Ep. 53

Living Your Best Life as an Entrepreneur with Ashleigh Chanel

For the season 3 premiere of Creator Stories podcast, we are thrilled to be here with Ashleigh Chanel—your friendly, neighborhood Marketing Genie!

Ashleigh is a world travelling gadgets addict, expert Digital Marketer & the CEO of Make Your Mark Digital Marketing Agency. She helps profit-driven business owners transform their businesses into revenue-generating and impact-creating machines, without the extra time and stress.

She’s passionate about helping women business owners to market profitably through innovation, creativity, action, and implementing strategic digital media strategies that transform their business. And she’s sharing her story as entrepreneur right here on Creator Stories episode 53!

Ashleigh’s website: https://makeyourmarkconsulting.com/

Jessmyn:

Welcome to Interact’s Creator Stories podcast. Interact is the easiest way to convert curious people into loyal and happy customers by using a lead generating quiz. On Creator Stories, we get to hear the entrepreneur’s journey. This is a podcast about how those creators took their knowledge and experiences to carve out a place in the world, owned what they know is special about themselves, and turned it into a successful company. Today we get to hear from Ashleigh Chanel, an expert digital marketer and the CEO of Make Your Mark digital marketing agency. Ashleigh helps profit driven business owners transform their businesses into revenue generating and impact creating machines without the extra time and stress. All right, let’s get started.

Hi everyone. And welcome back to Interact’s Creator Stories podcast. I’m your host, Jessmyn Solana. So excited to be with you guys as always. With me, today, I have the amazing Ashleigh Chanel. Ashleigh, thank you so much for being on our show with us today. I can’t wait to dive into your whole story. And for those of you who don’t know, Ashleigh works with us, specifically, she’s one of our consultants on our website. So this is going to be really awesome because we have worked with you in a professional capacity of tips and tricks, but we’re going to get down into who you are and how you got started. So, Ashleigh, do you want to go ahead and take over, tell us more about you and your business, and then take us back to the beginning. How did you get started in all of this?

Ashleigh:

Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. I mean a little about me, I love to travel. I’m addicted to gadgets and cool electronics. I love new things like that. And, in my business, I’m a digital marketer. I own a digital marketing agency called, Make Your Mark. And the point of that was because I really wanted to help people make their mark on this world, on this planet, on the people that they want to serve the most. So that’s kind of why I got started and what the purpose behind the name of my business is. And I help small businesses, all the way up to enterprises. I do consulting as well. I really just wanted to use my gifts to help the world.

And starting from the beginning, I worked in corporate and I realized that, “Huh, I could actually do this on my own.” I could do what I’m doing and help the people that I’m helping because I think something that we find sometimes while we’re working for other people, is that the leadership or the management is subpar. And it’s not where it’s going to foster growth for us. Like sometimes like you’ll be able to grow in the company, but sometimes it’s just not there to help you grow and fulfill you. So, I got started because, honestly, my company was splitting into two. And my boss was leaving and she was like, “Look, you are not on the layoff list, but we’re combining companies after we split.” And I don’t know, we’ve heard rumors about the other company. And we looked stuff up about the company, we looked on Glassdoor. And the company we were merging with, which was going to basically take over us, was not the best company. And I wanted more for myself and I wanted more for my life. And I was just like, “Okay.”

So she gave me the option. She was like, “I can put you on a layoff list and you’ll get a severance.” And so I prayed about it and I told her, I was like, “Give me a minute to think about it.” And I prayed about it. The next day I had peace, and I was like, “Put me on the list.” It took a few months though to actually for it to be my last day, but I never looked back. And I was really, really happy about my decision. I was happy. I’m still happy. There were times when I was like, “Oh my gosh, did I do the right thing?” Because your girl was making some nice money. But really, I knew that there was more for me.

Jessmyn:

I love that. I love that there’s also this synergy between you, making your own mark, leaving a legacy, and then helping other people do that and kind of overcoming this kind of like how you said like, “Oh, like I was making good money.” There’s comfortability in that, right? That’s kind of the goal, I just want to be comfortable in life. I want to be able to survive each day. But you were able to overcome that and go past it and you were like, “I have a bigger purpose. There’s something more that I want to do. And this is sort of that opportunity.”

Ashleigh:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Jessmyn:

I love that. I love that. What were some of the things that, I guess, you were going through, or you had to process, in terms of, is making that leap of like, “Okay. Yes. Put me on that list because I know I don’t want to go down that pathway. And I don’t know what I’m going to do next, but it’s not going to be there.”

