S2E7: Creating a Digital Speech Course with SLP Ashley Christensen

Ashley Christensen, an experienced speech language pathologist with a background in educational settings, leveraged her expertise to create My Magic Words Speech Sound Academy, a digital speech course born out of a successful Zoom session.  The name of the program stems from affirmations she would consistently use at the beginning of each speech session with her students, which were a central part of her teaching approach. In episode 6 of our "How I Built My Speech Path Business,"  Ashley shares the comprehensive journey of developing and launching her digital course. She discusses the process of filming content, marketing, and the challenges of re-engaging with social media after years of absence.

The My Magic Words course is designed for parents who want to offer additional speech support strategies or as a primary intervention approach before a speech evaluation.  It's broken down into modules that teach each sound, uses evidence-based approaches and offers a Magic Bag that provides all of the material support a parent or caregiver might need.  Ashley walks us through how she organized her course, the importance of making it affordable for each family, her guarantee for families and the importance of making the process convenient and valuable.  

Ashley highlights the tools and software she finds most useful, particularly for her course creation and website development, and shares her positive experience with a course specifically designed to aid digital course creators called Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy. This program helped keep her motivated and accountable throughout the development process. She emphasizes the importance of storytelling in her marketing strategy, sharing about what she has learned by Don Miller's Storybrand.  We also get some great insight into her thoughts on the role of the modern mom in today's society!

Ashely also told us about how her affiliate marketing program functions to broaden the reach of her course. Reflecting on her experience in the process of creating and marketing her course, she shares two significant lessons she has learned:  enjoying the journey and there being enough room at the table for everyone.   

Kim and Mary really enjoyed this conversation with Ashley as she offered practical wisdom and compassionate advice for parents navigating speech therapy, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs across any field.

Check out Ashley's website - My Magic Words and her IG Account!
Ashley's Speech Sound Academy Course

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Also, if you haven't done so already, follow our podcast! You will be the first to know when new episodes release. We would also love for you to leave a review and rate our show. The Speech Source appreciates your feedback and support! Follow here!

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For more information on speech, language, feeding and play - visit The Speech Source Website - https://www.thespeechsource.com/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If you have an idea, don't think about it too much, because right now, even the marketing part I'm thinking about it so much so it's a block for me. I get really overwhelmed thinking, oh, I should use this marketing strategy, and oh, I need to create a story brand, and oh, I need to do that, and so when I have so much info in there, it paralyzes me. I'm like I don't know where to start and I certainly don't have that much time. So if you have an idea, I think that what's been helpful is just jumping in, just doing it without understanding. Encourage anybody who's trying to start a business in this field. Just find your strength, capitalize on it and be confident there, and then you can learn the other pieces along the way.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Welcome to the Speech Source Podcast. My name is Mary Brzeek.

Speaker 3: 0:51

And I'm Kim Dillon. We are two pediatric speech-language pathologists with a combined 25 years of experience.

Speaker 2: 0:53

We are your source for speech, language feeding, play and much more in between. This season on the Speech Source Podcast, we are going to be interviewing 12 incredible SLP entrepreneurs who have all built their own businesses. Some of these women are app designers, content and digital course creators. Some are podcast hosts, speakers, coaches, business owners, so much more. These women are going to give us all the inside scoop on how it's done as a speech pathologist, going off and building your own business. So join us each week as we hear their journey and how they built their SLP business.

Speaker 3: 1:39

On this episode we have Ashley Christensen and she is a speech language pathologist that has done course creation and she has gone out on her own to see clients and we are just really excited to hear about her journey and what she can teach us today. So welcome Ashley.

Speaker 1: 2:00

Thank you, ladies, I'm so excited to be here.

Speaker 3: 2:03

We're happy to have you. Just start out and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 1: 2:08

I'd love to. So I wanted to be a pediatrician when I was a little girl. I just wanted to help kids, I loved kids, I wanted to fix things, make things better. But then, shortly after starting school, I was like, oh wait, I actually want to be a mom too. And for me I just don't know if that's going to be a good balance. So a good friend told me about oh, you should be a speech pathologist. And I'm like what, what's that? And she's like, well, you get to help kids learn to communicate. And I'm like, oh, help kids, and I get to help them work on things or build their skills or fix things.

Speaker 1: 2:35

So it was this perfect balance that has allowed me to serve children and support in a meaningful way, while also juggling parenthood. The parenthood is especially a big juggle right now because I have five kids. We have four biological children and we were very done having kids. And three months after our fourth baby came last year, a surprise gift came to our family, a little girl. A relative reached out to us and and she needed a home and we get to be it for her. And so we are fostering to adopt our fifth child and so we have kind of twins born three states and three months apart. So it's been an adventure and we're just juggling. So I'm so grateful that I get to have the privilege of parenting and the privilege of serving people, serving kids.

Speaker 2: 3:23

So Wow, that is amazing. So you own my Magic Words and we would love to hear how you got started. I'm sure that was not your first thing right out the gate as a CF, so just how you came to your business?

