Swell Social Hour
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Swell Social Hour
Stuck in the Hustle Loop? From Solo to Success: Building Your Team, a conversation with Ashley Ebert, TAG
In this episode of Swell Social Hour, host Serena interviews Ashley Ebert, a wedding industry coach and founder of The Abundance Group.
They discuss Ashley's journey from running a successful wedding planning business to coaching others in the industry.
The conversation covers the importance of mindset shifts for business owners, the transition from client work to team building, and the expectations and realities of hiring. Ashley shares insights on how to create a supportive team environment and the financial considerations involved in hiring.
The episode concludes with strategies for overcoming challenges in the hiring process.
In this conversation, Ashley Ebert shares her insights on the journey of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of learning from negative experiences, the abundance of talent available, and the transition from working solo to building a team.
She discusses the significance of community and support, advocating for masterminds over traditional courses for accountability and growth. The conversation also highlights the transformative moments entrepreneurs experience as they grow their teams and the necessity of celebrating wins and practicing self-care.
Takeaways include:
- Mindset shifts needed to step into leadership roles.
- Building a team to alleviate burdens
- Expectations around hiring
- Revenue-generating roles
- Creating a supportive team environment.
And so much more!
Connect with Ashley on Instagram.
Visit the website: www.theabundance.group/secret
Serena's affiliate link if you're interested in joining Ashley's Mastermind program: https://tag.mykajabi.com/a/2147966878/YXfwEGTS (I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you use this link. But please know, I would recommend this program even if I wasn't an affiliate!).
Connect with me online! https://www.instagram.com/dandeagency/
https://www.dandeagency.com/ | https://www.dandeagency.com/swellsocial
Check out my favorite tools (I may earn a small commission when you use these links):
Manychat | Later | Interact Quiz Maker | Airtable | I Do Society DIY Ads
Serena (00:00.864)
All right, we are back with another week of Swell Social Hour and I'm so excited to have Ashley with the Abundance Group here with us today. Let's get into it. I'm gonna give a little intro on Ashley and then we're just gonna start chatting, because I know everybody's time is valuable and we wanna pack a punch in a short amount of time. if you are not familiar with Ashley, she is a wedding industry coach and founder of the Abundance Group where she helps establish wedding pros.
grow from burned out solopreneurs to confident, sustainable owners. After scaling her own wedding planning company to over one million in annual revenue with a team of 30 plus planners, she now teaches others how to do the same. Through her signature course, Empire with Ease, her high touch tag mastermind and tools from the Riot Method and Empire with Ease Pyramid, Ashley offers real world strategies that simplify growth. She's also the creator of the Hustle Loop
A powerful concept that helps wedding pros recognize and escape the cycle of overworking with real progress. With a coaching style that's equal parts strategy and heart, Ashley is known for making business feel clear, doable, and even fun. Yes, really. So thanks for being with us.
Ashley Ebert (01:12.26)
That's right, fun. Absolutely. Serena, know, anything you do, I say yes. So here, I'm so happy to be here and excited to talk with you.
Serena (01:18.478)
it.
Yep, we're very excited to have Ashley here today. I have actually known Ashley for, gosh, we were trying to figure this out the other day. I'm in almost year 10 of business, so I met Ashley in that first year of business. So we've stayed connected ever since, and I told my email list the other day that I actually remember when Ashley...
Ashley Ebert (01:34.978)
Yeah. Yeah.
Serena (01:44.012)
was coming up with the abundance group. And this was just kind of like a pebble of an idea that she really wanted to roll with. So I'm super excited for you to kind of share that story. Why did you start it? Give us a little bit of kind of that like foundational understanding of why tag.
Ashley Ebert (01:58.092)
Yeah, I loved that email so much because it, you know, you're in it and you're growing things and it just like took me back and it was, it was really fun for me to read that. I mean, the abundance group started really with this idea that I had scaled my planning company, the Simply Elegant Group, you know, it's a multi-market, I had multiple planners and people kind of looked at me and they're like, how are doing this? What's, what's going on? How are you doing this? And you know, my perspective is let me show you, I'm happy. Like I will tear, but you know,
pull the curtain back, I will share all my frameworks. So it started basically from this idea of I got approached to coach all the time and I really wanted to make it into kind of the new calling of my trajectory of my career. I had worked in weddings for gosh, five or six years at that point and kind of hit that like I'm good at this but it's not my huge, it's not my.
