I’ve told you guys a lot about Ashley – about how awesome she is, and how excited I am to have her on the team. What I haven’t done is show you her heart. Ashley wrote today’s blog (with very little prompting from me), and I’m in love.
Photo by Nikki Santerre Photography
I have a confession to make: I do not understand all of the ins and outs of marketing. There, I said it! Sometimes when Misty is talking, I smile and nod (mostly just the nodding since she can’t see me anyway because we’re on the phone or texting). You see, she’s the brains behind this operation. It was about this time last year that Misty came to me with this idea. She wanted to start her own business and do for others what she was already doing on a smaller scale. She wanted to be her own boss and spend more time with her girls and she wanted to know if I would be a part of her venture. Her excitement was a fire that I knew I couldn’t extinguish even if I wanted to. But I didn’t want to because I knew she was right. She was finally doing what I and those in her life had been telling her to do for years. You see, Misty was born to be a leader.
Until this year I’ve spent the past 8 years in education. I was a teacher of little ones and then a director. I often had conversations with parents concerned that their children were followers, too shy, or easily influenced. I always told them it’s true that in life there are leaders and followers. And society has all but conditioned us to believe that you need to be a leader in order to succeed in life. Leaders make more money; leaders get farther in business, and leaders get things done. But it’s important to have both. Without followers we’re just a bunch of leaders bossing each other around with nothing actually getting done. The important thing is who we decide to follow. I am a follower.
You see I don’t have that talent that some of Misty’s clients have. I’m not incredible photographers and videographers like Fowler Studios. I don’t have that feminine, lovely style that Heart’s Content Events and Design has. And I certainly don’t have the business sense and drive to produce a product like Willow & Everett. I wasn’t blessed with an artistic talent, something to market, a service to provide. Instead, I was given the ability to support those who do; to help them in their venture, to make others see them for the talented people they are, to follow them as they cultivate this passion through, to be cliche, their blood, sweat, and tears.
And while on the surface Misty Saves the Day’s goal is to make your company more marketable, help build your brand and followers, lead you to be an even more successful business, the ultimate goal of this business that Misty has spent an ungodly amount of hours nursing to fruition is to follow you as you unveil your passions; to be that support, that calming presence that says, “Unload what you can onto me. I’ll take it from here. Focus on your craft. Focus on being a leader in your field.”
I’m lucky to have Ashley. Her work is incredible. She sells herself short above. She has a degree, she studied creative writing, and she knows how to appeal to the heart. Isn’t that the real catch to marketing? Ashley is wonderful at her job, easy to teach, and I’m so lucky to have a friend like her in my corner. I’ve been told before that no one will ever care about your business as much as you. That’s true. But Ashley comes closer than anyone I’ve ever met.
PLEASE COMMENT BELOW