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Welcome to the Win with Paid Ads podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and really anyone who has anything you want more people to find. Whether you're starting from ground zero or scaling an eight figure business, you are exactly who this podcast was created for. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one. Right? That's why in every episode, I'll show you how you can use paid ads to hit your goals 10 times sooner. It's time you finally learn how to win with paid ads. You or someone on your team can do this. I'll show you how to score and be known by more. Let's get started. I had someone that I had just met from an ad, of course, and she said, wow, you've really grown so quickly. And I just feel like that's actually not true. I feel like we have grown quickly. Like our company revenue, the speed with which we're growing is not normal. And our strategy and our expertise with paid advertising is also not normal. So. So of course, I do agree that we've grown, but one of the things I wanted to do is just go back for a second and say if this is one of your first episodes or maybe you've been following along, you've binged nearly every episode. I kind of want to just go back to the Ashley that I was in high school and kind of go from there to here to say, what pivotal moments? What were the things that I remembered, what were the challenges? What were the roadblocks? How did we go from this one version to the CEO and founder of a nearly eight figure company at this point? And so I just feel like there's so much of the story that I haven't shared all the way. Um, and especially if you're just listening, I thought it'd be cool to go back for a second. So this is gonna be down memory lane. But what this episode will do for you is show you some of the challenges, the frustrations and, and the good things that happened along the way. But I thought this could be a good, good little intro to, to Ashley Brock. Let's go back to high school. Are you ready? All right, so let's see. I grew up and I was an only child. No judgment. Okay. You know, people make jokes about being an only child. I feel like I'm a pretty cool only child. I wasn't always though. Man, you should have seen some pictures of me in middle school. I'm like, mom, why did you let me look like that? And she said that I had just insisted on wearing the things that I did and having my hair the way that I did. Apparently I was extremely opinionated, even in elementary, middle school. But I. It wasn't cute. Like somebody, somewhere you have to look at these old pictures. Not cute. But anyway, I. One of the things I did start from an early age was sports, and it was soccer and basketball for me. I tried gymnastics, cried there. I tried cheerleading. I was not good at it. I tried dancing. Just. I wish, I currently wish I was good at dancing. I think I can have fun. Like when I'm like, dancing to the beat, like downstairs in the gym and nobody's watching, I'm like, mm, dancing. That's great. But I actually don't have great other dance ability. Like, one of my dreams. I'll go ahead and just put this out there in the world. One of my dreams. I'm like, if I ever could be on Dancing with the Stars, that would be so fun for me because I'm so bad at dancing. And I love learning from an expert. And I'm so competitive. I'm like, that would be a dream. So I wish I was good at dancing. I actually took ballroom dancing in college, Funny story, didn't make the team like I did ballroom dancing and then applied to be on the University of Georgia Ballroom Dance Club. And I. I didn't make it. I just wasn't that great at it. So anyway, what I was good at growing up was basketball and soccer. And so I played that. I played those sports, honestly, I think even from elementary school. So elementary, middle, high school, played. And one of the things that my parents did is they, they valued me as an athlete. They also valued my, like, school and like, grades and stuff. So I made straight A's. I don't think I ever made a B, like, as an actual grade for. No, I never made a B as an actual grade for a class. I make a B on a test or a workshop or a work. Work activity. Yes. But my ultimate grade was nay. And so I graduated with a 4.0 GPA from high school. And one of the things that my dad and mom. So they were divorced. They got divorced in first grade. There's a whole story there. I guess I could talk about it real quick. So my parents got divorced in first grade. And then my mom remarried and then I had some step siblings for a minute, and then that didn't work out. So then I didn't. And then my dad, after him and mom separated, he ended up remarrying once, almost twice. And now that he. He is with my stepmom and so my dad is with my stepmom now, and it's great. And my mom is with my stepdad now, and that's great. So. But there was some times where on each side, I actually had some step. Like, on mom's side and dad, I had some step siblings for a minute. So it was very weird. As an only child, it's like, I'm alone, and then now you see your parents and then these other kids that you're not used to seeing, having to share time, and then they weren't there anymore. It was just kind of a whole thing. And so in middle school and high school, I was bouncing back and forth from, you know, mom's house, maybe during the week. Dad's on every other weekend, and dad would have me a night. And the thing is, is my mom and dad, even though they were divorced, they were always there for me. Like, my dad is a salesman, and he has been in sales his entire life. He is incredible at sales. And I listened to him, like, riding in his car, just selling all the time and just leading and just owning this stuff. And I see so much of me in him, and I see so much of me and my mom, too. Like, I remember in middle school and high school, you know, you think your parents aren't cool and all these things, and now I'm like, wow, my mom was so smart. I just didn't see it then, you know, I was definitely that. That teenager that was like, my mom's not cool. And. And then you're in your 30s, and you're like, my mom's freaking genius. No wonder she didn't let me do these other things. I'm so glad. So I learned sales from my mom. My mom was a teacher, so she was a teacher. She worked at a. What do you call it? Dang it. She's gonna kick my butt for not remembering it. Oh. She worked at an alternative school as a counselor, where I believe my understanding is