2020 is here, a crucial year. It is game on!

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary” ~ Jim Rohn

Damn straight! Frankly, the time for ordinary is over. As far as The Sponge is concerned, we’ve got no time to waste. This world needs each of us working to regreen the planet, make our soils, our people and climate healthier.

 

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A post shared by The Sponge (@thespongeau) on Dec 25, 2019 at 5:31pm PST

We exist to help good people create greater positive impact and healthier profits. We are in flow when we are working with founders hell-bent on changing the world. It is the winning trio, people, planet and profit.

This year we feel compelled to play our part – all out, and help tens of thousands of awesome people create the changes they seek. So we are upping our game, getting uncomfortable and leaning in.

Getting Ballsy (with the right book as backup)

I love how the right book always seems to serendipitously appear for me right before the wisdom it offers is needed. I am grateful for these gems, and the sign posts they provide, confirming that I’m on my path!

Two solid consecutive days during the Christmas week I spent in deep contemplation for the new year for the Sponge. The Friday before, Jess (our impact growth alchemist) and I spent half a day reviewing our goals for 2019 and brainstorming goals for 2020-2025.

I have to admit, I was unprepared for big goal setting with Jess. It had been quite an action packed December, and the session turned out to be awesome priming for what was to come. I didn’t realise how much the book I had been listening to that week would come in handy either.

The wisdom I found in that book enabled me to sit in the discomfort of the unknown, which is where much of the whiteboard planning sessions had me those days.

I was able to hold space and lean into those moments of discomfort, to realize who I need to be on each playing field to create success. And it also helped me get clear on what is missing and what new team members are required to help with our new objectives.

The book in question is The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman and I highly recommend it if you want to increase your performance in any area of your life.

The Bold New Plan

Here’s the bold new plan for The Sponge in 2020:

• Continue to delight all our clients (that’s a given)
• Help many more good branding projects (rebrands/refreshes/renames/new brands/website/marketing strategy & collateral)
• Launch a monthly half day workshop in Brisbane on Feb 11 (save the date!)
• Expand workshops up and down Australian East Coast
• New One on One Impact Brand Story Intensives (online coaching program)
• New monthly Impact Brand Story Group Intensives (online coaching program)
• Sponsor and launch Pitch for Good Brisbane in partnership with StartSomeGood
• Increase our Double the Goodness grant to help more impact enterprises
• Give away 500 more Impact Brand Story programs through our Impact Karma Seed
• Establish two awesome, aligned collaboration partnerships
• Mobilize/Accelerate a consumer driven popular brand transformation (movement)
• Train awesome new Impact Brand Story guides
• Increase our international client base
• Expand our team to be a true 24/7 global agency
• Reach 1,000,000 people with our content and training
• Write a second book (already know what it will be!)
• Bring entire remote Sponge team together in Fiji for inaugural annual retreat

More Awesome People Required

Lots to do! And more awesome people are required to help bring this list to life.

With the urgency of some of the goals, the first two of many roles have been published on our website:
Social Media Rockstar
VA / Coordination Genie

and a Social Media Internship

There are seven more roles partially fleshed out and being worked on, which we will need to fill soon to realise these goals.

Culture is Brand

I preach this and believe it. Our brand is our culture and our culture is our brand.

Culture is how you experience our brand, which is why all our team and hiring pages start with our values. Every keen applicant must first and foremost be a culture fit. That means demonstrated alignment with our purpose, values and impact.

One of our values is delightful awesomeness, which is how we show up for each other, our clients, and our community, in everything we do. This level of awesomeness only comes through fully engaged team members, which comes from values alignment.

“How you do anything, is how you do everything!” ~ T. Harv Eker

We have a great team at present and intend to grow smoothly, creating awesome outcomes for all our clients and our community.

The new roles will be added to our Join our Tribe page and shared on socials. So follow us (via the links in the footer of the page) to keep in the loop.

But Wait There’s More!

I filled multiple whiteboards with ideas and models. And scratched out outlines of plans with graphite onto many a page of my notebook. Still, our 2020 plan is anything but complete!

 

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A post shared by Luke Faccini (@lukesponge) on Dec 25, 2019 at 3:11am PST

Expect more. Expect it to evolve, to improve, and to transform, especially as collaborators join.

Yet expect the overarching direction to stay the same. Our purpose is our North Star, and we are an impact business hell-bent on changing the world! In our unique way of course.

Yes, I am still outside of my comfort zone with much of this plan. I know who I need to become for the different playing fields (thanks to Todd’s book).

Most of all, I am excited about all the good people and the good projects we get to work with already, and those we will have the privilege of helping in 2020 and beyond. For this I am truly grateful and feel blessed.

What are your bold plans for 2020? And what do you need to make them happen?