This May, ELM celebrates eight years of capturing the human experience. Considering that 96% of businesses fail within 10 years and only about 44% make it to 5 years, it’s an accomplishment that we proudly celebrate with our families, our clients, our team, and our many partners.
96% of businesses fail within 10 years. – INC.COM
But this milestone does not come without a healthy dose of survivor’s guilt. We recognize the hardship so many have endured, the sacrifice and heroism of our frontline workers, and the grief that families and friends are experiencing after losing more than half a million fellow Americans. The magnitude of loss around the world is unimaginable.
Back in March 2020, our families were home, on the couch, glued to the news, and desperate for positive signs. All of our work ceased except for our offer to open up our studio to companies and organizations that needed a megaphone to get important messages out to the public and their people. The iceberg was straight ahead and we were mentally preparing ourselves for the worst. As a business, as parents, as brothers and sisters, as Maryland residents, and as world citizens, we were all terrified.
But here we are, more than a year later having somehow managed to thrive. It’s difficult to comprehend. Some of it has been our team’s hard work and inventiveness. Some of it is due to strong tailwinds that the video industry is experiencing by being the primary means of human connection. Some of it has maybe been a bit of luck. But here we are with 8 candles on the cake that we attempt to blow out with tears of gratitude but they don’t extinguish because we’re wearing masks and unfortunately little bits of wax are dripping into the icing and we try to air high five you all because we can’t quite touch you yet and there is an awkward silence before we cheers. But best of all, hope is no longer a distant shadow deep in the fog of a painful year.
We are so deeply thankful to everyone who has been a part of our journey for the better part of a decade now and we look forward to capturing the human experience with you in year 9.
Cheers,
Jessica, Becca, Niki, Ezra, Kellee, Nick, Dave, Jody, & Darren