that's where kids go when they're kicked out of school. They go to the alternative school. And she was there. She's also really smart, so she taught really smart math classes. Like, I can't even. Because she's so smart. Like, she's a calculator. Like, you can say a math problem to her. And, like, in her brain, she already has it. I'm like, is there a calculator in there? Apparently there is, but she's so brilliant. She's so hardworking. She was in the band. So my mom was a teacher. She's retired now. So she did her whole. Yeah, I guess. I think it's 30 years. And she retired. And so she lives eight minutes from me now, which is such a blessing. But my dad lives 30 minutes. So even though my parents are divorced, they still got along. They still get along. They still. They are remarried. And that's kind of my family situation. So Kyle's family is also divorced. So our kids do have four Thanksgivings, four Christmases. But I grew up kind of bebopping to and from each person in high school. And the thing that made me the happiest in. Cause I loved my high school experience. The thing that made me the happiest was playing sports, like, playing basketball. I was in the marching band. Not only lasted for a year. I marched with the baritone. I loved it, though. My first boyfriend was the drummer in the band in high school. That was fun. He was. He was a senior and I was a freshman. And that was my, like, first intro into high school was like, first boyfriend, first love, all those things. There's so much more to the story there. But one thing that I remember is my parents incentivizing me in high school. And they said, when you make a certain grade or. No, what they say if I fell in the top 10 of my class, I think there was like, 500 or 600 people in my class. Honestly, it could be 800. I could be wrong, but I feel like it was, like, somewhere in that 4 to 600 range. And my parents said that if I graduated in the top 10 when I went to college, they'd either pay for me to be in a sorority or I'd get a vehicle. And vehicle just seemed so much more logical. And I was like, I'll take a car. I'll take transportation. So I just told myself, like, I'd make my own friends in college. So let's see. I. In. In high school, the only job that I had was at O Charlie's. And it was my senior year, I believe, in high school. When I started my junior, senior year in high school and I worked at O Charlie's as a hostess. And I think you've probably. If you've listened to other episodes, you've heard me say this before. But I'll never forget. I. I loved O Charlie's. I loved working there. I loved the staff. I actually really enjoyed the experience. I just think it was really funny looking back now at how much I'm legitimately responsible for between a team that's on its way to 20 millions and millions of dollars of revenue. And I Remember, the general manager was like, you can't handle too many things at once, so you're just gonna stay a hostess. Like, I wanted to be a waitress so bad. And he was like, no, I don't think you can handle it. And I just look at how much I handle now, and I'm like, all right. Well, honestly, the truth to be told was I was a different human then than I was now. And it's so funny. In every phase in life, you feel like you know it all. Do you feel like that? You're like, oh, he's wrong. I got this. And like, the older I've gotten, the more I realize, the more I don't know. But when you're younger, you're like, no, I know this. They don't understand. So that was my first job, was a hostess at Charlie's. And then so I graduated. I, I, I, My parents, remember, they told me that I could get a car if I was top 10. So I was, I was number 10. So I made it hair on my chin, chin, chin. But I graduated. Loved my high school, loved my friends. And then I went to Georgia, the University of Georgia, and I actually kind of went alone. I mean, I, I had a roommate that I found. She was wonderful. Her name was Emma. And we went to college, but none of my, like, good, close high school friends went with me to college. So I felt like I was kind of starting from scratch. And so I went my first semester. Had my high school boyfriend at the time in my first semester. Such a nice guy, truly. Never really did anything wrong, in my opinion. But then I went to play basketball one day at the University of Georgia, and I saw Kyle. And for those of you that have heard the story, the summary is he showed up in this Georgia football shirt. So I knew he played sports at Georgia, and he was wearing a backwards bandana cut off shirt. And I was like, who is this guy? And we had like a love and basketball moment. So love and basketball is a movie if you haven't watched it. And he came dribbling down the court. I was wide open on the post, and I was the only, like, girl on the court. And sometimes they, like, disregard me just a little bit at the beginning because they're like, you know, I'm not as big, as tall and strong as everybody else, but I was a great player. And so I was dribbling down the court and Kyle sees me open, but doesn't look at me, looks the other way, does a behind the back pass. I catch it, I pump fake the guy goes flying. I do a reverse layup, and we do a slow head turn. And I was like, oh, my God. And I'd never felt anything like I felt in that moment. And so it ended up that I broke up with my high school boyfriend. I still, like, literally remember the moment. I feel so bad. Cause he was such a, like I said, incredible guy. I think he's happily married now and just living his best life, which makes me so happy. But. But broke up with him, started dating Kyle. And let's see. Kyle was like, hey, you need to work. And I was like, you need to make better grades. Because he was smart, but, like, partying. And I was smart, but I just, like, wasn't working. I was like, well, my parents were giving me. I think it was like $100 a week my parents gave me. And that was like, my budget for the week. I was very good at budgeting. I was like, they're giving me a hundred dollars a week. Like, I don't. I don't need to work because I had the HOPE scholarship. So most of my school was completely paid for. And. And he was like, no. He admired the work ethic. And I was like, great. So I got a job at this events planning company that lasted one shift. And I was like, I do not want to work at a wedding. It was like 11 o' clock at night. I'm like, this is two hours past my bedtime. And I was wearing all black, and I was just scrubbing and stuff. I was like, I