Now that COVID has ravaged our travel plans this year, my husband decided it was ideal for spending 6 months at our country home. We bought the land over 20 years ago from a man named Joe T. Bond whose family had lived here for generations.

He couldn’t even read the simple sales contract we wrote up, and the local attorney urged us to set the closing for the morning so he wouldn’t be too drunk to show up. (No joke!)

It is a beautiful parcel of land filled with Mountain Laurel around a winding stream, but when we bought it, it was cluttered with a burned-out mobile home and decades of trash piled up. We spent the first year cleaning up the land and eventually built our cozy farmhouse.

Soon after, we started our first business. It turned out that we realized we didn’t have enough time to come up here with young kids and the new company, so we put the farmhouse into rental service.

A couple of years ago, the tenants moved out, and since life has settled down for us, we decided to rehab the house and make it more like the second home we craved.

Little did we know that this would become our more permanent home this year. We still travel back to the city every couple of weeks, but we have enjoyed the pace of the country with the roaming dogs, chickens, cows, and donkeys who are our neighbors. It is peaceful, and lightning bugs light up the fields at night.

Since we are up here, Mark determined that this was the year to start a ½ acre garden. He had the field plowed, and he spends part of his time overseeing the plants, nurturing them, and watching the progress.

Parts of the garden are going gangbusters, and other parts are entirely dormant; same soil, same amendments, the same amount of sun, but completely different results. Why are some doing so well while others are not? I guess we will never fully understand.

As we continue to think about the workforce and changes that are happening, it allows us to reflect on our business and how we can best meet our clients’ needs. We are improving our processes, communication, & training.

We are planting seeds of ideas and watching them develop and mature. We are excited to see what concepts grow like gangbusters and what falls flat. We are innovators and creators, never satisfied with the status quo.

At HireSmart, we are interested in helping all our clients thrive and grow. We want them to have success and give them everything that they need to have healthy, productive teams. If you have ever considered a virtual employee, we will welcome the opportunity to speak with you and help you in any way possible. Book a time here that works for you!