WHEN CREATIVITY WHISPERS IN MY EAR, WHAT BECOMES IS AN EXTENSION OF YOU
That Ruby Red
that ruby red
the shoe
by the wayside
collected dust
raised it up
hung it
on a dream
pinning a beat
that ruby red
kept time
a keeper’s
secret whispers
brushed it off
polished it
lingering on
every glance
that ruby red
the holder
and barer
of exquisite things
fit snugly in
the corner
of a patient
finder’s soul
that ruby red
the shoe
waited for
the familiar
that knock
the knowing
the comfort
of you
~ sydney
7:11p
8.13.2020
If only life were as simple as picking up an old shoe and slipping it on, to find the answers to your dreams. How knowing your path would show up like a yellow brick road leading your way. To have that comfort of the familiar guiding you. Steering you clear of obstacles and setbacks, driving you like a star on a mission.
But thankfully it is not.
Instead it is a puzzle. With crisp edges falling into place, when you put the right pieces together. It is a mystery you solve along the way. There are clues, and teasers. Feelings of deja vu and gut instincts. And signs, there are myriads of signs. If only you listen and look with the eyes of a child. Fresh and new. Then and only then will you leave your mark on the road we call life.
To be aware, unjaded, open to your calling. Taking risks and following what you know. Holding on, tightly. Even when you fear the pieces of the puzzle may be too scattered to put into place. Being a receptacle for challenges, creativity, and fierce intent. And understanding how these states of mind will give you resolutions. Remaining fully cognizant of the possibility of impossibilities deceiving you.
Seeing the days of your life with impunity and clarity. Just as we do in knowing we will conquer the puzzle because we have the big picture telling us so. Building confidence in yourself in the same manner we are certain the pieces go together, allows us to construct what we know is or to become. Like the unfolding of a map.
Yet you must realize that knowing you have found your map may not be obvious. That recognizing it may only happen once you have walked enough miles and learned enough lessons. And that it is never too late to pick up the pieces and begin the journey to completing your life's purpose.
For me the image above (and on my main page), titled Red Shoes and A Trike, is my big picture. I know as well, that Ruby Red is the poem that has metaphorically been my solution. Because I knew my foot would fit in the slipper. And I knew how the story went. All I had to do was to be still with the child within. Without reservation moving the pieces to create the photograph that made the puzzle mine.
Because storytellers know how the words go together they have the ability to solve life's puzzles.
And as a storyteller, that does it well, I am always gathering evidence and uncovering keys to unlock the next steps. I use empathy and the willingness to take risks to shift the outcomes. Since I know that sound of two shapes connecting. But more so, I know what it takes to bring the pieces to that point of interlocking.
This sixth sense, of sorts, is part of the method I use to link clients to their audience. It enables me to create designs and words that represent the intended brand.
My processes reveal a broader understanding of what is needed to tie all the strings together. Creating a neat and tidy path to the finish line. That solving of your brand's puzzle.
When creativity whispers in my ear, what becomes is an extension of you. So therefore, I must get to know your outcome and big picture in order to figuratively paint what you want the world to see. Because your brand is the cohesive image that reflects you and your company.
Together we will build an extraordinary brand that tells your story and ignites your business.
WHAT WOULD A FUNERAL HOME BE LIKE WITHOUT EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE?!
Yes, that’s a rhetorical question. But it is also the greatest example of exactly how crucial customer service is to your brand.
WHERE IS THIS GOING
Your brand includes customer relations. There is no way around it. So let’s take it head on.
IN YOUR SHOES
The goal of my writing and designs is to help you leave your mark. I do that by exploring the perspective from being in the shoes of your customer. Understanding how their feelings can and will affect your entire brand. But equally my goal is to show you how going back through your life experiences can and will improve your customer service skills. Simply because for most people they have to see how the why relates to them. They have to be able to see and feel the what’s “in it for me”.
The what’s in it for me isn’t simply that people are calloused or cynical. But because what moves us, moves others. And harnessing the abilities to put yourself in your shoes will better enable you to truly comprehend those age old expressions. The expressions trainers of customer service use without ever really linking them to their students. Or elaborating on how their phone representatives need to literally put themselves in their customers shoes. We can’t just toss around some worn out phrase without diving deeper.
Never ever leave it simply at stating, “put yourself in their shoes” or “not everyone’s day may be going as yours is.”
Always remember what a person is experiencing in their life will likely dictate their reactions. And how you react to their reactions will dictate how your interaction with them goes. Hence the need to collect memories throughout your life that will enable you to be of service to others as time passes on.
Keep mental notes of the occasions that you were so touched by that they consumed your being, bad or good. Remember, as well, they way others responded to your emotions and actions. And learn from them all. Store them like books on a shelf, or entries in a journal that you will refer back to. Remember what it is like to weep and to laugh aloud. Burn into your mind the way those expressions affected those around you. Through these lessons you will understand the importance of never underestimating the powers of intuition and empathy.
There has to be a how and a why. A defining moment that opens your soul.
For me, that defining experience is the very first job I had in a customer facing position. My parents owned and operated a home for the mentally challenged and handicapped in northern Jersey. During my junior and senior years of high school I began officially working in the family business. I had various duties that ranged from office work to cooking in the kitchen. At the time, I just thought I was working for Mom and Dad.
It wasn’t until I grew older and had other customer service type jobs that I reflected back and realized where that journey truly began. I also came to understand it was that journey that helped cultivate my deep empathy, patience, and ability to relate to, communicate with, and tend to the needs of a vast range of types of people and their personalities. It taught me how to care for the less fortunate, the emotionally and mentally challenged, and those with varying temperaments. It also made me a teacher of sorts.
One of my greatest accomplishments in life, was when my sister and I taught one of the residents of the boarding home how to read and write. We were still in elementary school and our student, Elizabeth, was in her sixties or seventies. She had shared her life story with us and her desires to improve her educational level. She was very eager and attentive. Sadly she also told us that her family abandoned her, shuttling her off to state run homes and believing she wasn’t capable of reading, let alone writing. No one in the other homes she had resided saw her worth either. My sister and I did - we successfully taught her how to read and write. We saw her value and helped her achieve it.
In return she was a playful grandmotherly type, a companion, a friend, a beautiful spirit that loved my family unconditionally. Speaking of love, I vividly remember how much she adored Queen Elizabeth Lace and tea. Damn, I miss that woman.
Getting back to what brought us here.
Those formidable years prepared me for life and grief and customer service. And so my years have gone, in the service of others. From tears to humour.
And thirty years later, I’d like to help you embrace your customer relation interactions. Rather than avoid them.
A LITTLE MORE BACKSTORY
As a young adult I held positions of employment in telemarketing and hospitality. I obtained my Cosmetology License and spent a couple of years working in salons. I also dabbled in graphic arts, which was more of the direction I had wanted my life to go. But ultimately I wanted to make my living as a writer ~ the skill that makes my heart and soul sing and soar.
In the in-betweens of life, I took courses for psychology, graphic arts, web design, copywriting, and photography.
I would imagine, at this point, you are beginning to see how the writer in me needed the experiences in my life to be able to turn around and share my lessons with you.
AND HERE WE ARE
This feels like a lead in to a sit down with a cup of tea with honey and lemon under a weeping willow. So why don’t you reach out, and we can schedule an appointment to begin our journey of building your extraordinary brand. One that will captivate your audience.