Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4 months during the Covid-19 pandemic, things have been pretty dismal across the board (although, who knows – maybe living under a rock is dismal too). Things are scary for business owners and employees alike, and with how much things change day-to-day, it can make looking to the future very difficult.

But we sat down with 5 members of the hygge fam to ask them to do exactly that: imagine what you might accomplish one day. What is your greatest hope? There were no rules – these could have been personal or professional goals, things they hoped for the world, for others or for themselves.

The goal was to find some hope in the uncertainty of now, and we weren’t disappointed. We are consistently in awe of our members and their ability to face the toughest of challenge with a smile – even if you can’t quite see it under their masks. Below you’ll find their responses and a little bit more info about what they do.

Cheers to hope, Charlotte. May we always find it, even during the darkest days.

Nathan James – President of Boardroom Socks

“One day I really hope that our business is large and successful enough that we can bring on a handful of additional full time employees and have an even greater impact in our community. We’re all about supporting local: local people, local companies, local jobs, local manufacturing. A lot of that is done with contracted partnerships at this point, but I’d like to get to a point where the company is big enough and we can start to bring on some people full time.”

Ten years ago when he was only 18, Nathan James thought his parents were absolutely crazy for starting a sock business out of their home attic. But here he is, president of the company and working for them full-time, and maybe eating a little crow.

The pandemic has affected a lot of small businesses, and Boardroom Socks is no exception. Because their local manufacturing facility had to shut down for several weeks, they won’t be able to expand offerings like they hoped this year and instead will focus on catching up on orders. But, to celebrate 10 years in the biz, Nathan says they’ll be releasing a line of no-show socks – their first venture into casual sock wear.

“Everything we’ve done in the past is more formal, a little more professional with dress socks. This is going to be our first push into something that’s more casual. We’re excited too because our business is seasonal with cooler weather, and we’re hoping these no show socks on our ten year anniversary can counterbalance some of the seasonality of our business.”

Najm Loyd – Creative Director of Loyd Visuals

“One day I wish the world would have a sense of peace – that we’d able to connect on all different levels and are able to understand each other no matter what background we have. That we have that respect level for every individual.”

Loyd Visuals is a creative videography company run by three brothers: Najm, Khaleel, and Maleek (who you’ll get to meet below). Since the beginning Najm has been responsible for pretty much the entire creative direction of the company, including social media, web content and helping come up with the creative direction of some of the video shoots.

He’s been doing this remotely in Philadelphia until August last year when he moved down to work with his brothers full time. “It was always a goal of mine to connect with my brothers full time. I was in a different career path after college but I’m very glad I made the move and am in a better space now just career wise, personal life wise, the whole nine.”

Dustin Teander – Application and Relationship Manager for FIS

“I’m really passionate about building products for people. What I do is I help design applications for people. My kind of hope is to one day see people create apps and have it be just as easy as posting a picture online. Really, make it very accessible for your every day person to get their idea off the ground. There shouldn’t be a huge barrier for you. You shouldn’t feel like “Oh I can’t do this,” because of that barrier or the cost factor.”

Dustin is one of our newer hygge fam members – he joined just a month or two before this whole Covid business really hit the U.S. in earnest. Originally from Charlotte, he moved back to the area after living in Little Rock where his company is based to be near his family and friends. In his job, he’s often the go between for the company’s clients and their software team. Working with people in a relational aspect is something Dustin loves about his job. We can totally see why he’d want to make the whole process easier and more accessible for others.

Maleek Loyd – Cinematographer and Editor of Loyd Visuals

“One day I would like to provide for my family and create generational wealth with my brothers.”

We especially love Maleek’s response to our “one day” question because it’s really the reason Loyd Visuals was created in the first place. His big brother Khaleel first founded the business after a few years in a corporate environment because he could see how talented Maleek was with a camera – and boy was he right. He established the company so that when Maleek graduated from college, he could go to immediately working for himself and not have to work in a corporate job for a few years first.

Their other brother, Najm, has been along for the ride since the beginning as well (just scroll back a bit to learn more about him). The three brothers create some of the most visually moving stuff we’ve seen in a while, and we love having them in the fam. Maleek put it pretty simply when we talked to him: “Creative stuff is what I do.”

Logan Shinholser – Founder of FullSail Marketing/Contractor Growth Network

“One day I’d like to feel like I’m more impactful in the community here. Right now I’m pretty tunnel visioned about what we’re doing with the business and stuff because I realize when you build stuff, that creates other opportunities. I’m trying to find the right time to jump in. My three year vision is to become more involved in lower education here. To me a lot of problems can be solved through education and after school programs, so that would be my big “one day” to get more involved in resources and time in that area.”

Logan founded his marketing firm three years ago because he has a passion for helping contractors grow their business – after all, it’s what he grew up with. He got his start running the digital marketing for his father, a contractor himself. He previously lived in San Francisco but moved here to be near his girlfriend and grow his company in a less expensive city.

He operates his business out of our hygge camp north end location and says its the perfect spot because he loves to see growth – both in his clients, in his company and in the city he now calls home.

“I love seeing Charlotte start to find its own culture and rhythm and everything. And maybe it’s always been there and I just haven’t seen it in the past couple of years but it seems like it’s really starting come out in full force now. And being in Camp North End, it’s like everything is starting to open up now. You see that growth, and as a business owner, that’s the whole game.”