It's like it's fun, but there's something more. And then that was kind of the path into the education world. It wasn't really like the whole like build the business and then become an educator like everybody does. It was like I, the heart behind why I wanted to help moved me more than what I was doing at Simply Elegant. I was creating space and building these leaders over there and I loved that.
But the actual client facing work just wasn't lighting me up anymore. And so then it was kind of like everything came together in this season where it was like, maybe this is something that the wedding industry really needs is someone who is there kind of, like you said, equal parts strategy, but also cheerleader and will sit in the muck with you and be there and be present.
but also show you that it's only temporary and we're gonna get through it together. And I think that's kind of my secret edge as a coach is like, think people, one of the most beautiful compliments I was ever given on an escalator down from in wedding MBA, I remember vividly, Sarah Dunn who said it to me, she said, Ashley, like you've always brought me to tables and made me feel so seen. And that is like what I want to do for everybody.
Ashley Ebert (04:17.09)
And then once I kind of realized that spark, mean the rest, as they say, is history and we've been having a heck of a fun time over at the abundance group for over eight years, which is wild.
Serena (04:25.526)
Yeah, I know that is wild. But it's really funny because you said something that sparked a question that I think happens to business owners a lot, especially as you're more seasoned in your journey and you start to realize there the what you started the business for is not the thing you want to do anymore. So when a business owner starts to feel that like they've built this great business, but maybe they don't want to like do the nitty gritty anymore. Like what is their next step in most cases?
Ashley Ebert (04:28.506)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Ebert (04:54.114)
Yeah, and a lot of people, I feel like they've built their business based on themselves and their brand. lot of companies will be like even the owner's first name and co or anything like that. And they feel kind of stuck. And a lot of what I teach is around scaling and building a team. And a lot of people, think especially in the creative world, have this hesitation of like, I don't want to be a boss.
I got out of the corporate world because that's, I don't like that life. Like I don't want to now make that over here. And I'm like, it's very different though. Like working at a corporation and being a small business owner with team members, those are, these aren't, these two things are not the same. So there's definitely, there's the shift that happens of like, is there more than just client facing work? But I have no idea what that is. And so it's really kind of.
demystifying, but also breaking some of those beliefs of, don't want to be a bad boss. I want my team to like me. I don't want to manage people. It's actually really fun. And Serena, you've sent me some very joyful voice messages recently about how amazing your team is. And talk about why I get out of bed in the morning is for voice messages from you that are just like that, Of, this is way different than I thought it was.
And it's there is no I think bigger ecstasy moment than when you're like, wow, this is there. They're getting behind. They're giving the gift of their time to my dream. And they're good at it. And they're good, kind people. And I'm paying them good money. Like there's nothing better when you kind of created that momentum in your business. So I think sometimes people feel a little bit of a a stalemate on how to get out of the client work. And a lot of people will go to like
passive revenue, like in all of these different things. And it's like, sure, that's one way to do it. But I think building a team is the much easier way, the much easier way to do it.
Serena (06:54.77)
I with that. And I remember years ago being kind of like, like, I mean, not that I don't enjoy the work that we do, obviously I do. And there's a lot of big picture stuff, but then I was finding myself getting in the weeds all the time. And I'm like, I can't serve my clients as well as I want to because I'm so stuck doing the thing that they hired us to do. And I'm like, there has to be somebody else who can help like fill that gap on my team. So we're still doing the thing they hired us to do, but like maybe.
Ashley Ebert (07:13.655)
Normally.
Serena (07:21.996)
those big creative ideas, you're not gonna have them if you're not out of the way. You have to get out of your own way. That's a really hard thing. Yeah, yeah.
Ashley Ebert (07:28.426)
You have to have margin, right? Yeah, you absolutely have to have margin to be able to do the thing that you love to do. So, you know, I'll work with lot of planners and they'll say, but I love the design part. I'm like, well, just do the design part. why? We don't want to like be doing vendor callbacks and like writing captions for like, if that's not the thing that lights you up, why are we spent? Didn't we leave the corporate world to like, not do the stuff we don't like? Like that's kind of the point. Why are we now stuck doing it? And I think for me,
I just I want there to be a message of hope of like you can really craft your business in your life however you heck well please and let's make sure you're doing the stuff that lights you up and you spring out of bed in the morning and love you don't ever have a case of the Mondays right. That's the goal and that's what I hope for everybody hanging out listening with us today.
Serena (08:14.062)
Yeah, and I think you kind of addressed this a little bit, but what do you think wedding pros are struggling with most when it comes to the just the general team building process?