do not want this. I think it might have been two shifts back. Right after each one, I was like, I don't think I need to do this. Then I got the job at Chick Fil A in Athens. And so in Athens, at the University of Georgia, there's this one Chick Fil A that's like, at the top of the hill. And it's like, this is where everybody goes. All the football players, the sports announcers, all the college kids. And so I would be up there at 4am on game day or 4:30am Getting ready for game day, because there's so much. When it opens, people are ready for the fried chicken. Like, it's Georgia. It's game day. So I would wake up early, I'd go work game day. And that was busy, and you were handling a lot. But I got to have nearly every position. One of my favorite things I did at Chick Fil a was I was responsible for the sauces. And so I would sit there and I would literally spend like, 30 minutes stacking the sauces. So they were organized and all turned the right way. But they liked that. Like, they wanted it to be clean and organized. So I loved, like, getting to stack the sauces. That was the. One of the cooler moments. Anyway, so worked at Chick Fil A. Well, Kyle is. Has, like, a photographic memory, so he was able to just, like, get A's when he actually studied. And then I was able to go to work, and then we were like, okay, this is really cool. So one day, this is, like, my first little taste of entrepreneurship. Okay. So one day I'm driving back from my morning shift because it's game day, and I'm like, I was still able to go to the game. I just worked the morning shift. And all these fraternities were selling parking lots in the back of their fraternity building. And my landlord at the house that I was living at had another house right beside our house that was empty. So, like, the back porch was the. Or the backyard was completely empty. The house wasn't being rented. And I was like, this backyard could fit, like, 50 cars. And I remember emailing the landlord and saying, hey, I have an idea. What if I, like, do a parking lot in the backyard of your house next door and we split it and I. It's like 70, 30. I take 70, you take 30. And he was like, no, it's 50. 50 or we don't do it. I was like, that stinks. I'm the one waking up at 4am doing the sign and doing the work. But his. Anyway, it was 50. 50. I respect it. As a business owner, I'm like, okay, okay. But so I was out there every morning, and I'd never made $75 in 75 seconds. And, man, when that happened, I was like, I've literally hit the lottery. Like, I put that sign out there. It was like, Georgia Auburn. It was a big football game, and I went out there in my Georgia de gear. It was like, dancing in the street with this sign, like, parking. And I made it $5 less than the guys at the end of the road. So. So I would, like, scour and look at what the fraternity guys were holding up. And if it said, like, if theirs was like, 80, I'd, like, mark my 80 out and do 75. So that when people turn down the street, they saw them, but they couldn't not see me. They turned down the street and they'd see it. And I was $5, and I was just, like, dancing. And next thing you know, first game, we sold out that parking lot. I had 50 cars, y'. All. It's $75. Somebody do math. I was making, I don't know, six or seven dollars, maybe eight an hour at Chick Fil A. I'm like, how much did I just make? I think Robert is sitting here, and he's doing math. Robert. So it was $75 a car times 50 cars. 3750. Yeah. So 3750. If you think about it, in Chick Fil A hours, If I made $8 an hour, that would be 468 hours. And I made that in an afternoon. So, like, that was my first taste of, oh, if you have the right offer for the right person at the right time, they buy it. That was pretty cool. So I ended up running that parking lot and that parking lot alone, like, created my savings account. So I actually didn't spend any of that money. I put it aside. That was my first taste of a savings account, and it was really cool. So that was my first taste of entrepreneurship. Sadly, I actually was willing, after I graduated, to come back and run the parking lot again. He was like, no, I got it. I'm like, dang it. Because it was so good. Because there were, like, I don't know how many home games it was over, I don't know, a $20,000 gig that I kind of created by driving by one day, which is fine. So the lesson was like, that was my first experience of, you could make money quicker when you solve a certain problem. And so I'd always associated money my whole life with time. It's like, time equals money. The amount of hours you spend is what results. But it's. But it was where I started. I didn't even realize it at the time, but it was the first time I got the experience of, you don't necessarily have to make money based on time. You can make money based on value. And there's a certain value that we created. There was that parking lot, which was really cool. So, anyway, let's keep fast forwarding. So that was my first taste of entrepreneurship. Graduated. I actually. Kyle and I both went to the career fairs with, like, a binder. He got a job at State Farm with someone he met at the UGA Career Fair. I got a job at a marketing agency. That was my first job out of college. And my. Granted, my. My degree was in digital and broadcast journalism. So I had interned at WTVC News Channel 9, the ABC affiliate station in Chattanooga. So I worked there for a summer for free. And I. For those of you that don't Know, I. I drove an hour to and from every day to go to this place. And one day a week, I would stay with my friend's parents. It was like 35 minutes away. And just stay in her old high school room. Like, I was, like, really uncomfortable. Like, not uncomfortable, but, like, doing things that were uncomfortable, which was like, I, you know, I'm gonna go stay somewhere just because I'm willing to, like, do this for this job. I'll do anything. And her family was so nice and so welcoming. But, yeah, I did all that work for free for a whole summer and drove so much just to literally get my foot in that newsroom. And I'm so grateful for it because it was one of my first experiences of what I would call the real life workforce. And I really got to see it in action, how much work it is to produce content, new content every single day in a new. In a newsroom. I. I got to go do interviews. Cause in college at Georgia, when you're in the broadcast journalism department, you are shooting, editing, and delivering your story for the day, your