11 years ago, Rich and I sat at our dining room table planning out what would end up becoming Craft & Communicate (C&C). It took a year of saving, researching, coming up with a name, and then a logo. Then, it took a handful of years refining our services, our pricing, our team, and our values.
All along, we wanted C&C to always represent helping others. In whatever way we could, we wanted people to be able to have better, more enriching lives. There’s no better industry for that than senior living.
Our first client was a small senior living operator. (Now, they’re a much larger operator, and I’m beyond grateful that we get to represent them again today.) Senior living was mostly what I did as a marketer in my past; for 20 years now, I’ve been marketing senior living communities, so it made sense that senior living would be our main focus. So that is where we leaned in.
10 years after our name, logo, website, and offerings came together, Rich and I sat for a bit to reflect. At the same dining room table, in the same dining room, in the same house. Yet, a completely different company. What started out as Rich and I offering all services, with a part-time designer and a handful of communities, has grown into a full-time team of 25 incredible people supporting over 250 communities with their marketing and public relations efforts.
I absolutely and wholeheartedly cannot believe that. As the English language needs stronger words for “love,” it needs stronger words for “grateful,” too.
Our mission has always been to help others in any way we can. Over these 10 years, our little company has helped thousands of seniors find better places to live. We’ve helped our clients achieve their occupancy goals, in turn helping them pay their teams better, offer better benefits, have a higher team-to-resident ratio, ultimately helping seniors live better lives.
It’s the butterfly effect, and it’s how I try to live my life. The smile you give someone extends throughout their day. Helping one senior living community achieve occupancy makes life exponentially better for its residents, families, team, and community at large.
We’re all here for a short time, and the way we choose to live those years matters. Who we spend our days with, the community we see, the places we let our minds ponder, the services we purchase: All of this makes a tremendous impact in our world.
I’m proud of our team and proud of our company. I believe we’re doing good, and my hope is that continues for the next 10 — and more — years.
With gratitude,
Jen
