2022 Comma Retreat: Recap and Company Milestones
In just three years, the number of remote workers in the United States has tripled in size, leading many businesses to wonder how to build team rapport and maintain connections from afar. We get this. As a fully remote team, Comma gathers at our annual Comma Retreat, where we participate in a combination of fun, team-mingling activities, and professional development classes.
We do our best to choose a fabulous location with beautiful views for in-person attendees to enjoy and a phenomenal internet connection for the benefit of remote attendees. This year’s Comma Retreat was hosted at a scenic Airbnb in Vineyard, Utah.
“I’ve been looking forward to this all year!” were the first words uttered by Comma’s founder, Crystalee Beck, as she welcomed 50 team members from 20 different states to the event.
Crystalee gave a special welcome to the 10. newest members of the team, including Comma’s first Director of Business, Lisa Heaton. Then, she turned the spotlight on Comma’s core values:
Freedom – LIFE FIRST
Accountability – Show up, own your work
Humility – Work as a team, no egos
Curiosity – Keep learning and growing
Care – Put your heart into it
Next, Crystalee led the team through a review of several milestones we’ve reached so far in 2022:
Seven Comma team members welcomed new babies in 2022
135 applications were reviewed and 22 new writers hired
Comma celebrated its 6th birthday
Comma was officially WBENC-certified
Comma was recognized on Utah Business magazine’s Fast 50 (again!)
Comma made the Utah 100
23 new brands chose to work with Comma (as of early November)
49 new project kickoffs were held (and counting!)
1,760 pieces of content have been delivered so far, with a 99.94% on-time rate
Comma became a “two-comma” company, passing $1 million dollars in annual revenue
To celebrate Comma’s million-dollar achievement, each team member was given a gift box with a personal note from the leadership team, a million dollar chocolate bar, a $100 bonus, and comma earrings or a tie pin. We also received 100 Grand bars to represent a new opportunity Comma will be introducing in 2023 for those who want to do $100K worth of writing for Comma clients in 2023.
Then we heard presentations from several members of the Comma-unity.
Sarah Acheson, Client Success Manager
Sarah painted a picture of the future for client success at Comma: automation, metric tracking, and creating more touch points. She then educated the team on the ins and outs of customer success, including the 3 Laws of Customer Retention:
Customers stay to get results.
They get results because they change their behavior.
Customers change their behavior because they know why and how to change.
She challenged the team to prepare more diligently for client kickoff calls and be proactive in following up with clients and responding to questions.
“It’s okay to be clear, factual, and assertive with our clients. In fact, it’s encouraged!”
Paige Smith, Team Support Manager
Taking the lead in developing Comma’s culture, Paige reported in more detail on the hiring and onboarding efforts at Comma in 2022 and what other activities are planned for 2023. She shared a sneak peek of some future speakers at Comma Catch-Ups, a monthly workshop featuring guest speakers and training to promote professional development.
“We really love providing professional development opportunities for our team. We are all small business owners, and a lot of the content we have at Comma Catchup is geared towards helping them succeed as small business owners.”
Best Writer Advice Breakouts
As three groups, Comma writers who were invited to share their advice for being a better writer. Topics included everything from time management tips to best practices when interviewing subject matter experts to step-by-step directions for how to write a compelling case study. Each group had time for Q & A with their presenter before coming back together as a team to share what they’d learned.
Professional Development by Crystalee Beck
The final development session of the retreat included training on honest and direct communication, led by Crystalee. She highlighted the importance of clear communication both internally and with our clients.
“When things happen, it’s best to have a conversation,” she said. “Not being direct is often worse than just bringing it up and addressing it.”
She also highlighted the importance of using “I” statements when expressing frustrations and stating the facts clearly. Both parties should seek to understand and remember that both the giver and receiver of feedback may feel uncomfortable.
“It’s often just as hard for the person giving the feedback as the one receiving it because they don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
The training concluded with several role-playing scenarios designed to help team members practice addressing difficult topics directly and kindly.
Bucket List Grants and Café Zupas
To conclude the retreat’s festivities, Crystalee announced the five team members who have celebrated their three-year anniversary at Comma in 2022 and qualified for a $1,000 Bucket List Grant to put towards checking something off of their bucket list.
In-person recipients were gifted a giant, oversized check to commemorate the occasion! (And those who were virtual had one mailed to them.)
Crystalee then shared a few final remarks and the team’s goals for 2023, which included having a client with every letter of the alphabet – (only need K, Q, U, and Y!) and maintain a 99.5% on-time delivery rate.
“I’m so proud of this team and the great work you do,” Crystalee said, before bringing the 2022 Comma Retreat to an official close. She also announced the location for next year’s Comma Retreat: beautiful Park City, Utah!
In-person attendees then made a giant human Comma as a team (don’t mind if we do!) before enjoying a delicious dinner catered by Café Zupas. Comma Retreat 2022, in the books.
Want to join our team? We only hire a couple times a year, but applications are open year-round here.
