Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to The Corporate Escapee hosted by Brett Trainor,
We are on a mission to help 10,000 GenX professionals escape the corporate confines and find freedom and balance. We focus on helping you replace your corporate income by monetizing your experience and working fewer hours.
GenX was raised without many rules and a lot of independence. We want to show you how to reclaim that freedom
We blend stories from escapees, how to episodes, subject matter experts and authors.
Subscribe to Corporate Escapee Podcast define your legacy in the world of business today.
Join us and transform your expertise into a thriving, fulfilling business outside the traditional corporate confines.
Brett Trainor (00:02.126)
Hey Ashley, welcome to the podcast.
Ashley (00:04.912)
Thanks Brett for having me, I'm excited to be here.
Brett Trainor (00:07.663)
I'm super excited to dig in because, you know, we were talking offline a little bit. You made the decision. This is what I'm going to do. And you sure enough found a way to do it pretty darn quick compared to some other folks. So, and the one thing that I've heard a lot from our listeners is share some more stories of folks that have escaped corporate and.
Just wanted to hear how they did that, recommendations they have. So I thought this is perfect. It's fresh, you're four days into your fractional escape -y world. So welcome. And to start us off, why don't you share with the audience just a little bit of what you're working on now, and then we're gonna go back into your corporate escape.
Ashley (00:55.44)
Yeah, so essentially I signed my first client roughly four days ago. It's a fractional CMO role. I'm really excited to kick off there. Sorry, forgot to add it. I'm like deciding now if I need to say their, I shouldn't say their name or not. So that's why I just stumbled on.
Brett Trainor (01:08.015)
Nah, you're good.
Brett Trainor (01:16.719)
Yeah, you don't need to just say you get your first client there in the SMB space or something along those lines.
Ashley (01:20.944)
Okay. All right. So yes, I'm about four days in, I was able to secure my first client as a fractional CMO. They are a printing company where I'm essentially a B2B marketer for them. I'm just really excited to, you know, elevate what they're currently doing. They have a great marketing team, but I really wanted to take them to the next level on a strategy perspective. So four days in and yeah, just really excited to offer my expertise of 17 years.
Brett Trainor (01:51.247)
That's awesome. And like I tell people all the time, right? There is small business, midsize businesses, nonprofit startups that are hungry for experience like you and Ashley, you're, you're a perfect example of this, right? It's, and they couldn't afford you full time, but finding a way to do it fractionally or some other part -time way, you know, it's a win -win for both, both sides, right?
Ashley (02:12.144)
Right. And you know, I think what you've talked a lot about as well is a lot of educational piece around that. So essentially, you know, my first two days on the job was a lot of education to the internal team of like, what is this fractional CMO role? And how I have teed it up to the team is simply I'm here as a part time standpoint. You know, I have X amount of hours each week. I plan to be in leadership meetings. I plan to be hands on keyboard.
I think what was really appealing to the client was not only was I strategy level, but also hands on keyboard. So for example, I can dig into their CRM. I can dig into troubleshooting like Facebook event pixels and things of that sort. So I think for that company, that size, they needed someone that could do strategy to elevate them, but also be very hands on keyboard with the team troubleshooting any kind of issues or being very much hands on with them.
Brett Trainor (03:09.231)
Yeah. And I think, you know, I'm going to take us down our first rabbit hole and we're just getting started. But I think it's such a good point because I think that's where there's so much value with, with folks that have 10, 20, 30 years of experience. You can bring all of that to the table where a lot of the times that I don't know how this company was structured, but if they were going to bring somebody in as a full -time CMO, they would have a hard time finding somebody at that level that could do all the things that you can bring even on a part -time basis. So.
Like I said, this is why I'm so excited about the future that it is there's still education, but it's it just makes too much sense for both you and for the business.
Ashley (03:45.904)
Right. And as I was exploring this journey for me, a piece of advice someone gave to me that I do want to share to this group was someone told me, do not be above the work. And that really stuck with me. They said, well, you're no longer climbing the corporate ladder and you're not saying, oh, I'm only part of these meetings and my junior team members handles this. They're like,
You're getting paid a set amount of retainer. You're not competing for any kind of roles anymore. So do not be above the work. And that really stuck with me. And that's how I'm essentially, you know, my go -to -market strategy. And that's my value prop is I can help elevate you based on my previous experience being in management consulting. But I've always been hands -on keyboard and I pride myself being hands -on keyboard because it keeps myself fresh with that. So.