Ashleigh:

Oh, there were a few catalysts or… What is the plural of that word? But one of them was, I saw two people have heart attacks and I was like, “Oh. Okay.” And then one person died who was at the company. And they spent all of their time and energy splitting the company into two. Some people were going from regular nine to five and then going to third shift, which is like graveyard shift, right? So most of us day walkers, I used to be a bartender so that’s kind of what we… If you work at night, you call the people who work in the day, day walkers. We don’t really know anything about working overnight. So there were people on three different shifts. People were working 24/7 because it was a tech company and we were moving servers and splitting a billion dollar company. So somebody had to be there 24/7. I was marketing though, I didn’t have to do tech.

But I was like, “Two people had heart attacks. One person died. You guys aren’t spending time with your family. You’re not doing anything that you like to do. Y’all look miserable AF.” I was like, “What the heck?” I was like, I remember being very cognizant of people around that time before my boss even talked to me about it. And I was like, “Why do y’all look so miserable?” Like everybody just did not… Even people at the grocery store. I was just like, “Ugh. I don’t want that life. I really don’t want that life.” And then when I saw those people, I didn’t actually see them have heart attacks, but I was there the day one of the people was having one, but he told his assistant not to tell anybody but she told me and a couple of the people in the area.

And I was like, “I don’t want to give you guys my best years. I don’t want to give you guys my health. And I don’t want to give you guys my joy.” And it was so important for me to leave because I was like, “I know I have options.” And another reason why I knew I had options, and this is the thing, I knew I had options. I know that there are a lot of people who don’t believe that they have options. And the reason why I knew I had options was because I got my MBA in Italy. And while I was in Italy, I was taking clients. So it wasn’t… I mean, I still had my business, I had my LLC, but it’s not like I was taking clients periodically here and there testing out how I kind of wanted to run my business.

And I was like, “Wait, are you really trying to tell me that I can be out here in Piazza del Popolo, with my picnic and my prosciutto and my mozzarella and this beautiful wine and still have clients. You mean to tell me that this can be my life. I can live in Italy and have the life that I want without…” Like, it just made me realize I didn’t have to return back to the United States and do the rat race. And this was actually before I went back to corporate. So I was in corporate and then I went and got my MBA. And then I went back because Italians didn’t want to hire any Americans, which I understand. They wanted to keep the money within their community or within their country, which understandable.

But, yeah, I realized I had options. And that was kind of one of the things that was in my mind the entire time when I first started that position. And then I moved up, but I just realized… Oh, and then another thing, in Houston, it’s really hot for, I’m going to say nine months out of the year. And the walls inside were gray. And on the days that it was beautiful and nice to go outside, I was very angry because I could not go outside because I had to work. And I was like, “Oh, I don’t want this life. I want to be able to go outside when it’s beautiful and either work or not work.” So, yeah.

Jessmyn:

I love that. I think that’s like, it’s interesting how much color kind of affects your mood, you know?

Ashleigh:

Absolutely.

Jessmyn:

And especially if you’re already in a high stress sort of environment, it does not help at all, right?

Ashleigh:

Not at all.

Jessmyn:

It probably makes it worse.

Ashleigh:

I actually hung lights, these rain lights, in my office. So I had the lights and then I had curtains because I was like, “I have to be here all day. Y’all are not about to have me in here in this drab place. So I’m going to bring in some decor that makes me happy.” That was as much as I could possibly do, but it helped a little bit.

Jessmyn:

Yeah. I love that. So when you finally made that jump, how did you formulate the core of your business of making your mark and helping people?

Ashleigh:

You know, honestly, I’m going to be completely honest and say it took some time because I didn’t really know what it was going to look like when I had my own business. You know, one thing that’s really interesting, and as you go on as a, I’m going to say, online business owner at least, I wanted to be a consultant initially, but I didn’t know how to be a consultant. I didn’t know what that looked like. So I started off doing website design and graphic design and then helping with some marketing help, if I could, like if there was anywhere where they needed some marketing assistance. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I just started where I knew I could be helpful.

And another thing I’m going to say is I had $60,000 saved, okay. So this is something that a lot of people, they think just take the leap and go. But I wasn’t about to do that because I have expensive tastes and I have things that I want to do in my life and pay for, and being broke while trying to build a business was not something that was on my list, even though things happen, the money goes by really quickly. But I just knew that I just wanted to be of service and I’m not even… I think the first client I got was, and I was actually still working in corporate when I had this client, but it was from a referral. And I still don’t know who referred them to me.

