July 2020 marks the 15th anniversary of Third Sun, and of course, this is not quite how we envisioned the year would go. We had plans to celebrate with a party as we have for our 5-year and 10-year anniversaries, bringing together our clients, friends, and family who have made this milestone possible. We aren’t giving up seeing you all in person again for a Sweet 16 Party in 2021!
Third Sun's original logo in 2005
You don’t set out to be in business for 15 years — most of us don’t set out to do anything continuously for 15 years. You hope for one year, pray for three, maybe you’ll survive to five, then stretch to 10; knowing the odds, in some ways it feels greedy to get to 15. And it happens day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. There are highs and lows, wins and defeats, small mistakes and even a few big ones along the way. There are times that you have to grind it out like a grueling competition, and then there are times of absolute joy and a sense of accomplishment that make the effort and commitment worthwhile. The process requires learning and evolving, and yet also holding on to what makes you unique.
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have opportunities to stretch and to discover our sweet spots, and all while weathering the challenges and uncertainties that the world brings daily — recessions, pandemics, earthquakes, social unrest and progress, not to mention the personal challenges of family, relationships, transitions, and human shortcomings. But we’ve grown up as people and professionals through these years. Every opportunity has added to our experience and abilities, expanding our community and allowing us to build our current Third Sun team that genuinely cares about making the world a better place.
We Love Utah Ad from 2010
We owe gratitude to everyone who has worked with Third Sun over the years, from trusted contractors and former employees and interns to colleagues and friends who cheered on our success and gave us comfort during failures. All have contributed in some way to what we’ve accomplished and how we are known in SLC and beyond.
And what have we accomplished? In our earliest days, we prided ourselves on “e-solutions made simple” and strived to find ways that our clients could be successful in managing their digital needs, which included being interpreters between technical jargon and real-world needs. For that reason, that early tagline was always too narrowly focused, implying that we were techies instead of what we are and have become — creative thinkers and problem-solvers with a side of bleeding-heart optimism thrown in.
Enewsletter banner from 2012
What we’ve always cared about most were people and our community, and what we’ve done best — though certainly sometimes imperfectly — is to coach and empower clients to make good decisions around their communication and messaging, along the way supporting their brands and their efforts to thrive and demonstrate their impact beyond a website, a social media post, or an e-newsletter.
Ultimately, what has kept us going is our clients — many that we’ve worked with through many years and multiple projects — who we are fortunate to be associated with who bring energy and passion to make the world a better place, one way or another. From family-owned businesses to large nonprofits, our clients spread good and wealth in many ways, and our affiliation with people we can believe in will continue to be the driving force behind Third Sun as we look forward to more years to evolve and grow.