How Ashley’s entrepreneurial journey started and the motivation behind her love for email marketing (01:28)

Ashley’s journey started when she was 14. She made marketing stories for her sister, created a fake restaurant, ‘Mac and cheese,’ and wrote things that would happen at the restaurant just for fun. This led her to blogging and hand-coding websites as a hobby. 

However, later she discovered that she still had a passion for websites and social media, so with encouragement from friends, she ended up starting a business in web design. In the process, she discovered her passion for email marketing. Ashley says there was a huge gap in creating conversations in email marketing, and she dove into it to help close that gap between business owners and their audiences.

The battles behind doing all things and feeling like you are not doing anything (06:47)

Ashley describes how she left her corporate job to be a full-time entrepreneur, but the experience forced her into a partnership. She gave everything to this business, did everything she thought she was supposed to do but the partnership ended up dissolving. The closing of the partnership was an overwhelming experience and despite her great efforts, nobody knew how to differentiate her in the online space. From that experience, Ashley decided to be known for something…email marketing.

“It’s ok to fall on your face, it’s okay to go through the process of not being ready to do the things, but it’s incredibly important to take action; don’t get stuck in the planning phase.”

Feelings of unworthiness or not feeling deserving of your goals and how to get past them (10:53)

Feelings of unworthiness are common in entrepreneurship. It happens all the time, especially in the initial stages. Ashley shares her experience when starting her email marketing online business. She had the passion for doing email marketing but the feeling of not deserving also played in. She had to reaffirm to herself every time she signed a new client and marketed her business that she was worth it. 

According to Ashley, the thoughts of feeling you’re not 100% good enough will always be there, but on the other end, there will always be a way of moving in and creating the momentum you need to thrive. From her perspective, the two go hand in hand.Ashley also talks about the scarcity mindset. Having a person in your inner circle to hold you accountable and help you see your blind spots is so crucial to having success; this will help you tip away from a limiting mindset. If you don’t have the extra cash, you don’t have to invest in a coach or a mastermind; it can be a biz friend or a community.

How to transform your mindset and escape childhood misconceptions about working (15:05)

According to Ashley, it’s important to go deeper into your actual mindset and streamline your beliefs in yourself. For her, therapy is the answer, and she has been doing it to help her understand why she has been doing & working more in ber business and still feeling like it’s not enough.Ashley discovered that this was something she learned from her childhood. Being the firstborn in a family of six kids, she always felt there was much to do. Still, in college, she took two part-time jobs to keep herself busy and earning. For the entire time, she was very busy and never allowed herself to unmask the emotions and mindset issues that came with work and get past it. 

As a business owner and a mom of a three-year-old, being able to dive into that mindset through stillness, meditation, and breathwork has enabled her to make a huge difference. Her advice: don’t get stuck in planning; it’s ok to mess up and start over.Ashley has done different variations on what she thought was perfect, and to her, that creates progress and learning. The main thing she has been working on is not being afraid of showing up. Nothing will be perfect but knowing this and understanding yourself on a deep level makes all the difference.

“Being still and being silent is one of the greatest gifts of all time.”

The trap of working too much as an entrepreneur (26:30)

In her journey, Ashley always felt like she had to put in as much as possible. Her business was output-driven, and she wanted to make things happen for others to see her output. According to her, many entrepreneurs are stuck in the realm of seeing people do all the things and make it all happen. This is done with the intent of unmasking the next step and increasing output. But is this worth the toll that it takes on your mind, body and energy? Thinking about what fulfills you, lights you up makes you want to get out of bed is key to reaching those levels of true happiness and balance in personal life and work.

“Take one thing, stay in your lane, it’s going to be scary, but it will get you to your goal much more quickly than if you are trying to do multiple things.”

Doing business to inspire other people to live their best lives (29:09) 

In every business, there comes to a point where money doesn’t matter anymore. It’s important in learning the business, but it’s not a source of fulfillment. You need to work for a bigger mission which will be the core of fulfillment. For Ashley, it’s her podcast and her book“Own Your Table” they’re not huge moneymakers, but they’re focused on building her legacy and impacting people’s lives by empowering them to go out and achieve their vision.

Balancing parenting with running a business (30:52)

Ashley’s mom was a stay-at-home mum. Growing up in that environment has given her the pressure to maintain that standard of ‘doing it all’ while growing and building a business. Initially, this was stressful and she felt like she did not have enough time to breathe. 

Ashley explains how she was able to create a balance by identifying her glass and plastic balls and taking the necessary steps to let the ‘right ones’ fall.For moms in business, understanding the concept of where your plastic and glass balls are is really important. Don’t live like everything is a glass ball; you’ll not be able to drop anything in your work to achieve a balance. 

Ashley used to live a life where everything was a glass ball. But when she discovered that some of the things were plastic and she could drop them, this allowed her to team up on the business side so she could have more presence on the home side.Ashley’s advice: Take time for yourself. Give yourself a break, even if it means going to Starbucks. Make a list of all your glass and plastic ball and know when to drop the plastic ones.

Connect With Ashley Deluca

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Resources Mentioned

• Ashley’s book: Own Your Table
• Apply For A Scholarship
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