Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Mielke.
Ashley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
All my life, I secretly wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I was afraid to admit it.
My first business was in the 4th grade. My backyard was connected to a golf course and golf balls would always end up in our yard. I collected those golf balls in a bucket and would sell them back to the golfers for 25 cents a ball.
I went to Florida International University for Business Administration with a marketing focus. While I was in college, I freelanced and did a little business consulting. I always joke that I gave up my business to work 9-5. When it was time to graduate, I was too worried about the risk it is to own a business, so I resigned from my freelancing and consulting gigs and set off for the corporate world.
I quickly realized it wasn’t the life for me. I didn’t love having a boss. I didn’t love office politics. I didn’t love having to work all day long. Luckily in my last role, I was working for FIU and knew I was creating an impact, but I was craving something different.
I wanted to create my own legacy and leave my own impact and knew there had to be a way to do it.
I did a ton of personal development work to figure out what path could help me leave an impact – I journaled, meditated, even hired a psychic. I worked so hard to figure out what my purpose was.
It wasn’t until I had a 60-minute call with a life coach that I realized coaching was the path for me. In just 60 minutes, that coach helped me realize that I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and she helped me overcome my fear of admitting. After she helped me have this major breakthrough, I knew I wanted to help others do the same.
As I was completing my Masters in Mass Communication at FIU and working a full-time job, I enrolled in a coach training program so I could learn the coaching skills I needed to become a certified and credentialed business coach.
I had all of this business knowledge and knew that I could create the impact I longed to have if I coached other women who were leaving their day jobs in search of freedom and impact.
In the first month, I launched my business, I landed enough clients to leave my 9-5 job. I now get to work full-time at Ashley Mielke Coaching, helping women start and scale online service-based businesses. I work with virtual assistants, social media managers, coaches, graphic designers, web designers and many more. Each of them taking the skills they’ve learned throughout their lives and building life-sustaining businesses out of them.
A lot of times, I find my clients have all the skills they need to execute their service but struggle to create marketing and sales processes. That’s where I come in. I teach new entrepreneurs repeatable marketing and sales strategies so they can start bringing consistent income into their business and leave their day jobs.
This year I launched my signature group coaching program, 9TOFREEDOM. 9TOFREEDOM is a 10-week group coaching program that helps new online service providers land their first 4-figure clients ($1,000+) and lay the foundations to bring in $5,000 consistently each month inside of their business. Each week I meet with the women in the group to create their marketing and sales strategies and overcome any limiting beliefs or fears that hold them back. I always tell my clients, running a business is half strategy and half mindset. No one talks about all the no’s you get when you’re working to sign that first client, but with the right mindset my clients are able to work through the no’s and find all the yeses.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I, myself, have struggled with the challenges that come up as you start your own business. I think that what allows me to truly support my clients – I’ve been where they are.
When I first started, I remember thinking, “If I could just get one person on the phone, I could show them how my business coaching could change their life.”
While the end of my first month in business is a success story that leads to me leaving my 9-5 job, it was not without a ton of trial and error.
My first month of business, I was launching my first one-on-one offer. I did all of my marketing and launching on Instagram and Facebook. At the time, most of the people on my social media platforms were friends and family. As I was talking about this service I was providing, I also was working on growing my audience with entrepreneurs who needed help in their businesses.
I struggled HARD to find people to get on sales calls with me. I looked through Facebook groups, talked about my services on Instagram and even started a Facebook group of my own, hoping I could attract people who would be interested.
Through all of my marketing efforts, I landed 15 sales calls in that first month and most of them were no’s. It’s not easy to hear someone tell you no, especially when you’re convinced that you have a life-changing service.
Luckily, I had a coach at the time who could help me navigate through all the limiting beliefs that came up for me through that process. Throughout entrepreneurship, there are moments when you question yourself – Is it all worth it? Will this ever work out? Why would anyone choose me over the people who have been doing this for years? Should I just give up? Am I just a big failure because I can’t even sign a single client?
I wish I could say those were just thoughts I had in my first month of business, but even as I’ve grown and found a consistent rhythm in landing clients, I’ve wondered those things.
