Seeing friends’ and colleagues’ Facebook and Twitter updates all day today, I’d venture a guess that ’09 was the worst year in history. For many it was, I suppose. Many people have been affected by the economy in brutal ways…losing their jobs, homes, marriages, savings and their dignity. There aren’t enough jobs to go around right now, and I’ve seen some very talented and intelligent people scraping by. I’ve seen shifts in power with laid off editors/bosses/business owners suddenly asking clients to keep an ear out for possible work. It’s heartbreaking, but through it all I’ve seen compassion like I’ve never seen before.

From this compassion, something interesting happened this year….people mattered again. Seems that when no one can get a raise, job security is on the line, and everyone knows someone who has been affected by the economy, we seem to understand that we need to watch out for each other. So I think that’s a positive thing about 2009. I don’t have a lot of faith that America as a whole will continue this positive attitude when things get good again, but for now, we’re forging better relationships with people because of it.

This year was great for Radiant, because of things like:
– We picked up some great clients of all sizes, like Ty Ku sake, Las Vegas Valley Water District, Ethel M’s candy, Octagon Sport apparel, The Fitness Source, and Trannon Culinary, among others. We also managed to keep some existing clients around, like Mars/M&Ms World, Sanchez Decor, Anne Miller Designs, Stella Laguna Beach, many of our editorial clients, and others.
– We launched whiteproductphotography.com, which has been a successful venture and one we’ll be putting more effort into expanding in 2010.
– For the first year, our commercial revenues outpaced our editorial.
– We’ve paid off all business debts and are financially healthy and poised for growth in the coming year.
– We interviewed for a Feb 2010 article in Entrepreneur magazine…watch for it.
– We upgraded equipment to provide quicker service to our clients.
– We started accepting credit/debit cards to ease the immediate pain of paying for imagery that some smaller and midsized clients were feeling in this economy. Providing this service allows them to spread out payments on their terms instead of needing to cut a paid-in-full check upon invoicing. This has really helped some people manage in these rocky times.

2010 brings with it hope for economic turnaround and growth for everyone. We’re set for careful, calculated growth using our fiscally conservative plan. Radiant will expand and be more profitable, but not at the expense of client satisfaction. We’ve got some great goals set, many of which we’re already making moves on and we can’t wait to share the challenges and rewards with you through our blog.

Thanks for the great year!
Happy new year,
Ryan