appreciate them all, so fire away if something comes to mind!
See the other concepts and read the full story on this design process here: GREAT 8 CREATIVE logo concepts
The almost-final GREAT 8 CREATIVE logo:
Special thanks to the following for their time and brilliance!
Ryan Weeger
Michael Durwin
Kevin Garcia
Lucas Tetrault
Elizabeth Adams Bean
Riley Dickens
Chris
See the other concepts and read the full story on this design process here: GREAT 8 CREATIVE logo concepts
The almost-final GREAT 8 CREATIVE logo:
Special thanks to the following for their time and brilliance!
Ryan Weeger
Michael Durwin
Kevin Garcia
Lucas Tetrault
Elizabeth Adams Bean
Riley Dickens
Chris
Saturday, April 3, 2010
GREAT 8 CREATIVE logo concepts
Story time...
As you might know already, I'm starting up a new business called GREAT 8 CREATIVE. To give you some background... I'm basically going to be taking every successful move I've learned through running Huddy Design, and using it to start fresh as a more professional and specialized creative design business. Since I'm no longer a Hudson (got married to Ryan Weeger this past November), the nickname "Huddy" won't catch on to new clients- hence the reason for the business name change. It will aim towards helping small business grow by providing custom website designs at "template" prices, custom logo designs and a small variety of custom Identity design. Ideally, it will also be targeted at athletic businesses and/or people such as coaches, trainers, small gyms and more since that's where my background is... all things sports.
The reason why I decided to call it Great 8 Creative is very personal to me. I'm the youngest of 8 kids and to put it simply, I LOVE my family. And there's an immeasurable impact my role as "the baby" of the Hudson clan has had on me, both as a person and as a business owner. My upbringing and what I've learned from my parents and my siblings is something I'll be forever grateful for. And I definitely plan on using and honoring what I've learned from it all, as the morale of my new company.
In short, my family is honest. My family is so compassionate. It's so unique it's almost weird.. but definitely unique. in a good way. Every one of us is extremely driven. And it's always just flat-out FUN to be around each other. I won't get into too much detail about why or when or how my family is all of those things but anyone who knows us can see that each quality is obvious. The "Great 8" has grown and will continue to grow for years and years to come, but what's so awesome about that is I still wholeheartedly believe that all of these characteristics, all of these qualities that have become our family's backbone, have stayed intact. I know they always will too. And they're exactly what I want to bring to the table with Great 8 Creative.
HONEST. Here to help clients grow their business, no matter what.
COMPASSIONATE. Genuinely wanting to help others find success and just a better situation for themselves.
UNIQUE. Building high-quality products and great client/designer relationships - something that no other freelance graphic+web designer can truly replicate.
DRIVEN. Steam-rolling our way through until we get the results our clients wanted.
FUN. None of that stiff, big-design-firm vibe here. Humor, personality, good relationships, real conversations between client/designer... it's all more than welcomed, it's expected.
So that's what I want to emulate in the new company and that's the look I'm going for in my logo. Maybe not all of these things at once... that's what my experience and brand will nourish over time, but obviously I want my logo to be a good representation of what Great 8 Creative will do and be.
That all said........ I would LOVE your input on these concepts!!! Any comments, good critique, bad critique, ideas, thoughts, anything- it's all greatly appreciated!!
#1) initial concept, monogram of lowercase "g" and the number 8:
#2) a different take on the monogram, combining an uppercase "G" (definitely more subtle in this one) and the 8.. trying to go for something more energetic and unexpected (definitely a rough draft so don't worry too much about the rough lines/points.. I'll clean them up eventually!):
#3) Trying something more off-the-wall/less expected. Replacing the use of the 8 with the 8 circles and focusing more on the "GREAT" part of the company name. I kinda like the symbolism I was going for in this one, with the whole story behind the "Great 8" ..how we've all kinda stuck together to form something great. I also think this one has a lot of potential for when I add color, could really bring it to life:
but what are your thoughts??
As you might know already, I'm starting up a new business called GREAT 8 CREATIVE. To give you some background... I'm basically going to be taking every successful move I've learned through running Huddy Design, and using it to start fresh as a more professional and specialized creative design business. Since I'm no longer a Hudson (got married to Ryan Weeger this past November), the nickname "Huddy" won't catch on to new clients- hence the reason for the business name change. It will aim towards helping small business grow by providing custom website designs at "template" prices, custom logo designs and a small variety of custom Identity design. Ideally, it will also be targeted at athletic businesses and/or people such as coaches, trainers, small gyms and more since that's where my background is... all things sports.
The reason why I decided to call it Great 8 Creative is very personal to me. I'm the youngest of 8 kids and to put it simply, I LOVE my family. And there's an immeasurable impact my role as "the baby" of the Hudson clan has had on me, both as a person and as a business owner. My upbringing and what I've learned from my parents and my siblings is something I'll be forever grateful for. And I definitely plan on using and honoring what I've learned from it all, as the morale of my new company.
