STABILITY IN THE NUMBER 4: LOOKING BACK ON TERCERO SOLUTION’S FOURTH YEAR
WE’VE OFFICIALLY TURNED FOUR YEARS OLD
¡Lo hicimos! We made it past the three year mark y'all! Tercero Solutions has officially been in business for four years, reimagining, unlearning, reinventing, and creating with you all. We have been kindly reminded that this is no small feat. The unfortunate truth is that roughly 9/10 businesses fail within the first three years. We are humbled by the support that we have received thus far, and share this four year milestone with all of our clients and kin that have continuously uplifted, supported, and anchored us in our purpose.
REFLECTION - FROM SEED TO SEEDLING
Rooted in intentionality and our values of empathy, authenticity, courage, cultural competency, and collaboration, we have fostered a space for our seedling of a business to grow sustainably throughout these four years. Our value-centered approach to business can often be seen as “unconventional” to others, but it has ultimately benefited us and the people we serve. In numerology, a characteristic of the number four is that it is practical. Meaning, it is not easily swayed by the newest object, idea, or tool. This practicality mindset has shown up in our continued commitments to social and environmental justice, data sovereignty, tech equity, satiating organizations, guided by the wisdom of La Tierra Madre (Mother Earth). We are steadfast in our mission and values, influenced and held by the relationships we’ve cultivated. The traditional knowledge keepers, healers and practitioners with whom we’ve crossed paths have helped inform our approach and presence in all spaces we inhabit. Tercero Solutions remains grounded in our purpose, calling in community of like-minded, complex, mission-driven people and organizations.
CELEBRATION - SPROUTING OF THE LEAVES
Our growth as a business has not occurred in a vacuum. We are absolutely community-made and proud to be influenced by our surrounding comrades. Another beautiful characteristic of the number four is that it is loyal and dependable. These are qualities that we are always striving to exhibit as a business and collaborative partner. Our clients and community have made this sprouting into action possible. We are elated to remain in community with several BIPOC led organizations and continue our partnerships with JustBE and Restore Oakland. If you want a village, you have to be willing to be a villager. We are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to show up as a villager throughout year four. Some new collaborative highlights from this past year include the opportunity for our founder to flex her bilingual skills with two incredible Spanish-speaking clients. We also had an amazing collaboration with Making Money Movers, where our founder chatted with young adults about tech equity, digital security, and her career journey as a part of The NYC Summer Youth Employment Program. We received an invitation to conduct a three part digital security training for rural, Black, and Queer land practitioners that expanded to include BIPOC land practitioners across Turtle Island. We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that two of our current clients have been with us since our initial planting as a boutique agency. The reciprocity of loyalty and trust means more to us than can be expressed in a single blog post, but we’d like to take this time to express our immense gratitude for the chance to continue growing with you.
FORWARD-THINKING / FUTURE-FLOWERING AND RIPENING
So now what’s next? Well, as we enter into our fifth year in business, we are still manifesting goals from our last anniversary. One is to secure grants (which we have (yet) to receive) to help further strengthen our infrastructure, and have big hopes that abundance is on the way! We have been fortunate to support various small businesses within the last year and look forward to continuing that work with aligned social enterprises in year five. As we continue to expand, we aspire to offer employment opportunities and dare we say, hire our first full-time employee! Let’s expand the Tercero Solutions team!
One last cool quality about the number four is that it is service-oriented. It is said to inherently know that you need to put in time and effort in order for things to run smoothly. In Tercero’s fourth year, this has looked like many acts of service and reciprocity. Partnerships with organizations like Just BE and our relationships with our faithful clientele have watered us and enabled us to continue learning about the ways we can continue to be of service. This makes us extremely excited for the flowering of the future that is currently blooming. In year five we hope to find more ways to water our community and comrades. We plan to continue owning our mistakes, to unlearn harmful ideologies and practices, learn more effective ways of working, and most importantly, create and reimagine with you all. You know what we call all that? Growth.