Jessmyn:

Oh, wow.

Ashleigh:

So, yeah. But I’m just really grateful for that. And that was back when I was charging $450 for a custom website. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Jessmyn:

Wow, that’s amazing. But I love that you kind of, you bring up that it didn’t just happen. There were steps that happened along the way. And I think something that’s a big misconception within entrepreneurship and with the rise of social media and everyone’s kind of going on their own and they’re all bloggers, they’re all coaches, and they’re all consultants, is it doesn’t just happen, right?

Ashleigh:

Right.

Jessmyn:

Like you dabble into little things before that, you probably fail a few times before you’re like, “Oh, okay. I think I know how to do it now.” But it doesn’t just kind of get there. So I think for those who are listening, if you’re in a space where you feel like whatever you’re doing right now, isn’t working, it might not be the end of the journey.

Ashleigh:

Absolutely.

Jessmyn:

It could be just in the middle.

Ashleigh:

Because even now I know that what I’m doing now isn’t the end. I know that there’s so much more for me to do as a marketer, as a business owner, and then just as someone who’s going to start multiple businesses in the future. And one of the things I’ll say is that, I remember there was a span of about six months where I raised my price every single week because I was starting to come into my own and understand that it’s not the price, it’s the value that you provide. And it took me a while to understand that, because I was like, “How are people charging $10,000, $20,000 for a website? Oh my gosh. Who’s the going to pay that?” Or whatever. But I understood that it was more about the value that you were providing.

And then one of the things that I noticed was that everyone wanted more sales when it came to their website, but they did not have their marketing fundamentals down. And so that’s where I saw a gap that I could fill because my sweet spot is, and the spot that I love, is strategy. I was like, “Okay, well I can help these people with their marketing strategy and tell them, these are the things that they need to do when it comes to social media.” So I added social media marketing into my arsenal of things that I provided for my clients, and marketing consulting, and things like that.

But I just really understood it was the value. And also, I started figuring out, “Oh, this is why people have contracts. This is why, this client is why this clause is in here in this part of the contract.” And it’s just really, really just interesting how you go, kind of just how you evolve as an entrepreneur.

And then the other thing was that I was really concerned about my credentials. So, as an online marketer, I don’t know, those of you who are online marketers, listening, it felt like everything that I had done prior to becoming an online entrepreneur was in vain, it was for no reason. I’m a textbook over-achiever. So I’ve got a double major, double minor. And then I had two concentrations, two focuses, as my MBA, right? And as an online marketer, you see people who are doing extremely well, who don’t have degrees. And so I was like, “Oh, I’m in this space and my degrees don’t matter. So I have to figure out another way to be of value, to show my value.” But that was not true. That was a lie that I told myself, not on purpose, but it was just something I noticed that you clearly don’t need a degree to be successful.

But at the same time, I know that my degrees are extremely valuable for the people who hire me. I understand that my, I’ve been to 35 country so far, still planning to go to more, but I understand that my cultural sensitivity and understanding is of value to those who hire me. I know that the fact that I went to school for entrepreneurship and went to school for marketing and have an understanding of finance and global marketing, global finance, those are all things that matter to those who hire me. Those may not matter to those who hire some other people, but I had to realize that my credentials mean something and that I need to talk about them because I never used to talk about them up until, I’m going to say, this past year.

Jessmyn:

Now that’s great because I would love to unpack this. And I think this is also a big thing that happens, is it’s so easy to compare yourself to everybody else that’s out there. And it’s like, “I’m not doing this. I’m not doing that. Should I be doing that?” It’s taxing, it’s emotionally taxing. So how do you kind of work through that with all the other people who are in your space doing the same, not the same thing, but doing similar things in the same industry and get that confidence boost of the value that I bring is different and it matters?

Ashleigh:

This might not be an answer that people want to hear, but it’s coaches. People, there’s this stigma around coaches, but I have yet to have a bad coach, but that is because I vetted them and I watched them for a long time and I really made sure that they aligned with my values. And I did a lot of inner work. And it wasn’t necessarily me reading books, it was me being able to identify what big T or little T, traumas that I had, and that were imprinted on me that I needed to let the F go because it was getting in the way of my money. And it was getting in the way of how I showed up for my audience because, at the end of the day, how dare we not show up for the people who need us because somebody is crying themselves to sleep every night and freaking out and having anxiety and being sad because they don’t know about us yet. They don’t know about our offer. So, that’s one of the things that continues to help me keep going.