In short, my family is honest. My family is so compassionate. It's so unique it's almost weird.. but definitely unique. in a good way. Every one of us is extremely driven. And it's always just flat-out FUN to be around each other. I won't get into too much detail about why or when or how my family is all of those things but anyone who knows us can see that each quality is obvious. The "Great 8" has grown and will continue to grow for years and years to come, but what's so awesome about that is I still wholeheartedly believe that all of these characteristics, all of these qualities that have become our family's backbone, have stayed intact. I know they always will too. And they're exactly what I want to bring to the table with Great 8 Creative.
HONEST. Here to help clients grow their business, no matter what.
COMPASSIONATE. Genuinely wanting to help others find success and just a better situation for themselves.
UNIQUE. Building high-quality products and great client/designer relationships - something that no other freelance graphic+web designer can truly replicate.
DRIVEN. Steam-rolling our way through until we get the results our clients wanted.
FUN. None of that stiff, big-design-firm vibe here. Humor, personality, good relationships, real conversations between client/designer... it's all more than welcomed, it's expected.
So that's what I want to emulate in the new company and that's the look I'm going for in my logo. Maybe not all of these things at once... that's what my experience and brand will nourish over time, but obviously I want my logo to be a good representation of what Great 8 Creative will do and be.
That all said........ I would LOVE your input on these concepts!!! Any comments, good critique, bad critique, ideas, thoughts, anything- it's all greatly appreciated!!
#1) initial concept, monogram of lowercase "g" and the number 8:
#2) a different take on the monogram, combining an uppercase "G" (definitely more subtle in this one) and the 8.. trying to go for something more energetic and unexpected (definitely a rough draft so don't worry too much about the rough lines/points.. I'll clean them up eventually!):
#3) Trying something more off-the-wall/less expected. Replacing the use of the 8 with the 8 circles and focusing more on the "GREAT" part of the company name. I kinda like the symbolism I was going for in this one, with the whole story behind the "Great 8" ..how we've all kinda stuck together to form something great. I also think this one has a lot of potential for when I add color, could really bring it to life:
but what are your thoughts??
Friday, January 8, 2010
Maxwell Daily Reader - January 8
Last year for Christmas, my brother, Will Hudson, bought me a copy of John C. Maxwell's The Maxwell Daily Reader. And I LOVE it. Every morning, I read the short entry related to leadership, and pretty often, it really makes me think. Today's entry is no different and I definitely want to share it because I think literally everyone could benefit from putting it to use:
JANUARY 8
POINT OUT PEOPLE'S STRENGTHS
People often make a mistake in personal development when they focus too much on their weaknesses. As a result, they spend all their time trying to shore up those weaknesses instead of maximizing the strengths they possess. Similarly, it's a mistake to focus on the weaknesses of others. The self-proclaimed "experts" who spend their time telling others what's wrong with them never win with people. Most people simply avoid them.
Instead, we need to focus on finding people's strengths and pointing them out. Most people have strengths they rarely get to use. Those strengths may be job skills, knowledge, general abilities, personality characteristics, or other attributes. I once read an interesting fact based on research, saying that every person can do at least one thing better than ten thousand people. Think about that! You possess an ability that can't be matched by anyone in your town or neighborhood... or in your college or university... or in your company or maybe even in your industry.
Have you discovered that ability? If so, you are probably well on your way to pursuing your life's purpose. If you haven't, wouldn't you love it if someone came alongside you and pointed it out? How would you feel about that person? I bet you'd be pretty grateful.
Why not try to become that person in someone else's life? When you do, you just might be helping others to discover the thing God created them to do.
-25 Ways to Win with People
POINT OUT A GREAT STRENGTH OF SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE TODAY.
JANUARY 8
POINT OUT PEOPLE'S STRENGTHS
People often make a mistake in personal development when they focus too much on their weaknesses. As a result, they spend all their time trying to shore up those weaknesses instead of maximizing the strengths they possess. Similarly, it's a mistake to focus on the weaknesses of others. The self-proclaimed "experts" who spend their time telling others what's wrong with them never win with people. Most people simply avoid them.
Instead, we need to focus on finding people's strengths and pointing them out. Most people have strengths they rarely get to use. Those strengths may be job skills, knowledge, general abilities, personality characteristics, or other attributes. I once read an interesting fact based on research, saying that every person can do at least one thing better than ten thousand people. Think about that! You possess an ability that can't be matched by anyone in your town or neighborhood... or in your college or university... or in your company or maybe even in your industry.
Have you discovered that ability? If so, you are probably well on your way to pursuing your life's purpose. If you haven't, wouldn't you love it if someone came alongside you and pointed it out? How would you feel about that person? I bet you'd be pretty grateful.
Why not try to become that person in someone else's life? When you do, you just might be helping others to discover the thing God created them to do.
-25 Ways to Win with People
POINT OUT A GREAT STRENGTH OF SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE TODAY.
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