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

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

The most complicated problem I have ever had is having a client ask me to solve a problem that I didn’t know how to solve for six months but later figured out what the issue was and resolved it. This happens a lot, but not normally this long. Oftentimes, the client gets passed off from other agencies because the situation is too complex. This could be the result of a backend website issue that is causing problems and after troubleshooting, they couldn’t get it to work. Or it could be a PPC (pay-per-click) ad campaign they are running and they aren’t getting the conversion they hoped for. Oftentimes, the client has tried everything they could without raising their budgets. That is where I or someone on my team comes in and assesses the issue and nine times out of ten we are successful and have the data to back that up.

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 grew up in a small town not far from where I currently reside here in northern Indiana just a mile from the Michigan border. In my opinion, I had a great childhood mostly memories that consisted of being outside, climbing trees, chasing fireflies, reading a book with my parents, writing notes to friends, and going to school looking forward to recess in a bully-free zone. I was really lucky growing up compared to what I see these days. Those were the days before anything “digital” existed. I think a lot of people would agree they miss those days too. Where I live now is what we call the “Michiana Area” and the RV capital of the world. Around here is peaceful and scenic which I enjoy but it’s far from a city’s “savvy” downtown life. Somewhere I think most professionals in my field are expected to live, but not me.

A lot of people ask me how I got to where I am today. When I was four years old, my Mom entered me into an art program local to where I lived in Elkhart, IN. During this parks and recreation art program they made sure they handed my mother a still-life portrait that I drew of a fruit basket because according to her she said, “they were awe-struck”. That was the first time I understood what “art” was and its many forms and fashions. Due to my fond love of Art, thankfully my parents kept enrolling me in classes similar to this, and eventually, after being in “gifted art” programs in elementary, I was asked to design the cover of the elementary yearbook when I was 8. That was my first (if you will) project as a “true graphic designer” laying out “sketches” but at the time I didn’t know that career existed yet.

Later on, in Junior High and High School, I struggled hard in academics, like math, reading, and writing but I excelled in sports and competitions. I also had a bad A.D.D. and a form of Dyslexia. My grades suffered a lot but fortunately, the school worked with my parents (as medication wasn’t an option for me) and got me into what is now called the E.A.C.C. Elkhart Area Career Center (where I now help and offer advice to students today). My mom found out that there was a program called Advertising Design and the minute I walked in to tour the building and classroom, I was hooked. E.A.C.C. is a two-year program designed to help students that want to excel or jump-start their careers and earn real-world experience and be trained at a young age in several different fields. I’m forever grateful for E.A.C.C. because it got me to where I am today. Also, I connected with several teachers and mentors throughout that experience.

I took advantage of every competition through E.A.C.C. in Graphic Design, V.I.C.A & Skills USA where I won the State Pin Design competition and later placed 12th out of 50 at Nationals. It was a truly rewarding experience at a young age and I met a lot of great talented students as well. Even though to the average person that may seem impressive, for me I was disappointed in myself that I didn’t place 1st. This was the start of my career path.

After E.A.C.C. and High School graduation, I moved to Indianapolis to attend Herron School of Art & Design but decided that I didn’t want to just do print design. At the time, I was attending lectures at AOL Conferences, Google, and Colleges, and visiting lots of ad agencies. From there I started getting involved in Academic Competitions in PR and Multimedia, and I realized that I needed to expand my skill set. I then found out that Butler University (just a few miles away) had a top-notch multimedia department. I was nervous that my reading and writing disabilities would impair my ability to submit a written essay to get into Butler. At that time, however, my father was getting his Master’s Degree towards his Ph.D., in Philanthropic Studies and took a position at Butler University in this field. So, I had some time to visit him frequently while getting to know the campus, professors, and culture at Butler before deciding if I wanted to make the transfer. With his help and expertise in writing, I was able to draft a few essays and to my surprise, Butler awarded me a full scholarship to attend the Multimedia Program. I am forever grateful for my Father’s expertise and support.

Getting into college on a full-ride does not come easy though. While other college friends were living a normal college life on campus, going to parties, and having fun, I was required to live off campus and maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher to keep my scholarship going. Without hesitation, of course, for the most part, I turned all my focus on barista jobs and class work, far from seeking the frat or sorority party each weekend! Shortly after my Junior year of college, one of my professors at the time was approached by One America and asked him if he had any interns he would recommend joining for the summer program. I was approached and accepted the job and that was my first paid internship in graphic design. I did a lot of internships after this (paid and unpaid) because I realized how much value this brought to my portfolio and understanding the differences between the corporate, agency, and entrepreneur environments. At my last internship with Live Nation, I was asked to submit a layout design that got into Rolling Stones Magazine and was used for a national concert event in 2006. One would think I should have just stayed there after this rewarding experience, but I didn’t fit into the corporate world. I wanted to learn more, and I wasn’t going to get that experience just sitting behind my computer designing magazine covers.