But I had a, I’m going to call her a personal development coach, and she does a lot of, I mean, we did a lot of inner work and we found out that, because people would always say that I was extra and I mean, I’m very extra, but for them it was more of a negative because in high school I would wear heels every day and they thought that was weird. My intelligence was sometimes too much for people. Sometimes, I remember I got in trouble in second grade because I was trying to help this girl with a math problem or something, she went and told her mom that I made her feel stupid and I got in trouble. So it’s little stuff like that. I would never have remembered it but I asked my mom and she told me the story. And I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” But it wasn’t anything that really imprinted on me consciously. But the subconscious holds onto so much that we don’t realize.

And if we’re going to be able to be our optimal selves, we have to go back and figure out what those things are and clear them from our self and from our insides so that we can be the person that we were put on this earth to be and serve the people that we’re supposed to serve. And it was just something that made me realize that, “Oh, a lot of people, because I showed up authentically as myself, they could not.” And so they had something to say about that and it really is not my problem. It really has more to do with them. But as a young person, you don’t know stuff like that. You don’t know that people are dealing with their own inner issues and have big T and little T traumas that they need to sort out. But they’re projecting their feelings and emotions on you. And so then you, in turn, internalize it.

And that’s why I think it’s so important for us to do our own inner work so we don’t put that on other people because it’s kind of like, “First of all, how dare you? Your limiting beliefs are showing and you’re rubbing them all on me. Please stop because that’s gross.” You know what I mean? And I just want to be the most, the best version of myself. And a lot of it had to do with inner work and getting business coaches who were where I wanted to be, because I, honestly, do not like working harder than I have to. So if somebody can give me the answer, I’ll take it.

Jessmyn:

Right. Right. Oh, but I think that’s so good because, I mean professional development, I’m even doing it and I work for Interact as an employee, not necessarily for entrepreneurship. But it still applies, all the stuff that I’m learning still applies because it has to do with leadership. But that was one thing that I learned in the last year, starting professional development was, you’re not responsible for other people’s feelings and how they react to the world or their surroundings around them. And that was a game changer for me because it would take up my whole day. It was so emotionally draining and I was like, “Why? Why do I do this? Why was it like that? Why did they say that?” And so on. And so once I finally worked through that, that was when it really started changing my mood. And it’s like, “Okay. That was a weird call,” but it didn’t ruin the rest of my calls that day. So I totally get what you’re saying. I think that’s awesome.

Ashleigh:

Yeah. And it’s just I think it’s so important even when dealing with clients, when dealing with anyone, especially when it comes to pricing or somebody not liking your offer or something like that, it’s like, sometimes things just are not… This person is not for you and when you start to force it, that’s when things go wrong. And I really just think that me understanding that…

Oh, and another thing was that I minimized my achievements a lot because, honestly, me getting an MBA was on the list since I was eight years old, not necessarily because of my mom, but just because that was something I wanted to do. And so, for me, I knew I was always going to get my MBA. So to me it didn’t feel like an accomplishment because, number one, I always knew. Number two, it was not hard. I got my MBA in Italy. I went to 17 countries. We had class, I think, four days a week. And from 7:00 to 10:00 PM and the other, the rest of the time I was walking around lolly-gagging, just enjoying life. So my MBA was not difficult plus because I love school. I love to learn. So because it wasn’t hard, I was thinking, it’s not an achievement. If I didn’t have to work hard for it, then it wasn’t an achievement and that’s not true. But I knew that for other people, if somebody else got an MBA, I would absolutely congratulate them because I knew it was an achievement for them, but I didn’t look at it as an achievement for myself.

It’s just like really learning a lot about you and being able to understand why you act a certain way or why you do certain things so that you can actually change it and move forward.

Jessmyn:

Oh, I love that. And you have to remember to celebrate things, even if you don’t think it’s an achievement, right?

Ashleigh:

Absolutely.

Jessmyn:

I love that you made that sort of discovery, I guess we could call it, or realization.

Ashleigh:

It was. It was definitely a discovery, a lot of digging.

