We were lucky to catch up with Ashley J recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I am a very grateful business owner. For a long time I balanced my career in nursing with running my business. I did this for nearly 8 years. I worked in a very busy hospital setting and enjoyed leaving my business behind. I also enjoyed the freedom in clocking in and clocking out and not having to take anything home with me. But I also enjoyed getting to build something from the ground up and the flexibility that comes with starting your own thing and setting your own hours and goals. Running my business allows me to be a single mom and still be present and involved with my kids. The experience of having a regular job as well as my own business highlights that there’s a pro and a con to everything in life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Most of us have an early memory surrounding a t-shirt; that souvenir shirt you pined for on a family vacation, that obnoxious holiday sweater your grandma bought you that smelled like moth balls, that shirt you bought at your first concert, that shirt your mom insisted you wear, the oversized tee of a lover you spent Saturday mornings sipping coffee in, that shirt that’s been in your drawer so long it’s now perfectly tattered, an oldie but goody.

I was a college student in San Francisco and I explored the city much like a tourist would. I can still envision the little souvenir shop I bought the first piece of clothing for my not-yet conceived child. It had a trolly on it, navy banding around the neck and arms, and the most classic script that read ‘San Francisco’. All three of my sons have worn it, all these years later. It hung out in my closet while I traveled the world, moved cities, got married, moved cities again, until I had my first son – nearly six years after buying it in that little souvenir shop.

I remember getting a bloody nose in elementary school and looking down at my hypercolor shirt, wondering if the blood would cause it to turn a different color. I remember getting lost in a shopping mall, searching for my dad not by face but by the ‘I’m the boss’ shirt he had on that day.

Here at The Bee & The Fox, we hope to pay homage to the legacy of t-shirts; to tap into the nostalgia that has been around long before us. And for you to make your own memories, in our designs, is nothing short of a dream.

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

My motto has always been: Start where you are, with what you’ve got. I started my business with $700 and it has run itself ever since. I never used investors and hate that people think they need to have a bunch of capital to get started; you don’t.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I started my business when I was married. There was financial infidelity in my marriage that led to me initiating a divorce and left me with next to nothing in my business. I had to take out a loan just to pay my taxes. I’m grateful to be far enough removed from what-felt-like a tidal wave of betrayal and fear. It felt like I’d never make my way out of that, but I did.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.thebeeandthefox.com
• Instagram: @thebeeandthefox.com

Image Credits
I’m the photographer :)