| WEBSITE & SERVICES |

Privacy Policy.

SMASH Marketing & Success Coaching
Effective date: August 9, 2026
Website: www.smash-coaching.com
Privacy contact: hello@smash-coaching.com | Subject: Privacy Request

Your privacy deserves clear language, not a maze of fine print. This policy explains what SMASH Marketing & Success Coaching collects, why we collect it, how we use and share it, and the choices available to you when you visit our website, contact us, or work with us.

Please do not submit passwords, full payment card numbers, Social Security numbers, medical records, or other highly sensitive information through the website contact form or ordinary email.

1. Scope and who we are

This Privacy Policy applies to www.smash-coaching.com (the "Site") and to personal information SMASH Marketing & Success Coaching collects in connection with marketing consulting, SEO and digital authority services, brand and reputation work, fractional marketing leadership, success coaching, consultations, purchases, invoices, memberships, digital content, and related communications (collectively, the "Services").

SMASH Marketing & Success Coaching ("SMASH," "we," "us," or "our") is operated by Susan Hovey as a California sole proprietorship based in San Diego, California, United States. For personal information covered by this policy, SMASH generally acts as the business or controller that determines why and how the information is used.

When SMASH handles personal information solely on behalf of a business client - for example, while working in a client's analytics, website, customer relationship management, advertising, review, or local-listing account - the client may be the business or controller and SMASH may act as its service provider or processor. In that situation, the client's privacy notice and our agreement with that client may also apply.

2. Personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with SMASH and which features or Services you use.

  • Contact and identity information. Your first and last name, email address, optional phone number, business or organization, job title, website, and other contact details you choose to provide.

  • Consultation and service-interest information. The SMASH contact form currently asks which Services interest you and what you would like help with. We also collect information you provide in emails, calls, consultation requests, proposals, and follow-up communications.

  • Client and project information. Business goals, strategy, professional background, coaching goals, meeting and scheduling details, project files, communications, deliverables, working notes, account or platform access supplied for an engagement, and information reasonably needed to perform the Services.

  • Transaction and account information. If you purchase a Service, product, membership, subscription, digital item, or payment plan; pay an invoice; or create a customer account, we may receive billing and shipping contact details, order and invoice information, transaction status, purchase history, account details, and limited payment information such as card type and last four digits. Payment processors handle full payment credentials.

  • Marketing preferences and engagement. Your subscription status, consent records, email preferences, and interactions with communications we send.

  • Website and device information. Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser and operating system, device type, approximate location derived from IP address, pages viewed, dates and times, referring pages, links or buttons used, session and cookie identifiers, and similar technical or usage data.

  • Testimonials, reviews, and media. If you choose to provide a testimonial, review, image, video, or other endorsement, we may collect and publish the content and the name, title, company, image, or other attribution you authorize.

  • Information from other sources. Information from referrals, business partners, public business sources, social media or professional platforms, and client-authorized platforms, to the extent permitted by law.

Sensitive and confidential information

Our public contact form is not designed for highly sensitive information. During a consulting or coaching relationship, you may voluntarily discuss personal, professional, financial, health-related, or workplace matters. We collect only what is reasonably relevant to the Services and do not use sensitive information to infer characteristics about you for advertising. Please use any secure method we designate for passwords, account access, client datasets, or confidential documents. If you provide personal information about another person, you represent that you are authorized to do so.

SMASH does not record consulting or coaching sessions unless participants are informed and any consent required by law is obtained.

3. How we collect information

We collect information directly from you when you submit a form, email or call us, request a consultation, schedule a meeting, sign a contract, participate in a session, pay an invoice, make a purchase, create an account, subscribe to communications, or otherwise use the Services. We collect some technical information automatically through Squarespace, Google Analytics, cookies, and similar technologies. We may also receive information from service providers, payment processors, referrals, public business sources, or platforms you authorize us to access.

4. How we use personal information

  • Respond to inquiries, evaluate fit, prepare proposals, and communicate with prospective clients.

  • Provide, personalize, manage, and improve the Services; schedule meetings; create deliverables; support clients; and maintain business records.