Jessmyn:

Especially in entrepreneurship, I think, because, bringing back to the idea of comparison or what other people are doing, and I guess how you see yourself or what you should be doing, you kind of forget to celebrate those small things or you forget to celebrate sometimes the bigger things, because you’re like, “Well, everybody’s doing it. So this is just something that should be.” Whereas actually, it’s a pretty big deal.

Ashleigh:

Yeah. Even like podcasts, being on podcasts, I was like, I was talking to my friend about it and they were like, “Oh, that’s so cool.” And I was like, “Is it? Everybody in my industry gets all podcasts and/or has podcasts.” So it just seems like a regular thing. But it is really, to me, it is a blessing. And just the fact that, Interact, I feel very aligned with Interact in the things that they’re trying to do in helping entrepreneurs. And it really aligns because I really want to help because building a business is difficult. And it’s more difficult emotionally than anything else. And it’s really about, in my opinion, to be your optimal self and to be the best entrepreneur you can be and serve the most people, you have to look inside of you more than you have to do anything else, more than the contracts, more than the website, more than the funnels. It’s about knowing who you are and how you can create a business that aligns with your values and the life that you actually want to live.

Jessmyn:

I love that. I did want to ask, so what does, I guess the term or the mantra, I guess you can call it, of Make Your Mark, what does that mean to you and what should it mean to other people?

Ashleigh:

For me, Make Your Mark is intentional. It’s very, very intentional. It’s not about letting life happen to you. It’s about choosing how you want to be of service to people. So, for me, I want to erect a generation of women who unapologetically step into their power because I remember when I was not. I remember another point when I was on my entrepreneurship journey, but I was taking contract positions still. And this one contract position required me to come in and it was the worst experience I had ever had in my life. She was the worst person I feel like I have ever met in my entire life. And people were telling me that she was intimidated by me. And I’m like, “See, this is the problem. You’re in a leadership position. You’re in a management position. Why are you intimidated by a contractor?”

I was making more money than her at my previous job. And I am now, but I had the potential, at that point I was not making six figures, but I had the potential in my business to make multi six figures and millions of dollars. So I was just like, “You have no idea the vision that God has put in my mind. I don’t want this job. This is a stop gap,” as some people like to call it, just to stop the, get some extra flow of income. And it was just really something that, it was a devastating position because I felt like I had to stay because of the money. And even in entrepreneurship, I have felt like I’ve had to take on clients because I needed the money. And operating, not stepping into your power and not stepping into your power unapologetically, we start to take actions from a position of desperation instead of a position of strength. And we feel like we don’t have options.

And so that’s why it’s so important for me, for the people that I work with, number one, one of my values for my business is if you’re not excited about your business, I’m not taking you on as a client. If I’m not excited about your business and who you serve and what you do, I’m not taking you on as a client. And another one is respect. I can’t work with people who are not respectful and not necessarily… Well respectful to me is one thing. But respectful to the people they work for, like if I see something in there that I don’t like, I am okay with refunding you your money and telling you, “I do not believe that we align.” But it takes time to get there.

But I remember just being fed up and saying, “I don’t ever want to feel like this again. I don’t want my clients who are in my business, that I’m allowing to come in here and talk to me crazy. I don’t think so.” And I just wanted to make sure that all of the women that I came across, not only felt uplifted after they interacted with me, whether we were on social media, whether they were a potential client and did not work with me, that is who I want to be. I want to be a light for people and I want my business to be a light as well. And I just want to make sure that every woman, I think women are the most amazing beings on this planet. Anything you give to us, we multiply and we make better and we make beautiful. And every woman needs to remember that. And a lot of women, and I think because of society, it teaches us something different and it’s ugly. And right now I need every woman to step into her power so that we can make this world a better place.

Jessmyn:

Oh, that’s amazing. And that was so well put. Very eloquent. I got the chills. Give me a second, guys, because I’m speechless right now. No, but that was beautiful. And I love just everything that you said, but also the boundaries that you set for yourself and that you feel like, “Hey, this is who I want to work with because in order to make a difference, you need to also love what you’re doing and you need to feel comfortable in the space that you’re in, and you need to feel like in your words, uplifted. So in order for you to uplift other people, you also need to be uplifted in return.” And I think the way that other people can look at this is not necessarily that you’re turning down people that need help, but that they’re not ready for what you can provide to them.

Ashleigh:

Absolutely, because sometimes they’re not and that’s okay. And if you wanted to, you can create a list of people who you can refer them to, who might be a better fit.