Ashley Ebert (08:22.712)
Yeah, it's the first thing I talk about in Empire of Thieves, it's mindset. it's not like woo woo, like affirmations, and those are great, but like it's like the how do I change how I'm thinking about my business to make it in, to really step into what I call the owner's seat. This is the idea that you own the business and you want to, I want my clients to get to a place where they get to decide not only just how they work,
Serena (08:44.109)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Ebert (08:51.086)
But if they want to work because they're living off the profits and they have a team, they've hired a managing director, they've hired a CEO that sits in that role. They can literally do whatever they want. True absolute freedom is achievable to everyone listening. I promise. know I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of wedding pros. And so it's this idea of we have to break the assumptions that we have about what having a small business is.
And so it's really about thinking and stepping into that owner's mindset versus just like the worker mindset, right? And knowing that there is space where you can truly live just off the profits and your whole team. That's what I do at Simply Elegant. I looked at my calendar the other day. So as the time I'm recording this is middle tax day was recently, it's middle April. I worked at Simply Elegant 15 hours this year.
Serena (09:48.192)
amazing.
Ashley Ebert (09:48.698)
And I'm doing calls and doing the stuff I love and my whole team is just doing a fantastic job in their strength space and they all love their work and they love the job and I get to do I get to develop the leaders at the brand and it was wild I look back and I went I took a whole three weeks off and I was like you guys good They're like, who are you again? it's nice to see you And this is really truly possible
for anyone, service-based scaling, product-based scaling, it doesn't matter. You just have to have the mindset of how and why you're building it.
Serena (10:28.3)
Yeah. And I think into that mindset, it's a kind of I think back when I worked in a more like, corporatey kind of environment, I had a boss that would just kind of occasionally show up to work. And I remember being so jealous in that stage. So I'd be like, God must be nice. can just like, go on a plane wherever he wants whenever he wants and like not work. Like what is that? And I think there was a little bit when I was starting my team that brought I brought that with me this concern of like
Ashley Ebert (10:41.498)
Thank
Ashley Ebert (10:47.844)
Yeah.
Serena (10:55.138)
well, how is my team gonna feel if I give a reins to them and I'm not showing up? So if somebody has that same reservation, like how do you tell them? I mean, again, it's back to mindset, but like, what do you tell them?
Ashley Ebert (11:01.764)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (11:08.92)
Yeah, I mean, I will give you my managing director's Instagram handle. You can talk to her. And she's like, Ashley, like, get out of here. You've earned it. Like, she so much respects the effort that I've put in over the last 15 years. And she knows I'm reaping the benefits. And I've also created a space where she can build the lifestyle she wants underneath the umbrella of the business. OK, cool.
Serena (11:14.424)
Yeah.
Serena (11:24.024)
Thank
Ashley Ebert (11:35.93)
I jokingly said to her, she used to live in Chicago, and she would do all the work in my Chicago location, I said, what do you think about moving to Dallas just for funsies? She was like, sure. She's very adventurous, and she's very travels and all this stuff. And so that kind of funny proposition turned in as she did move to Dallas. But then she realized, I love this. Can I go create all the new locations? And I'm like, yeah.
Why not? Why not leverage this thing that lights you up and the thing that you love and that you have the strength in? And she gets to see what she's built and go, okay, that branch is solid, and then goes to do the next one. And she is lit up by that. And so she knows that I have done the foundational work. We have such a respect-filled, beautiful relationship, and I have that with all of my core team members. I think it comes from me knowing
and never taking for granted that they chose simply elegant. They chose my dream to put their strengths and all of their talents behind. And I don't let them forget that either. And so I think when there's this kind of reciprocity of respect, it's just not even something that I'm worried that they think because I know that, then they also know like they...
you know, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. I had to get the planning company through COVID. Talk about, I always joke with Nate, my husband, I'm like, that's gonna go on my headstone. It's like, nope, no great wife, great mom. It's like, got planning company through COVID. My biggest accomplishment in life. But it is, they saw what I had to do in those moments. They were there for it. And I told them straight up, I said, you're not gonna worry about being furloughed. I'm not gonna decrease your salaries.
Serena (13:06.638)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (13:30.146)
you don't have to worry about money in the season. Let me bear that burden. I'm going to take care of it. And you just go serve the client. since COVID, we've doubled in business volume. And because of that strategic decisions and I think that leadership. And so they just know, like they have a different level of security in their life in a very kind of tumultuous industry. And so I think, yeah, there's just that continued relationship building where
Yeah, just, I don't even, it's not like I want to be flippant about it, of like the ability to be able to flit off to Disney whenever I want, you know? But it's definitely burned from both sides. Yeah.
