Our second annual Healthy Active You fitness challenge has just ended, and, like last year, it was another huge success. I’ve heard so many great stories of positive changes our team members have made that I’m going to spend the whole week sharing them with you!

Our first fitness champion is Lindsay.

Back in 2009, Baudville decided it was time to re-invent itself. We hired a consulting firm who redesigned our logo, our color scheme, the look and feel of our marketing materials, and the tone of our messaging. As I write this, I feel like I’m revealing the man behind the curtain; but, hey, we’re all business people here and we know that this is what happens in the corporate world. Meijer did it. JCPenney did it. We did it.

At Baudville, we talk a lot about teamwork, and we help businesses promote it through our more than 20 teamwork-related themes. Being the person who writes many of these sentiments, I have to admit that, at times, I view it so much as a philosophy that I forget what it means to actually experience it in the physical form. Cooperation, unity, collaboration, and synergy are all words we toss around; but what do they really mean?

Well, last Friday I had the privilege of witnessing and participating in the very definition of these words. The project was organized and funded by a non-profit called KaBoom, and benefitted D.A. Blodgett’s St. John’s Home—a local agency that provides a wealth of support services and resources to children and families in need in our community.

It was amazing.

We’re more than half way through our company-wide fitness challenge, and I have to say, I’ve definitely learned a few important things over the past six-plus weeks. I thought I’d share, so here they are: my High Five for Friday! 

1. There’s strength in numbers. During the summer months, there are tons of fitness events going on around West Michigan. Races, triathlons, charity walks—so many ways to step up our game! But what fun is a 5K anything if you’re all by yourself? This year, many of us have encouraged our peers to join us in our endeavors, and it has paid off with friendships made, goals achieved, and maybe even a few pounds lost.



Those who know me will not be surprised at all by this story. Crazy things happen to me all the time. Last week I was definitely ripe for some sort of debacle, as I’d been sailing fairly calm seas since I single-handedly demolished our garage door back in March.

It started during a toasty-warm lunch hour, when I headed out to pay my mortgage, with my check and payment stubs on my passenger seat filled out and ready to go. About halfway to the bank, I opened my sunroof to soak up some rays. And, then, when it got a little too hot, I lowered my window. This immediately created a tornado effect and all of the papers on my seat began to dance and flutter. I quickly sprang to close the window, but not before the check I had neatly endorsed was whisked through the open space. All I could do was watch through the rearview mirror as it made its hasty escape.