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SMITH VENTURES

FROM THE CEO

My name is Ashley Smith and I am the Founder and CEO of Smith Ventures, LLC.  It has taken me years to fully understand what my personal and professional missions are, and how to blend them into a culmination of effort to fulfill my dreams.  It has taken me an equal duration of time to fully understand what my individual values are and how they can be useful to more than just myself. 

I have built a legacy on serving others with successful outcomes, achieved by identifying needs and delivering profitable solutions, but that didn’t happen overnight.  My first well-paying job was in a market store on the property of a beachside hotel resort.  I worked for a woman who expected her team to know the names of the guests staying on-site, so they weren't asked their name each time they came in (that was part of the protocol).  She expected her team to remember what guests ordered, so at their next visit it could be offered prior to the guest asking for what they wanted.  This leader expected her team to know the regulars and how they took their coffee so it was ready when they arrived, because her mission was for excellence by exceeding customer expectations.  I have carried these things and many more with me throughout my entire career and they have served me well.  That woman was a person I began striving to be like, because she knew how to lead and how to drive successful growth.

So, I too have a mission for exceeding expectations, and I do that by living through my passion and purpose in life.  I put an extreme focus on knowing the people I work with and those that are my guests and partners, because I want to know the individuals that I serve.  When you know someone, you can anticipate their needs better, offer solutions to issues they may not see and further build a relationship to align the commitment between the company, team member, and partner.  ​

I believe integrity is a key characteristic for any team member and should be a core value for any company; I know it is for mine.   I love diversity because it means there are many different heads at the table collaborating on the best way to achieve a common goal.  I consider myself a pragmatic leader, a critical thinker, innovative and driven to meet any challenge head-on.  I believe that companies grow when they focus on leadership, empowerment, engagement, collaboration, innovation, and inclusion. 

My career experience has allowed me to lead and develop teams, drive new business through field development, identify and capitalize on organic and inorganic growth, understand and determine market share, value, and competition, utilize data to implement strategic decisions, track executed initiatives, assimilate organizational health through compilation of strategic and succession planning, innovate strategic partnerships and cross-industry networking, cultivate passionate work cultures, facilitate coaching modules and leadership workshops, consistently exceed expectations, and so much more.  All of this has been possible because I had the right people in place and they knew their value, and they were passionate about their work.  

I possess a strong desire to continue my legacy as an innovative leader and to further develop my untapped potential by helping others reach their best success.  As an aggressive business development leader, it is my responsibility to focus on innovative ways to promote and sustain growth, increase revenue, and secure cost savings.  These points coupled with my desire to make a difference in the community that I live in, are what sets Smith Ventures apart from all the other consulting firms around.  My company was founded on specific values that allow us to carry out our work with passion and purpose, and I want to encourage and craft that in other companies and teams, so our community will continue to flourish and thrive.

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I will end with a quote from one of Theodore Roosevelt’s speeches known as The Man in the Arena:

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."