Speaker 1: 3:39

Yes, oh, really good question. Yeah, the backstories I have been practicing for 14 years. 10 of those years were in the schools elementary schools, actually middle school as well, but mostly elementary schools, and it was always part-time work. And a few years ago, during COVID, we were in the Seattle area and, surprised, I had to homeschool my kids for a year and a half and so at that point I resigned so I could focus on them, but I took on private clients so that I could continue to do something I'm really passionate about.

Speaker 1: 4:08

Last December I was working with a student, a brand new student, via Zoom, and he had a lateral lisp and we went in and oftentimes that one can be a really hard one to correct, but, for whatever reason, within 15 minutes he was super responsive to the cues and got it and we were both like, and his little face, he like turned red and he got a little bit emotional. I'm like are you okay, buddy? He goes. Yeah, I just I've never said my name right before and it was like all I could do. In fact I did and I'm going to get emotional now, but got so emotional because I'm like whoa, he's 12. He was 12. And he was this really handsome, sweet, like cool kid at school, and it was something that just really impacted him, even being able to say his name correctly, and it was an aha moment for me that, oh my goodness, every child deserves to be able to confidently, clearly say their names, and I want to help more kids do that, because I don't have a huge capacity right now with my parenting juggle, and so I'm like how do I do that? So my Magic Words was born. The thought was born in January when a good friend and I were talking and it was like digital course. They're more and more common because of COVID and other things and technology.

Speaker 1: 5:22

Kids are more comfortable learning virtually and if I can take the strategies and tools and evidence-based steps that I've used for 14 years and put them in a fun and magical platform that can bring it to more kids, absolutely, it's called my Magic Words because what I've done in therapy for years, actually since the very beginning, is we do a brain boost at the very beginning of every session, which is essentially some affirmations that I feel are really powerful for all kids. It's just like we say you're amazing, what you have to say is important. Actually, they say it, so I say I'm amazing, and they repeat me and then eventually they learn it. But I'm amazing, what I have to say is important. I can speak clearly, I'm a great learner, and those things just set the stage, and so we would call them my magic words. Okay, my magic words, and so that's where it started is that I do believe that what kids have to say is super important, and their words are magic, and so is their ability to learn and do hard things, and so that's where it came from, and it's been a real adventure since then.

Speaker 1: 6:26

So last January the idea just really started flowing, and in the spring I did the bulk of the filming. So it's so funny. I knew nothing about digital courses, so it's actually really funny that I went backwards. I literally just jumped into film because I'm like that's what I'm good at. I love teaching kids. I didn't have a script, I didn't have anything. I was like I'm literally going to pretend I'm teaching a child right now, and so we went through all the sounds. It took ages. It was such a labor of love.

Speaker 2: 6:56

Did you hire a video director or some kind of production type thing?

Speaker 1: 7:00

I was good. I was like I should hire somebody, but it's really expensive to hire a video.

Speaker 3: 7:06

We have sat through that too.

Speaker 1: 7:09

And I'm like I don't know, and I'm actually really glad I didn't, because in my mind I would have wanted to and invested a lot of money. And then you hear of things that you start something and then it may maybe doesn't go the way that you hope it does. In hindsight I'm just really glad. What we ended up doing is I rented an incredible studio that I'm so lucky I had. It was phenomenal and I had it for months and had fun, different backdrops, and it was just the perfect space. And then we had some really great audio equipment and my husband happened to have a really incredible video equipment because he had done some video teaching and so it just worked out that we videoed it ourselves and it truly was an adventure like a lot of energy, a lot of learning, but it was probably my very most favorite part because I got to connect and I really did feel like through a video camera, I was connecting with these kids. I hadn't even met or didn't even know about it yet, so that was the best part or didn't even know about it yet, so that was the best part.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Super hard but so much fun, because I wanted it to be magical for kids. I wanted to keep them engaged and I wanted it to be playful. So I literally have a magic bag. I have sections where they get to learn about their magic ears, the auditory discrimination, and then each step right, like the syllable level, the isolation level is our fun sound lab. So we're in a laboratory and we get to be scientists and we get to follow our experiments with our mouth. So it was really fun to be creative and I literally was like okay, now I have it, so I'm going to launch it. And that's when I realized, oh wait, you have to become a marketer too.

Speaker 2: 8:44

Yes, oh no, so many hats, so many degrees.

Speaker 1: 8:49

So we did our beta soft launch at the end of. August, and so we're learning and growing and experimenting with it still and getting ready for another kind of more live launch.

Speaker 3: 9:00

In one year you did all of this stuff, from the thought of wanting to do it to recording, to planning. That is amazing. And I have kids, mary has kids, so we completely understand how it is to have these thoughts and ideas in your head, and then executing them is a completely different thing. Trying to find the time, what did you use to structure what you were doing? Were you using Canva or Google Docs? Or what were you doing as far as like your structure for each sound and then videoing it?