package for the day. So you're one man banding it and turning it around in a day. And I did that every single day for so long. And so I was so used to walking up to people, getting uncomfortable, asking questions. And honestly, I think about my career today, and I'm sitting here recording this episode, and I'm gonna record a sales page video later, and I get on zoom with hundreds of people every. Every time we do this Win with Pay Dads challenge. By the way, if you haven't joined the challenge, click the link below this podcast or video and get your ticket. But, like, I think about the steps that went to being able to confidently get in front of hundreds of people and communicate. And it probably started in college, walking up to people you didn't know, saying, hi, I have a quick question. Could you talk to me about this? I really have this due today. And I was just so scared, and everything was so timid, and it was just, I know, Adult confident. It just hadn't grown there yet. And so. But I'm so glad because something has to push you outside your comfort zone. And honestly, like, walking up to people with a camera, like, people don't like being walked up to, period. You walk up to them with a camera, it's a whole different vibe. And so actually being able to do that over and over and over again in college and in that internship was really huge for me. So I. I went to UGA broadcast journalism, went to that Career fair. And I actually was offered a job at a news station. And it was for about 30,000. Maybe it was 28. It was 28 or $30,000. And the thing was, is, it was. It was nights and weekends, and there weren't many perks to it. And then. So that was my offer. And then I went to this career fair and got a job offer that was like $33,000 or $34,000. 32. I don't know. It was all 28 or 30. All I know is it was, like, $2,000 more to work at this marketing agency. And it was in Atlanta versus another place that was farther away. And it was Monday through Friday, and it was during business hours. And it wasn't until I was about to accept the job that I'm like, I. I don't want to work nights and weekends. Like, I want to work hard, but I would love to work during the day. And I know if you're listening, not everybody has that luxury. And I totally understand. I had a decision, and I made a decision. I'd rather sit at a computer. And, like, a part of me was sad, okay? Part of me was like, dang, I am letting go of this future. Because I'd always wanted to be Aaron Andrews, like, the sports reporter. That was my senior project in high school. Like, I wanted that. But I. I also was, like, really excited about this marketing thing, like, just getting to know them. I was like, wait, I can still tell a story. Wait, there's still videos. There's still ads. There's still, like. Like, interviews that I could do. There's still our own marketing. Like, that. I just saw how I could transfer the skills that I had acquired to this position. So I gladly and excitedly and gratefully accepted it. So my first advertising agency that I worked at, it was called Full Media. And I. Well, I guess let me take one step back before I tell you about Full Media. In college, I even did marketing for this local bar studio. So I got to practice sales. I got to do marketing and advertising. I got to help her with her website. Like, I actually got to do some marketing. And in college, because I forgot to mention, I did that while I was working at Chick Fil? A. Like, I would go to Chick Fil? A, and then I'd have a. Like, a session at this bar studio. Cause I got free classes, and I got to do her marketing and advertising. So that was really cool. And so anyway, that was my kind of first step with small business marketing and advertising that I brought into the role at Full Media when I started. And so Full Media was smaller businesses. So I, I mean I had budgets for ad budgets that were 500 to $1,000 a month. And I got to do SEO. So that's search engine optimization because now everything I do is free. But I got to do SEO and paid advertising and even touch a little bit of email marketing when I was at that company which was really cool and social media like it was so cool. I got such a wide range of experience for small business owners but it all came to like your online presence and getting people to find you. So I worked there for a couple years and then I moved to the next agency and they have rebranded and I honestly don't know their new company name because they've changed. But at the time it was a data, data analytics and advertising agency. So they had clients where they did data visualization. So like taking the data visual, visualizing it to make decisions. And so I worked there and there it was like I would say more mid size to even some, I would say really large companies. They had some incredible clients there. And like I remember GameStop was one of the clients. I think Coca Cola was one of the clients. There's some really big ones at that agency. And so I joke but I have this woman, she's a friend of mine, her name is Olivia and I call her my fairy job mother because she actually was a person that hired me at the first agency and then also was able to bring me over to the second agency. So there I got to do. That's when I explained my like type of ads. So that's when I had done I got to touch shopping ads, I got to touch YouTube ads, I got to do Facebook and Instagram ads, I did Zillow ads, we did Spotify ads and Pandora ads, we did display ads, search ads. Like that was my wow, we are advertising here. And it's so much more than just one type. And so I got to really touch all these different types of ads for product based and retail based. I even had a huge network marketing company as a client. Big retail brands you'd be familiar with. And so I was working, I even had a really cool custom homebuilder client there where they have 10 properties for these million dollar homes all throughout the US so cause really got familiar with the construction side of home building. Anyway, it was really really cool. So I was there for a while and then after I moved there I went to another agency which was the largest privately held agency in the us. I'm not sure where it stands today. But they did over 3 billion a year in advertising. And that's where it was like even more Mac Daddy Big. That's where. Even where those Fortune 500 companies that I got to manage, I got to do Dollar Tree, Family Dollar. I really loved working with California Closets and Thumbtack