20 Things We Learned From Celebrating 20 Years

1. Don Miguel Ruiz's Four Agreements should guide any project: a) Be impeccable with your word, b ) Don't take anything personally, c) Don't make assumptions, and d) Always do your best.
2. Funding and locations should be solidified first, content and promotions last.
3. Be clear and upfront with each member of your team about their role and their compensation/opportunity.
4. Have an attorney.
5. Personality types and past work environments (corporate/entrepreneurial) are as important as skill and should be considered as heavily, if not more, when building a team.
6. Create measurable goals and reflect with your entire team quarterly, leading up to the completion of a project on your progress.
7. Acknowledgment – do it creatively and frequently.
8. Never be afraid to scrap an idea or vision; sometimes your winning ideas are a result of material scarcity or limited human resources.
9. Be persistent.
10. When in doubt, go back to your mission statement.
11. Remember, sometimes people are just trying to “get on.” Have a team of folks who are as inspired, if not more, to be a part of the project.
12. Find the women in any operation - they create movement. Find the men in any operation - they can get you to the right... woman.
13. Building great relationships leads to great business.
14. Trust your instincts.
15. Maintain a state of balance in your personal life. Do not sacrifice your health or your relationships – that leads to a lifetime of those bad habits.
16. Don’t believe what they tell you - share your idea, goal, dream or vision with as many people as will listen. You never know who knows who or has access to what.
17. Every disaster presents a sweet opportunity. The more disasters, the better equip you are to think on your feet.
18. When you are having difficulty with communication, put it all in writing, and do not be afraid to rely on a mediator.
19. When you stop having fun, it becomes work, in the worst sense of the word.
20. As David Phillips so beautifully stated: "Impossible only defines the degree of difficulty."