  • Create and manage customer accounts, purchases, subscriptions, memberships, invoices, payments, refunds, and transaction communications when those features are used.

  • Operate, maintain, secure, troubleshoot, and understand use of the Site, including analytics and fraud or abuse prevention.

  • Send newsletters or marketing communications when you have opted in or when otherwise permitted by law. You can unsubscribe at any time; we may still send non-promotional messages related to an inquiry, transaction, account, or active engagement.

  • Publish testimonials, reviews, case studies, or media with the permission appropriate to the context.

  • Comply with law, enforce agreements, establish or defend legal claims, protect rights and safety, and respond to lawful requests.

  • Carry out a merger, financing, reorganization, sale, or transfer involving all or part of the business, subject to appropriate confidentiality and legal requirements.

AI-assisted tools

SMASH may use AI-assisted tools to support research, analysis, ideation, drafting, organization, or service delivery. We apply data-minimization and reasonable safeguards and do not intentionally place passwords, full payment information, or highly sensitive personal information into public AI tools. We do not use solely automated decision-making to make decisions about individuals that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

5. Cookies, analytics, and similar technologies

The Site is hosted by Squarespace. Squarespace uses cookies and related technologies that are necessary to securely deliver and operate the Site. The Site also uses Squarespace Analytics and Google Analytics 4 to understand traffic and usage. These tools may process identifiers and usage information such as IP address, browser and device details, approximate location, referrer, pages viewed, and session activity.

  • Necessary cookies support security, network management, form submission, customer accounts, checkout, and core Site functions.

  • Analytics and performance technologies help measure visits, pageviews, traffic sources, Site performance, and how visitors use the Site.

  • Functional, account, and commerce technologies may remember preferences and support account, membership, invoicing, cart, checkout, subscription, or digital-product features if enabled.

As of the effective date, SMASH does not use Meta Pixel or a similar cross-site behavioral advertising pixel on the public Site. If our use of advertising or tracking technology materially changes, we will update this policy and any required consent controls.

Where required, you can accept, decline, or manage nonessential cookies through the Site's cookie controls. You can also limit cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect Site functionality. To learn more about Google Analytics or use Google's browser opt-out add-on, visit Google's Analytics privacy resources.

More information: Squarespace cookies | Google Privacy Policy | Google Analytics opt-out

Do Not Track and preference signals

Some browsers offer a Do Not Track (DNT) setting. Because there is no uniform industry standard for DNT, the Site does not currently respond to DNT signals. Where applicable law requires recognition of a legally valid opt-out preference signal and the Site's technology supports it, we will process the signal as required. SMASH does not currently sell personal information or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined by applicable California privacy law.

6. How we disclose personal information

We disclose personal information only as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to the following categories of recipients:

  • Website, hosting, forms, commerce, account, invoicing, email-campaign, and analytics providers, including Squarespace.

  • Google services used for analytics, reCAPTCHA, business email, documents, storage, calendars, or video meetings, depending on the interaction.

  • Payment processors and financial-service providers displayed at checkout or on an invoice. They process full payment information under their own privacy terms.

  • Scheduling, video-conferencing, document-signing, cloud-storage, project-management, bookkeeping, tax, legal, security, and other professional or operational service providers.

  • Client-directed platforms and vendors used to perform authorized marketing, SEO, analytics, local-listing, website, content, social, review, or reputation work.

  • Government authorities, courts, regulators, law enforcement, or other parties when required by law or reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, security, or legal interests.

  • A buyer, investor, lender, successor, or adviser in connection with a potential or completed business transaction, subject to appropriate protections.

We do not sell or rent personal information for money. We do not disclose contact-form or client information to unrelated third parties for their own direct marketing.

7. Client-controlled data

Business clients may give SMASH access to websites, analytics, search tools, local listings, advertising or social accounts, customer or lead information, reviews, content systems, and other business data. We use client-controlled data to provide the requested Services, follow the client's documented directions and our agreement, protect the data, and meet legal obligations. Clients are responsible for ensuring they have the rights and notices needed to provide that data to SMASH. Individuals seeking rights regarding data controlled by one of our clients should generally contact that client first.