Serena (14:14.51)
Yeah, and I think I found through especially your coaching is that for me, it's been about radical transparency. Like if I just tell my team like, hey, I'm just I'm having a day and I need a day or like, things are really hard or things are really, you know, they're they're in a really good spot. I completely trust you like just having those honest conversations, I think builds the foundational trust necessary for them to see like you do have their back and then they have your back. Like I can't tell you the number of times that I've gotten
messages from my team that's like, respectfully, leave us alone. And I was like, what? They're like, respectfully, you're supposed to be off today. And I'm like, you are right. Thank you. And it's really nice as a business owner, oftentimes just to be told like, you did earn this, you're fine, you can go and it does take time. And I think that's something like I would love to talk about like, time I think people expect when they hire their first team member, like it's
Ashley Ebert (14:47.93)
Go home.
Yeah.
Serena (15:11.278)
They have expectations. So let's talk about expectations around time when you're hiring in training.
Ashley Ebert (15:14.362)
Yeah, think what I think too, it's we have this idea of they have to do it right. I have to do it right. There's and there's no room for error. And I'm like, y'all people are messy. You're messy. I'm messy. Like we're all we're. Yeah. And I've made mistakes in my business. I no showed to a meeting once. I almost died. I like I've done it.
So like we have to go in with this expectation of like, we're still gonna all be human. We're still gonna all have strengths and weaknesses. And I teach on the temper, my obnoxious nails on the temperament types. Like we're all uniquely gifted, but we all have weaknesses. Like it is a balance. And so when you invite people into your business in your world, if you can look at it through a grace-filled empathetic,
strategic lens of leveraging strengths. And I always talk about too, meeting the innate needs of our people, watching them soar in their strengths is the most, I think, incredible moment as business owners with Teams. And giving grace during weakness, I think, bonds us more than the winds do. So it doesn't have to be
Serena (16:37.294)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (16:41.806)
a perfection or bust and you can still expect excellence. But as a leader, there needs to be some understanding of that life is messy, business is messy, clients are cuckoo for cuckoo puffs sometimes. It just is. so there's gonna be an accident where someone's late to a meeting or whatever, traffic and like.
It's just the, it's having the confidence that you and your team can navigate that together. And that confidence is built through what I call the 97 % club, right? That's the week, this 97 % mentality and Serene, I don't know if we've talked about this together, but it was a way for me to articulate, I think this exact mindset. And it's this idea that, you know, worry, fears, things that we think will go wrong.
study after study after study shows that 85 % of the time, those things actually don't happen, right? And I think people are kind of familiar with that, but here's the part that hits for me. Of the 15 % that does happen, 80 % of the time in those situations, things go better than we think they will, okay? So nerdy Ashley math.
Serena (17:45.762)
Mm-hmm.
Serena (18:00.792)
Mmm.
Ashley Ebert (18:05.146)
That tells us that 97 % of the time, things go better than we think it will. And so it's like living in that mindset, because why would we ever let the 3 % derail us from scaling, being able to breathe? I remember when you texted me and you're like, I literally just took 10 days of vacation and I did not even bring my laptop. Why would we let the 3 % take that away from us?
And so it's like, have to move through that and the expectations, have to shift. They don't have to go away. You can still expect your team to be great. We just have to understand that sometimes it's messy and how we get there, but the mess also makes it beautiful. Right? Yeah.
Serena (18:50.562)
Yeah, totally. Well, and you know, for the people who are really kind of thinking through like, is a team right for me? Like, how do you recommend that people prepare to bring on a team member? I mean, obviously we have to address the mindset, but like, what are some of those like tactical preparation steps that they can be doing?
Ashley Ebert (19:06.722)
Yeah, and like the indicators, right? So I think like the biggest thing is are you passing away business? That to me is like the main, you know, kind of line in the sand. If we're doing that, you have an opportunity to make a decision. And I think, you know, if you do want to make that beautiful leap, that exciting leap to have a team, you know, there's things again, you you want to make sure that you understand
Serena (19:12.246)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Ebert (19:37.166)
your local laws, you want to make sure that you have some processes or some outlines and then the team can help you build those things. But really, it's not overly complicated. think people get all gnarled up in, my gosh, I could never afford a full-time salary person. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's like 400 miles down the road. There's part-time seasonal workers that is just, you know, there's so many steps.
Serena (19:59.426)
Yes, yes.
