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

Ashley M., appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

I respect my father for being a man of integrity and accountability. My father said what he meant and meant what he said, which would seem harsh at times because he was far from one to sugarcoat anything. He was a straight shooter. But if he said he would do something for you, you can take that to the bank.

I always thought his timeliness was due to being in the navy, but my mom said he’s been like that since she met him. If my dad said, we’re leaving at 7. Then you better be in the car by 6:58 because at 6:59, we’re backing out the driveway, and at 7, we’re gone.

My dad would literally have me write out a contract. If I wanted to go to a sleepover for the weekend, in exchange for his approval, I would have to make sure I was home by a certain time after school and that I cleaned the kitchen and my room every day that week. If I missed a night of cleaning the kitchen for whatever reason, my dad wouldn’t say anything. He would wait until Friday to review the agreement and point out how I didn’t clean the kitchen on Wednesday. Therefore, I violated the agreement and couldn’t go to the sleepover.

As a teenager in high school, I thought he was the worse because I would hear some of my friends getting away with the most. But it wasn’t until I got to college that I broke down and cried. I called him and told him how much I appreciated him.

In college, I felt like no one was accountable for their actions or the lack thereof. Roommates and project partners would say they would do something and then drop the ball. People didn’t clean up after themselves and lacked basic skills like cooking or washing clothes.

I was amazed and quickly realized that my father was looking out for my best interest and stuck to his guns no matter how I acted.

That trait of integrity, of doing what I say I’m going to do and being someplace when I say I will be there and being accountable, has helped me in my personal life and business.

My word is only good if I can meet a client’s deadline, especially when publishing a book. In the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve only missed one deadline. I was in the process of growing my team, and an associate failed to communicate and dropped the ball; thus, we missed the deadline. I had to explain the situation to the client and allow them to get their money back because we did not hold up our end. I did not say the associate dropped the ball. I took full responsibility. As a leader, I should’ve had better systems in place. Thank God the client was understanding and allowed us to fix it.

I take pride in being able to back up what I say. I expect the same from my team. If we say we will deliver, then we will execute with excellence.

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?

Well, hello. I am Ashley M. King, ‘The Get It Done Queen’ (TM). I help people of faith tell their story by writing a book and show them how to leverage their message to create brands, not just books. Owner of Get It Done Publishing (www.getitdonepublishing.com) and the AMK Agency.

I wrote my first book in 2010 and was afraid to promote it. I figured people would shame me when they read my story, so I sat on it for three years. Eventually, I was tired of running from fear and decided to face it.

I started promoting my book, and while at a vending event, I had a woman come up to me and inform me that she had read my book, which helped her in some dark times. I was happy and hurt at the same time. Glad that my book touched someone, but it hurt that I sat on it. I wondered how many more people I could’ve helped in those three years.

Since I had published a book, someone in my circle asked me to help them, and that’s how I started with book publishing. And after a few years of assisting others, I saw that authors needed help getting the word out there. I didn’t want anyone ever to feel that feeling I had, so I created the AMK Agency to help people get their message to who God has called them to.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I still believe that NFTs are the future. Still have kinks to work out but I’m for it. I’ve been slowly learning how to incorporate NFTs into my publishing world. I read about an author who offered his book an NFT and included an “experience” with it when purchased. I am excited about it.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

When managing a team, your team is as great as the weakest person on it. While everyone will have different skill sets and strengths, as a leader, it’s your job to be aware of it and put everyone in the best position to maximize the team’s efforts.

In maintaining high morale, communication is critical. Not just saying what needs to be done or assigning tasks but being personable and showing that you care. You don’t have to use words to show that you care. What you do can speak volumes. Your team meets a goal; celebrate them. When the team falls short, and it’s no one’s fault but just how the cookie crumbled, let them know that even though things didn’t go according to plan, you appreciate their efforts. We are all human and want to be treated as such, not as a tool to meet a goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ashleymking.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theashleymking/
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/theashleymking
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/en/theashleymking?_l=en_US
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/theashleymking
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/theashleymking

Image Credits
RaQuita W. of Belle Rouge Photography (@bellerougephotography)