It has been another phenomenal year for URBAN URBANE. Business has continued to grow, and I have been striving – through self-critique, client feedback, and continuing education – to improve my own performance as an entrepreneur and as a cleaner.
Professional Development: This year I joined the North Texas Corporate Recycling Association, and became an official business sponsor of Keep Texas Beautiful.
Blog and Newsletter: It’s been such an amazing year that I’ve had difficulty keeping up with my blog and newsletter. My blog posts do not generate much traffic – and while that’s disappointing, it’s also perfectly okay. We do, after all, live in the information age, and many of us (including me) subscribe to so many email lists and updates that it is nearly impossible to keep up with everything – so I am not going to take it personally. However, going forward, I will no longer be doing regularly-scheduled monthly posts. Instead, I will post only when I have the time or have a topic I wish to share.
Fortunately though, I did manage to publish another issue of Impeccable: Your Magazine for Clean, Healthy, and Responsible Living, which you can download or view here. I hope to publish another issue around March of this year, so please look for it then.
Continuing Education: As part of my effort to continually improve my knowledge and skills, I have earned continuing education credits on a variety of topics, such as carpet care, disinfection, green cleaning, and basic cleaning chemistry. You can view a complete list of my accomplishments on the Continuing Education page of my website.
Recycling & Sustainability: For 2017, I have continued to recycle an insane amount of material. In addition to glass, plastic, and paper, I have recycled packaging and shipping supplies, bagfuls of light bulbs and batteries, and hundreds of pounds of mixed metals. I’ve also collected and salvaged clothing, furniture, housewares, and much more. You can see photos of what I’ve saved from the landfill on the Recycling Assistance page.
Community Participation: In January, I earned and donated 2,500 Recyclebank points to the Arbor Day Foundation – enough points to plant 10 trees. Recyclebank partners with municipalities to create a reward system for citizens who recycle.
Throughout the year, I continued to participate in community cleanup events around greater Dallas, including events for Groundwork Dallas, the Downtown Dallas Neighborhood Association, Friends of Reverchon Park. the Turtle Creek Association, the City of Irving, and the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. You can read more about these organizations and see photos on the Community page of my website.
Lastly, during the month of June, I collected 102 pairs of shoes for Soles4Souls, a non-profit social enterprise that creates sustainable jobs and provides disaster relief through the distribution of shoes and clothing around the world.
In short, it's been a busy year.
I would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of my customers who have helped make URBAN URBANE a success. I hope that you have been and continue to be happy with the service you receive, and that 2018 continues to be a productive and successful year for all of us.