Ashley Ebert (20:06.082)
And so it's not like you have to offer full-time health benefits 401k to the first person you hire. Like if you do that, we should talk because you probably got money coming out your ears. So there's certain things that you just want to be professional and give the team member a great onboarding experience. But it's not a lot. I think people think it's way heavier of a lift than it actually is.
Serena (20:15.118)
Thank you.
Serena (20:33.868)
Yeah. Yeah. So on that note, I think a lot of times they're reserved about the money piece. So let's talk about how can you afford it or how do you make it work? What numbers do they need to be looking at or thinking about?
Ashley Ebert (20:47.13)
Yeah, and typically I recommend that the first roles you're taking on are revenue generating roles. They're roles that allow you to take on more clients. So whether they're serving them or it's a relieving work, client work on your end to allow you to take on more clients, those are the first hires I recommend, right? Because in the wedding world where I coach mostly like, you
the commodity is the day of the week, Saturdays, and you can't be at two places at once until you hire a team, then you can't be, right? So I really want those roles to be revenue generating. So from the second you hire them, you're able to double book or add more clients to your retainer model, whatever that is. That's kind of the, I think the safest method of that. There's also obviously having VAs that help. But again, I recommend that being
client facing work versus marketing because if you're already at capacity with client work, you need to be able to help deliver it more. So that's, think again, it's really about how can I serve more clients and what work can I take off and what is actually generating revenue.
Serena (21:59.694)
So where do you think that a lot of times once somebody maybe does hire and they've got somebody and they're kind of like rolling through, but then they feel stuck, where is that sticky point you think that happens once somebody does hire temp? Or on that same note, what about if they've hired in the past, they feel like it was a terrible experience, so therefore they feel burned and then they're not gonna do it again, like what's happening in those situations?
Ashley Ebert (22:23.022)
Yeah, I we've all had bad boyfriends. Doesn't mean we give up on all love, right? I would say honestly, if everything's going well with teams, there aren't sticking points. get a boxers, I get messages every day from either current clients, past clients are like, Ashley, this is so amazing. Because the momentum is like something you've never experienced when you're on, you know, when you're being from solprenur to really having this team, like that momentum is something that
Serena (22:25.144)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Ashley Ebert (22:52.25)
you can't even articulate. So I think they love it. Like if all things are going well, if you have the path where it's like, you know, it wasn't the right egg that you hired, maybe it was the right person the wrong time, they had a big shift in their life. I think my point there is, well again, are we gonna sit in the 3 % and assume the next person we hire? And does that mean, even if it's another hire that doesn't end up with us for 10 years,
Serena (23:13.698)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (23:21.272)
that they're not adding value to your journey as an entrepreneur. They're not teaching you lessons to then hire the, you know, it's, it's, it is, it's kind of like the bad boyfriend, like, okay, I know what I don't like now. That's valuable. It's an important lesson and we all go through it. So, and you know, and sometimes, I mean, I have, I have some doozies of a story for the late night episode with Wyen, Serena, that we can do, of, you know, people that were just absolutely like corrupt.
Serena (23:31.98)
Yeah, yeah, I learned what's in there.
Serena (23:43.746)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (23:49.722)
awful character humans that have worked for me. And those are hard. But I also have to look at and go, wow, look at all the amazing talent that I have had around me because growing the planning company to a million dollars is impossible without that. And so it again, you have to understand that you're choosing the 3%. And that to me is just illogical. let's go with
Serena (24:06.934)
alone.
Ashley Ebert (24:17.944)
what the math tells us, that we're gonna have these learning moments, but you're also gonna have trickled in these really amazing moments, just as every facet of our business, every facet of our life is that way. So I always say don't give up, because the first one, you didn't wanna get married, but you're gonna find them. They absolutely are out there. I kinda have this visualization exercise where I talk about.
thinking about a one mile radius from where you are right now, that there's probably 100 people that would die to work for you, that have the skillset, like, if you're in the metro area, in a city, 10 times that, right? That is how much talent is out there. That is how many good humans are out there. And I think we forget that being lost, sitting up in our offices, working away alone, right? There is an abundance of talent and...
Serena (24:51.416)
Mm-hmm.
Serena (25:05.774)
100%.
Ashley Ebert (25:12.89)
people of good character out there that want to get behind the amazing thing that you're doing. again, it's easy to forget, but it's something I try to remind my audience and my crew of all the time.
Serena (25:17.868)
Yeah.
Serena (25:23.874)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I think another thing that people sometimes struggle with, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, is how do you start to address that shift from solo to team and your messaging and your marketing? Because I think sometimes, especially for those businesses that are named after the founder, they're like, I can't possibly, everybody has to have me. I've sold it. How do they begin that transition? And should they begin that transition before they even have a team?
