Welcome to Joy Ethic Weekly: A Newsletter from Your Creative Agency by me — Adam, the owner. We want this e-mail to be a resource for you and a way for you to be a part of our journey as we build a family-owned business. You can expect some original content, curated links, and things I found on the internet that should bring some joy to your inbox.
Introducing: Joy Ethic
Meet the other baby that our family brought into the world this year: Joy Ethic.
Joy Ethic is an independent creative agency that creates stronger community between organizations and their people. It’s rooted in the core belief that you can always find joy if you are looking for it. We do branding, websites, and storytelling for businesses, churches, and non-profits. You can start a conversation with us on our website.
After 6 years of working @pdxseminary, I realized it was time to make the jump into full-time with my business. While I’ve been fortunate to have some amazing and faithful clients over the past several years, making up the costs of healthcare and retirement savings is a huge leap.
At the beginning of this school term, I sent my resignation at 3:19 p.m. It was difficult to finally decide to leave the DMin team. I’m better for the ways @lorenkerns, @cliffordberger, and @heather_rainey2 have invested into my life over the past 6 years. I’m grateful that @jenmacnab joining the team leaves them stronger than when I started.
One minute later—at 3:20 p.m.—another e-mail came in. It was an open door that became our first Joy Ethic project. Monte Vista Chapel (@mvcturlock) in Turlock, California is a special place that promises you will bump into Jesus while you are there (and you do). I’m so excited to show you more of our shared work in the coming months.
My wife @kelly_mcguffie is incredible. We had our second child this year, and Kelly took the year off from teaching to invest in our kids and focus on her writing. I wouldn’t be able to do this work without her love, support, and help with the business.
I’ve read that from the outside, entrepreneurship looks like the business owner is riding a lion — “Wow!” “Such bravery!” “I want to do that!” — meanwhile, the business owner is thinking, “How the hell did I get on top of a lion? I sure hope this thing doesn’t eat me!” It’s been growth journey for me over the past several years.
I’d love your continued support as we move forward with creating stories, branding, websites, and communication strategies that build communities.
Warmly,
Adam McGuffie
Owner, Joy Ethic
tweets + links
This is our work right now:
Proof you can find joy in any job:
If this doesn’t get you laughing and in the holiday spirit, I don’t know what will:
This is a classic and the perfect time of year to review:
The Tail End by Tim Urban
1) Living in the same place as the people you love matters. I probably have 10X the time left with the people who live in my city as I do with the people who live somewhere else.
2) Priorities matter. Your remaining face time with any person depends largely on where that person falls on your list of life priorities. Make sure this list is set by you—not by unconscious inertia.
3) Quality time matters. If you’re in your last 10% of time with someone you love, keep that fact in the front of your mind when you’re with them and treat that time as what it actually is: precious.
Thanks for reading! See you guys next week.