“We won’t be distracted by comparison if we’re captivated with purpose.” — Bob Goff
Welcome to 2024, friends! It feels redundant to say this each year, but it’s hard to believe it’s already time for a new year to begin. Looking back over the previous year always brings waves of sentimentality and gratefulness for all we were a part of, curiosity over what’s to come, and determination to do more or better. 2023 was truly a year of fully embracing our calling and purpose—as individuals, as a team, and as a community—even when it was a little scary or uncertain. (Isn’t that how we know we’re doing it right? 😉)
Join us as we attempt to summarize as much of 2023 as we can!
New Website Designs & Book Releases
With a project queue and waitlist bursting at the seams for another year, we were privileged to partner with many new and returning business owners and authors for new brand or website designs and new book releases. Between adding eStores or memberships to existing websites and creating gorgeous new designs, our team introduced or improved fifteen WordPress websites and three Shopify sites in 2023. Read about just a few of those here. Market Refined Publishing continued to grow last year as well, as we supported eight authors through publishing and marketing campaigns and established MRP as an independent, full-service publisher. Read about all of our recent releases here.
We were honored to support a variety of other clients through ongoing site care, hosting, social media, and marketing support last year. Every project, every person matters to us and we are so grateful to partner with all of them!
Team News and Updates
In case you hadn’t noticed, MRM and MRP got a little brand update of their own in March of last year. It was so fun to refresh our style and to tie the two “wings” of our business together in a more visual way.
Our team saw a few changes in 2023, as we added a couple of new team members and a few who were with us last year moved on to other opportunities. We’re thrilled to have Sara and Maria join us full-time and have already kept them both extremely busy with projects and client support. We also enjoyed partnering with our associates Ariel, Mara, Samantha, Karen, and Nelly many times throughout the year—these ladies are such perfect extensions of our MRM team, and we so appreciate their hearts to serve well!
We continued our new tradition of a team retreat again in October, and there just are not enough words to explain how special this time is, or how vital it is, for our all-virtual team. The opportunity to be together in-person as we plan and dream for the year to come is priceless! And it’s always filled with such fun memories of hugs, laughs, and LOTS of coffee too!
Community, Online and Off
Most definitely the largest venture for MRM in 2023 was the addition of in-person events. We partnered with Ariel and Liz, the Hungry Authors duo to host our first-ever workshop at a cozy local venue, The Drawing Room. We spent the day in sweet community and conversation with six authors-to-be to begin mapping their books. The inaugural Refined Conference took place in September, with five guest speakers and several members of our team present for the day. This event was packed with many special God-moments, loads of valuable information, intentional times for worship, and space for encouraging and fostering community. This was absolutely our greatest leap of faith since MRM’s inception—hosting a conference is no small feat—but the memories of that day still bring smiles to our faces.
We saw some shifts online this year—Twitter became X, Threads entered the scene, and industry standards for accessibility and security began to shift even more. Our MRM social media strategy shifted a bit too, as we created a more intentional weekly calendar adding mentors and reels to our weekly offerings, focusing on tips and tutorials so you can easily navigate tasks, and developing a template for newsletters so we can hold a more organic conversation with our readers. We want you to get to know us, learn more about our team and what we do, and we want you to feel comfortable asking us questions!
It’s been a year—one full of challenges, growth, and leaning in to a calling for community. We met deadlines, planned events, shared our favorite mentors with you, and set out to cultivate strong and meaningful community. We love staying connected with you—our community and chosen family, and we are always excited to celebrate your wins and share our passions through social media!
Our Heart for 2024
Our word for the year is SERVE. We’ve actually chosen this word before, but as is often the case, God has brought our business, team, and vision full circle over the last couple of years, and given us a renewed passion for serving. Our motto and driving force for 2024 is “Serve God, serve our team, and serve our people.” It’s the heart of who we are and all that we do! As we think through updates to our Mission and Vision statements, these are the truths we are focusing on:
- We exist to say “yes” when others say “no”. If God gives you a message or a mission to share, it’s our job to help you share it.
- We strive to fill in gaps left by other experts or service providers. We listen to the struggles and questions of those we serve, or those who are referred to us, and are intentional about bridging any service or support gaps we can.
- We believe firmly that we are all members of the body of Christ—there is no competition, only community, as we work together toward the ultimate goal of sharing the Gospel and reflecting His love in all we do.
We hope that every interaction you have with our team and our business affirms our heart to serve. That you always feel supported, loved, and cheered (and prayed) for. That you know beyond all doubt that your calling and your dreams are safe in our care.
One of the ways we care for our MRM community is by creating communication channels to reach out to you with bite-sized pieces of information, knowledge, and inspiration to fuel your day and support your goals. Those communication channels include our blog, our social media accounts, and our email newsletter. When you subscribe to our newsletters or follow us on social media, we hope you know you are never alone in your journey and we’ve got you! We hope you find value in all that we share with you.
In 2024, we will continue our mission to bring care and community off the screen by creatively planning in-person events, online workshops and personalized training opportunities, and honing our services to feel tailored to you and your needs. Stay tuned for announcements and updates as we put final touches on our plans! We look forward to another fantastic and exciting year!
We are so grateful you are here!
