We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Bryant recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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
If I were to start over today, I would work on the internal as much as I did the external. Being an entrepreneur is hard. Every little insecurity and anything you haven’t fully heal will show up somewhere in your business. And if you’re not careful, you won’t recognize the walls you’re hitting aren’t because of XYZ. The walls are a representation of something you haven’t dealt with.
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?
I’m Ashley Bryant of Ashley Bryant Copy. I’m a copywriter and digital marketer for holistic and sustainable e-commerce brands. I help my clients increase sales and brand awareness by implementing marketing strategies 100% tailored to their brand. And crafting copy that resonates with their ideal customers.
I offer website copy, PPC Ad copy, and email copy, as well as Google Ad management.
I actually got into copywriting and digital marketing by accident. Before the pandemic, I was living abroad in Shanghai, China, working as an ESL teacher with NO plans (or desire) to move back to the States.
I’ve always loved writing and hosted two blogs before and while living abroad. When I wasn’t teaching, I would sit in random coffee shops around the city and dream of just writing.
After going back and forth of where I would spend Chinese New Year I decided to go home to Las Vegas. Unbeknownst to me I left Shanghai 3 days before they closed the border. When it was clear that going back home to China wasn’t a possibility and basically losing my job overnight, I took it as God saying, well.. here’s your chance to do what you want.
I discovered copywriting one night while scrolling Facebook and was hooked. A little later, I was introduced to Alex Cattoni and took her 5-day sales page challenge. That challenge lit a fire, and I enrolled in her 8-week copywriting certification course, the Launch Pad. I became a certified copywriter in 2021 and began working with clients.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My friends and I joke that I’ve lived about a dozen different lives, and I’m not even 40. I’ve been a bartender, a server, a teacher, a sales support associate. The list goes on.
I won’t tell a story, but I will tell you what I’ve learned from the many times I’ve (willingly or unwillingly) pivoted:
1- Breathe, figure out your goals, and be strict about the result, not how to get to it.
2- Focus on skills that transfer, not the skills that don’t. And learn what you need to.
3- Remember you’re not a tree, and you are capable of doing hard things
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I live with two chronic illnesses, Multiple Sclerosis and Functional Neurological Disorder. Both of them can be debilitating, and have symptoms that come out of nowhere.
The two things I’ve learned over the past nine years is to:
1. Always to have a backup plan
2. Be willing to change direction if need be
There was a time before I received the FND (functional neurological disorder) diagnosis when I was experiencing muscle spasms and tremors so bad that using my hands was nearly impossible.
Instead of focusing on not being able to use my hands, I focused on what I could use. In regard to working, I still had my voice, so I used the speech-to-text app to finish the tasks I had that day.
I mentioned before that a lesson I learned when having to pivot was to be strict on the goal, not the journey. I try to keep this in mind with everything that I do, whether it is business-related or personal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ashleybryantcopy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleybryantcopy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleymbryant/
