Ep 32: Your Brand, Your Rules (w/ Ashley Grace Jefferson - Startup Baddie & F3) - The Messy Middle Matters

Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
Indra.

Indra Klavins (00:05):
Hi. I'm Indra, and I'd like to welcome you to
the messy middle matters, wheremy friends and I explore all the
twists, turns and challengesthat arise in the messy middle
of work. Yay. Hi, hi, hi. Thisis Ashley. Welcome to the messy
middle matters. Thanks forhaving me so excited to have you
today. You and I. I've talkedabout you on the podcast so many

(00:27):
times. I love that. That's sonice. And now we actually get to
talk to each other, and we'regoing to be talking about
something that everyone, whetherthey want to or not, has to
worry about, which is branding,yes, and specifically why I
definitely wanted to talk to youabout this was a post that you
had not too long ago. But beforeI go into that story in that

(00:48):
rabbit hole, tell everyone

Ashley Jefferson (00:50):
who you are. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Hi. I am
Ashley Jefferson. I am a Jerseygirl through and through, and
that is really important just toknow about me, because I'm very
like New Jersey supremacy allday, every day. Great State of
New Jersey. Um, oldest of three.That's also really important,
because I feel like it drives alot of what I do. I'm just

(01:11):
always very take charge. This iswhat's going to happen. Oh,
uncertainty doesn't reallybother me, because I'm the
oldest child, and I just likecreate and everyone goes with
it. But Jersey raised New YorkCity, born, and I spent 10 years
in corporate. So I was at bigcompanies, insurance company,

(01:34):
and then a big bank, and I gotto the bank around the pandemic.
And so I feel like everyoneduring the pandemic was having
this like come to Jesus momentwith themselves, existential
crisis, left, right and center,yes, and especially if you were,
if you were blessed to havestability in job and housing
situation and no joke, yeah, youknow, not having to worry about

(01:59):
whether a family member wasgoing To be super sick and die,
right? I feel like, for a lot ofpeople, you then got to ask
yourself some really hardquestions that in the day to
day, yeah, we tend to find itreally hard to ask. And so I was
going through a lot of that likeeverybody else, and was
realizing, wow, I have spent allthis time hustling and bustling

(02:21):
and busting my butt in theoffice, and now I'm seeing this
other way of not just living butdoing business. Yeah, and in
that way of living and doingbusiness, I realized, like, Oh
no, there's another optionoutside of, like, getting to
work at eight and leaving at sixand being seen as this person
who was, like, always going allin and prioritizing, okay, now I
want that. And so once I gotreally clear on the fact that,

(02:44):
oh, that's what I wanted, theculture at the bank and me
started to be more at odds. Buton paper, I was successful,
super successful. But then in2020 it all kind of culminated
in 2023 May, big month, Iresigned from that bank, and
then I graduated with my MBA,and I had no clue what was next,

(03:05):
but I knew that I couldn't be atthe bank anymore because it was
just destroying me mentally,physically, emotionally,
spiritually, and I needed out,and so I bet, basically bet on
myself. Yeah. And was like, I'mdone, I'm out. Yeah. Now we're
here. Now you're here, and we'redoing a lot of

things well, and that sort of brings us into,
like, the topic at hand, I'mgonna go fast forward in time
and then go backwards in time.Yeah. So the I have a it's so
funny, the LinkedIn algorithm,and what surfaces for other
people and what doesn't,

I'm like two weeks I'm two weeks behind now
in this damn algorithm

well. But the thing is, is that when I was
telling people that I was gonnabe talking to you, like, Oh, I
know, Ashley, you responded toher thing. Hold on. And it was
about your rebrand. It was, itwas the post about your rebrand,
and whether they saw it onthreads, whether they saw it on
LinkedIn, whether they saw it onboth my like, Die Hard friends
were always like, like,supporting everywhere, yeah. But

(04:04):
talk about, like, a little bitabout your, how you got to your
first brand name, sure, and whatled to the rebrand, yes.

Oh, my God. I love talking about this, because
I am so happy with what we whatI've landed on in terms of that.
So when, when I left corporateagain. I didn't really know what
I wanted to do, but I knew Iliked building companies, yeah,
and I knew I liked doing thatfrom the perspective of tech
product management. And so I waslike, Okay, I got to give this
thing a name, because, you know,you're not official, I feel

(04:34):
like, without a name.

