Phoenix

 Stan and I have been in Phoenix all week. We did the impossible every day and have maximized and accomplished more than I thought was possible. We've had 4AM start times some mornings, other nights we didn't get to bed until 4AM. We can honestly say that we have worked around the clock.

Day 1: Fly to Phoenix

We flew from the Provo Airport Tuesday evening. We landed in Mesa and got our luggage and our car rental and went to dinner. This was such a fun evening. We were excited and ready to go! It was good we had a fun night because we had so much ahead of us.

Day 2: Show Low

We woke up at 5AM, grabbed a quick hotel breakfast, and got in the car and started our drive to Show Low. It was a beautiful but long drive from Mesa to Show Low. It took us a little more than 3 hours to make it there. We arrive just as our first customer's location was opening up. Stan was able to fix their switch, install the patch cables, install ethernet cables to all the computers so they could hard wire into the internet, and he and I went around to each room and installed our remote agent so that we could have software in place so when they had an issue we can now remote into their computers and get things fixed for them. We also now are in the process of remotely installing our antivirus software on all computers. 

After doing all our tasks at the first location, we went to our second location also located in Show Low. We were able to install our remote agent again, Stan focused on fixing their camera system and phones which he had never seen before and after a couple hours had both up and running. I spend my time going around and making sure that all computers had our agent on them and working on fixing the owners laptop. It had a lot of bloatware installed after uninstalling it, and running the disk clean, things started looking better.

Our customers were very happy with our efforts and we were able to accomplish everything that they needed us to.

Then we had another 3 hour drive home. We ended up at Texas Roadhouse for a late dinner and that was fun and delicious. We did not have time for lunch really any of our days so we looked forward to a nice dinner at night as a reward for a long hard days work. Back at the hotel there was some updates that didn't get done, so Stan had to work remotely on some customers servers and didn't finish until 4AM. I woke up at one point and he had dosed off but I could see from his screen that it hadn't finished, so I woke him up and he got it done. I felt bad but this customer needed a working server by 7AM so we only had a few hours left.

Day 3: Setting Up Phoenix Office

We have hired two new employees but didn't have an office yet for them to work at. Our mission was to get an office and set it up and spend some time training our new employees - all in one day. The day started early, calling and securing office space. Thankfully, this was easily accomplished in the morning so we could meet up with our employees there by 11AM. We had brought lots with us, but what we didn't bring we purchased at Walmart. We set up the office space, dell docking stations, desk phones, 2 monitors per desk, and even snagged a couple headshots for our website. We worked with our new employees. We answered calls, made and resolved tickets, and showed them how this was done. 

We didn't get lunch again, so Olive Garden was a very fun treat to end the night after another day of hard work. We rushed back to the hotel and printed our QR code and got things ready for our tradeshow. We were asleep by 9:30 PM because we had a 4AM start time the next day.

Day 4: AzDA Tradeshow

We had to wake up at 4AM, the car was loaded, and so we woke up and after a quick shower we were on the road by 4:30AM. Too early even for the hotel breakfast and it was almost impossible to keep my eyes open. I kept dozing off and Stan had to drive the whole way. He was amazing and I don't know how we made it there on-time and alive.

The tradeshow in Flagstaff was held at the Little America Hotel. It was smaller than what we had hoped for, but we made the best of it and made as many connections as we possibly could. We have 3-4 really interested Dentists and that made me happy. I am confident that we will get some new customers from this tradeshow. Not as many as I originally wanted but enough to make it well worth it. 

There was a storm back home in Utah, so a few servers went down and this made us nervous. The next morning however we were able to work with the office managers that we asked to go onsite and we were able to get them all backup so that was a huge relief. 

Last Day: Rejuvenate

Stan and I have worked so hard. Not just this week but over the last four years. We have taken everything we had and put it into this business. We do not have any business loans but used our savings and investments to get started. We are starting to see the return. We have a successful business. A business that is growing and turning into something special. For this to happen we have both worked long hours day after day, week after week without much breaks and no true vacations. Our goal is that we can take a family vacation next summer and really be able to break away and have the business run by our employees just for one week.

Today we decided to play in Phoenix together. To make some happy memories to rejuvenate. We did just that and we had so much fun together. I am so grateful for today.

We started by getting some breakfast together, we then went to the Phoenix Museum of Art, had lunch with Stan's relatives who live nearby, and ended by going out to Gilbert and eating dinner with live music and we ended the night at Handels for ice cream. It was magical and I could not have asked for a better day.

 

I'm now off to packing then to bed. We have another 4AM wake up call tomorrow, and early morning flight back home from Mesa to Provo. I cannot wait to see my kids. My boys are so amazing and have done very well without us. Grandparents have really stepped up and lived at our house and taken care of them. 

Highlights:

Gregory went to basketball and football. Today was gameday and he caught an interception, on another play scored a touch down, and sacked the quarterback on defense. His team was losing but he lead them to a win!

George played basketball and baseball. Today was his doubleheader. He pitched, caught, and I'm told threw someone out as catcher trying to steam third base, hit a bomb that hit the fence, and as pitcher struck out a few hitters, grounded a ball and got another out at first.

William played baseball and soccer this week. He also had a soccer game today. He told me he was the VIP on his team! He ran hard and dominates on his team.

Tiberius is an all star. He has been to the park, made lots of yummy treats at home with Grandma, and went to all the games and played/cheered his brothers on!