Speaker 1: 9:32

Wow, Really good question. The structure of the actual course camp is again like the evidence-based steps that a lot of speech therapists are familiar with. But the actual making it pretty and starting to use Instagram. I hadn't been on Instagram in eight years before this. No Facebook, no Instagram.

Speaker 1: 9:47

I was off the social media grid and that was probably one of the scariest parts was getting back on and putting myself out there. I'm like, oh, do I have to do that? But I'm like, yeah, because I get to bring value to people and that's how this is going to become something that gets to help. So I used Canva game changer for me, I mean I, it's amazing. That tool has been phenomenal. In fact, I developed my parent friendly curriculum that goes with each module of the speech sound course and I used Canva for all of that.

Speaker 1: 10:16

I built the website by myself because I didn't want to invest a lot of money at the time in it. So we built it on Kajabi, which was also a learning experience. Holy moly. Now I understand why people charge like $10,000 to build a website. I'm like, oh, yeah, there's a lot of value there for sure. It's just been a learning adventure.

Speaker 1: 10:35

I've used a lot of like YouTubing and trying to figure out how to do certain things I also did after the fact. So in the fall, I signed up for Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy, which was in some ways, the beginning part was fun because she actually helps you develop the course. So I had already done the course, so in some ways it was really validating. And then other ways I'm like oh, I did it backwards but it was okay.

Speaker 1: 11:00

And I think that for all of us, if you have an idea, don't think about it too much, because right now, even the marketing part I'm thinking about it so much so it's a block for me. I get really overwhelmed thinking, oh, I should use this marketing strategy and oh, I need to create a story brand and oh, I need to do that, and so when I have so much info in there, it paralyzes me. I'm like I don't know where to start and I certainly don't have that much time. So if you have an idea, I think that what's been helpful is just jumping in, just doing it without understanding. Encourage anybody who's trying to start a business in this field. Just find your strength, capitalize on it and be confident there, and then you can learn the other pieces along the way.

Speaker 3: 11:38

What's great is you have it. You have this product now. Sometimes that's the hardest part is executing, and now you get to figure out how to get it out there and just reach more people, especially when you believe in it value and you believe in it.

Speaker 1: 12:07

If I hadn't spent months and months filming and really pushing it to be a really great product, I wouldn't be able to sell it for me. If I don't believe in it myself, I can't share it with other people. Right that, if you believe in yourself and you do the work and you make it the best version that you can, then it's a product that you can stand by. I guarantee my product. If a parent comes back after a few months and they're doing the course and they're not seeing results, I want to support them in getting those results, either personally or giving them their money back, because the work that we do as speech language pathologists is important. There is a need, huge need. Yeah, just be confident in that, and I think that doing the work and jumping in allows you to be confident in what you do.

Speaker 2: 12:50

There's such a balance there as an entrepreneur, because on the one hand, you want to jump in and just do it, but then on the other hand, there's this perfectionism side of oh, but what I put out into the world is a reflection of me and my business and I want it to be just right and perfect. How do you balance that desire for it to be perfect and awesome and just getting it out there, mary?

Speaker 1: 13:11

that is such a good question. I'm not sure I'm like the right person to answer that, because that did come in. I had some friends say the friend actually that I had talked to that had said, hey, you should do a digital course. She said it doesn't even have to be intense, let's just go get my iPhone, I'll film it for you. I think a lot of SLPs are perfectionists and like that creative side to come into play, and so for me, I just couldn't To feel good about the creation process and about what value I'm bringing to people. It did have to be the perfect version at the time for myself. Is it perfect? No, right. I even think, oh, the editing, I wish I could redo that or I should do the redo that.

Speaker 1: 13:48

But ultimately the goal is not for it to be a perfect aesthetic. What the goal is? To teach children how to correctly produce speech sounds right, and so maybe with that perfectionist mindset, what helped me is okay. What's the goal? Stay on track. What's the goal? Stay on track. What's the goal? I'm trying to get it to more kids right. I'm trying to help more, and so if I focus on that and worry less about the noise, then I can get there faster, Like the website. It was so hard for me to think oh, I want it to look better, I want it to look more perfect, Does it matter? No, In fact, there's research that says that some of those ugly websites with the bright red buy now stickers with the old school font do better than the pretty ones. Right when you create your product and then when you're ready to get it out there, just remembering that truly imperfect is so much better than perfect a year down the road, right and we're never doing it.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Yeah, it's true and this is something I have to remind myself of, especially on social media. I'm like man, it shouldn't matter. Ultimately, it's just the information from one mom to another right, or one professional to another, or a speech therapist to a parent, or a speech therapist to another speech therapist that ultimately, we just have to push past that need for perfectionism. Ultimately, we just have to push past that need for perfectionism. I don't know the answer to that one. I'm still working through that one and I need lots of reminders. Just try it, and it's okay to fail, and it's okay if it doesn't sound right every time. That's why we get to just keep trying.

