What Mike Michelini is up to Now – Jan 2 – 8, 2022
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In photo – Mike and Wendy receive a plaque from a Cross Border Logistics association at a yearly dinner in Dec 2021.
Feels nice typing 2022 – always nice to have a fresh start. But really our theme is “more of the same”, just more growth of it.
* HR and Finance – planning to hire and grow Shadstone more in 2022, and have been working for 3-4 months in the end of 2021 to build a HR and finance department, while still being developed, we are going to “test it” by hiring and growing more.
* Blimp Method cut off for cohort 1 – we did webinars and launch for blimp method, and the last chance for people to join the first group will be this Wednesday Jan 4 (give a couple days after holiday)
* Indigitus / Skyinclude / dWeb – bucketing this together – deep in building and creating the tools and systems for the decentralized internet and will be a big part of 2022 for us.
For those who want to hear the full week plan for Shadstone Limited, Mike’s company (removing sensitive info) – here it is:
Week Plan Jan 2 – 8, 2022 Shadstone Limited
Happy new year – I think most of us are happy to be done with 2021 – but it was a year of transition in the “new world” – don’t want to be pessimistic – but the reality is – the world will not “go back to the way it was” probably “forever” in the way of “travel” and international business. I saw 9/11/2001 with my own eyes – and the world changed dramatically as well – we just may not have noticed it so clearly. Same in the post-covid world – more strict travel and health procedures forever.
But if we step back – our company is well positioned for this – and we have further been adjusting to it over the past couple years. We have been fully remote before covid, and we are further investing in tools and people to remain online. We have been in ecommerce and online marketing / SEO for decade+ already, and the demand for people to use these services will only increase further as the “old world” will realize more and more years will continue to be “online”
And we are simply doing more of what we have done, into the new year – just investing even more into it and into the team!
Team is everything – this is what I have learned even more – while of course we need customers and income – we need great people who have a good attitude and are FITTING into our company culture. I honestly used to think those company culture statements were bull, but while most may be once the company is too big – at a point a company is small like us – those VALUES are what matters.
And again, ours are:
SLOT
Self learning – as we work online, and we do a lot of new tech and new business projects – we need people who love to learn, and can learn online. That means they do not need to have 1 on 1 spoon-feeding to od everything – and can review video SOPs, research on google /youtube / etc – and are open to always learn and do new things.
Online work – many of us LOVE to work online, even pre-covid. We don’t want to go through traffic, health checks, lines in buildings, etc. We want to work anywhere, any time. We expect though, to enjoy this privilege, the team uses our online tools and systems. This is the “trade off” for working online – you need to spend extra time using tools and extra time communicating things clearly. Working in an offline office you can be “lazy” because you can simply call out to others and communicate without much preparation. Versus online – where you really need to type things out, be extra clear when you communicate, and use various projects management tools (like our portal) to ensure people all are on the same page.
Teamwork – being able to communicate with each other is critical. We have had some superstars over the years but they dont want to work as a team. They do good work, but they simply do not want to communicate and coordinate with others – those people don’t last here at Shadstone – we need team players who enjoy sharing and communicating with others to get projects and work done.
So these values have helped us a lot – and this coming month we will be hiring more people. We need to grow, and we are investing more in the team to have DEPARTMENTS not simply “job roles” – as we know and have learned the hard way (from typhoons to turnover) that we need to have multiple people who can do the tasks in the company. We want to be even more unstoppable.
Today, I am going to be reviewing our new HR handbook more. Reviewing more financials. Honestly – these are things I am personally weak in – but we need to get through this formal parts so we can GROW. Over the years Shadstone has gone through various phases of decisions – to be “small” or to be “big” – last year we decided to invest in being “big” and that means HR / finance departments – which we have recently established – and now moving to next phase of growing the operating departments.
So many amazing things planned for 2022 – many of you have seen them develop in 2021, now 2022 is where they flourish and grow.
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