SMITH, the online magazine I started in January 2006, is powered by stories, so I’ll start with one here. One of our most successful ideas has been the six-word memoir project. The concept is simple: Tell us your life story in six words. However, it can be challenging to distill a life with such brevity. When we launched six-word memoirs, we published some examples on the site. I quickly wrote one for myself: “Big hair, big heart, big hurry.”

The hair is genetic (and often unruly), but the other four words accurately describe my personality, a worldview and way of being that burns itself into SMITH Magazine. I can even distill my personality further, all the way down to one word: infectious. I bring a passion to SMITH’s mission—our belief that everyone has a story and everyone should have a place to tell it—that is unwavering and infectious. I spread my love of what I do fast and furiously. I don’t know how to do it any other way. SMITH and so many other media outlets are fighting to capture the attention of an audience with many choices and much to do. When I infuse this audience with the infectious spirit that lifts me up and fuels SMITH Magazine, I know I have won over new readers—new “SMITHS” so to speak.

Read On

Last mother’s day, we screwed up. Big time.

We had these brand new customizable photo bags we were gonna put up for sale. They looked beautiful, and you could upload any photo to have it baked into the fabric with heat. High quality finish, for $100+. It was perfect for moms, so we scrambled to get it up fast so our customers could order them for Mother’s day delivery (the bags take a couple weeks to create.)

We stayed up all night, but we got it done. And aside from a few early glitches, it worked! The orders came in, and people started writing in to tell us how excited they were to be getting a custom bag. It went on like this for a couple weeks before we found out. Almost a third of our orders had never gone into manufacturing. A technical glitch had prevented us from seeing them, and with a week left until M-Day, it was impossible to get to deliver on our customers’ promises. We were about to have a bunch of very angry customers (and moms!) on our hands. I didn’t know what to do.

Read On