I think that's one of the best advice I got was do not be above the work.
Brett Trainor (04:42.447)
Yeah, I love that. And I think we just found the title for this podcast. And it's such a good point. I didn't even thought about it, but that is a lot of the value of this. And you're right. The one thing I do tell folks, like in corporate, it's you're competing against your peers, other people in the corporate or the organization for promotions. And it's just a fact of life. But here you're not, right? You're literally here to help these businesses succeed. You're not looking for the next promotion. You're not doing it. It's really, how do I help?
Ashley (04:45.488)
Yeah.
Brett Trainor (05:11.695)
this business improve. So yeah, that's awesome.
Ashley (05:16.688)
And I think to just the, when you said value, that just sparked something for me. You know, again, this is consultant Ashley speaking, but I always think of value. Where am I going to provide the most value at this time? And how can I make someone's life easier? So how can I make the CEO's life easier or the team's life here? Where is my most value needed at this time to move the needle?
Brett Trainor (05:43.407)
Yeah, that's so good. And a good segue, because I do want to take us back to your management consulting. And even if you want to go a little bit back beyond that, that's fine. But the one thing that I always find fascinating is when do people hit that tipping point, right? At some point, you were just, I'm like, I'm done. I need to get out. I need to do my own thing. So maybe take us back just a little bit before that and just talk us through.
where you are at, either mentally, physically, all of the above, that made you think, all right, there's gotta be something better.
Ashley (06:14.544)
Yeah, you know, something that I, so prior to management consulting that I was in for three years, I spent a lot of my career in ad agencies and technology companies. And what I started to realize was I miss the hustle and I miss pitching, you know, RFPs at the ad agency. I miss doing speaking engagements. I was on stage all the time as a thought leader and I really thought about it. I'm like,
Wow, I was really happy when I was at the ad agencies doing all the things and pitching business and flying here and meeting new clients. And I thrive off of that space, the hustle of it. And I think Brett, you came up in my TikTok as you're probably coming up for a lot of people as well. And you talked about this fractional space and I start to dig into a little bit more. And I was like, this is something that is just aligned to who I am.
And I've always in me as a little kid had that entrepreneurial spirit. I was always making inventions and trying to think those things out. So when you came up in my TikTok, I was like, huh, this seems to be something of interest for me that is really suited for who I am and my core values. And that's when I started looking into him like, well, maybe, you know, management consulting is just no longer my path and just wanted, you know,
that work life balance as well. I think one thing that I really want to own is my own calendar. I want to own my own schedule. I want to own that calendar. Even though my whole career I had mentors say to me, you own your own calendar, you can tell people no. I mean, to a certain extent, but I tune out, I truly own my own calendar now. You know, I have...
you know, my first client and I send them a cannoli link and I block off, you know, times that I'm just not available. And I feel like that's so empowering to me. So coming back to your question, I think it's a mixture of just having, you know, the freedom, the flexibility and just really being feeding who I thirst to be. And is that that hustler spirit and just having the connections, the conversations, that's just who I am. And I
Ashley (08:39.728)
I don't know if you know Brett, if you didn't come in my TikTok, if I would have gone down this route. But yeah, I just feel like the stars were aligned for my time to go this path.
Brett Trainor (08:49.487)
Yeah, I'd love to take credit for it, but I doubt that would be the case. I think you would have found your path out. But again, that's one thing I'm trying to do with this podcast and even the TikTok is just create the awareness and say, Hey, there is life outside of corporate. You can take, and you're just a quote machine too, which I love take back the calendar, right? Which is under, I didn't fully appreciate that until later where you can block off. You can schedule meetings, you own it, you know, good or bad sometimes, right? If you're poor at.
scheduling, it's going to get tough, but it took me a while. But once you get into a routine, right, you can block and again, your most productive times, you can not, you don't have to schedule client meetings. You can do what you need to do. So, um, and that's fantastic. All right. So, all right. So now you've made the decision to go, and this is where I think a lot of people still in corporate get hung up and say, it's too hard. I don't know how to get started. I don't have the skills. When I say that's not true, that's not true.