Speaker 2: 15:23

I think you've done a great job putting everything out there. I wanted to ask you to you mentioned Amy Porterfield, so Kim and I also really enjoy listening to Amy Porterfield and Jenna Kutcher. You mentioned that you did Amy Porterfield's course. Can you tell us was that valuable for you and your business? Since it doesn't apply to healthcare? Sometimes we feel like this weird island where we're healthcare but then we're suddenly entrepreneurs and business but we don't know anything about it. Did it apply to you as a speech therapist?

Speaker 1: 15:55

Really, really good question, and this is a question I would have loved to have heard the answer to before I bought it, because it's a big investment. I will say that it was highly beneficial for the new, budding, entrepreneurial part of me that I didn't know it existed and that I'm still trying to find right. What it allowed me to do was to better learn, as a therapist, how to speak a language that resonates with customers, right, that resonates with parents, how I reach them in the way where they can feel my authenticity, my desire to support, my willingness, right. And so it taught me so much about the structures that are involved in developing a course, specifically and I would say for anybody that is still just in the very budding process. If you are just like I, want to create a course, I'm really good at this and I want to create a course next level amazing. I absolutely wish I had seen it before I created the course. But then again comes that perfectionist. Maybe I wouldn't have actually done the work if I knew how much work it was going to be. But she literally walks you through how to understand your ideal customer and then, once you do how to create even a name, she walks you through how to create a name for your brand that will help sell itself. So she has a method that it really does.

Speaker 1: 17:32

I really felt supported and I also really loved that it kept me accountable, because it is really easy to just push it off Like I'll do that or I'll get to that, but when you're investing in yourself, for me, I took the time and I showed up for the calls that she offered and I showed up for the question and answers and I was really eager to get as much out of it as I could, and so it pushed me along. So I've gone through a lot of her course. I'm still in the final phases of getting ready to launch a live webinar, because that's the format she does. She teaches like you have a course and do a webinar to live, launch it and offer it to your customers. So it had a lot of valuable information and she's an incredible teacher. So if you are considering a course, I would look into it.

Speaker 1: 18:12

The tricky part is she only opens it a few times a year, so with that it was hard, because it wasn't even open when I was initially looking for it, because I knew about it and I got on the wait list, so that's where the timing comes in. So if you're like, oh, she doesn't open for another six months, don't wait, just jump in, do the work, learn. I still learned so much, even though my course was fully created. I learned a lot about like email automations and how to allow customers to feel supported in the post-purchase process. Right how to email them, when to email them in the post-purchase process. Right how to email them, when to email them, and even how to build your email list. She talks so much about email lists and I'm learning the importance of that. If you're wanting to grow a business early on, start trying to build your email list so that you can bring value to those clients that are very tailored to your niche, right, tailored to the things you can offer.

Speaker 3: 19:06

I would say that marketing is probably one of the biggest learning curves in anything that you want to do business-wise. It has been for us Even logistics of figuring out how to record, how to create in Canva all those things you can learn. But then I feel like that marketing piece is a lot trickier because you're trying to figure out what other people are going to respond to and there's a whole psychological piece in that. What's been most helpful actually?

Speaker 1: 19:31

just recently, so it's fresh on my mind what other people are going to respond to, and there's a whole psychological piece in that what's been most helpful, actually just recently, so it's fresh on my mind. So, if anybody's really trying to understand how to get their story out there and how to share what they have quickly because we only have a few seconds, right, when somebody clicks on our website or somebody clicks on our Instagram, we have seconds for them to find clarity before they're ready to move on. So to know what we're about, what we can offer, how we can support them. And so I don't know if you guys have heard of Story Brand by Don Miller. It's pretty amazing.

Speaker 1: 20:00

I'm reading his book right now and what I love so much is it talks so much about how it's so important that our parents or our customers or our clients, that we really understand them and that we can tell a story that places them in the hero position.

Speaker 1: 20:17

Right, and he talks so much about how, if we can, as professionals, create a story it's a universal language, no matter where you live if we have a structure to it where there's a let's see a character and a villain and a guide speech pathologists, right, we're guides, right. We are parents. We need to encourage and support parents, to support their children, because they're the ultimate heroes in allowing for carryover, allowing for generalization and allowing for skills of language and learning building to transform to their child everywhere, right? So if we can share that message and just really give them confidence in a plan and the guide that goes such a long way, it's why cinema is so popular and so amazing is because it speaks the universal language of storytelling. So in business, I think that if you're starting a new business and trying to figure it out, find your story, find a way to tell a story, and I'm still working on that. So we'll see how that goes the next few weeks.

Speaker 3: 21:19

We've seen that through podcasting. There are some topics that Mary and I will just talk about that people respond to, but our biggest response is when we have guests on that are telling a story. That's what people like to hear and they can put themselves in that story and they can learn from that story. And you're right, that's storytelling has been around since the beginning of time.

