Shawn Gidley spent 13 years with the City of Cleveland working across finance, public safety, and economic development. Before that work ever had a name, he was learning what it means to build systems that serve people under pressure, at scale, and with consistency.
In 2012 he joined in building an experience based photography business in Cleveland serving newborn, children, and family clients across the country. The photography was award winning. And surrounding it was an experience unlike anything else in the market. A little girl who made a real unicorn appear because she was brave enough to kiss a plastic one. Families who completed a holiday themed scavenger hunt at Saint Nick University to find Santa's Magic Key and save Christmas. Children using a rotary phone in Santa's workshop to magically call Santa and transform the artwork on the wall to come alive with a personal video message from Santa and Mrs. Claus. Over those 13 years Shawn designed and built every one of those moments. The systems behind them. The experience around every session. That's where the real education in client experience happened.
The insight that shaped everything came early. Everyone has a camera in their hand at all times now. The photography has to be great. But what needs to be exceptional is the experience around it. Shawn was focused on every detail. Every touchpoint. How to make the process easier, more effortless, more memorable for the client at every stage. Clients weren't just buying images. They were buying everything that surrounded them. And when you sell an experience instead of a commodity, people don't just come back. They stay loyal. They tell everyone they know. That realization changed how Shawn thought about every business he would ever work with.
In 2018 Shawn was selected for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, one of the most competitive small business development programs in the country. What stayed with him wasn't the curriculum. It was sitting with dozens of other small business owners and seeing the same pattern everywhere. Talented people doing real work who had gotten so caught up in the day to day that they'd lost sight of the client experience entirely. Owners who felt stuck but couldn't name why. Who had forgotten how to dream about what was possible. Who had lost the imagination they started with. That room is where Ascend CX started to take shape.
Ascend CX was built on everything that came before it. Not theory. Not observation from the outside. A career of building things, watching what works, and understanding why. The firm works with service business owners in Cleveland and across Northeast Ohio who are ready to design a client experience that creates loyalty, referrals, and sustainable growth.
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If you're a service business owner ready to design a client experience that your clients can't stop talking about, start the conversation.