Ashley (09:32.784)
Right.
Brett Trainor (09:48.527)
You do have the skills, people need to help across the board. I don't care what you're doing in corporate. As I say, if somebody's paying you to do a job, there's a small business, a startup that needs your help as well. And so how did you start? Cause one thing I didn't do was have a plan when I left. It just got to the point, you know, both sides, we agreed to disagree and all right, I'm like, I'm going to go do this.
So what was your thought process when you're like, all right, I see what's out there. What was, kind of walk us through your preparation and.
Ashley (10:20.848)
Yeah, so to kind of walk you through the timeline. So obviously, Brett, you showed up in my TikTok. I started thinking about it. I started doing some research. I also started meeting with the local fractional community here.
Brett, you showed up in my TikTok. I started to really reach out to my network and looking at people who are in this space. And really my first steps was just doing due diligence. Like, okay, what is your billable rates? How do you find business? I think that's probably a key thing for a lot of people. So I started talking to people and I found out the billable rate or monthly retainers. I was like, wow, this could be...
quite lucrative and support the family and replace my corporate salary. And, you know, I asked my network, like, how did you get started? And someone gave me advice of you need to find a good account first. Like that should be your first step. So luckily I knew an accountant, a financial controller. So I had reached out to him. He was like, yep, more than happy to help you out. And I'm not sure if all accountants do this, but he filed all my business paperwork.
and essentially set up the business. So I'm very thankful for him on what he did just to get those foundational things up and running. Also too, I spoke. So my daughter's in All -Star cheer and some reason this year, the other cheer moms on the team overindexed to be business owners. So during like a lot of team mom meetings, there's a lady out there doing fractional, I think HR.
Brett Trainor (12:09.903)
Interesting.
Ashley (12:18.288)
And she's like, it was the best decision I ever did. Another mom is a, this is a fascinating job, is a forensic psychologist. She makes this thing and she's like, someone can plead insanity or whatever. So she owns her own company. And everyone I talked to, there was like five women, like cheer moms that own their own business. Everyone said, I don't regret leaving. It was the best decision I ever did. They're like, it's really, really scary, but the best decision.
Brett Trainor (12:28.815)
Really? Okay.
Ashley (12:47.984)
that I did and really everyone I talked to had the exact same response. And you know, when the due diligence I met with someone, I'm like, how'd you find the business? And this is very similar, someone very similar skill set as me. They're like, I just have a well optimized LinkedIn page. And this is the person that told me do not be above the work. And she's like, I don't do any business development whatsoever. I just have my LinkedIn to be well optimized. And she said she keeps it very, very broad.
And I went to her LinkedIn, I'm like, she doesn't even have like a company page or anything like that. So I was like, huh, this is really interesting. I'm like, even if I just get a website done, I'm going to be, you know, a step ahead. Um, so I talked to her and I, and part of my network as well is I know a, I hate this term, but a motivational speaker. She's a full -time speaking and that's something I would like to get back into. So she gave me a lot of advice as well of you need to have a good website with a speaking profile and, um,
Brett Trainor (13:23.247)
Right.
Ashley (13:48.432)
This is how you enter yourself into speaking engagements and stuff like that. So coming back to your original question is I leveraged my network. I found people in this space and it was just like everyone I've talked to is doing quite well. Like I know my skillset. I know who I am and I know what I'm capable of. I have to do this.
Brett Trainor (14:09.583)
Yeah, that's it's so good. And it's so true. I think we all kind of go through that process and there's a lot of things to dig into. But the first one, and again, this is I just did a detailed poster over the weekend more on network, right? Effective networking and because it's different when you're looking for a job, even though I'd argue there's a lot of similarities to it. But I think right there there's two paths that I see. One is your network that knows people are that know.
your ideal customers, right? And then there's others in your network that may be your ideal customer. How did you approach, what was kind of your messaging? Was it around, hey, I'm starting a new company and love to connect, kind of walk us through, and maybe it was trial and error, you kind of learned over time, but how did you start to either prioritize your network? And then what were some of those conversations like? Cause again, I think this is where folks get hung up.
