Smile-Therapy wants to beam emails to colleges, businesses

CAMILLUS  —  Have grouchy employees in the morning? A small firm in Camillus wants to help everyone grin so you don’t have to bear it.

Smile-Therapy sends out an email at 8 a.m. every morning that’s designed to help people start their days on a positive note. The company started signing up individuals for its service in April 2008 and has now added focuses on businesses and colleges to help it grow its subscription base.

“If you’re not happy where you’re at, absenteeism goes up, turnover is huge,” says Tim Smith, founder and owner of Smile-Therapy. “Customer service suffers, and that rolls into productivity and profitability.”

For businesses, Smith believes his daily emails improve employees’ moods and inspire them to be more productive over time. Each email is built to be read in 30 seconds to a minute so that they do not take up too much time, he says.

Every day’s email follows a different theme. Monday is a giggler, or a joke. Tuesday is a shot of encouragement. Wednesdays and Thursdays bring motivational or inspirational stories. And Friday emails are based on fun — they can contain anything from a brain teaser to a money-saving tip.

Smile-Therapy also sends out an extra email on Saturday. It’s called the “Smooth Jazz Café” email and features a link to a single song.

Smith writes the emails, drawing information and ideas from his own research. For example, books he reads often contain quotes that make it into his emails, he says.

Some companies can’t or don’t want to pay for another employee benefit, Smith says. So, he suggests they pay for Smile-Therapy through their existing tuition-reimbursement training programs. As professional development, he contends his emails are better at reinforcing good working habits than going to a seminar once or twice a year.

“The reason this is so good is the frequency of it,” he says. “A little bit every day. Drip, drip, drip, drip.”

Smith started pitching Smile-Therapy to colleges about two-and-a-half years ago. He’s had some success, signing up workers at companies such as Cam’s Pizzeria and the Times Union in Albany.

Six months ago he decided to start trying to attract college students and employees at colleges. Those efforts, which are still just beginning, evolved out of conversations he had with parents who said their children weren’t getting any positive information from social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter, Smith says.

Smile-Therapy isn’t pursuing college students solely through their parents, however. The company is looking to strike a deal with a college that will have it send its daily email to all freshmen.

“When you go from high school to college, you don’t know anybody,” Smith says. “The pressure’s on. It’s a pretty stressful time. So I can go to a college and say, ‘If I can do anything to make your first-year student experience more positive, less stressful, isn’t that a good thing?’ ”

Smile-Therapy has hired two part-time employees to help Smith reach out to businesses and colleges, bringing its employee total to three, including Smith. It hired the employee focusing on business a year-and-a-half ago and the employee specializing in colleges six months ago.

The company is headquartered in 200 square feet of leased space in suite 3 at 25 Main St. in Camillus. It leases the space from the Camillus–based leasing, management, and development company Olympus, Smith says.

However, Smile-Therapy doesn’t limit its distribution to one geographic area, according to Smith. It has individuals receiving its emails as far away as Australia and Brazil.

Smith declined to share Smile-Therapy’s revenue total, but says he expects to increase revenue by 20 percent to 25 percent in the upcoming year.

 The company charges $5 per month per person for its emails.

“We land one big college, it’s going to go nuts,” he says. “We’re in talks with probably 60 companies. We’re going to all the SUNY schools to start off.”       

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Today at Smile-Therapy: Important lesson to learn from the intelligent Socrates

(Again thanks to the worthwhile-to-visit site Fropki.com)

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 B.C.), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. 

One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”

“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.” 

“Triple filter?”

 “That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student, let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say.

“The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?” 

“No,” the man said. “Actually, I just heard about it and …” 

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.

“Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?” 

“No, on the contrary …” 

“So,” Socrates continued. “You want to tell me something bad about him, even though you’re not certain it’s true?” 

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. 

Socrates continued. “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter — the filter of Usefulness. 

“Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?” 

“No, not really …” 

“Well,” concluded Socrates. “If what you want to tell me is neither true nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?” 

The man was defeated and ashamed. 

Might be one to print off for the kids, the refrigerator, or even the next sales meeting.