The AstroCat Manifesto:  Why We Reach for the Stars!

AstroCat is HERE to save the day – just like Mighty Mouse, but our space-cat mascot is so much more adorable.

Welcome to the AstroCat Consulting blog!  To kick off and celebrate our launch, we begin with our manifesto – a window into the reason behind our work and our mission!

At AstroCat Consulting, we have a passion for helping owners develop their budding businesses into their own enterprise.  And how do you get there?  By growing your bottom line and brand!   But we’re not just all about the money and shortcuts to fast metrics…

Instead, our organization is centered on the love of contributing to businesses, because of what they provide – one of the big things being money, but also, support for the lives of many.  For trade-folk, highly-skilled workers, and service professionals, we believe creating a small business is a gateway to building a sustainable existence for yourself and your community around a meaningful purpose.  When done right, magical things occur for the owner, the people who work for the business, and for those they serve.

This is where we come in and help small businesses and leaders in any phase of development (from launch to businesses doing $25 million in revenue per year).  AstroCat Consulting is a unique firm, in that we are a two-person team of classical music teachers turned entrepreneurs.  We are myself – Heather Amelia Johnston – and my partner and fellow Strategist, Aubrey Lisowski.  

We started out as highly-skilled professionals who made their way into the business world through management and franchise opportunities.  Over more than 15 years, we’ve found great meaning and purpose in sharing what we’ve learned about the intersection of business and classical learning and problem-solving with other owners.  

Learning to launch, run, and build companies around performing and visual arts education is what took our lives and careers to the next level, and we gained so much through these experiences and through mentoring music teachers, artists, and freelancers. We also found we are both quite good at building businesses and creating growth synergy (wink, wink).  Our newfound mission – after many years behind the desk and on the front lines of organizations — is to help as many companies and leaders as possible achieve success in their fields by passing on the strategies that worked for us.  

At heart, the AstroCat team are teachers first, and we take a lot of pride in our craft.  Though the subject we are teaching changes, the way we approach it does not.  The end goal of working with a music student is to develop independence in their reading and playing so they no longer need you.  That’s our goal for the businesses we help as consultants and coaches too.

We want to show you how universal the concepts of system development and problem-solving are and how you can harness this mental tool to develop synergy.  No matter the company, or challenge, any problem can be approached with the same logic.  For that reason, we share our methodology and apply it in real time with leaders to teach this approach through example.  

It’s like the saying, “give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life.”  

We’re the team that “feeds you for life.”  

Why do we have such a passion for helping other businesses?  In addition to a genuine love of people and creativity, the teacher-champions within us truly drive us forward.  Our shared back-story also has a bit to do with our motivations.  Aubrey and I are musicians and music teachers as our first skill and trade.  We got our degrees in music, and we both started our careers working with a dedicated group of private music students.  

Now, I don’t know if you’ve heard this at some point in your life, but musicians haven’t chosen the most lucrative career path, historically speaking.  Though some make it big, the vast majority are highly skilled, academic, and very intelligent people torn between a trade they love and staying in that field if they can make enough to get by.  In most cases, musicians must to create their own businesses, or freelancing practices from the ground-up when they enter the professional music sphere.   But it’s tough, and you have to be a hustler to drum up enough business to sustain you – especially where we have mentored most freelancers in the  Washington, D.C. Metro Area.

A big part of our journeys has been going from working with our own students to running programs of musicians and artists who are working with students.  Our own individual paths brought us here in unique ways, but the stairsteps into business and entrepreneurship were very much the same.  And we’ve both mentored A LOT of professionals in our day.  

We have spent decades coaching on everything, from customer service to creating studio policies to event management and staff development, and we have loved every minute of it!  It is such a powerful thing to see a talented individual being able to do what they love for a living and reach success by sharing their gifts with others.  It’s THRILLING when these individuals start making the big bucks too, and there is no greater feeling of pride than being able to cheer them on.  

When we can contribute positively to an owner, or their company, we feel fulfilled and like the knowledge we’ve gained in our own experience can live on.  That’s what we strive for in our work and creating a legacy from our outstanding results.

To us, at AstroCat, being able to consult fellow owners and their companies is a dream come true.  We get to be partners with a wide range of businesses and owners and be available to all, instead of just one organization.  This flexibility gives us the perfect format to help the widest audience possible, and we can’t wait to share our insights with you!

Are you ready to take off?  Let’s REACH FOR THE STARS!