Right around 2008, we were going into a recession and unfortunately, it was also the year I was about to graduate college. Upon finding out that 1,000 emails to apply to various entry-level positions were rejected due to hiring freezes, I got a little behind right when the digital “era” started erupting. This left me with no other choice but to start freelancing.. similar to what I do now but with a much smaller clientele.

My first “gig” during my senior year was with Mike Fry, a well-known entrepreneur who owned Fancy Fortune Cookies. Sadly, he passed away but in my opinion, was a legend in Entrepreneurship and it was an awesome experience working with him for the short time that I did. Mainly consisting of editing his most hilarious video projects side by side for weeks at a time. I still feel that Mike didn’t want to just pay me to do funny videos, I think many would agree that Mike liked coaching and supporting entrepreneurs. You rarely find anyone like that, except for my newest business partner starting in January 2023 (that I can’t wait to announce!). Mike drove me to move to Chicago right after graduation to pursue the dreams we frequently talked about. In 2009-2010 I made the big move to Chicago and wanted to work with some of the top agencies. I was determined to get into Ogilvy and Mather because I wanted the experience. After applying remotely, sadly, I didn’t get accepted except for a non-paid internship. I couldn’t make the move from Indy to Chicago without an income, so instead, I decided to still move to Chicago for the experience, and to be close to my sister.

During the first month in Chicago, I had no success finding a job other than handing out gym towels in the basement of the YMCA near downtown Chicago for 6 months. Desperate to exit that smelly situation I knew to get in somewhere in Advertising I had to stand out. I decided to make a package design of my resume into a personally branded candy box that held percentages of my skill set levels (like a nutrition fact list). I made 15 of these, hand glued them myself, put on my heels, mapped out the top 10 agencies, took the red line into Chicago, and walked on foot. I knew each agency building had intense security measures. You couldn’t just walk in as you could here in Indiana. What did I do instead? I might have told a small “white lie” to the security guard’s desk and told them I had an “appointment” by finding someone on the agency’s website before going in. All because I was so determined to make it! Afraid I would be escorted out is an understatement, but it worked. I also learned a very valuable lesson. Never be afraid, and NEVER walk in heels in downtown Chicago, unless you’re driving.

I got a few calls and a few emails thanking me for taking the time and wishing they could have hired me but due to the recession they had zero funding. Months of job searching went by and I again did some unpaid internships. Disappointed and frustrated, I moved back to Indianapolis and with the “rents” into a small little room with all my belongings and a computer, and my cat. I felt at the absolute lowest point of my life. So it was then that I got serious about freelancing and starting my first business right out of college, called ANH Media LLC in Indianapolis.

The first four years of running the company were great. I had to work side jobs to support paying others to help me do things I couldn’t do myself. I met a lot of great people, learned all about digital marketing (self-taught), and took a lot of initiative to grow my skill set by getting certifications, and joining local networking groups. I met some great long-term friends, and I grew my team from myself to seven and a few interns in a short amount of time. I made some mistakes along the way too, but I learned from those and decided to close the business due to personal reasons and sold it to a small publishing company in Northern Indiana in 2014. I then went to work on a few contracted roles as an independent consultant in 2015 and moved back home to raise my own family after getting married in 2015, and raising my kids (now 6 and 5) who have now become my world and sole focus in life.

After taking a break from the business world to raise my sons (18 months apart) I returned to working full-time rather than part-time as a consultant for several companies on one-off contracts in the field of digital marketing. That then led to the development and start of my newest company Dowden Consulting, where my tagline is “data-driven solutions – that work”.. where I now solve very complex problems for companies and I love what I do!

At Dowden Consulting, I and those that are top experts in the field of digital marketing have come together as one and now work hard to focus on consulting clients besides me on high-level complex problems with their marketing campaigns. Where other agencies just haven’t been able to “break the code” (if you will) and figure out the solution as to why their clients are not meeting their goals (often conversion-related issues) we find the issue and form a long-term strategy. I have yet to have a client that is unsatisfied on any level. I value our client’s trust and work hard to achieve just that.

I’m less involved in the implementation at the moment but contribute to mapping out the strategy and reworking what already exists, that is not working for the client. If I don’t know how to execute something, I’ll figure it out or I know the expert that does. Not just anyone, but people who have worked with me or are beside me and know their stuff!