was another one. There was a few more. But anyway, I loved these. They're incredible. Also if you haven't used Thumbtack for home service providing, like they're fantastic. And if you haven't gone to Dollar Tree lately, there's some gems in there. Anyway, I could advertise. I just loved my clients so much. But I got to manage. That's where I began managing six figure a day budgets. Not on every account, but on a couple of them they were at least a million or a couple million dollars a month. And there were some that actually did do six figures a day in advertising. And so that was where I really got to take what I had really mastered at agency number two to really elevate it in agency number three. And I was there the longest. So I really got to see all these different clients. And that's where I actually got to see the whole experience of advertising. Like I got to see they had different departments. They had like the analytics department, the email department, the social department, the shopping department, the search department, the client success department, the sales department. Like there were, the agency was just larger. And I think when I got there there were less than a hundred. But by the time I left there were hundreds. If I remember correctly, it's something along those lines. But they, they grew exponentially. They grew multiple locations. And so that's where I got to see some different processes and some more sophistication. Like the way that that agency delivered their results, communicated to their clients, the client present. Like I can't tell you how many slides I made, Google Slides I made and how many Excel sheets and data it was. There was an onboarding, there was an audit document I got to help build. It was so fun. Like I really got to see advertising at scale and I got to learn from so many other experts. And again that's where I really feel like that cross channel strategy of getting to see how it all works together really mattered and really came together. But I also feel like that at the second agency. So I got two different tastes of how two different agencies could do it. And at an advertising agency you're always working on multiple clients, which was great for learning because I got to really experience so many different types of Industries from software to retail to, I mean Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have I believe over 14,000 locations. That's a lot of individual locations. We're driving. Store traffic to Black Friday was a big thing there. I had a big shoe company, Rockport, flew out to, to Boston. So just so much experience. And what I found was the more budget that I was managing, the more these reps on Google and even YouTube, they have their own department and TikTok, they're flying me and the other account leads out because they knew that I was the main voice between the CMO and telling them what percentage of their budget we should spend on Google versus Bing versus YouTube versus TikTok and Pinterest and LinkedIn and beyond. I was the strategist to help figure that out. And so I got to like test the betas, I got to go to Google headquarters and Golden Corral was one of my clients. We got to go strategize and meet the Google team there. So there was just so much of this platform support that I got and then so much team support and just being able to work with people that have been in advertising for so long. So that was my experience that led to kind of where we are today. And so while I was working at these agencies, I was also teaching. So my second advertising agency, this guy named Noah, I'll never forget, he inspired me so much. He also taught after work. He loved what he did so much he went to General assembly and taught. So then he was like, Ashley, you would love this. So I went to General assembly and taught for years. And it was in person that it was online with COVID But people all over the world I was teaching paid advertising to and then after class, people would come up to me and be like, hey, can I pay you to like help me with my business? And I was like, oh my gosh, yeah. So next thing you know, I'm working at an ad agency, I'm teaching at night and consulting in the morning. I was like, I was, I was. You couldn't adds more than I was adding. And what I found with all the consulting and even the teaching was the questions were the same. The same questions the CMO of these Fortune 500 companies were asking were the same ones these small business owners were asking in our one on one consulting sessions. And there began to be a point where there was no more minutes in the day. Like I couldn't talk about ads for more than 10 or 12 hours because I had to go to sleep. And so that was when I was like, man, there's repetition here. And I think that's where the seed planted. Because my moment, like, my big moment was in. So in this whole journey, this is the last few things that'll lead to kind of that pivotal moment is while I'm working at these ad agencies. I decided to join a network marketing company. Was like, let me just make some extra income. That went okay. And then I was like, let me start a travel cash with ash like, Instagram account. I think the Instagram account still exists. Oh, my gosh. Oh, God, if it's out there. But basically, it was all about credit card points because I was so obsessed about money and saving money that I created this, like, credit card hacking situation. Well, that lasted for six months, didn't really go anywhere. And then after that, I decided to create another course. It was called how to Get a Job in Digital Marketing. No one got a job. Like, a few people bought, but basically no one except for Laura Beth. And Laura Beth, who is now our director of operations, she was like, hey, if this ever takes off, like, I'm in. She didn't get a job from the course, so that was a bust. But ultimately she's now director of operations at a marketing company. So she did get a job in digital marketing, or at least advertising, but it didn't go well. And the reason I want to tell you that is because there are all these different things that you're gonna try. And just because you're experimenting and it feels kind of chaotic and it's not working doesn't mean it's not actually working for you. Like, it wasn't working for me in the moment, but it was creating the me that is the me today. It was data. And what I've realized is clarity comes from movement, not before. Like, if you don't move and you don't act and you don't do