Ashley Ebert (25:50.298)
Do I give you the fluffy version or like the tough love? I love you from the bottom of my heart. Here's what I actually want to say moment I'm gonna do the I'm gonna do the latter I know you all do the latter We got to watch the ego y'all like it is it's this and it comes from a place of wanting to serve your couples and your your your Client's a hundred percent and I totally respect understand it deeply but man
Serena (25:58.562)
Yeah, I love that. Let's do it, yes.
Ashley Ebert (26:16.154)
I will tell a story that will showcase exactly that this is true. So I had done weddings for years and years, hundreds of them, every type, everything from DIY in a barn to a celebrities wedding. Like I'd done everything in between. I'd done all levels of packages, multicultural, mean hundreds. And then I had this little talent that came into my team and made me reconsider my entire life choices. I was like, that's what a good wedding planner looks like.
I was like, my gosh, don't tell my ego. And now she's my manager of team development at Simply Elgin. She's phenomenal. She's such a rock star talent. Every client she has, and she's done hundreds of weddings now underneath our brand. She has never once ever had anything but a complete five star review and every single one of her clients loves her. Like I don't like for my ego to go, hmm, well, we thought we were good at that, but maybe not so much.
I hope everyone has that blessed moment in their life where our way isn't even always the best way, even though we think it is. And I think that's the moment where it's like, well, why wouldn't I then be very intentional and thoughtful about bringing people that are truly in their strength space in all the facets of the business? I'm going to have someone who is a deep thinker and very system oriented who's going to be my ops person.
I could tell you right now, I was terrible at that. was awful at that. Like that was not something I should have ever been doing. But again, it was like, who else is going to do it? So I'm going to do it. It's the best way. And I'm like, this is the most gnarled, tangly, dumb system I've ever in, you know. So it's, it's, it's the humility of being able to say, I want better for my business. I want better for my clients because you wearing all the hats, like my biggest pitch, like,
Serena (28:02.53)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Ebert (28:08.674)
against when we're in a sales meeting and they're like, but I'm working with the owner. I'm like, yeah, the owner who's giving her clients 10 % of her bandwidth because she's got taxes, she's got marketing, she's got sales copy, she's got bills. So our planners are 100 % wedding planners. That's all they have to do. That's my biggest sales position from that. And it's true.
Serena (28:16.898)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (28:33.529)
Just know that you're keeping yourself kind of in that box if you're not moving from, I always say like from me to we, which is kind of what we're talking about. It's this idea of moving the brand and moving the messaging. You know, how and when to do that? Today. You should do it today. Because if you ever want a team, it's just going to make it easier. And I think it is. It's just as simple as instead of saying, you know, me, it's we, it's us, it's...
Serena (28:54.125)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (29:00.834)
It could be you and your dog. I have two of my dogs laying down in arena. It's me and Callie and Bruno. That's sweet, you know? And that's fine. Like that, I think just gives you opportunity. Even if it only just stays you, you have, it gives you room to grow. So yeah, do it today.
Serena (29:02.53)
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Serena (29:17.698)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. In the very beginning, my hack was like I had, I think I had hired an accountant and bookkeeper and I'm like, Okay, so now I have a team. I have somebody who's doing my numbers. So if I have a numbers question, and I need to tell somebody I need like a minute, I'll check with my finance team or one of the hacks I saw once was just set up a separate
Ashley Ebert (29:31.578)
I don't know.
Serena (29:40.64)
email address, you have like an info address, and then your main email address and run some stuff through there just to get in kind of like that practice. Because I do think you know, it is it doesn't feel that hard once you've done it, but that initial step where someone's like, how do do that? But then it's like, it's so second nature if you just do it, that it's easy.
Ashley Ebert (29:42.649)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (30:00.61)
Yeah, it just is it is. And I'll give everybody a hack now too. I also say like my coaching, Serena you're on our Simply All Can team because you do our social media. you know, when I have my coach or someone that's helping me positively influence the business, that's someone on my team. I will be on your team. I will be your cheerleader. So it's me and you. Like, we are already, right? Like, permission granted. I'm on your team. I'm your cheerleader. If you're listening to this. it's yes, absolutely start using we and you're just talking about you and me.
Serena (30:18.008)
Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (30:28.878)
You mean me an athlete, all right? It's like, if you need that nudge, absolutely. But again, I just, want you to have as many opportunities as possible. And I think making that shift as soon as you can is a really, really great move.
