A Dream Realized
Written by Neighbor Editorial Team | @neighboroutdoor | Opens in a new window. |
Reflecting on 2021 with Neighbor co-founder and CEO, Nick Arambula.
A little over a year ago my co-founders Mike, Chris and I quit our jobs and put the wheels in motion to launch Neighbor. It often feels like a blur, but we’ve grown a lot over the past year, and it’s hard not to feel anything but grateful for the ride. To all the customers that allowed us to help them build their living room outdoors, the vendors we’ve worked with through delays and challenges, and the team we’ve built along the way: thank you. We really have so much to look forward to.
Looking back now, I think each of us had different expectations for what to expect in 2021. The world around us still felt very uncertain, and even though we were proud of the successes we’d had in 2020, we weren’t sure what kind of challenges a new year would bring. To all of our surprise, we met our budget for the month just five days into the new year. By the end of January, we were nearing our budget for all of Q1. I’ll never forget how excited we all were, and how we felt we owed so much to everyone who loved our designs, took a chance, and became a customer.
That sentiment was something that drove us the entire year. Despite many challenges with freight delays, supply chain disruptions, and manufacturing shutdowns, we did our best to meet customer demand and provide the best service possible. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t fall short at times. There were days our communication could have been better or times we wished we could have delivered (quite literally) on our customer’s expectations. In that way, we’re continuing to learn and improve as time goes on. Hopefully, through it all, you can see our heart and soul in our products and the way in which we stand behind them. For me, whenever I was chatting with a customer and they’d ask, “Is this really Nick?”, I was proud to say it was, and those conversations remain as some of my fondest memories from our early days.
It’s not lost on us that what we’ve been able to do in our short history has been made possible by our customers. Thank you to all of you that joined our growing family; we hope our furniture has helped you build some wonderful memories with those you love. We also owe thanks to the talented team members that joined us in 2021. In April, Jenn and Dee joined our team, in August, Alysia, and Colin; finally, Allie and Aaron in October. Our humble team of three has grown to nine. Adding some of the greatest people I’ve worked with to our team has been a highlight of this year. We have inside jokes, we listen to the same songs too much, and we try and meditate. We’re all insanely excited to show you some of the things we’re working on. We have big plans for next year and the years to come. Much like our furniture, we’re in this for the long haul, and we hope you’ll continue to be a part of it.
Thank you again to all that have contributed to helping us grow this year. The future is bright.
With gratitude,
Nick, Chris, and Mike.
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