We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Shihab recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

I had a great boss some years back who probably gave me the most helpful, most unexpected great advice – to GIVE UP. Give up on the things that are outside of my control, give up on trying to change things that I cannot change. I feel that this life lesson has served me so well in running my business, where so many factors are outside of my control.

If you really think about it, the only things we have control over are our attitude and our effort. To be blunt, we have little control over whether someone hires us, if they fall on financial hard times and can no longer afford us, and really anything pertaining to other people.

When we give up on trying to force things that we simply can’t force we free up a lot of space for what is within our control as well as space to create and decompress.

Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As your Life Coach, I meet you where you are and help you to move forward, addressing anything from your past that blocks you from doing so. Coaching with me provides my clients with thought provoking questions, fresh perspectives, mindset shifts, support, accountability, motivation, and tools to help with the blocks and obstacles that arise on your path to success that you will have for the rest of your life. I walk your path with you, connecting dots, illuminating new possibilities and clearing up outdated ways of thinking and being that no longer serve you. This process is not me putting my will upon you, it is me coaching you towards your dream life. Now, you can stop grappling with the things that are holding you back.

I believe that we all have the answers we are seeking, they are just buried underneath things like limiting beliefs or they simply haven’t been brought to our awareness yet. As your Life Coach it is my job to shine a light on the truths that live inside of you so that you can fully activate your authenticity and find the clarity you crave.

I like to say that coaching is like a cousin of therapy. Coaching is forward focused and non-clinical. You can expect me to guide, mentor and coach you in cultivating the clarity you crave and getting the answers you are seeking through a fun, highly transformative coaching partnership.

Starting out we meet weekly (this is the most preferred option as clients are hungry for clarity and change and want to get the ball moving forward as quickly as possible) or every other week. While there is no set time for our coaching partnership, my clients often experience positive shifts as early as the first session. Changes typically begin internally, resonating outward into the physical world. The person you are at the beginning of our journey may become a distant memory as growth becomes a constant companion.

I often meet my clients when they are feeling like they are stuck and unable to move forward, are feeling unfulfilled in their lives or are going through a major life transition. Common focus areas of my clients include business growth, career changes, relationships, starting over after a breakup or divorce, deep self-exploration and generally feeling “blah” and wanting to feel more fulfillment.

My background includes attending TCU where I majored in advertising and public relations. I was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority and held the role of Director of Social Events. As a DG alumna, I served the chapter as their Advisory Team Chairman for almost four years.

After college I spent 17 years in Corporate America, starting out in advertising and then spending the bulk of my corporate career as an Executive Assistant. I knew right away that I did not belong in the corporate role and that I wanted a job that I was passionate about, but I didn’t know what that meant.

My journey of personal growth led me to my passion and purpose in life coaching. I went back to school on the side of my full time job and obtained my Advanced Life Coach Certification from the Life Purpose Institute in 2019, which is also when I started my coaching business. I coached on the side of my full time corporate job for three years before transitioning into coaching full time in January 2022. I was part of a group counseling and wellness practice for four years and became a solopreneur in January 2024.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

With personal growth, aging in general and now being a business owner, a powerful unlearning I experienced was removing myself and my energy from the hustle culture. I have learned that I don’t have to do the most in order to be successful and that taking action just for the sake of doing something only leaves me burned out and stressed out.

My new mantra is “manifest and align is the new hustle and grind.” I have learned a lot about energetics, mindset and the benefit of only taking inspired action.

Since society in general still subscribes the hustle culture, it can feel isolating and wrong to operate from a place of feeling grounded and peaceful and moving at a slower pace. But I know for sure that this yields greater results than doing all the the things just for the sake of doing all the things.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

We all start out with just one client, which is exactly how my side hustle began. I was working a full time corporate job thinking I would coach on the side for extra income. My one client grew to two clients, then three and four and I felt like wow this is pretty cool look at all this extra money.

Then I actually sat down and did the math and realized that I could work half the amount of hours for more money if I left my corporate job and coached full time. This was VERY motivating to me!

I wrote down goals, because we are more successful when we actually write down goals then we are when we just loosely think about goals, including how much money I needed to have in my savings account and how many clients I needed to have in order to break free from the chains of corporate and go out on my own.

I really drilled down on these goals. I went through sort term pain for long term gain. I said no to social events, I was tired, and I worked as much as I possibly could so that I could live a much more balanced life filled with passion and purpose in the long run.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ashleythelifecoach.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleythelifecoach/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleythelifecoachllc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/99123171/admin/dashboard/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhDmz55Zh3Lk_XNyxA44yw
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ashley-the-life-coach-dallas-3

Image Credits

Monika Normand Photography