As we near the end of this most challenging year, I’m steadfast in my ability to remain an optimist. It’s hard not to think about the possibilities 2021 may bring, especially after so much hardship and loss.
Many of us will simply be thankful at the conclusion of 2020 that the year is finally past, and its ability to continually test us is over. Others will think of the prospect of things to come, returning to normal, albeit a different normal (oxymoron?), and good health and prosperity reigning once again. Whether this is within our reach or a pipe dream remains to be seen. There is still much uncertainty.
That said, we’d be foolhardy if we didn’t take this opportunity for self-reflection as the year concludes—to take stock in both our professional and personal successes and areas for improvement. What did we do right? What did we do wrong? And how can we improve upon lessons learned, readying ourselves for tomorrow and beyond?
This topic came up recently when speaking with Allissa Haines and Michael Reynolds—the duo behind Massage Business Blueprint (www.massagebusinessblueprint.com) and columnists in this magazine. During an episode of The ABMP Podcast
(www.abmp.com/podcasts), the two discussed how the pandemic shined a light on practitioners’ financial readiness.
This issue marks the conclusion of Haines’s and Reynold’s year-long Mind Your Money 2020 theme in their Blueprint for Success column (www.abmp.com/money). The six columns this year mapped out fiduciary basics and essentials. What these authors could have never foreseen when sharpening their pencil at the beginning of the year was a worldwide pandemic. But this unexpected adversity didn’t lessen the relevance of the information in their columns—on the contrary, the Mind Your Money 2020 series became even more pertinent and timeless, as the skills and lessons contained within those pages equip practitioners to weather the next unforeseen crisis.
Let’s hope 2020 was an anomaly. But let’s also take the opportunity to make an effort to not waste the lessons 2020 wrought. There may not be another pandemic (fingers crossed), but there most certainly will be other and new future challenges to your practices and our profession.
Sometimes failures allow us to hit the reset button and become better attuned to the things we should have been doing all along. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” goes the saying.
We hope this issue serves to challenge you to remain ever-vigilant in shoring up your weaknesses and preparing, not hoping, for brighter days ahead for our country and our profession.
Darren Buford
Editor-in-Chief