Speaker 1: 21:41

Well, and it's interesting because sometimes I don't know if you guys ever feel that way, but it's hard for me, and maybe it's a personality trait that SLPs have in common is over talking about myself or overselling myself. There's that piece where it's like, oh, that's awkward for me. I don't want to pressure any parent. I don't want any parent or any client to feel overwhelmed. I just want to give value and I want to support but what we have to offer a speech therapist is valuable and it helps. Communication is giant, like it's everywhere, and so, just for any SLPs listening, you have a gift and a skill that can transform a child, an adult, an adolescent's life. And to be confident in that and I have to remind myself of that, even though, yes, I am the face of it because I'm teaching it it's not me, it's not about me, it's about empowering children, it's about teaching them, giving them simple tools that they can digest and feel successful with, and that's what SLPs do. So do you right?

Speaker 2: 22:47

What I love about your course is you really thought through all the pieces. So you have the digital course and then you have your physical. Here's your bag, here's all the tangible materials that you need, and then you also have an app. So tell us about how you got all of those different pieces in place and why you thought those were all needs, all of those different pieces in place and why you thought those were all needs.

Speaker 1: 23:17

You know what I think that it truly was about trying to remember an individual child. So it really even the curriculum. Again, I didn't do a script, but I had a foundation. I'm like I want a section for this because this is really important and I want a section for this and it builds on each other. Ultimately, I was teaching one child.

Speaker 1: 23:30

Ultimately, it was celebrating and finding success and encouraging one child through a screen which how incredible is technology that we can do that now? And then I think, and then I thought back to all the therapy sessions I've done where there's so many helpful tools and so many helpful things that can help them get there faster. And, as a kid, if you see somebody on TV or I love how I'm using more TV or on the computer, on the phone, using a tool, and you have that tool zipped up in a magic bag next to you, so cool and it can facilitate it. And yeah, parents can go and buy the straws and all the different materials I have in my magic bag. They can buy those things.

Speaker 1: 24:08

But I thought again, my goal is to support and as a busy mom it is hard to find time to do basic things.

Speaker 1: 24:18

So if I'm going to be adding to their plate already, if I can give them one more thing where it's click here and for a minimal price, you can also have all the materials ready for them. So I just was really trying to, honestly, using my perspective as a mom in the juggle If I can make this as easy as possible and that's why I like the app. I did invest in Kajabi, which is a website that does offer the app option, which is really amazing because it is more expensive. But it was important to me that, like the mom that's on the soccer field, one child is practicing and the other one's just sitting there. It's all they want to play a game. How about, instead, guess what? Let's practice this sound. You get to pop on and let's watch this video with Ms Ashley. So, again, that convenience piece was really important. So I think that if, as professionals, when we're creating something, if we can just focus in on our customers' needs, then it will just flow better and provide better for sure.

Speaker 2: 25:13

One of the other guests that we had on said something really similar, and she said that she's really designing her products for the modern mom, and I should have asked at the time, but I'm going to ask you instead is who do you see as the modern mom? What is she like?

Speaker 1: 25:32

Oh, this is such a good question. What is the modern mom? I think it's easy for us all to answer that question as our own perspective, but what I see the modern mom being I actually think this is the timeless part of motherhood is we want our children to feel successful socially. Most part of motherhood is we want our children to feel successful socially, academically. We want to give them every opportunity, right. So there's that desire, but there's also a lot of noise, right, there's athletics and there's the arts and making sure that they're doing well in school and, oh, playtime, engaging with our child, oh, and feeding them, showers, all the basic needs. So there's just a lot going on and sometimes even a lot of pressures, right that? Oh, did I do enough of this? Did I give them enough opportunity for this? And I think it's an overwhelming juggle and I think we all need more opportunities to let there be some quiet, let our kids be a little bit bored, maybe take off some of the things off of the list. Which is why, again, I created this is think about the time. Believe me, there is a time.

Speaker 1: 26:41

I am a speech therapist and I know that there is a season and a value in what we do, and so that's one of the things too is oh man, am I creating this? I don't want to take away that there is a need for one-on-one speech therapy a thousand percent. But there are some kids that all they need to know is how to place their tongue, and a lot of moms just don't know right. We've had years of training and experiences, and so if it's a simple hey, let me just show you a few things, and not only am I going to show you, I'm going to show you where to start and how to get from a basic level, because sometimes we don't know that basic level, so then the child feels frustrated and overwhelmed and they shut down. So if we can have a step-by-step plan that's simple, it can really help a lot of kids, right?

Speaker 1: 27:22

So going back to the modern mom, right, if I can take away 45 minute or 30 minute, 20 minute drive to speech therapy and back, or if my child's in speech therapy and I don't know how to help them practice at home, as it is like the reading and the math and all the things academically, it's a lot of things to think about. So if I can support the modern mom in taking some of the load off. Then they can have more time for the slow moments, have more time for their child to go play and be bored and not be worried because I don't know about you. Maybe again, the modern mom is in me. The explanation is that there's a lot of worry Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much? So I don't know. What do you guys think of that answer? What do you think a modern mom is? It describes me. What do you?

