Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Crystal Sanford, M.Ed., M.A. CCC-SLP. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Crystal, appreciate you joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

I am honored to support fellow autism and neurodiverse families through the special education process at schools called an “IEP”. We have grown to have several employees, including our awesome advocates, community liaison, and an administrative assistant. However, in the beginning it was just me…wearing all of the hats.

I can remember when I met my first client, referred to me by a neighbor/friend. By the next year, I served around 10 clients while continuing to work at my part-time “day job”. There was a lot of hard work put in during these early years. I went to multiple networking events, gave free autism workshops at local libraries, and I learned how to support potential clients and families through consistent social media posts. Sometimes when I presented there would be one, two, or ten people who showed up. Other times it was a complete bust with no attendees. These situations taught me how to offer value and connect with whoever was in the room, regardless of the audience size.

In my first few years of business there were definitely days when I felt like the hard work was a bit in vain. But through coaching and attending workshops for entrepreneurs, I learned that people do business with those who they “know, like, and trust”. So, I tried to make sure that all of my activities were helping me to build this level of connection with families. I also learned that the most successful business owner knows their ideal client’s needs very well. Having a similar profile as my ideal client helped. But I also spent time researching about the needs of fellow autism families and asking those who I knew questions about what help they needed regarding their child’s education. Gradually my time and hard work paid off for me and for those I had the honor of serving.

Crystal, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have the honor of supporting autism and neurodiverse families through the special education process. I wear many hats, including IEP advocate, speech pathologist, author, conference host, and neurodiversity consultant. One of my greatest joys is attending IEP meetings with families to help ensure that their voice is heard and that their child receives the education they deserve based on federal law.

I have always had a connection to the neurodiverse community, growing up as the younger sibling to my sister who has an intellectual disability. In college I discovered the field of speech-language pathology (SLP) and have practiced now for over 20 years. After my oldest daughter was identified as autistic, I shifted my focus from directly supporting children to empowering their parents and families.

As the owner of the Sanford Autism Advocacy Group, LLC, I am most proud of our ability to empathize with families while providing them with insight and HOPE along their autism and/or IEP journey.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like many I had to pivot when the world shut down due to Covid in 2020. Before this time, the majority of my work with clients, families, colleagues, organizations, etc. was in person. I did use online platforms such as Zoom and Bluejeans, but not as my primary source of connection. However, after a few months of being primarily shut down, I realized that I could still host my mostly online conference (as an example) by Zoom. This was a game changer! To this day, I primarily connect with families online allowing so much more flexibility.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

When managing a team and maintaining high morale, there must be a sense of purpose. All team members must know the short term and long term goals that are being worked towards, and the specific part that they play in that. I also encourage business owners/companies to have core values established. All decisions, activities, etc. of every team member should align with those values. Lastly, I have enjoyed helping our team discover ways to maintain a “work-life” balance and infuse humor throughout the work week.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sdautismhelp.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanford_autism_advocacy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sdautismhelp
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC70enlrXG8fhFMPrRg_aHmw

Image Credits
Blue Photo SD (Melanie Wand)