Ash Johns

How did the idea for your new venture come about? 

I didn’t dream it up, that's for sure! LOL 

The brand Ash Johns kinda just happened. The more I opened up to the idea that I wanted to have a life well lived and break any and all barriers I thought were holding me back from doing whatever I wanted to do, the more nudges—or breadcrumbs as I like to call them—came to me. 

I hung a corkboard on the wall of my Michigan Avenue studio apartment and pinned things to it I liked and were drawn to. At the time, I had no idea this was called a vision board. But that’s what it was. Little scraps of motivational quotes, private tropical islands of paradise, clips of reading books in the middle of the day, and speaking on stages, captivating audiences. 

I had no idea the industry of coaching and personal development existed beyond self-help books (and I’d talked myself out of becoming an author because I wanted to make “REAL” money. LOL I’m working on my first book now!) 

To answer the question, my business was birthed out of living the life I wanted to live and sharing about it on the internet. That led me to become a certified coach (several times), study family constellation and internal systems, and get initiated into several healing modalities and traditional indigenous practices. 

Every aha!, moment of clarity, or breakthrough in my healing, becoming and empowerment journey—whether it was related to dating, my relationship with my mother or money, learning how to hold boundaries with family, applying for a position I didn’t think I was qualified for, booking a trip to a faraway land, putting myself further out in the world—I shared it on Facebook, and eventually Instagram. Once I moved to Bali to run a women’s surf, yoga and healing retreat, I gained more momentum and my blog picked up. 

People constantly wrote back to me sharing how much my life and writing inspired them, how my perspective in life changed theirs, and how they wished they had the support to do the same. Between these folks on the internet and the women who came to my retreat who needed support integrating what they learned and experienced into real life upon return, my business was born.

And thrived.
And then exploded in 2020 during the pandemic.

The idea of marrying business, personal development and spiritual healing was only realized by being present with the women and bringing all my gifts to the table to support and help them as best I could. 

Turns out, it was a perfect-for-me recipe for success and fulfillment.

What was your first step in starting your new venture?

No business plan whatsoever.  BUT I will share that I’m so glad I volunteered on new business teams from the start of my advertising career and learned to write enticing and effective proposal decks. Those skills—in writing, pitching, methodology design and graphic design—served me SO well in wow-ing my private clients the first 5 years of my business. 

My first paid clients were actually while I was still working in market research—a restaurateur and his business partner who wanted to increase foot traffic into their new uptown location in Chicago, but couldn’t get out of their own way and onto the same page to make it happen. They were the first clients I could test my theory and chops on how ongoing personal development and healing work is non-negotiable for entrepreneurs. 

Moving forward, I allowed my natural gifts of storytelling and love for marketing to be my guide as I created offerings that solved real life problems and talked about them on social media. I invited those who were interested to free masterclasses online or weekend group immersions where I did the work with them. Afterwards, I’d invite attendees to apply to work with me privately if they felt they wanted and needed more guidance and coaching. 

I had no money saved. 

Which is why it worked to be honest.

The only business plan I’ve ever created was to follow my heart and do my best to live my calling and destiny to serve others and make the world a better place. 

What struggles did you have? 

SO MANY. Self-doubt mostly. Like who am I to help people with their lives? Who am I to validate my approach to healing generational patterns of limitation we inherited from our parents, lineages and society?! I’m an advertising agency dropout! 

I moved slowly and behind the scenes for too long because I didn’t believe in myself as much as others did when they met me and experienced my work and the results of it. Another struggle was not having anyone in my family to look up to—not just from the coaching industry perspective, but as an entrepreneur or even as just a generally successful person. I am the first.

There are only two things that make public figures, teachers, mentors and coaches great—1) other people saying so because of your impact in their life, and 2) your own belief in yourself that you are. 

If one client didn’t post about the miracles or transformations that happened in their life during our time working together, I’d feel like a fraud and failure. Insecurity would come in and imposter syndrome would go from 0 to 1000 to the point that it made the hundreds of other testimonials I’d received obsolete. 