Dowden Consulting is similar to that of a digital marketing agency but much more involved in the process with C- Level leadership to educate them on “why” and “why not” and have the case studies to prove it. Our clientele is growing, and it’s starting to develop into something really beautiful. At one time I wanted to be the best, and reach the top but I don’t want to be the best anymore. I just want to be the most helpful, and knowledgeable, and compete against myself because I’ve learned that ultimately the race is against you. I hope to create a team that enjoys learning from each other and has the same motivation in themselves as I did against myself. A team that not only gets along well but wants to grow together and never stops learning or asking “why”. A team that respects each other, and treats others the way they want to be treated. Because I know that ultimately, that is the definition of real success. It’s not about how much money you make, or how profitable you are, it’s about the freedom you have and the happiness that being in business for yourself can help bring you happiness. I’m not just in business for myself to make money, I’m in it to be able to be selective in who we want to work with and who is working together on the team which will ultimately make us more successful. That’s not to say I’m in business to not make money, but I’m in it from a holistic and organic perspective and I’m not in a rush.

My goal in the next five years would be to remain small but hire the best of the best and reward them accordingly. If that means we grow fast, that’s great, but I’ve learned from experience that is not always the right way to grow. When you grow a garden, do you expect it to grow overnight? No, but you take really good care of it and everything that goes into growing that garden. That will get the desired results you want. Maybe you want the biggest peppers? Maybe you want several small strawberries? I just want to have the strongest stalks and reuse the same seeds from those plants, to grow new ones, instead of buying all new plants from a failed dried-out garden with no resources to grow. I’ll do whatever it takes for my clients but also seek and grow the best out of my team. If we can’t help our clients, I will always be upfront and honest and decline the business if we aren’t a good fit. I don’t want us to be just the best at a skill or trade, but the best as unique individuals too. For example, you might have a disability, but that doesn’t matter.

What can you bring to the table that no one else can’t?

It’s been a great experience, and I am eager to see where this goes. After all, “Life is a Journey, not a Destination” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

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

A few years ago I worked on a project with a company that I originally applied for as a contractor but later was offered a full-time role instead. I didn’t think the role itself was a good fit, but I decided to take it on as a challenge and learn something along the way. I did learn a lot, in Hubspot to be exact, when it first came out but I was tasked to write out an entire strategy in the first six weeks on the job, that set the tone and pace for the entire marketing department. I did so using some tools I’m familiar with but shortly after I finished that project (that was way out of my position description) I was let go from the role. I learned after that moment that I never wanted to work anywhere or with anyone else I didn’t know again. Or that required that amount of time or effort. I’m sure we have all been there before, scratching our heads and asking “what went wrong?” but sometimes you just have to stop questioning because likely it’s due to lack of funding and time. Never look back, and that is exactly what I did. Which is a big component of why I find value in understanding my worth and knowing I can work for myself and never feel taken advantage of again.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

To date, I have zero debt in this company, and I hope to keep it that way. However, that doesn’t mean that comes easy. It has taken me over 15 years to develop client relationships, referral partners, mentors, teaching and learning, make connections, and get into different industries to just get my name out there first. Then I worked hard between raising my family, being there for my kids, coaching my kid’s teams, teaching remotely in all time zones, helping out at the EACC, and fulfilling my other passions (teaching) for universities as well. Some say, how do you have all this time? Running a business only requires the time and the capital that you want to put into it. How you use your time effectively provides you with that flexibility. My motto is, keep doing what you’re doing effectively; the money will come later. My first business investment cost me a lot of money but I had to because we were in a recession. I hope that with this business, I will never have to take out a loan given our current economic state and inflation. I’ve been approached by investors this time and that is something that I feel anyone should consider and take as a compliment to your success. I will do whatever it takes and I am fortunate to have help from fellow peers that want to work with me just to learn from me (like unpaid internships) or those willing to work with me to make this business grow without a lot of expectation. Those are true partners you want to keep by your side. But, if you have to take out a loan or credit card to fund something, just know to set yourself a goal to pay that off the soonest you can and if you can’t perhaps your business has enough longevity that it might be worth selling it and starting over. Sometimes, that’s all you can do, but there are always second chances – don’t give up!

Contact Info:

• Website: dowdenconsulting.co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DowdenConsulting
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-dowden/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bdlfb8n5fQ

Image Credits
Amber Ware Photography. (outdoor photography)
Crystal Jackson with Oh Snap Photography (portfolio and interior photography)