'What do you do?'The first time we dated, Tamara asked me, ‘So you are supposed to be the UKs number one copywriter?’(that's us above)

I replied, ‘no idea, I never said that I’m just doing my own thing’, and then smiled.

18 months later, living together today she told me, ‘it took me around 6 months to actually understand what it is you do’.

‘Really?’ I asked.

‘Yes’ she replied in her typical, smiling deep Georgian tone and then changed the subject like she always does.

I thought about this for a second whilst sitting by our lake, listening to the birds and watching the squirrels and then said, ‘before go somewhere mentally can you tell me what it is I actually do?’

‘You turnaround and breakthrough businesses using whatever it takes baby’, she smiled, leaned forward, kissed me on the cheek and stroked my face.

Of course I felt nice to hear those things but now I’m back in my creative space I’m sat here thinking about this.

If it took Tamara 6 months of living with me 24 hours a day to find out what I actually do am I clear enough with all of my clients and prospective clients what I actually do?

She thought I was a copywriter. I write copy but it’s a fraction of what I do!

Tamara has seen clients coming and going here since we moved into the Lodge on the farm.

Children’s premium nursery owners. Concrete suppliers. Finland’s biggest online betting website owners. Hair salon owners. Trading investors Property investors Carpet shop owners University students Builders Internet Entrepreneurs Dentists Cage fighters (scary Artists

There is more but the point being here’s is why they come to see me?

The three questions I ask all of my clients are this.

Where have you been in your life so far (history)? The reason I like to know this is the history of a person can stop a person moving forward at any level. I talk about this in my book Escape from Zoomanity on a very subtle form of conditioning that is silently inherited through generations of family. I have seen many business people that could be incredible business people being stopped dead in their tracks because of this one thing.

Once aware, once it is talked about openly a shift in mind, perception and business acumen can take place. This is where some of my biggest client breakthroughs are. If this is missed all the rest of the work we do on the day can be a fruitless exercise.

Where are you right now? For some this can be painful to be honest about yet if client are not honest about this they won’t move in any direction. Denial is a killer of a lot of business. Once in denial of current circumstances the chances of moving forward are very limited. So we talk about the reality of where we are right now so we can grow from there. This sometimes means talking about what some of my clients see as a failure, no real business, no real anything just a relentless struggle of trying the same old stuff and hoping at some point something will work!

This is another crucial part of the fix it puzzle. You see if some clients play the game of ‘it’s all going really well’ they never move forward. The reason is very simple it then becomes a game where they continually have to play hide and seek with me. That takes mental effort and a good memory to remember the last things they said.

Where do you want to be? This is the bit where my armory of 27 years in business really comes into it’s own. The crazy thing is I have clients that come to me with struggling business they love, adore, cherish and really want to work. There are times when they leave they understood that leaving the old ideas behind and moving into the new ideas is more beneficial and more profitable. The new ideas are usually the very last thing they think about. After we meet it’s the only thing they think about. I had one client that paid for two days with me. He had numerous business and wanted to know about one in particular. He had spent over £60,000 in this start-up. After the two days he came to the conclusion that no more investment was required it would simply stop and close there and then. Like gangrene the mental rot had begun to spread into his thinking to the point it had begun to destroy his other businesses.

The result was he had more time for himself and his family, more cash to invest in his flourishing businesses, more focus to get bigger, better results.

This is the point where we go into tactics, strategies, tools required, things to learn, things to use, leverage and just about anything else that is needed to turnaround and breakthrough business and if that means I am the copywriter on this project … I am the copywriter.

So this made me think and I hope it allows you to know a little more about what I do as part of my business. At least now the next time my partner Tamara asks what I do I can send her to this page.

IF … You need a turnaround expert or breakthrough business consultant just ask. I travel and will come to you. I have traveled to Australia just to consult. You can also come to my own private place of creation where you’ll be looked after.

I can work with you for an hour, a day, a week or even on a monthly residual if that’s what you feel you might need.

One client recently flew to meet me from Finland. We discussed envelope design and a single sheet A4 letter layout. He wanted it perfect as they mail out to 2.5 million prospects. The envelope is the difference between success and failure.

A hair salon owner traveled to down here to rescue her salon business. It was failing to the point the taxman wanted her closed. In four weeks I increased her salon by 54%. In 12 months by 116%. She came here, I flew there to go through her business with a fine tooth comb.

Do you need help to…

Grow? Breakthrough? Turnaround? Expand? Survive?

Or

Tactics, strategies, tools, systems, marketing, mindsets, teams, clients or more. All you have to do is ask me. All the very best. Alan Forrest Smith