8. Data retention

We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to provide Services, maintain business and tax records, resolve disputes, protect security, and meet legal obligations. Our general retention approach is:

  • Inquiries that do not become engagements: generally up to 24 months after the last substantive interaction, unless a longer period is reasonably needed.

  • Routine consulting or coaching working records: during the engagement and generally up to three years afterward, unless our agreement, the nature of the work, or legal needs require a different period.

  • Contracts, invoices, transaction, tax, and core business records: generally up to seven years or the period required by law.

  • Marketing records: until you unsubscribe, consent is withdrawn, or the information is no longer needed; we may keep a limited suppression record so we can honor an opt-out.

  • Analytics and cookie information: according to the applicable provider's settings, cookie duration, and our legitimate business needs.

We may retain information longer when needed for a legal hold, dispute, fraud prevention, security, or enforcement. We may also retain de-identified or aggregated information that is not reasonably linkable to you.

9. Your choices and privacy rights

Depending on where you live and the law that applies, you may have the right to request access to or a copy of personal information; learn the categories, sources, purposes, and recipients of information; correct inaccurate information; request deletion; obtain portable information; restrict or object to certain processing; withdraw consent; opt out of targeted advertising, sale, or sharing; or appeal a denied request. You also have the right not to receive unlawful discrimination for exercising a privacy right.

To make a request, email hello@smash-coaching.com with the subject line "Privacy Request" and describe your request. We may ask for information reasonably necessary to verify your identity and authority. An authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law, but we may require proof of authorization and identity verification. If we deny an appealable request, you may reply with the subject line "Privacy Appeal" and explain why you believe the decision should be reconsidered.

You may unsubscribe from promotional email by using the unsubscribe link in the message or contacting us. You can manage cookies as described above. Some rights are subject to exceptions, and we may retain information that law permits or requires us to keep.

10. California and other U.S. state disclosures

In the preceding 12 months, SMASH may have collected the categories described in Section 2, including identifiers; customer-record information; commercial or transaction information; internet or other electronic network activity; professional or employment-related information; inferences drawn from inquiry or client information; and sensitive personal information only when voluntarily provided or reasonably necessary for an authorized Service. Sources, purposes, and recipient categories are described in Sections 3, 4, and 6.

SMASH does not knowingly sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and does not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about an individual. If our practices change in a way that creates a legal opt-out right, we will provide the required notice and method to exercise that right.

California's Shine the Light law permits certain residents to request information about disclosures of personal information to third parties for their own direct-marketing purposes. SMASH does not make those disclosures. California residents may also use the request method in Section 9 to review or request correction of personal information collected through the Site.

11. Legal bases for EEA, UK, and similar jurisdictions

Where a law requires a legal basis for processing, we rely on one or more of the following: taking steps at your request before entering or performing a contract; our legitimate interests in responding to inquiries, providing and improving Services, operating and securing the Site, and managing our business; your consent, which you may withdraw; and compliance with legal obligations or protection of legal rights. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.

12. International data transfers

SMASH is based in the United States, and our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries. Those locations may have privacy laws different from those where you live. Where required, we use legally recognized transfer mechanisms or other appropriate safeguards.

13. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information, including an HTTPS-enabled Site, limited-access accounts, and reputable service providers. No online service, email, or storage system can guarantee absolute security. Please do not send sensitive credentials or highly sensitive personal information through ordinary email or the public contact form. If we provide a secure sharing method, use that method.

14. Children's privacy

The Site and Services are intended for adults and business or professional audiences. They are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact us so we can take appropriate action.

15. External links and third-party services

The Site may link to social networks, client platforms, articles, scheduling tools, payment pages, or other third-party sites. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not this one. A link does not mean SMASH controls or endorses a third party's privacy practices.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in the Site, Services, technology, providers, or law. We will post the revised version on the Site and change the effective date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice when required by law. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

17. Contact us

Questions, concerns, and privacy requests may be sent to:

SMASH Marketing & Success Coaching
Attn: Susan Hovey, Privacy Contact
San Diego, California, United States
Email: hello@smash-coaching.com
Phone: (619) 356-0150