Serena (30:29.198)
That's right.
Serena (30:37.698)
Mm-hmm.
Serena (30:42.306)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So say for example, someone's listening and they're like, I know I need support. I know I need help because I don't really feel like I know what I'm doing. Do I need a course? Do I need a mastermind? Do I need a coach? Do I need a mentor? Like talk about that. And that of course leads into what you do too, but you know.
Ashley Ebert (30:57.568)
Yeah, yeah. Totally. Well, I'm very biased in this answer. The thing is, think everyone has courses that they haven't taken, they bought, and then they have course guilt because the course sits in their shelf in the graveyard. And I get that because accountability is hard, especially for the community that I serve. They're busy. They don't have time to go through a course.
And I've created courses for a very long time and I went this ain't it like this isn't serving well and so we moved to a mastermind model and so the tag mastermind is now You know business owners in the wedding world that have hit 100k You know in annual revenue and they want to scale beyond that and I think why masterminds are so Influential they give you such breakthroughs is because yes, the main coach is amazing and that's all
fine, but it's more about the people that are in it. Because that support, because that community, think COVID taught us we need to be together. with all the new AI things dropping of what's real connection is so deep in who we are. And I think it's becoming more and more and more apparent, not less. And so I think masterminds are the way to go. I've completely pivoted.
what we do at the abundance group because of that belief. And I'll tell you, Serena, I've been coaching for almost a decade and the results that we get inside this container are radically different. And it's just, and again, we all get to get together in a week and I'm losing my mind. I'm not sleeping because I'm so excited. And just that idea that release of energetic charge that's gonna happen in those days together and on our live calls and in our one-to-one boxers.
It's, that's what people need. They don't need another course. They could Google it. They could go to YouTube. right? So for me, I'm definitely seeing that move in the education space. And I think it's a brilliant one because I think it actually meets the need of accountability, of support, of not feeling alone. And so I'm all in and all about it.
Serena (33:14.924)
Yeah, yeah. So tell people if they want to work with you, what's that process look like? them a scoop on the offer where they can find you all that good stuff.
Ashley Ebert (33:18.02)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, so we do keep our group tight. It's not a big, because there is a one-on-one with me. So the Abundance Group, you get one-on-one coaching, get monthly, twice a month workshops, you get all of my courses, everything. You get the community, you in-person events. And so it is a limited amount, so it's an application only. So you can go to theabundance.group slash apply if you want to check that out. But also we were talking to, obviously today we're talking about scaling.
and I just built a really cool workshop training that's everything I wish I knew about scaling a business. Kind of this idea of I want to give that information to people before they go through the trials. And so that's just a training that we have and you can check that out at the abundance.group slash secret. So it's a secret training that you could only get if they give you the link. It's nowhere on our website. So for people like you that are doing amazing things, Serena, I to make sure your audience has access to it.
But that'll just really kind of this whole conversation about the tension of the scale. What's on the other side? What does it look like? What does it take to get there? Is exactly what the training we dive a little bit deeper into it. It's really great. At the end of that, I do talk about the mastermind as well and dive deeper into that. So if people are interested, that's another great resource to leverage too.
Serena (34:24.237)
Mm-hmm.
Serena (34:40.044)
Yeah, yeah. And I would say my experience, you know, obviously I've done the programs and it's one of those things that I did the program and then I probably, it took me a little while before I was like, I felt, cause I'm a manifesting generator, I'm an Enneagram three, like I'm all of these things. And it took me a little while to like decide to make a hire. And then once I made the hire, I couldn't stop making hires. I was like so excited to get more people in. And then I was like, gosh, I feel like that like.
happened overnight and then, but it didn't, you know, it's one of those things that does take time, but once you're on the other side of it, you're like, wow, like, okay, that was a slow, but then like a fast process. It's this weird kind of like mind bendy thing that happens, I think, once you start.
Ashley Ebert (35:18.01)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Ebert (35:21.954)
and it's almost like, yeah, you move from things that are in black and white to color, like Wizard of Oz, right? And then you're like, you go back and you're like, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be on the other side. yeah, and again, those are my absolute favorite messages are people that are like, the world is in Technicolor now. This is wild. Why did you not tell me? I'm like, I've been talking to you about it for three years. What do you mean?
Serena (35:26.722)
Yeah? Yeah.
