2010 ends with a bang

Last night the water tank on my furnace at home exploded. The whole floor shook. Water rained from the floor joists in the basement. I panicked, turning off every valve in sight until realized the source of the problem. I drained the tank, shut off the heat and left a message for my plumber. As I lay awake in bed as waiting for the adrenalin to drain from my system, I thought how quickly I passed from a moment of utter panic to a place of relative calm.

It reminded me of the year we had here at 93 Octane. In addition to a shaky economy and a slow marketing environment, we were confronted with the loss of our friend and colleague Raymond Straus in March. Then, a longstanding client pulled their business in spite of a long history of extraordinary results. We weren’t sure how to respond.

It’s moments like these when you ask yourself why you do the things you do. There might be easier ways to make a living, but the truth is that we really love what we do, and without exception, we love the clients we do it for. And so, after prayerful consideration, we pushed forward.

What happened next was extraordinary. Family and friends began praying for the business. Friends in the community sent us business and clients. A friend in the media gave us free advertising. A family member even paid to produce promotional t-shirts.

By September, we had so much new business, we were scrambling to keep up. In all, we picked up nearly a dozen new clients in the second half of 2010, each with challenging and unique marketing needs. And many of our existing clients launched new projects and lines of business, and turned to 93 Octane for help. The end result was a full and happy plate, a broad mix of clients and industries, new areas of media, advertising and design, and most importantly, great new relationships.

To all of our of our fans, family and clients old and new, thank you for sticking with us through the minor explosions of this past year, and for believing in us. We are honored to count you among our friends.

Best wishes,

John Lindner

Note: 93 Octane will be closed from Dec 27-31 to celebrate the holidays with our families.