Ashley (15:02.864)
Yeah, and I think I come from like a special place. Just being in the ad agency space, I did have a lot of networking and kind of know how to nurture those relationships. So I felt like I already had like a good foot in that space. But I think how it started was obviously I did my diligence. I had a bunch of calls, meetings, coffees with the people who had essentially who I wanted to be in the fractional space.
Then I started to meet with a small group of people who I knew had a lot of influence or potential clients. And I just said, Hey, I would love some advice. I know you've been in startups. I know you're currently running a company. I would love just to get some advice of like, this is what I'm thinking of to do. Is this, do you feel like this is a value? And that's essentially what snowballed into me getting my first fractional CMO role was just
asking for advice and just kind of sparking their interest to see, you know, what they may need or, hey, how can I find additional business as well? So it was very much on that advice stand.
Brett Trainor (16:10.959)
Now that's awesome. And then into the, all right, you get the conversation with the first fractional client and I'm not going to ask you to tell me what you're charging, but people are always curious kind of how you structured the deal. Is it, you know, hours per month? Did you do a retainer? And if you can kind of give us a range, where do you think the fractional billable is, right? You don't have to do the specifics, but you know, what, what,
Were you surprised at what you could build and what was out there? I know I just threw a bunch at you, so feel free to.
Ashley (16:43.184)
Yeah. So with how I have structured my current deals is it's a monthly retainer, but I do cap it on hours. And then I also state like, if I do go around hours, I'll let you know, or from below, we can always just roll them into the next month. So that's how I structured it. I also factored it roughly on an hourly billable rate is kind of where I'm at. So I pulled
Brett Trainor (16:54.127)
Okay.
Brett Trainor (17:23.951)
Thank you.
Ashley (17:42.)
this type of town.
Brett Trainor (17:43.663)
Okay, that's awesome. And then hours per week, are you looking like six, eight, 10, 12? What was kind of the sweet spot?
Ashley (17:49.84)
Yep.
I'm looking at about nine to 10 hours a week. Mm -hmm.
Brett Trainor (17:55.311)
Okay. It's right in line. Every businesses seem to be good with that. The fractional seem to be good with that. Okay. So fantastic. Um, and then part two, I mean, I have to have you look forward a little bit is, cause one of the things that I've taken some time to figure out was I started the consulting, then moved into fractional and then discovered a few other ways to generate revenue still from my experience. So is your vision just to be fractional? Are you looking?
Ashley (18:00.176)
Yes. Yeah.
Brett Trainor (18:24.975)
Um, and other opportunities as well as like advisory or, uh, just kind of curious if I mean, fractional makes perfect sense to get started and some people, that's all they want to do and it's perfect. But like I said, I'm just curious what your, maybe a little bit longer term, um, plans are.
Ashley (18:43.12)
Yeah, no, that's a great question. I actually saw your LinkedIn post or maybe it was TikTok. You're all over the place, Brett. Like all the different streams of income. I really hope to have, it's my goal to have three income streams. Whether that's fractional, speaking engagements, having that be a revenue stream or maybe doing some workshops. I'm playing around with some workshop ideas as well. Really working with...
Brett Trainor (18:49.199)
I don't know.
Ashley (19:10.992)
at agencies to really help elevate them with clients. So that's something else I'm looking at as well. But it's really my goal to have three revenue streams in the near and long term.
Brett Trainor (19:23.599)
Awesome. Now it's good. Another point I'm curious in, again, it's early, but you know, one thing I've heard from folks in the community, by the way, you should, Ashley's in our community. So everybody else should come join our free Slack community. If you're thinking and curious about escaping corporate is right. The break even to replace corporate salary is between, you know, 21 and 25 hours a month. Is that, you think that's reasonable? Again, I'm just trying to set expectations for folks. Um,
out there, a little high, a little low.
Ashley (19:54.32)
Yep. So I think that's I'm just looking, trying to figure out my math. I think that's about right. I've already looking at where my current contracts are, I will be able to hit what I was making in corporate with a little bit more hours than what I'm currently working with some pending contracts I have. But I definitely feel like I'll be able to replace what corporate from what I got paid.
Brett Trainor (20:12.111)
Awesome.