Serena (35:40.95)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Serena (35:45.602)
Yeah, I know. Well, and I do, think there's a certain level of, like you said, with the mindset, but there's a certain level of kind of just self-reflection that is so involved in the process of growing a team. And, you know, of course there's going to be hard days. Of course there's going to be times where you feel really challenged, but then there are other days where you're like, wow, this is actually working. And then you start to see like your impact gets bigger. And if impact is something that's important to you, having a team is almost.
necessary. Like you can't really have the larger impact without help and assistance and a team can look in a lot of different ways. So yeah, I'm obviously a fan now in a way that I couldn't have figured out in the beginning. I know you've had a lot of students with kind of those like aha moments. there like, do you want to share any of those aha moments with us?
Ashley Ebert (36:13.891)
Agreed.
Ashley Ebert (36:36.154)
Well, you're one of my favorite ones because I've gotten multiple from you. I think the one of like I had a client a couple of weeks ago that was like, you know, I'm sending my my lead planner to an event. I'm terrified. You know, talk me through it. I'm, you know, so we're working it through. then the next morning, the planner got a five star review on a site. And she was like, what is happening? I didn't ever talk to the client. I didn't. I was like, isn't it amazing? Like,
what it is to be. it's, I have, I mean, I have hundreds of those moments where it's like they go from black and white to technicolor. Like, and that is like the utter joy that you feel, even if it's a boxer, even if it's, know, it's like, I get it. Cause I remember that moment so specifically for me and I get to experience it over and over and over again. But yeah, that that's the biggest joy of my career. But I have, I have hundreds of them and I saved them.
Serena (37:33.516)
Yes. Yeah.
Ashley Ebert (37:34.318)
Like I literally, and sometimes I'll transcribe them and I'm like, yeah, this is why, you know, I do what I do. And it just, it's like, it unlocks a feeling of absolute freedom because you have financial freedom. Cause once you see that it's duplicatable, but then time freedom, which I attest is more valuable than financial freedom. And what people are really struggling with when it comes to especially burnout, they just feel like they don't have, they don't own their time at all anymore.
Serena (37:51.17)
Yeah, time for freedom's vote. Yep.
Serena (38:01.612)
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
Ashley Ebert (38:03.022)
But yeah, absolutely.
Serena (38:05.198)
Yeah. All right. Well, this was so great. I'm going to give you like three super quick rapid fires so everybody can get to know Ashley a little bit better. And then of course, in the show notes, we'll have links, all that good stuff that anybody will need to get in touch with Ashley. But the first one is, what are you reading?
Ashley Ebert (38:21.946)
What am I reading? I am an audio booker usually, but you know, I'm reading stuff on AI. I'm reading stuff on the expansion of kind of the evolution and the edge that AI gives. So yeah, I'm real nerdy. So I'm reading up on that and system and emails. I mean, always email. Yeah.
Serena (38:43.182)
Always emails, right? When you gotta get it done, what's on your playlist?
Ashley Ebert (38:49.05)
Michael Buble. Funny enough, reminds me of my grandma. So I'm like, let's go G, let's roll. And like, yeah, 100%.
Serena (38:51.703)
All right.
Serena (38:56.886)
Yeah, I love it. And then okay, this is something that I feel like we're all really bad about. So this is why I asked this question. But how do you treat yourself when you're celebrating a win in your business?
Ashley Ebert (39:06.33)
I go to the spa and Serena, I'm going to get my facial in 20 minutes. I have the big event next week, so I'm like calm down. gotta get on it. But I literally facials, massages, my nails, yeah, 100%.
Serena (39:21.922)
Yeah, yeah, I feel like we all need to just like, get in that mode to remember to celebrate and treat ourselves. I'm big on the spa too. It's actually like a recurring thing on my calendar because I know if I don't put it there, I won't do it. So I think that's just a lesson to all of us. Like, yeah, celebrate the win. Just put it in your calendar, celebrate the win today and then figure it out.
Ashley Ebert (39:25.828)
Yes, absolutely.
Ashley Ebert (39:36.099)
No.
100%.
Ashley Ebert (39:42.85)
I love it. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Serena (39:46.05)
Well, it was so great. As always, I'm so glad you were able to join me. then, yeah, everybody, if you want to get in touch with Ashley, like I said, it'll be linked. But also shoot her a DM. If you want to talk one on one, if you've got any questions for me about the episode, if you loved it, if you hated it, keep us posted, let us know. So that if there's ever an encore episode, then we know how to deliver up the content to you. So thanks for being here.
Ashley Ebert (39:57.582)
Yes.
Ashley Ebert (40:12.93)
of it. Yeah, thanks, Serena.
Serena (40:15.618)
Thanks.