10 Years of PowerSheets: Little by Little Adds Up

You have surely heard the idea that we greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in a week, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a year. The same goes for almost any time comparison—hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to months. And when you start thinking on the scale of a decade—whew! Consistent little-by-little progress in the same direction can really add up.

It's 2022 PowerSheets® Launch Week, friends, and in honor of ten years of focusing on what matters most together, we wanted to pull back the curtain and share a little more about how this community you're a part of has grown. So many of you have been here since the beginning, or joined us along the way, which makes you a part of this story, too! Even if you joined us yesterday, we're so glad we're here.

First things first—ten years ago, Cultivate What Matters did not even exist! Or at least, it wasn't yet known by that name (you knew us as the Lara Casey Shop!). As we dug into what mattered most to us as a company, and how we could best serve you, we realized a name change was needed to better reflect your stories and our true purpose. Letting go of something familiar and safe felt like a huge, scary leap at the time, but it has allowed for so much growth and flourishing since then! 

The spaces we've done our work from have definitely changed in the last ten years—from an extra bedroom in Lara's townhouse, to the whole second floor of Lara's home, to a stand-alone house nestled in the woods with spotty Wi-Fi (that's a story for another day!), to working completely remotely throughout the pandemic, to our current colorful office in Chapel Hill. 

After many years of "making do," we're SO grateful to have a beautiful space that reflects our mission, our history, and the heart of what we do (and great Wi-Fi, ha!). And someday soon, we hope to be able to invite YOU into our space to shop Cultivate goodies and meet the team!

More important than any physical space is the people who have worked their hearts out for you from those spaces. Without a doubt the biggest blessing of the last ten years has been the women who have lent their time and talents to serving you and each other. Our team has grown from three people to around a dozen in the last ten years, and as the resident team veteran (twelve years and counting!), it has been my pleasure to work with each and every one of them.

Some are still here alongside me, some have moved into new seasons of tending to their families or opened businesses or gone on to work for other companies or been with us for just a season as interns. Though we wish no one ever had to leave the Team Cultivate Fam, after ten years, it's really neat to be able to look back and see a legacy of women we've hopefully sent out into the world having learned something about cultivating what matters from their time with us! We've certainly learned something from each one of them.

 

It's not just our team makeup that has grown and changed—the life of each team member has changed, too! Together, we've celebrated marriages and births (there are currently 16 kiddos on Team Cultivate!) and stood beside each other through deaths and illnesses, setbacks and disappointments. We've cheered each other on through goals achieved and moves accomplished, oohed and ahhed over new homes and sprouting seedlings, and grown closer through sharing our hopes, dreams, and weekend plans. What a gift!

Let's talk about the changes to something you're all familiar with—the PowerSheets themselves! From loose-leaf sets of paper that were hand-collated by our team (!) to the addition of color, to gold coils, to solid linen covers, the look of your goal planner has changed over the years, but that's nothing compared to the magic on the inside.

Over the last ten years, we've grown confident in the message we can offer the world—that change is possible, that little-by-little progress adds up (no perfection required!), that you'll never regret focusing on what matters most, and that you can love the life you're living right now while working toward goals big and small. 

For more on all of the changes in the last ten years of PowerSheets, be sure to check out this post! 

And finally, our company and business as a whole have changed in big ways. Lara would be the first to tell you she's grown leaps and bounds as a business owner (breaking identity boxes left and right!). We've implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System (read more about in Traction!). We've defined and refined processes and systems.

We've switched from packaging boxes in a tiny closet and hand-delivering them to the post office to working with an amazing fulfillment team. We've learned about SEO and KPIs and StoryBrand and sales funnels and online advertising. We've worked with new suppliers and materials and partners.

We've retired a whole half of our business. We've made mistakes (many!) and gotten better at growing team members and business culture and community. We've hosted virtual and IRL events for thousands of women.

I always say there's NO way I could be bored at Cultivate even after more than ten years, because we're always working to make things better for YOU—and these are just a few of many examples!

Friends, we hope you enjoyed this peek into the world of Cultivate What Matters! We are incredibly (incredibly!) grateful to have you as a part of this community, and to have you here for 2022 PowerSheets Launch Week. 

We'd love to hear: what changes have you seen in the last ten years of your life? What growth can you celebrate? We're cheering you on as you take your own look back!