And so legally, you need a name. And literally,
yes,

that little detail. And so I landed on
Ashley Grace consultancy,because obviously Ashley is my
first name, grace is my middlename, and I like my name. Yeah,
on all social platforms, I nevergo by Ashley Jefferson. I go by
Ashley Grace Jefferson. So itfelt natural. And then I was
like, Okay, what? How do I endthis? This, like studio, like,

(05:02):
you know, I didn't, I didn'tknow, and so consultancy sounded
elegant, but little bougie and Iwas like, Okay, those are things
that I met, I am, and a littlepolished. And it's such a it was
such a mouthful as I kept going,and as I was trying to figure
out, you know, how do I bringthat like pipeline of business
that I want in. How do I show upin business? You know, from when

(05:26):
I first started, I think I hadlike seven, eight different
offerings to now, like the threeI have, like, I figured out on
how to streamline how to talk tofounders, what all that language
needs to look like, and the moreand more I leaned into redoing

(05:47):
my website and thinking aboutthose things, what it required
from me was to put personalityback into my business and so and
it's so funny, because thatshould not have it should not
have taken me that long to getto that, because in corporate I
did not care. I was going toshow up and be fully myself, and

(06:11):
I never questioned that. Like Iwasn't someone who ever went
into corporate situations andover thought like, Oh, I'm a
woman, I'm a this. This is how Imust act in this situation. I
never was like that. So then tobe on the outside on my own and
feel like I had to assimilate alittle was a little weird to me.
It was just strange, like I waslike, how was I okay doing it

(06:33):
for these big brands, and thencoming out here on my own, I
drifted away for that a little.And so the more I started to put
personality back into mybusiness, which was who I am, it
is who I am as a businessperson. Then what ended up
happening is that I realized,like, okay, like, we can't be

(06:54):
Ashley Grace consultancy. Yourbrand is off brand. Yeah, the
brand is off brand. So like,Okay, we can't be Ashley Grace
consultancy anymore, and mybirthday was July 31 and on my
birthday, I had decided that Iwanted to launch a newsletter,
and part of that was I startedshowing up on LinkedIn more, but
I still felt like there was adisconnect in people

(07:16):
understanding and knowing andbelieving In what I was doing
and the content I was puttingout. And so I was like, I think
the newsletter is going to allowme to be little more personal,
while giving them the story ofhow it all connects, yeah. And
so I ended up calling thatnewsletter startup baddie. I had
started as startup baddie onthreads and Instagram, so it was

(07:39):
a name that I had tested onthere and then moved to the
newsletter. And then I was like,You know what, when it comes to
working on your product, from atech product or community lens,
or doing content creation, itall just needs to happen as
Ashley Grace Jefferson, founderstartup baddie. And so I was

(07:59):
like, You know what, we'rerenaming, renaming everything.
We're buying, you know, Internetaddresses. Yes, we're buying
URLs. My favorite hobby, that'sexactly we're buying URLs, and
we're going to be startup batty.And I made that post, and I was
shocked at how people respondedto that. So, so we got it,

and it was so you and it was so refreshing. And,
you know, we're going to betalking to Ashley a few times.
We've got a few other things wegot teed up out here, but and
some of these other topics, I'mlike, I'm like, oh, that's
exactly how and why. Like, thewhole Polish piece, I think that
that's a conversation we've gotgoing on, yes, but it is that. I
think it's the authenticity. Ithink it's the the freshness of

(08:42):
like, actually using the wordBatty, yeah, right. People are
like, Oh, she's, she's, she'sgot Moxie, yeah? Using the word
baddie on LinkedIn,

on LinkedIn, yes, on a on a platform where
people feel like is supersanitized, right? Totally,
they're our best selves. It'sour best it's our best selves,
whatever that means. But yes, itis our best selves. But I I love
that there are creators outthere that are looking to put
more personality into thatspace. But I'm just glad to be
one of them with startup Maddie,

no and it's the other I think it also fits with
your other brand that you have,yes, really well, founders,
funders and fractions, yes,yeah, about f3 a little bit

yes, f3 so f3 was born out of this, like, Come
to Jesus that I was having withmyself post leaving corporate.
And it was this realization oflike, okay, how do I want to
interact with companies? Andseeing the word fractional on
LinkedIn, investigating it beinglike,

Oh, can you define the word fractional?
Because that's a new in thevocabulary thing that not
everyone

knows. Yeah, it totally is so fractional as
the New York Times defines it.Because I always start my events
with this definition,fractional, as the New York
Times defines it, is a personwho's seen here in their career.
Career that that is working witha company on a part time basis.
They don't just executestrategy, they set it. And so I
always get the question, well,how is that different from a

(10:09):
freelancer or contractor, right?And it's different in the sense
of, I see fractional as, like,the tip of the gig economy,
like, it's almost like, how intypical corporations, right?
Like, we understand, you startout as an analyst, and then you
go to associate, right? And youkind of work your way up. I see,

