The CEO's Journal- Entry 16: So Very Busy

March 31, 2019

Our pop up shops this weekend went really well. I still get an overwhelming sense of gratitude every time someone purchases an Elevate product and I really am thankful for each and every person who supports the brand. I also want to take a moment to say thank you to my good friend Cassie Colbert for being such an incredible person. Cassie is one of those incredibly kind and genuine people that will do anything for those she cares about. Cassie helps out with the university basketball team and her and I have been friends since the first year I stepped onto campus. She was a great source of guidance for me when I was playing and she continues to do so with my business. I can’t wait until Elevate is big enough for me to hire her as an assistant (or any other job she wants!).

April 1, 2019

Had a really good meeting today with the coaches of a youth basketball program today. They’ve invited me to run a couple of camps for them this weekend and the next and I’m really looking forward to it! April 2, 2019

We got our first official sponsor for the Elevate All Star Weekend! Thank you so much to Dave D’Entremont and Basketball Newfoundland for helping to support the event. Even though this is just the first year of the event, I’m certain that the turnout for it will be amazing! April 3, 2019

Today was very busy and tomorrow is going to be even worse (or I guess better?).

The day started as usual with me getting my reading done (I make time for learning every day). After that I had a meeting with Samantha (our first official employee) and we discussed a lot of wonderful things that I cannot disclose yet (sorry!). After that I had to run over to where I store our inventory to package a bunch of orders. Then I came back to my ‘office’ (aka my girlfriend’s dining room table) and got a bit of work done for the event. Then I headed to the gym (gotta make time to take care of your health), showered and sat right back down at my desk (the dining room table) where I worked away at a few things for about 2 hours. As I said, busy day. It’s almost 2am though so I better get to bed. I have an early start tomorrow.

April 4, 2019

Hectic day: complete (mostly).

As promised, today was a long and extremely busy day. I had a few important meetings, and made some progress with the event planning. This week I’ve overall been awful when it came to responding to messages in a timely manner. It’s usually something I take great pride in but sometimes I just have to set my phone aside and really focus on the tasks that NEED to be completed that day. So if you’re one of those people I haven’t gotten back to, I’m sorry and I will be getting back to you tonight!

April 5, 2019

Today was a lot like yesterday in the sense that it was BUSY. More busy than usual. Between meetings, organizing for the pop up shop and more, I didn’t have time to even work on the all star event today. I’m not saying that I mind too much, because everything that’s kept me busy today has been important, but man it would have been nice to actually get to sit at my desk and work.

Business has also really picked up this week as well and April is already shaping up to be a really good month for us. This makes me especially happy because building this all star event will put a slight strain on us financially. Again I’m not complaining because I am absolutely certain that it will be worth it. This event is about giving the community and its athletes something that they absolutely deserve. There isn’t much that I wouldn’t be willing to do to make sure it gets done the right way. I’m excited for tomorrow as well because local basketball club, Above The Rest, has invited me to come in and run a camp for them this weekend and the next. I’m really looking forward to working with their players. I’m going to make sure they learn and improve as much as possible. Talk tomorrow!

April 6, 2019

Had an amazing time running the basketball camp today. I definitely feel like I helped all of the players to improve today and that’s a really good feeling. I’m looking forward to doing the same tomorrow. Today I also spoke to my uncle (who is also my mentor) about the week I had. It wasn’t until I gave him the full recap that I realized how well things are actually going. I think I mentioned this in an earlier blog post but I really do get so caught up in the day to day grind that I don’t realize how fortunate I am that things are progressing the way that they are. Every day has it’s own challenges and obstacles and I get so focused on those that I don’t often take the time to appreciate how far things have come.

One of the things that my uncle pointed out to me is how significant having the newspaper recognize me actually is. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really think too much of it when I was asked to participate in the interview. Not that I wasn’t thankful (I’m thankful for every form of recognition and support we get), it’s just that I didn’t actually take a moment to analyze what this really represented and meant. Another thing that happened this week that I didn’t truly recognize at the moment was how significant of a deal it was that someone agreed to sponsor (and a very generously sponsor) our upcoming event. Them having that much faith in us really shows how significant we have become in the community here. For them to trust us with putting their money to good use really demonstrates how much respect we have earned. Between those two things alone, it is obvious to see how well respected Elevate Athletic Development has become. I don’t like to brag but I guess we really should be proud of ourselves. But now that I’ve taken a second to appreciate the progress we’ve made, it’s right back to focusing on the next thing now. I can’t help it. I’m always trying figuring out the next 10 steps and I always feel uneasy when I don’t have those next 10 steps planned out. It’s a blessing and a curse really. I’m never satisfied but that just means that I’ll always be hungry to do bigger and better things. But for now, let’s just focus on how I can deliver the best experience possible to these campers tomorrow.

Peace! Austin Chambers

Founder & CEO