Brett Trainor (20:20.815)
And that's fantastic. And you're early. I should say Ashley's probably more of the outlier. It does take a little bit of time to get that first success. But again, but I think part of it, we can demystify it that it's not as hard as we build up in our head. At least it wasn't for me. And I, like I said, I had no plan, but found opportunities, you know, probably hurting myself all the way through the process versus making it easier. But again, there's folks that need the help.
they're happy to pay for it. It goes back to a win -win with, you know, the decades of experience and how quickly you can help a business move forward. So, part of that is, yeah, I'm trying to get people eyes wide open as you go into this. It's not like you can just coast and you're going to make money. You're going to have to work hard, but I think you're working hard for yourself, right? Beck, you said the hustle, right? The hustle, but you're hustling for yourself. And it's just such a difference when it's for a corporation or if it's for you.
Ashley (20:58.736)
Yeah.
Ashley (21:18.48)
And I have absolutely loved that. I mean, to me, I was just telling the other day, again, I'm four days in, but just the whole setup process, getting QuickBooks and I don't know, I personally like, hey, this is so much fun. I feel like I'm almost playing house in a way. Like, oh, this is my job now. Like, oh, I get to go into QuickBooks and see all the stuff. And I think just having that ownership like just fuels my soul. And I think coming back to your point, you said something about, um,
you know, like going into these corporations for these these fractional opportunities, I think it's such a low risk too. Because essentially, you just write, they don't have to pay your health insurance, they don't have to buy your laptop. It's it's them essentially sending signing some kind of vendor agreement to extend it's low risk for them. And
Brett Trainor (21:58.063)
Yeah.
Ashley (22:11.664)
you know, you have net 30 terms. So it's like, if you're not working out or they're not working out for you, you can obviously get out of that contract. So that's definitely, I think a huge value prop for companies is like, this is such a low risk. Um, and especially being in the fractional CMO area, a typical CMO is only last 18 months. No, this is, it's the reality of it. And I honestly think,
Brett Trainor (22:32.879)
Right. That's crazy, but yeah.
Ashley (22:41.68)
this is the future. I think fractional talent period, whatever level you're at is the future. For example, we know there's tons of layoffs going on and work still needs to be done and work needs to be done but on a low risk standpoint. So I feel like if you can get to the right audience, you can definitely pitch yourself like, hey, I even thought about a strategy if I need to do a...
Brett Trainor (23:00.975)
Yeah.
Ashley (23:09.328)
a reach out strategy is like target companies that did layoffs and say like, Hey, I can help for three months. Like, do you need strategy work or whatever that is? Again, don't be above the work and be that person. Or if, you know, an agency is going through an RFP process, they may want to help pull me in to really help with debt buildings. I have really great, uh,
technique now coming from management consulting of like really storytelling through slides. So something I thought about is working with agencies that they get a huge RFP helping them through that process, which is like a two month contract. So there's definitely, I think, an appetite and it's just a low risk situation.
Brett Trainor (23:53.231)
Yeah. And I think the beauty of it is there's no rules. Again, I don't know if your fractional client was thinking, hey, fractional is for me. Or there was a conversation that says, hey, I can help you. Here's a way we can structure this. Cause again, I think fractional is still a new term to a lot of businesses, but saying, hey, here's how we can structure a deal. And maybe I'll, I'm not going to put you on the spot here, but a little from a brainstorming standpoint. Cause one of the things I'm really digging into right now is productizing what we do.
Right. You see them all. I could see programs you could put together for small and mid -sized companies where you're not fractional, but Hey, on every month, I'm going to come in and set up your, your, your reports or your marketing strategy. Or maybe there's a three hours a month on strategy and then two hours on execution. You know, if one from your perspective, do you see a way that you could productize what you're doing? Right. So you're looking maybe a two to five K per month as a service.
and or outside of marketing. I think marketing makes sense, but I think there's a way to do this for a lot of different roles. And that's kind of what I'm focused on right now. But just curious to get your perspective. I know you're super early in this, but you've had some conversations. So what do you think?
Ashley (25:07.024)
Yeah, I think overall like product ization in general is the best way to run strategy because it's it's tangible for clients. You know, whether I was at agencies, tech companies, product izing anything helps make helps to sell things. So definitely something that's been top of mind for me to product ize because I just know if you product ize you're more likely to sell something.
