2015’s been an exciting year for the Intelligent Ink team, and we’ve all learnt a lot along the way. In this end of year series, each Inker takes a look at what they’ve learnt and how that’s impacted on their lives – you might call it a peek inside the minds of the Inkers. Here’s to another year of learnings and laughter – see you in 2016!

Verity Craft

Being busy can be energising if you’re doing the right things.

I’m not someone who’s very good at keeping time free. I seem to always find a way to fill every hour of every day to the point where all I want to do is blow everything off and blob in front of the TV or with a good book. Luckily, I’ve discovered that being busy doesn’t have to be draining. In the latter part of 2015 I ended up doing a cabaret, starting a new business (honeypotregistry.co.nz – visit now and sign up to be notified when it launches!), joining the board of a new musical theatre company (Rebel Theatre), and starting an alumni committee for a Glee club I used to run – all at the same time as being at Intelligent Ink! What I’ve discovered is that I might be busy, yet somehow I have even more energy – because I’m doing things that I’m passionate about, that get me excited, and that I can have a real impact on. It makes a big difference!

I actually like networking!

I used to think networking was a horrible sales-y thing where you went and tried to sell what you do to people, and you had to talk to as many people as humanly possible. This year I’ve discovered that it’s actually a fantastic way to meet some very cool people, and that work actually can be the last thing you talk about. Saying that, it also is a fantastic way of making sales because you build real relationships and trust, and people want to work with you because of that. Considering we like to be friends with our clients, it’s a really nice way to start a working relationship.

Something good is always around the corner.

2015 hasn’t been my favourite year – a lot changed in my life and a few things that I was looking forward to didn’t pan out as I expected. Saying that, the year’s ended in a pretty awesome way, due to all the things I talked about above. Many of those wouldn’t have happened if everything had gone as I expected. So while I strongly believe that we all make our own destiny and it’s up to us to make ourselves happy, I also think there are awesome opportunities waiting around the corner after every bad experience – we just have to take advantage of them.