Speaker 3: 28:07

think Kim, I think you're right in the fact that I feel like we're wearing a lot of hats. We're expected to wear a lot of hats and, on top of the things that you're supposed to do as a mom, I think the desire to want to do more outside of that is also there. You're trying to provide them with something so that they can do more.

Speaker 1: 28:26

And less than the load and honestly I keep this has come up several times in this year is I have had a village of people surrounding me and supporting me and fostering our daughter and doing the twin life pretty much and all these things. It's taken a village to teach and love and support and provide for our family this year. And don't we want to be a part of each other's villages if we can, if there's a way that we can support other mothers doing this juggle like, absolutely because it takes that and I love learning from other about toddler behavior and feeding and sleep schedules and so what an incredible world we live in where we have access to all that. But with that comes the overwhelm part too. Do you ever feel like there's a little too much information out there?

Speaker 3: 29:08

sometimes, exactly, we shouldn't feel that pressure to do so much, because, you're right, the quiet and being able to just be in the moment is so important.

Speaker 3: 29:17

I wanted to jump back a little bit to when you were talking about.

Speaker 3: 29:22

You created this program for parents to try, but you still see that need for speech therapy in some cases, and I wonder if that thought comes from. You said you worked in the schools and I worked in the schools for a little while too, and before any child is referred for speech, you have to do a response to intervention for a while first. That is how it works in the school system, and so I think that's a great way to think about your course. Also is that if a parent is maybe unsure if they're ready to go there yet, this is such a great thing to do before a speech therapy evaluation, and I don't know if every family knows how expensive just an evaluation is, but it's expensive and therapy is expensive and it's for sure needed many times. But what a great opportunity to try something first, because you're right, some kids just need a little bit of intervention and they'll take off. But such a great option when parents just aren't ready to do the full evaluation or they can't yet.

Speaker 1: 30:27

What I'm finding too is I actually have a girl in my community. She's 14 and her parents are so on top of life, they do all the things and they've reached out and her 14 year old needs speech therapy for her ass. And I asked, I was like, has she been in speech therapy? She's. What happened is? I kept asking the teacher and asking the speech therapist and they kept saying she didn't qualify, she didn't qualify, she didn't qualify. So I was like, oh, she doesn't need it, she'll grow it eventually. She's 14 now and she always needed it for that lateral lisp.

Speaker 1: 30:56

That's always the thing, and it's really interesting to me that even people that have the time, have the resources, are motivated. They're getting messages that of course the speech therapist didn't know no bad intentions but what she was saying is, yeah, they don't qualify in the school because she's not moderately to severely impaired or she doesn't have an academic impact because that one S sound, it takes you to be older to qualify based on those standardized assessments. So parents don't understand that backside of it. They just hear, oh, they don't need it. And so really a lot of the times in the school-based therapy that part's tricky, because a lot of those kids do need it.

Speaker 1: 31:35

If they still have sounds when they're going into school. They do need the support. They just don't need specialized instruction in the schools because that's a different qualification. So that part I've seen probably the biggest thing is that parents just don't understand the language behind that, which makes total sense. We've been trained on this, we've done this for years, so it's different and I think we can keep that in mind. And also for early kids right, young kids early on. The earlier you start this, it's like a little boost for their development.

Speaker 2: 32:05

So true, ashley. I'm sure the first time that you sold a digital course, you're like yeah, I have a customer, and then you got 10, and then you got 100. And then, when you just keep growing and growing, how do you keep yourself in check of what success looks like to you? Okay, I want to sell more, I want to reach more, I want to help more people. How do you stay grounded in your present success, because every single patient is a win, but then also, having your big goals in mind, I really like that.

Speaker 1: 32:44

You said that, mary, that every patient is a wind. I literally and I encourage this of anybody, any speech therapist trying to build a business. Every time I even get one new follower on social media, I try to take a moment and recognize there is a mom that needs some support in some way. How can I bring value? What does that look like? And when we acknowledge that and, like you said, like when we go to that small place of the one, it keeps us in a grounded place because, ultimately, if we focus on our why and really dig deep into why are we here? Sure, With five kids, the financial freedom that can come as a digital course is successful and grows, will help provide opportunities and freedom for me to spend more time with my kids.

Speaker 1: 33:27

That's valuable and that's important to me. But ultimately, my deep down why is to bring value and to share. And when we can bring value to others, it always comes back full circle. And so just trying to stay clear and present with our why and present with, like exactly what you said, each and every person that comes your way, each and every client that comes your way.

Speaker 2: 33:51

You mentioned that you had the magic bag. We talked a little bit about the magic bag with all the supplies. You had to jump from a digital course to. Then you are shipping out physical objects to people. Who does that for you? Do you buy in bulk? How does that all work on the business side of things?