There are so many coaches on Instagram flaunting their perfect lives and millions in sales. It’s hard to take a step back sometimes and recognize your own success. It’s something I work every day to remind myself of and even to remind my clients of whenever they are feeling down – there is no timeline on entrepreneurship. It doesn’t matter how quickly you land clients, how fast you make millions. All that matters is you show up and give this thing you’re all.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Ashley Mielke Coaching, LLC is focused on helping female entrepreneurs start and scale online service-based businesses through repeatable marketing and sales strategies.
As a business coach, I work with women one-on-one, in group settings and even through digital courses to help them navigate the ins and outs of starting their online businesses.
My current product suite includes:
– 6 month 1-on-1 coaching package, with one weekly 60-minute coaching call and unlimited Voxer access for daily support and coaching, as well as access to all my other programs
– 9TOFREEDOM, my 10-week group coaching experience that includes weekly group coaching calls, a Slack channel with the community for daily support and access to a training suite full of video lessons and done for you templates
– 90 Minute intensive sessions for 90-day business planning
By the end of 2020, I will have launched a 6-month mastermind for experienced service providers already landing high ticket clients but looking for 1-on-1 support and community. That offer will include 1-on-1 calls and 2 90 minute group calls each month for training and coaching.
In early 2021, I’m launching a course on leveraging micro-celebrity tactics on social media to land clients.
I have 7+ years of marketing and sales experience that I integrate into my client’s coaching experience, helping them to land clients and ditch their day’s jobs faster than if they were trying to grow their businesses on their own.
Inside of my group coaching program, 9TOFREEDOM, my clients learn how to create their first offers, price their offers, create content marketing strategies, use Instagram direct messages to find potential clients and book sales calls, run sales calls, handle objections that come up on calls and so much more.
I’m proud that I run a business that generates firsts. Many of the people who work with me end up booking their first sales calls, handling their first objections, landing their first high ticket clients. It is so exciting to watch my clients grow and create the lives they’ve always dreamed of through businesses they love. The people who come to me often feel stuck and unsure of if they can really build their businesses, but together we make it possible for them. There’s nothing more satisfying than helping someone else’s dream feel possible.
My coaching style definitely sets me apart from other coaches in the online space. I am my client’s biggest cheerleader. I give them all the knowledge and tools they need to find success and help them figure out which success path works best for them. In my coaching relationships, my clients take the reigns and I’m alongside them as they navigate where we are heading. Some of my clients start their businesses with one-on-one offers, others want to start their businesses with group programs. There is no right or wrong way to run a business and I help my clients find success in whatever feels best for them.
My experience in the corporate world, as well as my coaching certification, help me provide the best experience for my clients. I’m not just someone who started a business and went off to teach others how to do it too. I have researched-back methods inside of my coaching framework to ensure the best results for my clients. My master’s thesis was on how to leverage microcelebrity tactics to land clients on Instagram and I’m really excited to create a course around that research to help others use their influence and online personas to grow their businesses.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success used to always feel like a moving target for me. When I first started my business, success was quitting my job and doing it full time. Then success became hitting my first 5-figure sales week. Then success was tripling the size of my group coaching program in its second launch. Now success is working towards consistent $10K months through recurring payments.
However, I’ve found that if you work towards success that’s a number – X number of clients or X number of sales – you never feel satisfied. When you don’t hit those targets, you can feel like a failure or disappointment.
I think as I’ve grown as an entrepreneur, I’ve started to realize that success is a feeling that I can decided to have or not. If I think back to why I originally started my businesses – to have freedom and create impact – I’ve done it. As long as I have free time in my day to do as I please, whether that’s nap, spend time with my family, go on an adventure in Miami, I’m successful. As long as I’m impacting one of my clients and watching them gain confidence in their life and business, I’m successful.
As long as I can remind myself of my why and come back to that feeling of success, I know I’m on the right path.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://learn.theashleymielke.com/9tofreedom-program
- Email: hello@theashleymielke.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleymielkee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/findyourfreedomtoday/?ref=bookmarks
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