Here Are the Top 3 Lessons I Learned in Zenith's First 3 Years

We’re celebrating today — Zenith Design + Build is officially three years old! That’s right, we’ve been helping homeowners remodel their homes into their dream homes for three years! It’s a little hard to believe. I know time flies when you’re doing what you love (and having fun — we have a lot of fun around here), but three years has gone by in a flash. And I’ve learned a lot.

I’ve learned what it’s like to hire new employees, and how important it is to keep the snack cabinets full in the office. I’ve learned that a little friendly competition goes a long way between the staff . I’ve even managed a business through a global pandemic (who could have predicted that one?).

The list could go on and on, but I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

HERE ARE THE TOP THREE LESSONS I’VE LEARNED IN OUR FIRST THREE YEARS AS ZENITH DESIGN + BUILD

1. Your people are everything

The process is huge, sure. Without processes, your business won’t succeed. But without great people, you can't create the processes — or follow them. The people that make up Zenith make coming to work enjoyable every day. Even on the hardest days where a project might not go according to plan and I have to make tough calls, my Zenith team has my back.

We know how to get things done while taking life just the right level of seriousness, and we play by the rules of respect and transparency. We keep it real with our teammates and ourselves, and we always turn to each other for help. I would call myself lucky, but I don’t think that word even begins to cover it. In 2020 alone, we grew our team by 7 full time employees! I’m pumped to see how we keep growing in the future.

2. Hard work really does pay off

Some people don’t have to work too hard to get to where they want to be in life. They cruise through life, never really putting in the extra hours. For most of us, though, we have to put in a lot of hard work to get lucky and have even an ounce of success.

I’ve had some big ups and some big downs in my career. I learned lessons early on about financial risk and rewards. I have worked countless hours, weekends, and holidays to get Zenith to the point where we are now and to the point where we can continue to succeed. If you’re not willing to put in the work, it probably won’t work out for you in the end.

3. Creating raving fans is hard but worth all of the effort

One of our core values here at Zenith is Raving Fans - Customer Focused. We come to work every day with our customers on the brain.  They are our number #1 focus — and that has never changed in three years.

In a business that has a pretty bad reputation for customer satisfaction, we are always thrilled when a homeowner tells us how much they love their remodel or new home. We do everything we can to make our homeowners happy throughout the process, because we know it can be tough to go through. As exciting as it is to get the space of your dreams, we know it’s hard to put that trust into a company. When a customer puts that trust in us and is happy at the end of the job, every late night and weekend spent in the office is worth it.

SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ve got a lot on the horizon for the next three years here at Zenith. We’ve got big, big plans. And they start in 2021! I hope you’ll follow along as we head into the rest of the new year — it’s going to be a wild ride that we’re excited to take you on with us.