I don't know who this freaking cobbler is, but he'd better damn well start giving shoes to his kids.

In the past two years I've heard the phrase about the cobbler's children at least a few dozen times.  Ninety percent of the time it's from potential business partners who would like us to bring them business.  I love these folks personally - they're truly well intentioned, but I just don't understand the logic of being an expert at something and then not giving your own business the benefit of those skills.

Consider the recent grouping of cobbler outcasts:

• A graphic designer without a portfolio.
• A PR company that hasn't updated their site in over a year
• A social media consulting firm without a Twitter handle
• A technical consulting firm with an "under construction" website.
• A Branding firm utilizing Gmail (or Comcast!) accounts as their official business address.

The meaning of the cobbler phrase is not very debatable.  It is meant to indicate that the 'cobbler' is so busy with business that he doesn't have time to use his skills to help his own family.  I think people mean to suggest that things are so good that applying their own skills internally wouldn't make any real difference.

Think about this a bit.

Really.

If things are so good that you're successful without utilizing your own services or following your own procedures then why in the world would anyone actually want to buy from you?  If you can make it without utilizing your own skills then why can't they?

And why is the cobbler - so busy with clients that he doesn't have time to utilize his skills for his own purposes - taking time out of his work-filled day to ask us if we might be able to refer more clients to him (even when we've never sampled his wares ourselves?)

I'm pretty sure that this mythical first cobbler with bare-footed children didn't brag about the fact that his kids were barefoot.  If he was truly good at his job he'd be making enough to take the occasional break to make his kids some footwear. Maybe he'd hire an apprentice to do it, after all, he's busy, so he could use the help... If the cobbler was feeling anything it certainly wasn't pride.

At Stokefire we don't claim to have a perfect website or the ultimate brand, but we are pleased what we've built and continually tweak it to test out potential improvements.  Our 'kids' aren't shod in golden loafers, but they've got shoes with a touch of style.  

The moment we stop applying our own skills to our brand we lose credibility.  We implicitly suggest that we don't place enough value on what we do to invest the time to do it ourselves.  That's saying a lot when the only cost is opportunity.  It'd be saying a lot more if we used the cobbler's line on potential partners.

People seem to think that the cobbler line shows they're committed to their work.  It doesn't say that.

It says stuff like:

• We think that business development will get you further than buying our services will
  
• We aren't profitable, as evidenced by our inability to hire the people to help us manage the work
• We might not be around very long, so we don't want to invest in building a presence

Does this actually work for anyone? Am I the only one that thinks this path leads to failure?  Both the cobbler and the businesses that reference his story seem to be only a few steps away from losing everything.

We want more business partners, but to help bring you business you need to help us show you off.

Or, perhaps more succinctly put:

Buy some damn shoes.

Please.