We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashlyn Fox. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashlyn below.

Hi Ashlyn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear a story from back when you were an intern or apprentice. What’s a memorable story you can share with us?

My life has been an apprenticeship since I was 8 years old. I got to work with my parents (business owners) on many entrepreneurial ventures like Magic the Gathering, Coffee News, Trade Bank, WXICC Cricket Sports League, and many more. My parents, Edward and Alice Fox, have spent the last 25 years – and counting – teaching me everything they know about business. They have allowed me to take a hands-on approach, inviting me to experience everything the business world has to offer. I learned firsthand how to build a business from the ground up, manage its growth, and succeed. I started at the concessions counter at a Magic the Gathering card game tournament in the mid-2000s. I was about ten years old. My entrepreneurial spirit started then as well. I’d see where someone was sitting and say, “for two dollars, I’ll deliver it to your table.” Mostly getting shrugs and laughs from the crowd. It was 15ft; who was going to go for it? But I kept asking, and eventually, someone would order enough food that they had to pay me to help carry it. As I remember, it didn’t work out so well. But some endeavors never do.
Over the next decade, I committed to helping my family with each new business. In 2010, my dad purchased a Coffee News franchise, a small one-page restaurant reader. I learned about ad design, clerical duties, area delivery, and cold-calling new distribution locations. I struggled with cold-calling new distribution locations. It was difficult to take “no” as an answer. I competed with my older brother to get more locations to display Coffee News at their restaurant or waiting room reader. Realizing that my brother was also getting told “no” m helped me accept that not every location would say “yes.”

In addition to Coffee News came Tradebank of Wichita in 2013, a multi-directional barter exchange franchise. At Tradebank of Wichita, my duties included email and social media marketing, clerical duties, and assisting Tradebank Members. Email and social marketing were incredible to learn. I then joined my brother Jason Fox, and his wife, Rebecca Fox, at her business BGW or Brew Grind Water, a specialty coffee repair business. I assumed clerical and office duties as the dispatch team lead. Here I learned how to manage a team and an office and create protocol documents for the future.

Throughout my life, I’ve participated in my family’s businesses. This allowed me incredible opportunities to learn about business from the ground up. I learned numerous skills through these businesses and became a “business” jack of all trades. This diverse background serves me in helping others build their businesses. I helped my family build two strong companies. I’m excited to join their ranks with A Creative Fox.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Ashlyn C Fox, owner of A Creative Fox. I’ve been a creator for as long as I can remember. The happiest I’ve ever been is while holding a pen. I enjoy creating art with both digital and physical mediums, though my favorite is oil pastels. Today, I am a digital creator, making art and images as my business. When I found my calling in digital marketing and graphic design, it felt like a natural evolution.

My diverse background allowed me to focus on finding a discipline that spoke to me. I tried my hand at a multitude of practices, such as advertisement, marketing, sales, and administration. I looked for an industry that supports creativity and freedom. It just so happened that I found a position in digital marketing and graphic design. That is when I fell in love with the idea of building a brand. I love the creative freedom that comes with graphic design, and my background allows me to be an amazing marketer. I have a passion for creating; I use this passion to help Business owners discover their perfect approach to digital marketing and design.

A Creative Fox is a digital branding agency where we help business owners establish their brands with an inspired approach to their digital presence. A Creative Fox encompasses many facets of marketing, branding, and graphic design. People associate businesses with a “brand.” It is important for businesses to have their own Brand Identity to set them apart from the competition. For businesses, this means their brand colors and design assets like logos, how they look on social, and the feelings their look evokes in their customers, both current and new. A Creative Fox helps new and established businesses build this brand identity.

It is my passion to customize and provide inspired marketing and design advice for any business from day one. I aim to share my knowledge with creativity, originality, and kindness to help businesses reach their goals. I envision a company’s presence and brand that is inspired by its creation, personality, values, and culture.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I operated as BGW’s Dispatch Team Lead for about 2 years. BGW, or Brew Grind Water, is a specialty coffee repair business. They repair specialty coffee machines for independent coffee shops and franchises like Starbucks and McDonald’s. As a Dispatcher, I would provide administrative and logistic support for technicians in the field.

One of my main duties was to optimize each technician’s schedule. It was my responsibility to find the most opportune time for each customer to be serviced while allowing our technicians time for travel, breaks, and issues like the weather. Each technician’s schedule is tailored to their respective coverage areas.

My second main duty was to be the communication between our Technicians and our customers. To communicate effectively, it was imperative that I could understand and paraphrase a technician’s job notes to clients. I would speak to the technician about the job and recommended service, then relay this information to the customer for confirmation and scheduling. I had to advocate for the best fit solution for our customer as recommended by the Technician. I had to be flexible when speaking to our customers. Many of them were small business owners operating on strict budgets.

This position also involved rapid problem-solving with technicians and customers. My resilience is best illustrated through the high-pressure and swift decisions that were made daily. Many decisions were high pressure simply because they involved how business would be completed in a day. Other decisions had to be swift because technicians had to wait to continue their jobs.

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

At 14 years old, I had a plan. I was going to get a 4.0 in high school, a 30 on my ACT, and a scholarship to a private university 20 minutes from my house. I was going to graduate with a major in biochemistry and a minor in biology. I was going to continue on to Kansas University and become a doctor. I was. . . I had learned in school that college was the only way to succeed. But, It turns out academia isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

In academia, you strive for the “A.” You strive to succeed by passing the test or assignment. I had to unlearn what success looks like. In business, an “A” can look different each day. Each person, business, and project has their own version of accomplishment. A person could be looking for more sales, a business for customer growth, and a project for awareness. These all look different than the “A” I used to strive for. I now strive for success in results. I learned how to measure success in KPIs (key performance indicators). Allowing me to access the result of a marketing strategy or specific design. This showed me that success isn’t a straight line to the top. Success in business includes changes in the market, as well as changes in your approach.

Contact Info:

• Website: acreativefox.com
• Instagram: @ acreativefoxart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acreativefox/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlyn-fox-07a423194