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Being an entrepreneur can be incredibly fun and rewarding, but it’s important to recognize the downsides in order to find the right balance in life and find a sustainable way to move forward.  As our CEO and Co-Founder George Stroumboulis notes, frequently traveling for work can be exciting, but it’s also a grind and takes away from family time. On a recent international trip, he traveled 15 hours for just four hours of meetings. And even though he was only away for a short time, having his four-year-old daughter cry when seeing him leave and asking him not to go on the trip was heartbreaking. However, George is committed to finding a good balance and tries to incorporate his family in his work, such as by bringing his daughters to his office and even jobsites when possible, rather than only being around on the weekends. George comes from an entrepreneurial family, so he knows that starting and running a business can be a mixed bag, and it’s important to be honest about the pros and cons so as not to burnout. By sharing this story, we hope we can help other entrepreneurs struggling with the downsides of this lifestyle. Speaking honestly about these challenges can encourage the entrepreneur community to come up with better ways to counteract the negatives of this role.

In addition to growing our products in markets across the world, there are also so many great opportunities to grow right here within our home market, the US. That means that we’re often taking trips all over this huge country to meet with clients and partners, and we wanted to document some of the progress we’ve made by taking a whirlwind, five-day trip to visit 10 cities in the US where our products are installed, covering nearly 10,000 miles.  To do so, we sent our uber-talented Production guru, Kosta, across the country with a camera and coffee in hand. He started in the East Coast in New York and made his way to Baltimore, Orlando and Atlanta to film our LED lighting products, custom decorative light fixtures and quality furnishings. Then he headed west to Denver, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, to capture our custom end-to-end chandelier and LED lighting fixtures. From there, he made his way to what turned out to be a not-so-sunny Los Angeles and San Diego to check in our round glass LED fixtures, custom furnishings and LED backlit mirrors. Lastly, he headed back east to Stamford, Connecticut, to capture our dome-shaped lighting pendants. Being as focused as we are on global expansion, it was great to also take some time to review what we are doing right here in our backyard!

As we build out our international footprint, we want to make sure we’re also making a positive impact on the local communities where we operate. “Invigorate Your Community” is an initiative we started to help deliver this positive impact and influence on those around us. We gain a lot from the communities we serve, so we think it’s important to give back and invigorate those communities too.  An example of how we do this is by volunteering for causes we care about. Recently, the Ideoli team volunteered at Encore Community Services in the Times Square area of New York City, where we served over 200 hot lunches and packed 1,200 meals for seniors. Encore Community Services provides seniors with a range of caring and quality services to help them live independent and dignified lives. We look forward to invigorating more communities around the world by giving back with our time, money and other resources. Stay tuned for more updates on how we’re making a positive impact on the communities where we operate!