Buh Bye 2020. A BCS Recap.

Yeah, buh bye 2020. You will not be missed.

But seriously though, this has been a tough year. And no, come January 1st, everything will not magically reset and go back to "normal." We're still going to live in this for quite a bit and I doubt anything will ever go "back to normal." But maybe that's a good thing.

Throughout history, in almost every sector, major change has come because of massive disruption. Some disruptions have been better than others, but nonetheless, humans don't typically like change. So maybe there are some silver linings to 2020. Below are a few of our silver linings to this dumpster fire of a year.

We Put People First in New Ways

This is our number one value as a company, but 2020 gave us the opportunity to bring it to life in new ways. This year, we loved on our team and celebrated so many different events with them. We socially distanced and celebrated our COO's birthday half marathon as we cheered her on to complete her birthday goals. We socially distanced as the team surprised me with a birthday backyard wine tour. We celebrated new houses, new furbabies, new human babies, COVID recoveries and so much more.

We celebrated moms in a bigger way this year by surprising and delighting them for Mother's Day. We also successfully gifted a number of thoughtful gifts to our team, clients, advocates, and partners throughout the country. And we were able to launch a profit-sharing program to give back to our employees and help them more aggressively save for retirement.

We Launched New
Solutions & Partnerships

While not every idea is a good idea, this year we launched the following in an effort to solve problems we were seeing: Restaurant Online Ordering Form, MKEFund.org, New Brand Starter Package, as well as a Shopify partnership. We also partnered with Big White Yeti to launch our sweet new Girl On Fire candles made just for us (but ultimately, just for you)!

We Launched a Nonprofit Initiative

Prior to COVID completely changing our lives, on February 13th, we launched the Brainchild Fund to support women in business and entrepreneurship. We kicked things off with a partnership with Kendra Scott and couldn't have made it happen (literally) without the support of WWBIC, our nonprofit fiscal sponsor. We're excited to keep things rolling with 2021's Galentine's Showcase (February 12th - Save the Date).

We Received
Local & International Recognition

We were honored to be recognized as one of MMAC's Focus on the Future Honorees this past fall. Additionally, for the second year in a row, we have been awarded the international award for women in business Business Services Company of the Year with 10 or fewer employees by the Stevie Awards. Last year, we had the opportunity to fly to New York City to accept this award. It was pretty incredible. This year was a bit different, but nonetheless, such a humbling moment to receive recognition two years in a row on a global scale!

We Learned More about
Millennial Moms

Last year, we launched our proprietary research on Millennial Moms. This year, we took it to a whole new level. We launched an Annual Report, four eBooks, a series of infographics, and a corresponding webinar series with a number of industry experts. Our fall was quite busy pumping out all this research, but we're thrilled with what we've put together! If you haven't see it yet, check it out!

We Made It

I mean, that's reason enough to celebrate, amiright? While so many small businesses, unfortunately, were put in a position to close their doors this year, we kept all our team members employed, and while we didn't reach our 2020 revenue goal, we did reach our adjusted COVID revenue goal and maintained a similar profit margin as 2019.

I don't know about you, but we're going to be taking a much-needed break through the rest of the year. However, don't let that fool you, we have lots of big plans for 2021. And while we won't jinx it by calling it "our year" (because we all know how well that turned out for 2020), let's just say, we're pretty pumped because we found the clarity we needed in 2020 and now 2021 will be about making the magic happen!

Happy holidays to you, your family, your friends, and the world. May you find gratitude in the little things, hold those your love a little closer (even if you can only do so in your hearts), and let's all enter 2021 a little kinder, a little wiser, and a little more forgiving.

Lots of love, the BCS Team.

K, now time for snacks, naps, and a few cocktails.