We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashleigh Evans a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashleigh, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today?

One thing I feel like success influencers and personal development coaches don’t talk about enough is the identity change that comes with growing success. In Briana Wiest’s “The Mountain Is You,” there’s a concept that the human psyche will choose comfort over success, ultimately sabotaging any opportunity to be successful because of the discomfort.

To this day, I struggle with this. I struggle with imposter syndrome. I struggle to know if I am taking the right steps or making the right decisions. I struggle with whether I am good enough or enough or worthy of the opportunities I receive.

I wish, instead of investing in coaches or online courses, I would have invested in addressing this first. While one molds his/her physical business into what they want it to be, one is also building themselves into the entrepreneur they’d like to be as well. Because fear and self-doubt did not prevent the opportunities from coming; it just prevented me from accepting them. I wish I would have learned how to ground myself in my inherent self worth before I became a real estate investor and postpartum doula. That way, as everything around me began to change, I would be much more comfortable in the fact that I was going to change as well.

Ashleigh, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Ashleigh Evans, and I am the Founder of Birth and Baby Co, a company that offers postpartum doula services to high-income families. I am also a student nurse-midwife at the Yale School of Nursing, a real estate investor, and a TEDx speaker. However, most people know me as a financial coach and speaker within the FIRE (financial independence retire early community.)

That is a lot! But ultimately, I utilize wealth-building strategies such as real estate investing to establish sources of passive income. This allows me to build a life that holds personal meaning to me: assisting families with newborns, combating our (incredibly high) maternal mortality rate, holding space in the birth room, and traveling. I am also passionate about narrowing the racial wealth gap, so I love talking about financial independence and personal finances as well.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Manifestation is incredibly real. The first time I thought about becoming a postpartum doula was in 2019. I was making small-talk with my realtor, and I made a comment that it would be nice to bring in income while I was a student as a postpartum doula. I have been a birth doula since 2017, but being a birth doula requires short-notice availability; babies are born with very little notice.

Two years later, in 2021, I received a school-wide email asking for a postpartum doula, and that became my very first “gig.” It paid $25/hr. Soon after that job, I decided I wanted to establish myself as a more serious birth worker, so I raised my prices to $40/hr. I then received a call from an agency who paid $50/hr.

I am now in the space where I myself am consciously making the decision to “legitimize my business.” I just applied for a SAM.gov unique ID number and will register as a minority- and woman-owned business.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

As someone who consistently battles imposter syndrome, “We Should All Be Millionaires” by Rachel Rodgers was and continues to be a game changer for me. Entrepreneurship can really feel like you’re wandering through the wilderness, so to have a book that makes you feel like you’re making the right decisions (even when you have no clue what you’re doing) is a huge plus. The book that started my entrepreneurship journey however is “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. I bought my first rental property about 4 months after reading it in 2015. It expanded my mindset to what was possible for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ashleighevans.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleighevans_therei/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleighevansatyale/

Image Credits
Jarvis Hues, Memphis Photographer Renny Hunter, RH Collective