Amy Swift Crosby

You are not for everyone, even if you think you are.
Your customers aren’t all women between the ages of 28 and 42. They’re just not.
Your pricing should be consistent, based on experience, and for certain circumstances, (gasp!) negotiable.
But some things aren’t negotiable, and you should know what they are.

So often we don’t get what we want or what we were expecting because we haven’t been clear.
Sometimes we lack confidence (but don’t want to admit it, even to ourselves.)
Sometimes we don’t know better (and don’t want to admit that either.)
Sometimes our rules, boundaries, pricing, messages, target audience…want to be all things to all people.
Our intentions are good, but not filtered.

I love this sign because it doesn’t mince words.
Could we be clearer in what we say – and what we mean?
Probably.

Might get more of what we want (or at least what we need.)

We mean business. Do you?

The difference between working with you (a small business owner, talent, hired gun, solopreneur) is that you can move quickly and make decisions without committee. Many of the clients I write for and do brand strategy with cannot. They are heavier organisms – not light on their feet – what I do for them takes months to ultimately roll out into the world because they are multi-million dollar small businesses, or corporations. This is why I love working with you, who tend to be agile and ready to respond to information that moves your needle. I see change in what you do, and you see a change in your visibility, numbers, progress. It’s exciting. You can hustle.

Thanks for the love, you’re probably thinking, but so what? Well….I just finished three monster projects that had my schedule at capacity, but want to invite a few of you who need some spot consulting to reach out and book time. I’m here and ready to help for the next few weeks if you need it! Write me directly and tell me what you need. Let’s see what we can do in a big way before the end of 2015. Another option is to put a small group together of fellow business owners and set up some group privates, which is somewhat like FlashGroups and allows me / us to work on individual challenges for the benefit of the group. I don’t recommend more than six for this model. I will also be in Los Angeles the week of November 9th and will be setting up office hours if you’d rather do it in person.

Some nice changes are coming down the pike at SMARTY – can’t wait to share them with you!

I was recently tasked with interviewing Drew and Jonathan Scott – of HGTV’s Property Brothers fame – at a World Market store opening. I’ve probably interviewed in the hundreds of people at this point – whether for SMARTY panels or profiles in magazines – and there is one thing that continually distinguishes people. It’s professionalism. These brothers could have shown up to a suburban mall, in the middle of kind-of-nowhere – and phoned it all in. Sure there were hundreds of fans waiting in line to see them, and media crews everywhere, but let’s be real – it’s a job for them, on a Sunday, when they could be watching football or doing whatever they do on weekends.  Yet they brought their game. And they were on time. They were tight. They were funny. They were focused. They promoted the store perfectly. They gave soundbites. They joked with one another – even though those are probably reusable jokes – they brought it. They made my job so easy I barely felt like I worked. But that’s what professionalism is. It’s not only showing up on time with your hair brushed and a copy of the agenda, it’s knowing what you need to deliver in order for people to be happy. Some people get that and some people don’t. It doesn’t matter how small the client or how small the job. It all matters. Yes it matters to your client or fans or audience, who might actually tell you if you suck (or they might not which could be even worse), but it matters mostly because the more you do everything with your everything, the better that everything gets. It’s habitual.

Let’s not ever get in the habit of a B game. It’s not sexy, it’s not where legacy and impact live, and when given the choice, wouldn’t you rather know yourself – like that?