Jessmyn:

I love that. And I think it’s so smart because, you know, there’s just not enough time to stress out. There’s not enough time in the day to stress out over things that are probably so much smaller than you think they are. And this is just kind of a way to sort of move past some of those stressors of entrepreneurship and owning your own business that you probably don’t need to feel. You don’t need to go through that. I love that.

Ashleigh:

My friend told me that, because I was stressing out about something. I don’t even remember what it was because, obviously, we don’t ever remember what we’re stressing out about when it’s over. But she was like, “Ashleigh, worry and stress are just misplaced responsibility.” And I was like, “Oh, snap. That is great advice.” Like I really do think that this is something that I can control, but I can’t. I literally cannot do anything about this outcome. I can only do what I can do and I can only do so much. And you only have enough energy, you only have enough hours in the day. You only have enough just attention and focus to give something. So, focus and give your attention to the things that you can actually do. And then after that you just kind of got to let go and let flow.

Jessmyn:

Oh, I love that. Oh my God. That’s so good. Yeah. And it’s really interesting how we’ve sort of… I kind of feel like this is more of a societal thing that we’ve just learned because we’ve been taught this, is that you have to do things. Like you have to go through with it, you have to work with this person because you already said yes. But actually you don’t. You don’t.

Ashleigh:

You can change your mind.

Jessmyn:

Oh, that’s so good. That’s so good. Well, I feel like you said that beautifully. I don’t have any more questions from here because that was just gold. But I have two last questions that I like to close out with, if you’re up for it.

Ashleigh:

I’m definitely up for it.

Jessmyn:

Okay. So second to last question. What are three things most people wouldn’t know about you?

Ashleigh:

Let’s see. Okay. I gave away that I wore heels in high school. I am a certified PADI diver.

Jessmyn:

Ooh. What is that?

Ashleigh:

So, a scuba diver. I am a certified scuba diver.

Jessmyn:

Ooh. So cool. I’ve tried to scuba dive once, but my ears wouldn’t pop like one ear wouldn’t pop. And so I freaked out and I was like, take me back up there.

Ashleigh:

Yeah. Well, I mean, you should freak out. So, good job. My nose is really small and that was one of the issues that I was having. So I had to get a special mask that’s nose part was very soft so that I could blow, like plug my nose and blow so that my ears would pop. So, yes, that is very scary.

Jessmyn:

Yeah. Yeah.

Ashleigh:

Three things. So, oh my goodness. You guys, I am truly obsessed with the romanticism of the late forties, early fifties. I love movies and the music from that time. And I love the fashion. Like I think the girls were just so pretty, and other than the things that were going on in the world during that time, I could go back to that time and just stay and just be so happy. Especially Italian movies, they’re so like, I don’t know. It’s just so romantic. It’s crazy.

And I love to cook. I love to cook for my friends. I used to have Christmas parties every year.

Jessmyn:

I love that.

Ashleigh:

And actually just parties since I was in high school, and somebody reminded me that I had a party house. And I just remember because sometimes I would just be like, “Hey, everybody, just come over.” We’d just, I don’t know, just have a great time. But I love to cook and spread love through food. I mean, I think it’s just so beautiful and I love to see people enjoy the food that I make because most of the food I make is from scratch. I have yet to start making my own noodles and bread, but I will get there.

Jessmyn:

I need to come to your house.

Ashleigh:

You’re so invited.

Jessmyn:

I will eat all the food. I’ll try it all. My fiance loves to eat too, like we love… That’s our number one thing when we travel is the first thing we think about is what restaurants we’re going to eat at, wherever we go.

Ashleigh:

Yeah. I always like to go where the locals go. Like even in regular countries. Like I consider, my mom’s a vacationer and I consider myself a traveler. So she doesn’t like to be too adventurous and I’m all like, “Let’s go. Let’s go here. Let’s go there.” And she’s like, “Oh, I don’t like to go to restaurants with you.” But they’re always good. They always [crosstalk 00:35:00]

Jessmyn:

Oh, my gosh. I love that. So, last question I have for you is if you could give yourself a single piece of advice at the start of it all, what would it be?