Speaker 1: 34:11

So we're still pretty early on that. It's pretty manageable. I'm still learning the marketing to a place where sales do come in, but it's still manageable. In some ways I like this part because I can check in more one-on-one with each parent. So currently it's still manageable. Where I did, I purchased things in bulk to reduce costs because it was important to keep the costs low. Again, convenience. But hello, groceries are like a million dollars right now. Even though speech therapy and learning these sounds is really important, it's still an investment and it still can be hard for a lot of families. So that's another thing is I desperately want even the people that don't have the budget for this stuff to be able to access this. That is so important to me and actually eventually I'd love to do like a scholarship program to offer to more and more kids. So the cost is low. It's currently for the entire course with the parent-friendly curriculum, start to finish. It's $87. And that's less than a therapy session.

Speaker 2: 35:07

Because I want it to be a no brainer.

Speaker 1: 35:09

I want parents to feel the relief that they can experience and I want that success to come in. So, again, early stages, I'm learning as it grows. I can imagine there's going to be some new systems in place that I figure out and I'll celebrate those too.

Speaker 3: 35:25

And maybe hire my 14 year old out and I'll celebrate those too and maybe hire my 14 year old Not a bad idea. When we are learning, we talk about Amy Porterfield's course and marketing and how to launch things. I think it gets tricky sometimes in our field because some of those strategies that we don't want to use only opening for one month. It might create this rush to get it because you want someone to have access to it anytime and anywhere, and so it's. I think it's sometimes harder to market from our field because we're wanting to give access and we're not necessarily trying to create this limited idea, and so I do. I think it makes marketing trickier.

Speaker 1: 36:08

Thank you for saying that I'm not kidding. I think it makes marketing trickier. Thank you for saying that I'm not kidding. I was just talking to somebody else on my accountability pod about this. I don't want to ever close it, like parents need this when they need it, when it's convenient. Again, I want to make this easier on them, not harder, and so it is a balance of figuring that out. And I think that, as SLPs, there is a level two where we're compassionate individuals right, when you say just across the board, there's a compassion element where we just want to help and make it easy for others, and so I don't know the answer to that. I'm going to be exploring that, so I'll keep you posted on how it goes, because yeah, we'll have to have a repeat interview.

Speaker 1: 36:46

I would love it. You can tell us?

Speaker 3: 36:47

everything you learned about marketing.

Speaker 1: 36:49

Yeah, we're definitely in the early stages and it will be fun to watch it grow. And that's one thing I would say is the biggest lesson I have learned this entire process. Actually, two lessons. The first one is to enjoy the process. I worked really unbelievably hard from March to August, like crazy next level hard to create it and the launch did well, based on the limited numbers I had on social media. But in our brains, I think, we sometimes expect oh, it's going to just go wildfire, it's going to be incredible overnight. It doesn't always work that way and that is okay. It doesn't mean that I failed. It doesn't mean that it is a failure. It just means that I get to learn more and, instead of feeling overwhelmed with the marketing process, I'm really trying to enjoy this stretching and changing and growing, instead of looking so far ahead that I'm disappointed about the now.

Speaker 2: 37:46

That's such a hard thing to do. It's so hard.

Speaker 1: 37:50

It's so hard. So that's the first thing. And the second thing is there is room for all of us. I remember feeling really overwhelmed when I first started this on social media, thinking oh, there's a lot of SLPs out there and I didn't even know how much SLP present there was on it when I built my course. In fact, I built the course and then went on social media towards the end of it and there are.

Speaker 1: 38:12

There's a lot of incredible talent and incredible value all over the place, but it doesn't make yours or mine any less impactful. There is room for tons of courses in learning language and in an early invention. Tons of courses for articulation. Tons of courses in learning language and in an early invention. Tons of courses for articulation. Tons of courses for social, pragmatic language. The list goes on and on. So if you want to do something and you're good at something and you can narrow in on something that can bring value, just do it. And also, let's honor each other's talents and skills. Let's share what other people are doing instead of reinventing the wheel, thinking that you have to do it. Share what somebody else shared because it's valuable and we get to just collaborate and help each other in that way and it's an honor and a privilege to learn from so many. I've learned so much since I've been on social media from so many amazing speech therapists.

Speaker 2: 39:05

One of the things that you're doing on social media, or as a part of social media, is affiliate programs, so can you tell us a little bit about what you have going on in that area?

Speaker 1: 39:15

Yeah, it's been really exciting. Some people reach out asking if they can share with their audiences, which I am so grateful for that and as a thank you and as, again, we collaborate and share and build with each other. I do have an affiliate program where it's anybody who shares who reached out to me. I can give you an affiliate link and if you share that and somebody purchases from your link, you'll get 30% of any products or any courses that are sold from that, because, again, it's about spreading the knowledge, helping more families out there, and I appreciate the partnership in doing that. So I love to be able to offer that, as well as exclusive discount codes for your customers and for you ladies, exclusive discounts for your followers, as we just all try to bring value and support each other.

Speaker 2: 40:05

How do you get set up with something like that If you want to start an affiliate program? Who is keeping track of all these things for you?

