Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashleigh Harvey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Ashleigh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I grew up in a home where my father was a tyrant. We (my sisters and I) had no voices. And when we did try and use our voices, we were shut down. It was an uncomfortable, scary place to be.

But I didn’t want for much. I lived in a beautiful home. I went to a good school. I had a huge garden I could play in every weekend. We ate out.

Then, when I was around fourteen, my father started having blackouts. They were alcohol-induced, and they became more and more frequent. And then, he lost his job. And we lost everything – the house. Access to education. Our garden. Eating out. Electricity. Food.

We became very very poor.

And so, not only did I not have a voice – I had no financial security.

As I grew older, I had to fight for everything I wanted. Bursaries for school. Student loans. I worked three jobs so I could put myself through university and buy a car.

I realised that there were millions of women out there who were experiencing the same thing.

Now, I run The Story Team – a business that helps women find their voices, and use their voices to write copy that makes them more money.

Every single woman in the world should have a voice. She should be free to use that voice. And she should have the financial autonomy to keep her free.

That’s why I do what I do. I help them find the words that will make them more money. And then I help them write those words.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The greatest love of my life is the theatre. I’m a performer and have been since I was in the womb. As a child I was in all the school plays and major productions, the choir, the debate team, the public speaking society. You name it, if I could use my words and my voice I was part of it.

I’ve been working in theatre since I was 22 years old – that’s 20 years. And while it brings the most intense joy and fulfilment to my life, it’s not the most financially reliable source of income.

I moved to the UK from South Africa in May 2019 – and 10 months later, we were in a pandemic. I had to put all my West End dreams on the back burner and get a job that would pay my London rent. So, I trained as a care worker. I worked in private care for nine months – administering medication, cooking meals, bathing the aged and infirm, changing their nappies, and putting them to bed at night.

While I was doing this, I started building The Story Team. Between care shifts, from the back seat of my car, I built a website, an email list, and a portfolio, applied for jobs, and began bringing in clients. And I continued working for these clients from the back of my car, in between care shifts, until I knew that I could make all my money just from the business.

It took nine months of care working and copywriting before I could resign from the care job. The Story Team was my baby that I had grown and birthed and she was ready to take me into the big wide world.

I knew when I started the business that I wanted to work with people who needed help finding their voices. So many people struggle with this – especially when it comes to writing. There’s a sense of trepidation that creeps in and it takes a lot to get confidence levels up so that you can write purely as YOU.

And then, of course, writing sales copy is a whole other beast.

It’s just so happened that I have attracted the most incredible female business owners over the last five years. Women who want to elevate their messaging and make a difference in the world. Women who help other people live better lives. Women who have often reached a plateau in their content creation, email writing, and marketing who know that investing in my brain will take their businesses to another level. These are the people I work with. I do deep research into who they are, what they do, who their businesses serve and the language their clients use – and with all of that delicious data, we craft copy that converts.

My work in the theatre means that I am resilient AF – do you know how much rejection it takes to be a performer? So, I really do believe that anything is possible, and I bring that to all the work I do. I’m not just a copywriter – I’m a business coach, a cheerleader, a YES YOU CAN kind of partner. When people work with me they get fire. We blaze. We blaze brightly.

I am most proud when I’ve created copy that my clients are excited about – and when that copy turns into actual $$$s in the bank, my heart goes boom, baby.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I’m a conversion copywriter – so it would be crazy if I didn’t use my copywriting skills to grow my clientele.

It’s really important to understand that just as we grow as business owners, so do our ideal clients. This was a huge moment for me – realising this. It means that I have to keep surveying my ideal client base. I have to keep asking questions, doing market research and figuring out what my ideal client really really wants.

Only when I have that information can I create marketing strategies and collateral that will continue to bring in new clients.

So here’s what I do:

I create content that helps them solve their problems. I specialise in emails, so I share a lot of my knowledge, expertise and strategies when it comes to emails and sales sequences.

I also create content that shows people who I am – it lets them in. It tells them the story of my business. People want to know who you are, as a business owner. I keep telling my clients that – it would be mad if I didn’t follow my own advice, right? Right. So, I share my business’s story and I keep sharing it. I share my story. I show vulnerability. When I do that, I attract the kinds of people I want to work with.

I consistently share valuable freebies – either on LinkedIn or as part of bundles. When people sign up to those, and they get added to my email list, I have beautiful nurture sequences that teach them about marketing. And I start selling in those emails straight away. You have to train people to buy from you – so while people get a lot of stuff from me for free, they also know that if they want deeper access and more knowledge, they have to invest.

I have a weekly newsletter – and I email my list almost every day. I share stories, videos, ideas, copywriting lessons. It keeps me top of mind, so that when people need a copywriter….BAM! My name is in their brain.

I survey them regularly. I set up zoom meetings so I can ask them questions about how they consume copy. What they look for in a copywriter. How they’re positioning their offers. Whether they’re using AI. I asked all the questions. And then I write copy that uses their voices, and deals with those issues. That way, reading my copy makes them feel safe. Excited. They feel seen. And they’re more likely to buy from me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

For the longest time I thought that writing copy meant writing well. I thought the grammar had to be perfect. I wrote like I was writing an English essay.

Fail.

Writing in business will change depending on the function the writing is serving.

If you’re writing a business proposal, you might want to be a tad more formal – unless that’s not your brand. If you want your brand to live and breathe through your writing, then your writing has to live and breathe.

You don’t have to use the fanciest words. You can misuse punctuation. You can play with the way you write.

When I started doing this with my pitching – I started getting work.

The professor-level English left people cold. It didn’t move people. It felt stilted and formal and bleeeuurgh!

The best way to write for your business, is to write the way you speak.

Here’s a story:

I sent a proposal to a woman who was looking for a copywriter, and she liked my proposal so she asked me to do a couple of test posts for her.

As soon as I sat down to write those test posts, by brain went into ‘I must write with Good English’ mode. And I tanked the opportunity. She did not like what I’d written.

So, I asked if I could try again – and she, very graciously, said I could. And I went wild. I played with words. I played with spelling. I got a bit crazy. I went way outside the box. And she loved it. I got the job.

We all need to unlearn the things we were taught about writing in school. When it comes to running your own business – write the way you speak. Get messy. Be loud. It will be the best gift you ever give yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thestoryteam.org
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleigh-harveyldn/

Image Credits

Yellow Belly London