From there, I think, you know, just to quickly, you know, to your point, brainstorm some ideas. I definitely think, you know, you can go into clients and offer like a three or four hour workshop.
I think that advisory, like, hey, do you like, for example, my time in ad agency, I had an ad agency actually reach out based on my announcement the other day. And they're like, oh, we are going through an RFP process and we need someone to speak digital on these calls. I'm like, sure, happy to help. So that's a very short -term thing. I'm there to provide the expertise. So.
Um, yeah, I definitely think productizing is the way to go. That's something I'm a full believer in just to sell. But yeah, I definitely think there's different ways you can shape things up.
Brett Trainor (26:20.111)
Yeah.
Brett Trainor (26:29.903)
Yeah, that's awesome. No, it makes sense. I can workshops. Yeah. A lot of different things, directions you go, which, um, but I do want to go back to one thing you said you wanted to, one of your revenue streams was going to be speaking. And that's something we really haven't talked about on the podcast yet. So how I'm sure a lot of us, me included, I'm curious how you're going about this and you know, what, what would be some advice you'd have for folks that, that want to go down this path?
Ashley (26:57.072)
Yeah, so I'm very early on in the speaking journey. So, you know, prior in my ad agency days, I, you know, I opened up the call with his, I spent a lot of time at industry events, being on panels, being a moderator, I like co -hosted a few things. So I've done, I don't know, 15 events in my time. But at that time, that was purely just being a thought leader and industry speaker. I mean, it was quite nice. Media posts, shout out to them. They threw
amazing events. So they just kept inviting me to come back with them. But obviously that wasn't paid. So as I met with my friend that's a motivational speaker, again, I don't like that term. I talked to her, I'm like, Hey, I really miss going to speaking engagements. Like, obviously, this is your full time job. Like, how do you get paid for this? And she's like, you'd be surprised at the amount of events that will pay you. And that can range from she said, typical is like,
on the lower end, $5 ,000 to $10 ,000 per event you get paid for. And I was like, oh, interesting. But her whole thing is you essentially productize what you're offering and what you're going to be speaking about. So I haven't really put together what that's going to look like quite yet. But that's definitely something that is of interest to me. I love events. I love speaking towards people.
Brett Trainor (28:01.039)
Really? Okay.
Ashley (28:25.648)
Yeah. So I think I don't know a lot of details yet or give advice there, but she's like, you just start searching for associations. And she says her top one is like some random industry, like random, random industry. And she's like, Oh yeah, they paid me $20 ,000 to run like a workshop or something with their team. And she was like, it's the most random industry you would ever think about. So I definitely think that's something that I'm interested in. And then.
Brett Trainor (28:44.655)
Okay.
Ashley (28:55.472)
I got to dig further into how to score those speaking engagement.
Brett Trainor (28:58.447)
Yeah, you and me both, but there's riches in the niches. So find those. It's on my, I don't have it necessarily to -do list, but it's in the things to explore. Cause I like, I mean, I'm opinionated and have opinions. As long as somebody's out there that wants to hear it, then it's, it'd be worth it not to just do it for free.
Ashley (29:11.76)
Yeah.
Ashley (29:16.208)
She did say she has 40 hours of content and she just tailors it to her audience. So it's essentially the same theme, but then if it's for a sales organization, she has that. If it's for a women event, it's towards that. So essentially she has all this content. It's just pulling what she needs to speak towards that audience. And also too, she really gave me a good helpful hint there as well. She's like, you always dress towards your audience.
Brett Trainor (29:23.087)
Ah.
Ashley (29:45.904)
So she said the random event she went to, she dressed in cowboy boots on stage and wore a polo because that was her audience. So I thought that was an interesting tip that she gave me as well.
Brett Trainor (29:46.831)
How interesting.
Brett Trainor (29:58.351)
Makes a lot of sense. All right. All right. Maybe we'll do a part two down the road when you and I both get a little further down this path. But all right. Well, actually time's flying by. So what else that we didn't cover you think people should know? And second, where can people connect with you if they want to learn more?
Ashley (30:00.016)
Yeah.
Right.
Ashley (30:17.936)
Yeah, so obviously I'm part of the free Slack channel. You can find me on LinkedIn. I think my name will probably be in this as well. So happy to connect there. I'm just looking at my list to see if there's anything that we didn't cover.