Speaker 1: 40:14

Depending on where you build your website. So again, kajabi I use that example because it's what I know now but they do have a really great system that makes it very easy actually to input the messages that get sent, the emails that get sent, automated, and to be able to pop in the email address and the PayPal all gets linked. So it's like a linked process that works for you and I believe a lot of the websites have those offerings. But that is one thing with Kajabi that has been easy, probably one of the easier parts. And how cool is that the technology and the resources can track where these customers are even coming from and that we get to share in this way.

Speaker 2: 40:53

So, yeah, good job. It's so cool. We love, even with podcasting, we can see a map of the world and see that people are listening in Uzbekistan and they're listening in Australia, and it's so cool to just, like you said, all the technology to see who are the people and then you can better reach and know who your audience is.

Speaker 1: 41:15

Yeah, it's a real gift and, as overwhelming as it can seem sometimes, if we use it for the good way, it's going to be great and reach more people. The best part of being on social media again is being able to hear folks like you and learn from you, and so thank you for providing this.

Speaker 3: 41:31

It's fun, but before we let you go, we do have some fun questions, so we've been asking our guests self-care. You are so busy. You have five kids and you are invested in your work also, but if you have a moment, what is your go-to for self-care?

Speaker 1: 41:48

I am learning to prioritize that in a bigger way For me. I fuel up by making time to connect with friends. I'm such an extrovert, so being around other people who encourage me and motivate me and inspire me has probably been my most impactful form of self-care.

Speaker 3: 42:04

What is your go-to? If you just like easy dinner, everybody will eat, or quick dinner, do you have a go-to?

Speaker 1: 42:11

I do have a go-to, and it happened last night and I'm tempted to do it again tonight. It's called chicken rice, roger. I'm telling you. We even had extra kids last night and all of them were like devouring it. So I don't know what it is, but kids love it. It's a rice like mushroom onion chicken dish. You can Google it. It is limited time and just makes a big difference.

Speaker 3: 42:31

If you were not a speech therapist, what would your dream job be?

Speaker 1: 42:35

Oh, these are so good, you guys. Okay, my dream job if I wasn't a speech therapist. The first thing that came to my mind is interior design. I love it and there's just something about it, but it goes hand in hand with speech therapy.

Speaker 3: 42:48

I think, too I was going to say I'm going to do some data on this, because we have heard that answer before. I feel like design is big in the speech therapy world, which is interesting.

Speaker 2: 43:00

Okay, then I'm going to ask one last question just for you, ashley, is you are always rocking these great headbands, so I want to know where your favorite places are to buy them and what styles you go for. Okay, it's funny.

Speaker 1: 43:17

I didn't know about Miss Rachel until I got back on social media for the record. So it's actually hilarious that I've worn headbands for years. I actually don't really go anywhere without a hat or a headband. It's pretty hilarious. My favorite place is Timu or Shein because they're like dollars and so I'm real deal. Sometimes you can find some on Amazon, but that's where I just find a lot of them for literally $2. So that's my favorite, and that way I can have a larger collection because I wear them out.

Speaker 3: 43:43

You look very cute and hats and headbands. When I see you on social media, I was really thinking.

Speaker 2: 43:49

I thought that earlier that I was like I'm getting some kind of Miss Rachel vibes, but I didn't want that to be seen as a negative thing at all, if you didn't like literally today, cause I have an 18 month old now.

Speaker 1: 44:00

He enjoys a little bit and I'm like I did something like that in the course. It is very similar, so the headband, and then I always wear the same thing, and so it's really funny, unintentional, like I said, I didn't know Ms Rachel before I did this, so now I do and I'm like, oh, and then I call myself Ms Ashley, but I've called myself Ms Ashley forever, so it is kind of funny, but I like it. I'd love to be associated.

Speaker 3: 44:23

I'm sure your videos are very capturing because you do have a great expressive personality and you have to have that If you're going to do videos with a kid. It's hard enough when you're one-on-one in person with a kid. I remember when we were having to do teletherapy. I would be more exhausted after my teletherapy visits because you have to be on. It's a production.

Speaker 1: 44:45

It is a production. You're so right. I did zoom therapy through my school during COVID and so I did get a glimpse of that for sure. I will say, the funny thing about the course is it is exceptionally animated and even I look at it and I'm like, wow, go for it there. And I think it's so good for young kids. But I do have a teen section as well, because I knew there were some teens that really need this support, but they're not gonna wanna watch me in the laboratory or like gear enough.

Speaker 1: 45:11

That's a smart idea there is a section where I'm literally just in a room guiding them through it. It's still me animated, but it's not all the bubbly, silly, playful chat, right, yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:22

Thank you, ashley, this was so amazing.

Speaker 3: 45:26

Yes, thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 1: 45:28

Thank you guys. You guys were delightful. Now I like want to turn to interview you. Now I want to hear about your life.

Speaker 3: 45:34

Thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast and check out our website thespeechsourcecom.

Speaker 2: 45:41

Also check us out on Instagram for more ideas on speech, language, feeding and play.