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SMARTY.

The human side of business

Big Life

Solving Obvious.

April 27, 2016 · By Amy Swift Crosby

After her own birth crisis, Christy Turlington Burns knew that hemorrhaging was treatable for some mother’s with healthcare access, but fatal to those without care. Every Mother Counts targets an obvious problem - one region at a time. Image from everymothercounts.org

It’s easy to think that all the “good” problems have been solved. With thousands of apps populating our universe, many of us lean toward a feeling of apathy. With a market saturated with solutions, it can feel like everything interesting has already been designed, launched and “solved.” But there are so many problems – obvious ones – that have yet to see the light of a solution. Some of them are global. Some of them are local. World peace feels too pie in the sky, while local trash pick up feels adorable, but not very potent on the impact scale.

Yet we all want to do something. So what if we approached problem-solving (and business creating) from a more obvious point of view? What if we said: What’s close to me (in passion or proximity) that I can affect? What’s in my immediate world? What group of people – big or small – need me or what I know?

Not everything has to be a business. And not everything has to be a volunteer project. But it would be nice to know that at the end of our lives (not to be morbid), we left it all on the field. We wrung ourselves out with giving our gifts, and bettering other people’s lives. Within this benevolence there are needed boundaries and self-care – but if we spent less time thinking up dynamic, never-been-done-before ideas, and more time solving the obvious issues in our midst…healing, supportive hospital food, global access to maternal health, natural deodorants that actually work, meditation/calming resources for teens…to name a few out of thousands. We could make change we can see and feel.

Remember that some things are NOT obvious to other people – but once you know them, you can’t ignore them.

First step? Open your eyes. Someone needs you.

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About Me

photo of Amy Swift Crosby

Amy Swift Crosby is a brand strategist and copywriter who has positioned or voiced messaging across the commercial spectrum, from icons like Ford, BVLGARI, Pottery Barn, Pantene and Virgin, to boutique brands like The Wild Unknown, fitness franchise Barre3 and the rebrand of legendary metaphysical bookstore, Bodhi Tree. She has leveraged this expertise to help entrepreneurial women and small businesses owners hone their skills, mission and message, while uncovering their own “voice.” This blog explores “the human side of business,” and universal themes like uncertainty, anxiety, the tension between engagement and disconnection, personal value and most importantly, of finding - and hearing - our own voices in our everyday life.

Photo - Andrew Stiles

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About

SMARTY began as a thriving community in Los Angeles and Boston with weekly panel discussions and events designed to better understand the mindset and growth strategies behind successful entrepreneurs. Today, SMARTY is a weekly blog written by Amy Swift Crosby who chronicles her life as a creative, parent, entrepreneur and spiritual seeker. As an urban refugee living in a New England seaside village, she unpacks topics ranging from uncertainty and doubt to the built environment and advertising. More on Amy.

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