Brett Trainor (30:25.999)
Absolutely.
Ashley (30:34.672)
Oh, is I'm gonna, I'm gonna, this is my own quote, but the first person that quote me and says you have to trust the process. All right, but what I'm gonna say trust the process is if you build it, they will come. I'm gonna pull the the field of dreams quote there.
Brett Trainor (30:55.887)
I think that's no, I love that. And I've been a big trust the process. There's a football coach that he says you trust the process, love the process, and eventually the process will love you back. Right. And like, I just, it's so good. Cause if you don't enjoy the journey, it's going to be really hard, right? If you're going to be disappointed when you get to the end, because you missed a year, two years, five years, all focused on the outcome versus what you're doing. And, um,
Ashley (31:06.96)
Great.
Brett Trainor (31:22.447)
It seems crazy when you're in corporate because you don't love the process most of the time. There's probably certain things that we like to buy our job. But the way I tell people is like in corporate 30 % of our time was doing the job they hired us to do. The 70 % is unnecessary meetings, all that other stuff. So definitely pieces of it. So I will definitely highlight that. And I do want to say too that your new website looks great. And we'll put this in the show notes as well as.
Ashley (31:37.456)
Yeah.
Ashley (31:45.744)
Nothing.
Brett Trainor (31:48.879)
It's simple, but it's effective. It communicates the message and it doesn't have to be overly complicated. So I think that was well done. I meant to say that earlier, but yeah, it looks great.
Ashley (31:59.056)
Great, thank you. I mean, Squarespace for the win on that super easy to use website. And obviously being a marketer, I kind of know what should go on a website. So I guess that's kind of my background as well.
Brett Trainor (32:03.407)
Yeah.
Brett Trainor (32:10.671)
That's true. A little bit of an unfair advantage, but if folks are looking for blueprints, like I said, it's a good one to copy. And again, with what we're doing, we don't have to be overly, we're not reaching out to 200 people or a thousand. It's right, you find 10, 20 of your ideal client and that's all you need. So it's, we get hung up, so hung up on the details sometimes and over, and I'm guilty of it. In consulting, I had a...
a buddy of mine who'd tell me all the time, he was a professional and he's been in it his entire life. He's like, Brett, done is better than perfect. You've got to get over this. Don't overthink it. It's okay. And again, coming from somebody that does a high quality of work, he just realizes that you can get stuck on things that aren't that important. So.
Ashley (32:42.16)
Yeah.
Ashley (32:57.584)
Well, it's the whole like someone else gave me, here's another quote for you Brett. They were just talking about themselves. They're like, you need to focus on the business, not in the business all the time. So making sure you're balancing both of those.
Brett Trainor (33:12.239)
Yes. And get outside every day, find balance, block your calendar, all the good stuff. So, well, Ashley, thank you so much for sharing your journey. Like I said, the audience has been asking for more. Tell us who else is doing this. Have them tell us how it works. So I appreciate you sharing your journey and we'll bring you back in after, like I said, you're four days into this thing. So we'll, we'll catch up maybe in six months and say, Hey, any regrets? I'm going to think probably not just, you know, we, we hear the same things. The stats show.
Ashley (33:17.264)
Right.
Brett Trainor (33:41.423)
I think it was 90 or 82 % of people that left corporate are happy they left corporate, even though in some cases, less than 50 % were making more money. A lot of times that's by choice, but that means they're happier outside of it. And I think, right, that's the end of the day. That's what we're chasing is, is that flexibility, freedom, more happiness, right? So I don't know.
Ashley (34:04.112)
Right. And I completely agree. I, you know, I feel, I feel my cup is full now. Like again, I just love the hustle nature. Like I just feel like this has just been so fulfilling to my life and like, and now I no longer feel bad, you know, running my daughter to cheer practice and stuff like that. So, um, yeah, I just, I feel really happy at my, the path that I chose.
Brett Trainor (34:26.031)
Exactly. Exactly.
Brett Trainor (34:32.815)
And that's a perfect way to end this. But again, thanks for taking the time, Ashley. And we will catch up with you here in the near future.
Ashley (34:39.984)
All right, sounds good. Thanks, Brett.