The Year in Review

My word for 2014 has been perseverance, and what a fitting word it has been. It has been a year of continually pressing through to the next step — with my jobs, with searching for a new home and my move, and definitely with starting my own business. It hasn’t been easy but, as the saying goes, nothing worth having is.

This time last year, I had applied on 30+ jobs looking for additional part-time work as I knew my hours would be cut at Wascana for most of this year. Perhaps I was overqualified for the jobs I was applying on, but more than likely God was holding off and preparing the way for a great part-time job for me — the one I got at Hansard.

Even that wasn't easy though. As much as I wanted the job, there was the waiting for applications to be reviewed, then the call for an interview, an interview in three parts (actual interview, grammar/punctuation/spelling test, and a transcription test), the week-long wait for all the other applicants to be interviewed, the call that I was accepted for eight days of training, then the eight days of training during what seemed like the absolute coldest and wind-chilliest days of the year (I really thought they were trying to break us and see what we were made of!), the eight-hour days of learning the Hansard style for all things punctuation, and finally the wait to see if we were chosen to be new Hansardines... What a process! But what a rewarding position it has been.

In late March I began the process of searching for a new place to call home. And again, what an interesting journey it was. It's truly amazing to see some of the offerings available and the price tags attached to them. I had five basic criteria:

1) quiet!
2) top floor
3) balcony
4) off-street parking
5) away from a busy street

God met three of the five criteria when I viewed a 2nd floor apartment at my current building. It was almost all I wanted it to be, but the timing wasn't right. We were up to our ears in work hours at Hansard and I just didn't see when I'd have time to pack, clean and move. So I let the chance go and half-hoped, half-assumed God would hold the apartment for me (it had been available since January!) or provide something even better. When I followed up with the landlord the next month, an apartment was still available, but it wasn't the same one. It was better! I got a top-floor apartment and it was at the back of the building — all five criteria were met!

And up next was leaving my job at Wascana and starting my own business... Again, perseverance was needed. Mostly that was due to the fact that I had originally planned to leave my job at Wascana at the end of the previous year (2013).  When we found out that the renovation work would be going ahead and I wouldn't be doing much in the way of bookings (75 to 95% of my job), I decided to continue a bit longer.

After the cruise this summer, I came back to work planning to give my notice within a few weeks, but SURPRISE! My boss gave her notice first! She left near the end of August and with September being a busy month, I persevered on. I felt that the absolute longest I was supposed to stay working at Wascana was Thanksgiving (mid-October) and it turns out I did stay right up until that time. It was hard to leave, but I needed to leave. It's hard (if not almost impossible) to chase your dreams part-time.

So, onto starting a business! I went into this a bit naively thinking that all I had to do was hang a shingle and my customers would form a line. Awesome, but unrealistic. Thankfully, I became a member of Women Entrepreneurs and learned quite a bit from a 8-week business planning course. It's taken longer than I thought it would to get going, but I am starting off on the right foot and am thankful for that.

These verses are very fitting: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”—Romans 5:3-4 (NKJV) Bring on the character and hope!

I wonder what the next year will hold for me...