something, you can't have clarity. Right? You can only have questions. And so that was me getting no's, getting uncomfortable, trying different things, which ultimately kind of seasoned and shaped me into someone who eventually would be able to make something work. And I'm so glad because I spent like hundreds of hours. I'm not kidding. Figuring out how to make your own website, figuring out how to make your own email, figuring out how to set up my own tracking, figuring out how to record a course, figuring out how to edit a course. Like, I was doing all this learning and all this stuff behind the scenes while trying to teach and work and do all this. And the first course was just such a bust. And so I'm so glad it was a bust because if that hadn't, if that had gone well, I wouldn't be here. I know that I wouldn't because the opportunity to make people money versus help people get a job is just two different industries. And so I'm really glad that took the action that I did and that I kept going. So that was then. And then basically what kind of happened beyond that, after the network marketing stuff, stuff is. And I created how to get a job is my marriage. I think I've talked about this before, but my relationship with Kyle, it just wasn't going great for about a year. It was like really, really rocky. And I know I say this all the time, but like every relationship I think has these moments. But we had to like little period there. And during that I realized that my identity was tied to him, not to the value that I was creating. And I kind of needed a distraction. Like I was kind of just like unhappy for a minute, you know, and so I was like, I need something to focus this energy on and I don't want to do anything bad. I just want to do something. And so I went for a walk with Easton one day. And that's where I heard that book was the first book. Like, I hadn't listened to self help book or anything, but the first book I did was Rachel Hollis. And it was, I think it was girls, stop apologizing. And I remember when she said that quote that y' all have heard me say. And it's. She wanted the quote in her book said, you can want something more for yourself for no other reason than because it makes your heart happy. And I was pushing Parker or no, I was pushing Easton, my oldest, in the stroller. And my body wasn't great, My relationships weren't great, my finances weren't great, Things weren't growing great. And that moment was the first moment I was like, wait, I do want more. I want more happiness, I want more money. I want to live in a house. Like, I just. Nothing against an apartment. I just, I just didn't want to get soaking wet when I had groceries. Like, I just really wanted to have a yard for my toddler. It was just after Covid, I'm like, I just want to be outside and have space and have privacy and not hear this loud music every single night when that car drives in. Like, I just wanted some more space. And so that was the moment I was like, I think I'm going to create something. And I had seen all these people online And I remember hearing, if you repeat it, record it. And I was like, I am getting the same questions from these business owners over and over and over again. And so that's when I decided I'm going to create an ads training. And so I did it. I was pregnant. The first version of my program actually taught it live. Like, I said, extremely pregnant. Like, out of breath half the time. And I went all in. I taught it live. I had a few people, I kind of got to do it for free, and a few people that actually paid $1,000 for the first time. And I was like, this. This is insane. Someone just paid me a thousand dollars. Like, I nearly passed out when that happened. And I want to remind you that you have to take action before you feel like it's ready. Like, I wanted to be like, well, I'm just uploading these live trainings on Google Drive. Like, that's not probably the best system. It doesn't matter. You don't need it. You don't need a lot to get started. You just need to get started. And you probably heard that, but I just want to encourage you. Whatever the next thing is you're wanting to do what, whatever your next vision is, it is possible. You've just got to act it into existence. Like, just do it, make it pretty later. I mean, I'm recording this, and we just launched our new brand today, the day that I'm recording. And it's like, we made it pretty. And it's two years later that we've truly, truly, truly made something that I'm like, this. This represents who we are. So just like, get it out there. And remember that courage will precede confidence. You will not have confidence when you begin, but you must have courage to begin. And if you wait until you feel confident, then you'll not probably do it, because confidence comes through that movement like we were talking about. So I start my business, and I worked. So the other agency that I worked at is right when I was kind of going out on my own. I was consulting for another agency, and I was like, I'll just. It was a couple hours. I'm like, I'll just do some work here. Really help them win. I actually really loved it. Got to work with Atlanta Zhou, Georgia's own credit union. Like, they're an incredible agency. So I worked with them a little bit while I was creating my course with the other time. And then I finally was like, all right, I'm just going to go all in on the course side. And so my first time launching the course I like promoted organically, asked some friends, posted on LinkedIn and I got a couple people. Then I was like, oh, oh, oh no, I have to legitimately advertise this. And I had not done that with any of my prior businesses, which is honestly, to be fair, probably why they failed because no one knew about them. But like the 17 people that followed me from high school on social media. So here we are today with a nearly eight figure business with 13 teammates. And the way that we got here is when I first started my business, I advertised it and then every time I doubled my spend, I just, I, I spent more and I spent more and I spent more. And then I finally had Laura Beth join me and she helped me create our first in person event. And right before I did our first in person event, I had invested in a sales training program. So I'll take you through this story for those of you that haven't heard. So I start my own business. I have Laura Beth at 10 hours a week, she's working at the church, she's 10 hours a week just helping me. Cause after I had done it