Big Brands

Got A Handle?

June 11, 2015 · By Amy Swift Crosby

I once visited a therapist who had two doors to her office – one that got you into the foyer, and the next that led to her inner private office. The first one had two handles and acted like a normal door. The second only had a handle on one side – her side. So you couldn’t open it from the outside (just in case you went insane from waiting while another client wiped away the tears/rage/frustration/radical truth of her session). I always saw this as an interesting metaphor.

So many times with our business we have that outer door with two handles locked down in the form of beautiful business cards, a well functioning website, great people skills, and clients who love us. But what’s missing is something really clear for our customers to buy.

If your services or offerings feel like a smorgasbord, it’s just too hard to get “in” to your business. There’s no handle. The door feels un-openable because it’s all too confusing, overwhelming, unclear, and ambiguous. So customers leave, and they’re never quite sure why. Yes it’s literal when it comes to a real door, but in a business, it just feels like something that seemed like a good idea – and then never happened.

Stand for something – it doesn’t have to be everything. Commit to highlighting it. You’ll feel a bit like “but what about this? And that? And I also do this!” Just calm down. They need to find a handle to get in and walk through the door – because if they don’t – they’ll never find the treasures of your company, services, or products in the first place.

Amy

Earned Wisdom

May 30, 2015 · By Amy Swift Crosby

Oh the sweet power of earned wisdom. Most of us are so busy IN the day-to-day of our business, with little if any time to advise up-and-comers or intel-seekers, to even realize how smart we’ve become. But sit across the table from someone who wants to be you someday, and you quickly realize how far you’ve traveled. It’s a uniquely satisfying feeling, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

One of our biggest messages is one that will become even clearer in the coming months, and that is the power of collective intelligence. One of the reasons SMARTY even exists is to pool information in a structured yet organic way, so that each of us benefits from the others experience. There isn’t one of us who has the time to dig as deeply as ideally required on a particular channel or industry to get the information we really need. So what do we do? Depend on the kindness of vetted strangers. But who are they? They are members of a like-minded community committed to growth, collaboration and real-time support. Not the kind of “sure I’ll make that introduction!” with no follow-up. Not the “let’s DEFINITELY have coffee” with no return email. The kind that looks like this — “sure I’ll send you my proposal to that company so you can see what one looks like” or “Yes I have a ton of interior designers/ personal trainers/ food stylists/ graphic designers who would love to know about this, send me the link.”

Giving — with boundaries and a genuine motivation to serve — is more fulfilling than getting. And getting, when you’re on that fortunate end, just makes you want to give more of what you have.

Ask. Thank. Do. Repeat. It’s a great cycle if you can get in on it.

Amy

The Whole ‘Have It All’ Thing.Â

May 26, 2015 · By Amy Swift Crosby

We all know the old conversation – the “how to have it all” question. It’s been at every women’s conference for the past 30 years. Of course it reinvents itself all the time with new books about happiness or leaning in, but the conversation among women has long surpassed how to “have it all”. Mostly because “all” needs to be redefined. Now, it’s much more about how can I make what I have, matter the most. To do this we ask the everyday questions; how can work be interesting, efficient, impactful- – forward-moving? How do I spend time with my child in the most stimulating, meaningful, and truthful way? How do I not just pass my partner in the hallway or ask him to pass the salt. How do I wake-up to what’s right there — to what IS in my universe? How can driving to soccer practice, a phone call with a client, a playdate, a meeting that may feel just a little too far away, feel amazingly GOOD? How to find presence in the quotidian? How to find the awe?

There’s science on this, which is kind of a relief because I think we’d all like some reassurance that “all” is whatever you have right now. And if whatever you have right now is everything, then how do you touch, feel, taste and absorb all of your everything?

So thrilled to host author and filmmaker Betsy Chasse in LA June 1st! #theresabetterway.

The Dip vs. The Dive

May 26, 2015 · By Amy Swift Crosby

The Dip, which Seth Godin coined, is that momentary “low” of despair. It is the cyclical point in a relationship, business, or season that makes you question, reflect, scratch your head and ask if there’s a good reason to go on doing it. There usually is. The Dive is something else, something I use in my own life to distinguish from The Dip. The Dive is just how it sounds – a jump, head first, where there’s no turning back. The Dive is that moment in a relationship when you realize you’ve already walked out, even though your physical body is still there. Or, when a business owner becomes ‘done’ for whatever reason. She wants out and there is no argument that could change her mind.

An old friend of mine in New York, the yogi author, teacher, speaker and thought leader Elena Brower, recently closed her Manhattan studio. Why? Email.

Certainly it was more than the administrative mud of too many emails, but that about says it all. She was simply tired of the business of having a brick and mortar business. We all get that, whether we traffic in bricks or clicks. The exhaustion of running something can takes its toll and it’s okay to shut it down, even when it’s healthy.

There is this overriding mantra in our minds that we have to build it, grow it, sell it – but you don’t. You are allowed to walk away because your life mission changes, and the business no longer fist in. But first, before you do anything drastic, make sure you’re not just in a “dip”. Here’s how you tell:

1. Over and over, the back end feels overwhelmingly out of sync with the joy on the front end.

2. There’s something else (personal or professional) that continues to knock on the door of your mind – and won’t let go.

3. You can make up the income readily through another channel.

I’m all for diving. And if you do, make it a clean, beautiful, strong dive. No apologies. You’ll come up out of the water having done it with sincerity, integrity and strength, and there’s a lot of enviable entrepreneurial DNA in that.

Amy

The Power of Disengagement

May 9, 2015 · By Amy Swift Crosby

Full engagement looks a little something like this:

Working side by side with your business partner, husband, staff, assistant- for months on end with little to no breaks. You work diligently on a proposal, then a project, then a wrap up- all at full speed with no stops. You write, blog, post, measure, create — for weeks and months — and then repeat. And yet again, not too many pauses. This represents all of our stories- or all of us who work hard at being great at something.

When you’re in full throttle engagement, sh!t gets done. Things move. The pieces come together and do what they’re meant to. But when engagement has no end in sight, it’s like holding a bridge pose in yoga for an indefinite length of time- with a teacher talking on her cell phone outside the room. In other words there’s no horizon- you can’t measure output because you don’t know how to manage it in service of an end point. We love when there’s someone holding the “end” for all of us — so no one has to wonder.

There is a lot of power in engagement, but there is also a lot of power in disengagement- like a vacation. I took one recently and had several epiphanies I’m normally too busy to acknowledge or explore. What’s even better was that I wasn’t busy making notes about how to make this place better, which I’m often plagued with at restaurants, on airplanes, in meetings, etc. The Auberge Resort experience took me out of my day-to-day mind. It was transportive. That counts for something when your life is big, with lots of moving parts.

Have you disengaged lately? I recommend it — not only because it’s fun and makes life interesting, but because it’s good for business, too.

Amy

It’s good to be loved…

March 10, 2015 · By Amy Swift Crosby

As any business owner knows, it’s always nice to be recognized for what you’re doing in the world. Laura Dunn is a blogger who writes for the Huffington Post – currently doing a series of profiles on amazing women in business. Her articles include Q&A and features on great women to watch and learn from {and of course support too}.