I counted down until 5pm every day.
I could hardly afford my bills.
I lived for the weekends.
I felt undervalued.
I knew I needed to make a change. So I called my college and asked for a list of every alumni that ever graduated and moved to DC. There were 2,000 people on this list… And over the next few months of my job, I’d take Arabic classes at UCLA at night, and during my lunch breaks, every day, I’d work my way through the list of names, calling one person after the next.
Some people hung their phones up on me.
Others answered and offered to help me.
I fell on my face saying the “wrong things” to these strangers who I thought would perhaps help me out in my job search—and yet, every now and again, someone offered to help me in my job search in a really big way, be it through connecting me to hiring managers, offering meetings, you name it!
Fast forward a few months into my cold calls, I was able to quit my job, move to Washington, DC, and – in only 6 weeks— I landed three job offers, nearly tripled my salary, and accepted a management-level position running a program for the Pentagon.
Friends who moved to DC, ones who did better in grad school than I ever did, asked for my advice:
Ash, how do I land more job offers? How do I stand out in the pile?
This led me to inviting friends to Starbucks on the weekends, helping them rewrite their resume, and offering them networking strategies— ones that translated into job offers.
Next thing I knew, friends would invite other friends to our coffee meet ups, and it turned into 30 people at Starbucks, asking me how they too could land a job.
“You should be a career coach,” people would say.
“What does that even mean?” I’d ask, “And who am I to coach anyone on anything? I’m 23 years old!”
When I thought of being a coach, I assumed it meant having some purple website with rainbows and waterfalls on it… That was what I saw on the Internet at the time, and it felt nothing like me!
So I kept pushing the idea of being an entrepreneur aside because the thought of making my own money on my own terms scared me. It didn’t feel possible.
That was, until I hired my first coach.
“That’ll be $10,000,” she said, as we completed our free consultation.
$10,000?!
How was I going to do that?
How did I know if she would even be able to help me?
I wanted certainty. I wanted to know that if I put that money out, I’d be guaranteed some sort of result.
And that was when I realized that I had a choice: am I more committed to certainty—or growth?
I decided growth meant taking leaps and trusting that I’d learn what I needed to. It meant investing in my best asset — myself! — and deciding what I would get out of the investment for myself.
And so, I sold my car for $10,100, and cut my first business coach a check for the full $10,000.
In that moment, I realized it wasn’t about saying “yes” to her about working together… It was about saying “yes” to me. And I’m so glad I did.
What did I learn from working with her as my coach (and so many others in the years that followed)?
That creating a service-based business is a blend of the mystical and the practical.
It’s mystical because it requires your magic, your unique expression, to truly stand out.
But when you follow a step-by-step system, business is also practical. It’s a science.
You learn how to help your customer.
You learn where to find customer leads.
You learn to speak to your leads.
You learn how to close sales.
Boom.
That’s what inspired me to create my online course to help new business owners launch their service-based business, called the Business Launch Mastermind.
While I recommend private coaching for business owners who have hit the six-figure mark in their business, this online course is powerful for new business owners that want to set a strong foundation they can stand on in the future.
What’s happened since hiring that first coach of mine?
- I’ve landed a six figure book deal.
- I’ve accrued more than 500,000 email subscribers.
- I’ve coached more than 300 women one-on-one.
- I’ve scaled my online courses out to 5,000 customers into 31 countries.
And here’s the deal... I’m no more special than you are... I know you can do this, too.
My work as a career coach has been featured in TEDx, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, SELF Magazine, The Financial Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and so much more.
In retrospect, something always felt like it was missing for me in the workforce. I started to eventually realize the truth: I just wasn’t meant for it.
And if you’re on this page, chances are you’re not either.
I believe that your career should be a vehicle for self-expression, and one of the most inspiring ways to honor that is through creating your own business.
That means building your own dreams—not someone else’s.
It would be my highest honor to support you!