Today marks Ladder’s official one-year anniversary! It’s hard to believe it has been one full year since I hit publish on a website and shared all of this with all of you. As every small business owner could probably recount, there were “What am I doing? Why did I think this was an option?” moments and there were “People want what I’m offering! This really is a real business!” moments. The progress, growth and realization making it all worth it.

I shared a year in review in December, which you should check out to get a glimpse of the projects, relationships and partnerships that filled year one for Ladder. I’m grateful to have exceeded the number of organizations I hoped to impact in the first year.

As I thought about ways to celebrate this day, one goal and idea surfaced to the top. Inspiring others to give. I started Ladder with a simple driving goal, “Help Others Do Good.” And while I’m fortunate enough to be able to do that now every day through my work, I wanted to motivate and remind individuals too.

In celebration of being in business for one year, I’m asking others to join the charge and do something good for someone else, to do good works. I sprinkled money with prompt cards attached around Downtown Annapolis this morning. Each included a message to donate it, give it or spend it on someone else and share a photo or a story with me via email. It’s a bit of a social experiment, but even if only one person participates, then at least two people’s days were impacted.

If you are reading this and are not local to Annapolis, it would still mean so much if you’d celebrate with us, by doing something good for someone else today, even in the smallest way. If you feel so inspired and also want to share, email me at michelle@ladderstrategy.com.

Ladder is giving back in a few additional ways as we celebrate the day, check back next week for more updates. Until then, thanks for reading and for the ongoing support and as so many people have said to me in the last year, keep climbing!