Ashleigh:

At the start of it all, my advice would be to curate the most amazing support system that you can. And that takes effort and it takes watching and it takes observation and work, and it takes inner work also. And what I mean by curate the most amazing support system is you have to be okay with sometimes letting go of family whose words could be detrimental to you and your emotions and your business because our words are what speak life or death over what we’re doing. And if you say, “I want to make $80,000 a month,” and your cousin’s mom, brother, whoever looks at you like, “Oh my gosh. Why do you want that much? You know, you can be content and not be rich.” And it’s like, first of all, and like, I want you to do an exercise because I’ve been reading, You’re a Badass at Making Money. And one of her prompts is for you to write down 10 things, and I just kept going, but 10 things that, how people, how the world is going to benefit from you having a ridiculous amount of money.

Jessmyn:

Oh, I love that.

Ashleigh:

And I think it’s such a great, and I was having a great time because one of the things I want to do, I went to the University of Houston and for my bachelor’s and it was such a great experience. And I love my Alma Mater and I wanted to go back and donate a million dollars, and be involved in the marketing curriculum. So, that’s how people are going to benefit. Students are going to be more prepared when they go out to the marketing field and have other… Like building funnels was definitely not something that we talked about in school. Understandably so.

But there are so many ways that people can benefit, family, friends, whatever. And don’t let other people put their limiting beliefs, their money limiting beliefs, their whatever limiting beliefs, on you. Just because you like nice things, and I am, I’m a Taurus, I like luxury and comfort, okay. I want to be able to ride in a private jet whenever I want to. I want to have my yacht on the Mediterranean. There’s no one who can make me feel bad about that, okay, because I know that at the point that I’m able to do that, so many people are going to benefit from the fact that I have enough money to be of service, to be of a bigger service than I am now. And then also just don’t forget that you are serving people now and that your impact is major right now.

But absolutely, you need friends who like all of my friends who I said, “Yeah, I want to make 30,000.” “Oh, I want to make 100,000.” They’re like, “You can do it.” That’s all they need to say.

Jessmyn:

I love that.

Ashleigh:

And, “how can I help you get there? What can I do?” Those are the friends you need. You need people who are where you want to be. And invest in masterminds if you can, but true masterminds. I’m not talking about coaching masterminds. I’m talking about true master meeting of the minds where you have time to talk about what issues you’re having. And then everybody can help you figure it out. Like those kind of masterminds. But curate an amazing support system. Because I have one of my friends, she has a private practice and I think she’s making $70,000 a month right now.

Jessmyn:

Wow.

Ashleigh:

Yeah. I mean freaking amazing. We went to the same school, you know what I mean? And it’s just it’s so cool to see her, to see her business grow and then other investments that she has. And it’s just it’s beautiful. And if your friends don’t feel like what you’re doing is beautiful and amazing, you need new friends. And I’m not even joking, I’m not being funny. You really do need to get rid of them because it’s going to take you longer to get to where you want to be. And not necessarily sayonara Sammy, and I got that from, oh my goodness, from New Girl, I’ve been watching New Girl again. But just like, don’t talk to them about your business. Talk to them about Real Housewives.

Jessmyn:

I love that. I think it’s so true. You got to surround yourself with people that are going to, in your own words, that are going to uplift you so you can continue moving forward and climbing that ladder. Ah, wow, that was so good. Stop. You’re giving me chills all day.

Ashleigh:

I’m having a great time.

Jessmyn:

I love it. I love it. Ashleigh, where can people find you online, if they’re looking?

Ashleigh:

The best place to find me is on Instagram, okay? And I know that Facebook and Instagram went down the other day. Oh my goodness. But that is the best place to find me @AshleighChanel. So A-S-H-L-E-I-G-H that is the girl spelling of Ashleigh, @AshleighChanel, C-H-A-N-E-L. But if you ever wanted to email me, you could email me at theoffice@makeyourmarkconsulting.com.

Jessmyn:

Love it. And we will link those in the show notes per usual for you guys if you want to just go ahead and click straight away. But if you’re listening and typing that in, that also works too. Well, thank you again, everyone for joining us. Ashleigh, thank you also. That, seriously, was so inspirational and this is going to be one of my favorite episodes, I think, ever.

Ashleigh:

Oh, thank you for having me. I really enjoyed myself.

Jessmyn:

Of course, of course. And guys, we will see you next time. Bye.

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Jessmyn Solana

Jessmyn Solana is the Partner Program Manager of Interact, a place for creating beautiful and engaging quizzes that generate email leads. Outside of Interact Jessmyn loves binge watching thriller and sci-fi shows, cuddling with her fluffy dog, and traveling to places she's never been before.