on my own for about six or eight months, that's when I finally had Laura Beth join. So I'd done, I'd solo, I'd built the whole business, I'd built the whole training, I'd done all the emails, all the reminders, all the videos, all the editing, I'd done all of it. And then I have Laura Beth join. And soon after she had joined even 10 hours a week, I was like, hey, I'm gonna do this training program. And so I was eight months pregnant and it was an eight week program. Somebody do the math and tell me that does not make sense. I was like, I'm not even gonna get all the weeks in probably. And I didn't, I did not get all the weeks in. But I remember kind of the sales process Kat was selling me. It was Kat and Macy at the time and, and Kat had sold me. She was like, do you want momentum after baby? Because momentum after baby is created pre baby. And I was like, wait, that's true. If I want to be in momentum after baby, I have to start now to build that. And I just feel like you can always sell yourself in or out of any decision. And I just so wanted to sell myself into it. I was like, I wanna buy this and I don't wanna make excuses on why not to buy this. I wanted to be sold. Like, I wanted someone to tell me like, no, I'm not crazy. Like, you can make this work. And she did, but she was like, being pregnant is the very reason, and the baby is the very reason you should go ahead and invest. And she was not wrong. And I'm just so glad she sold me like she did, because it was just so true. So anyway, I do that investment, and then I sell exponentially better. I think I had, like, a 30 or $40,000 launch the second time that I did my launch. And so I was like, dang, these sales skills really work. Like, I. That had gone well for me. So then in December, they host a challenge, and they ended up selling me their $50,000 program. Well, I didn't have $50,000. For those of you that know and you want the full story, you can go back to the other episodes. But I did not have that money, and I didn't even have the credit cards to have that money. So I ended up. I had this moment. And again, for those of you that have heard it on the podcast or on the YouTube channel, you've heard the story, but I'll remind you. Basically, I felt God call me into my closet, and I got on my knees. I opened up my hands. I'll never forget this. And he was like, ashley, open your hands. You have faith with your words, but not your money. And it was true. I did not have faith with money. In fact, I'd never even thought of the thought having faith with money. And I did. And I heard God say, we have this all figured. I have this all figured out for you. And so I was, like, shaking. I was like, was that real? Does anybody here like what was happening? And so when Kyle came home and was like, hey, God told me that, you know, I need to spend $50,000 today. And he was like, God. God told you what? And I'll never forget. He was like, whoa. Like, his. He had a little bit of a trauma response because he didn't grow up with much money at all and had never even been on a plane when we met. And so, long story short, it was a hard conversation, but I knew I had to transfer certainty to him. When I. When I. When I had that conversation, I couldn't have a transfer hesitancy. I wasn't like, hey, I'm scared to tell you this, but I was like, kyle, I think I remember saying something like, kyle, what I'm about to tell you, I'm not joking. I'm completely serious, and I'm kind of already sold on this. And it means so much to me that you see the value and that you're in on what we're about to do here. Cause it's a huge move. But I'm pretty certain that this is what I want to do. And I just want you to support me. And he was like, what? And I was like, I feel like something's going to happen. God says he has this all planned out for me, and I think it's gonna be a big investment. And I told him what it was gonna be, and he was like, whoa, how are you gonna get that money? And I was like, I think I'm gonna have to get a couple credit cards, but I really believe this can happen. Like, I really heard God. And he was like, well, I'm ultimately more scared if you did hear God, what we do, if we don't do what you think you're called to do. And I was like, I agree. So he was like, all right. He was kind of in shock still. He was kind of just saying, I guess. And so I went to my mom after that. Cause I was Kyle first and then Mom. And mom is like the most money saving, like, frugal person I know, and I respect it so much. It's why she is where she is. It's why I was able to have a savings account through college. Like, we were really intentional with money, Very frugal. And I sat down, I said, mom, I'm thinking about spending $50,000 on this thing. And here's what happened. Here's what God said to me. Here's what I believe. And she grabbed my hand and she looked at me and she said, honey, she said, I think you should do it. And I just can't tell y' all if, you know, my mom, like, having her blessing number one, but having her see that too. I was like, you really think so? She's like, I really do, honey, I think you should do it. I think you should spend the money. And I'm like, what is she saying? And so then I'm like, oh, my God, we're doing this. And so I remember, like, shivering when I was clicking, like, purchase for this $50,000 program. And less than a month later, with those skills and ads that I ran to this event that I planned 45 days out when I had 1100 followers, no credibility, no experience hosting an event, Me and Laura Beth put on an event, ran ads to it in 45 days, and we had, I don't know, two or 300 people in the room. And I. And I had my first six figure day in my business. And I'll never Forget sitting side stage and watching my phone. I was like, 5,000, 5,005. Like, I, I'll never forget that moment. And that was again, taking me back to that car lot. Example of if you have value, it doesn't have to take a certain amount of time. Like, I had been conditioned to think. And so I had a six figure day. Six months later, I got sold again. Same company, third time. Okay, now me and Macy are friends. Okay, so it's all good now. So all good now. She even paid for some ads training. So we're, we're, we're, we're calling it even. But she. I invested $125,000 to like work with her really closely and then had a VIP day with her. And six months later, I had my first seven figure day. So I had my seven figure day. About six months later, I paid another $125,000 to sit with Alex Hormozi