Sometimes I wonder how time seems to go so fast. How’s the summer almost over? Is my daughter really about to turn three years old? Have I been working with OCG for seven years? How’s it possible that I have thirteen years of insurance-related experience?

I have a Great Dane. His name is Sargent Benjamin Crush Bennett. When I got him, he was a 35 lb. goofball who could barely walk five steps without tripping over his lanky legs. He is now a whopping 180 lbs. and yet, I never noticed him getting any bigger. It’s difficult to gauge those small daily changes. Everyone with children understands that. From the second week of your children’s lives onward, you look at them and wonder, “When did you get so big?”

I imagine those feelings come to small business owners, too. They spend most of their time putting out fires and learning how to wear all the hats they’re required to. The day-to-day tasks seem daunting, and there are moments where they wonder if it was the right choice. But there will be those times when you take a step back and say, “I did it. When did this become so rewarding?“

Slow and steady growth is not easy for humans to detect, but it’s easy to look back after a while and notice the changes. If you asked me ten years ago if I thought I’d work in the marketing and brand-management field, I’d say it was unlikely. I have a finance degree and had been working in sales for years. I thought I knew what my path was going to be. But my career change in the summer of 2011 set my path on a different, yet more suitable trail.

While Andy Foote may have a different opinion, I enjoy the reminder LinkedIn provides me every year around my work anniversary. I like to take a moment to look back on the past several years, so I can remember how much change and growth has happened. The strides I’ve made over the last seven years may have been slow, steady, and even unnoticed in the moment, but now I think to myself, “Who are you? When did you get so big?”