In short, I was too hard on myself while helping other women break free of the same programming. 

Learning to be congruent in my work, fully embodying what I teach and guide others for myself first and foremost again (as that’s how the business started anyway), was a non-negotiable and massive lesson to learn.  

Second to self-doubt, other struggles include learning to hire and lead a team, and learning how to best manage the profit and finances of a successful business. 

It’s one thing to have an idea, execute it and be the first entrepreneur in your family. It’s a whole other thing to become a leader of that business, someone others rely on, trust and depend on for their livelihood. 

Did you have help along the way?

I’ve always believed in personal development, mentorship and coaching so I’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars (and hours and energy) into my own continual growth in every area of my life and the areas the business needed help in. 

I’ve worked with business coaches, spiritual elders, mentors and teachers, strategic business managers, team development consultants, financial advisors and fractional CFOs.

But beyond them, my biggest help and supporters have truly been my faith in myself, God, my guides and ancestors who hold me down and pick me back up every day. 

The universe really does have our backs if we allow it to. 

Did you ever consider giving up?

Many times! But as the years go forward, less and less. I’ve even applied to agency positions, had one interview and was like “yeah, nope!” I can never go back, even if I wanted to. At least not in a traditional position (I’m totally down with an agency being my client, allowing me to help and serve the creative minds in the industry in a different and much needed way). 

The times I considered giving up fell during times of fear associated with support: a shorter cash flow month because several clients were laid off and defaulted on their contracts, a team member who quit without giving proper notice in the middle of our greatest program launch, etc 

That’s how I realized my continual success lies not just in keeping my nervous system regulated, having strong automations and systems in place, or saving for a rainy day, but in believing in and staying steadfast in my innate ability to always be supported, no matter what. 

When we don’t believe we are loved and supported by the universe, pain, fear, trauma and survival mode kicks in and that’s a fast track to sabotaging your own desires, efforts and progress. 

What would you do differently if you did it again?

I’m fantastic at inspiring and leading people in their personal lives (privately, in group experiences and through online courses), however, I would definitely invest in my TEAM leadership skills earlier in my business journey instead of just hoping I would attract great people to work for and with me. 

I love collaboration and so learning how to lead and inspire people to be their best in my business would have saved me from unnecessary stress and saved the business from unnecessary expenses.

In addition, I’d invest in a CFO much earlier in my business so we could be better at stewarding the profits that came in unexpectedly from jump. 

And finally, I would have trusted myself more and faster. If I were able to show up how I am right now, oh boy, I’d be booked out 3 years in advance at ALL the women’s conferences! 

What advice do you wish you had before you started?

“Your perspective, your gift, your captivating spirit is needed Ash. Believe in it and go for it.” 

I just wish I told myself to trust myself more, faster. That’s all really. I love what I’ve done and how I’ve done it, and it could have already been done and I could have been farther along by now. 

But I trust my path, my pace on it and the process ;) 

What's the single biggest mistake you made in doing this?

Reinvesting too much on marketing campaigns to scale faster instead of developing my thought leadership more. 

I moved too deeply into sales to scale faster instead of establishing my brand more strongly in the marketplace and industry. 

Not only did it burn up profits for a period of time without as much payoff as I wanted, it was a catalyst for a ‘dark side of the moon’ moment were I needed to ask myself some tough questions and reconnect with not only my ‘why’ but WHO I am, which to me, is most important. 

What is the single most important thing that contributed to your success?

Being myself, following my heart, listening to God/Spirit, looking fear in the face, and leaning into the ‘unknown’. Hands down. 

This is all that’s needed to pioneer a new way of being, create the lifestyle of your dreams, make an impact, and live and leave behind the legacy you desire. 

Do you miss your old life?

No I don’t. 

As glamorous as it was, advertising is no different than any other job that makes you feel like you’re running on a hamster wheel with very little reward when you put it in perspective (and I’m not just talking about financial reward or time freedom). 

I do miss the amazing people I met, connected and worked with, and was inspired by (at Saatchi, Translation, The Sound, etc), but nothing more.