and in a room with these other entrepreneurs. And, you know, people ask me, were the investments worth it? How did you do it? Like, I just had to change how I thought about money. And I had to really anticipate and decide in my brain that the good thing was gonna happen and that if I felt led to do it, that I didn't need to be in decision. I didn't need to wait. Because every minute I'm waiting and wondering, is this the right move? Like, I, I knew it was someone I trusted. I knew they had a skill that I wanted. And I just, I just moved quickly. And I feel like some of the most successful people I know, that's what they do. They don't waste time in indecision mode. They spend time in precision mode and in decision mode. They know what they're doing. And so I invested it, paid back. I invested it, paid back. And along the journey, I was able to hire teammate after teammate. So I hired Laura Beth and then Katie and then Lacey and then Caitlin and then Meredith and then Rose and then Nicole and then Alexis and Marianne, and we just kept going. And male, we have an incredible team at the paid ads Academy. We will do eight figures this year. And Kyle and I have gone to counseling. Our marriage is stronger, and I'm just so proud of how I've really shifted who I am. I went from scarcity mindset. Everything happens to me to, you know, all. You know, even at the ad agency. I can't say a bad thing about any ad agency I worked at because honestly, it was a bunch of smart, great people. To be honest, I wasn't going to make it to leadership for a really long time. Like, I. I knew I had the capability to lead, but I wasn't going to be a director, I think, until I was 40. Like, it was gonna, it was gonna take a while. And being able to, like, see the potential for myself first that no one else saw. I wanna share that with you because you may have to be that for you. If you're not already at a certain place in your business, or if you're. Or even if you are, there's a next level you wanna go to. And you're probably gonna have to be your own cheerleader and see your own potential and make your own decision, own intuition and have your own belief and your own mindset. It's like all up here, like, how you think about you, how you think about money, how you think about possibility. It really is going to come down to, like, how you're thinking about it and just being willing to say the beliefs that got you to where you are won't be the same beliefs that carry you to where you're going. And it was the very same thing for me. I am constantly involving my mindset. How I think about money, how I think about investing. I've made decisions and spent so much in the last six months is outrageous. But it makes sense for the value we're creating for our clients and where this company is going. And you have to remember, this is the thing that's helped me, is I am operating as the $25 million CEO that I am. Do. Have I made $25 million? No, not yet. And I'm operating as that CEO today because I will. In fact, I. I truly believe I'll have a $100 million company one day. And the only way I'll get to that level of CEO is by making decisions as that CEO today. So I can't make decisions out of scarcity mindset because that's not what $100 million CEO does. And I can't wait and be in indecision mode. I can't not invest to be in the room with other people who have done something. I haven't anyone. I can make the most out of anything. And I just want you to have that belief that you can be the person that goes into any room with any idea, and you will get the value out of it and it'll pay back exponentially. And you can do what I did. You can chronically reinvest over and over and over again to be the best, to surround yourself with the best, have the Best incomes, the best business and the best impact. Whether you're impacting dogs, companies, individuals, people with their outfits, whatever it is, you have an impact you're creating with what you do. And I just want you to believe that. And I want you to operate as the person and as a CEO that you know that you will be and just be that that person today. That was some of the best advice that I've been given. So just knowing that there were times that I failed, there were times that I hired someone and had to let them go, there were times that I was desperate and wanted people to buy and I probably shouldn't have worked with that person because I lost sleep and I made bad decisions. There are times I responded to emails emotionally, there are times I responded to teammates emotionally. There are so many mistakes that I make. I'm really bad at time management. If you didn't know, like, I have all these things that I'm not perfect at. I'm also relentlessly committed to, to taking feedback, growing myself. And when you grow yourself, your company will grow too. And one of the ways that you can grow is in a room like the challenge that we've created. So if you've never joined the Win with Pay Dads Challenge, it's a great environment of other six, seven and eight figure entrepreneurs that you belong in the room with and you'll see the types of questions and the strategy that's going on in that room and you belong there. And you may find that after the challenge that that was everything that you needed. Or you may find after the challenge that working with my company at a deeper level in our communities and our events and our training programs could be the thing that you've been waiting for for so long. And I can guarantee you'll know one way or the other by the end of that challenge. So if you're a current client, I love you. I hope this episode and this like, summary of where we were was so helpful. And if you are not working with our team yet at the Paid Ads Academy, we would love to invite you to the challenge and just remind you that your identity will precede your results. People can't wait to find you. They can't wait to pay you. Growth is uncomfortable and so worth it. And I just want to ask yourself, when's the last time you took a big risk? When's the last time you did something different than what you've been doing? And I would love to invite you into a place where we can create the challenging, we can create the risk. We can create that different environment and speed things up for you. And that's why we've created the win with paydad's challenge. So I hope this is helpful. As you see, kind of where we are today versus where we were. And I will see you on the next episode. Advertise your name, make it rain.