(10:30):
I see fractional as that for thegig economy, that's number one.
Number two is the fact that whenyou say words like freelancer
and contractor and consultants,they come like, words mean
something. They have a tons ofbaggage. There's this for a
freelancer, it's task oriented,right? For consultants and

(10:51):
contractor, it's usually thingslike task oriented plus, Oh, you
do the fluffy, strategic things,but you're not actually grounded
in what the company can do andneed, and you toss over the
fence, and, yeah, right. And sothat is what, like, fractional
is not that, like, there stillis an embedded, you know, I'm,

(11:12):
I'm in the company. I'm just notthere full time.

Yeah, you're invested. You're invested in the
solution for, not just, like,for the long run, for the

long for the long run. Yes. So, um, so, yeah.
So that is, like, what afractional is, how it compares
to the gig economy, and back toYes, and I took us on a date.
But it's, it's super valid. Soas I was scrolling LinkedIn, I'm
like, What is this? I talked topeople. I'm like, Oh snap. Like,

(11:41):
I really like this, because mybiggest qualms with corporate is
like, you're either living anddying for the job, or like
you're a slacker. And so Iliked, truly,

it kind of does sling that pendulum, doesn't

it? Like you're living and dying, oh,
you're not doing that. You'reslacking. Okay, like, weird, but
cool. And so what I really likedabout fractional is, like, the
people that were able to make itwork really had, like, a
satisfaction with their wholeself, their whole lives. And so
I was like, I'm in. Where arethe opportunities? And then
crickets, right? Then yourealize that, like, this isn't a

(12:16):
model that has properly scaled,that founders and investors
aren't on the same page asfractionals in terms of value.
If they see the value, they seethe value in very specific
roles, and they don't see it aslike, a strategy, yes, an option
and a strategy to like, at leastbuild their business initially.
And so that's how f3 came about,yeah, and it's been around for a

(12:39):
little over a year, and westarted out by doing educational
events and bringing theecosystem together, and now it's
graduated from those educationalevents to hey, there's a benefit
in just bringing the ecosystemtogether on problems that we all
face as builders. Whether you'rea founder investor or fractional
you're going to think aboutstrategic partnerships. You're
going to think about building awaitlist that converts you're

(13:01):
going to think about what itlooks like to fundraise, right?
Yeah. And so with those twodifferent types of events, it's
been really great to bringpeople together. And yes,
sometimes we flat out talk aboutthe fractional model, and
sometimes we just come togetheron a topic, and then it ends up

coming up. So yeah. And what I love about the
startup baddie and how it fitswith founders, founders and
fractionals. Is that like theprevious brand? Great, solid,
but it didn't. It felt much morecorporate than your community
based stuff, right? And thistotally aligns in that. And it
all like it just it gels sobeautifully

together. I actually really like that. You
say that because it does,because f3 is very

edgy. It's very, it's very founder based. It's
very like, I've been to yourevents, like, there's so many,
like, people looking forfunding, like they're early
stage startups, a lot of them,yeah, right. And it's and it
fits, and it like, it helps you,a, it tells people who you are
and how you roll in this world,right? Yeah. But B It also makes
you so much more accessible tosomebody who's in that stage.

(14:06):
You're like, Oh, she's a baddielike me, yeah, let me, let me go
and let me talk to her. Let metalk to her. Like, oh, maybe she
can help

me out. Yes. So which happens? So I love it,
but it does, it does it happens.

So I think that some of the, some of the stuff
that you talked about was, like,you show up really authentically
in the work that you do, yeah,like, how, how, how has that,
like, manifested itself, and youtalked a little bit about how
that fed into your brand. But,like, that's not something that
comes easily to a lot of people,whether they're in the corporate
side. You talked about it alittle bit in that context, and

(14:41):
then also as part of therebrand, like, how, how have you
tapped into, yeah, the realAshley like and helped her
surface in this

world. Totally. So it definitely starts
from Young. Because when I thinkabout the things that I was
doing younger, I was like, Youdidn't want to like. I don't
know, run outside or somethinglike mini CEO at eight, you
know, but the Girl Scoutshelped, you know, girl like, I
was a Girl Scout up until eighthgrade, and that really did help.

(15:13):
Like, you know, every year GirlScouts, you're like, selling
cookies at minimum, right? Butthere's all these other like,
badges and things you're doingand so, like, I now don't
discredit, like, the things thatwe put the kids in, because I
think it's foundation. So thatwas, that was first. The second
thing, kind of going back tothat, like, sixth, seventh and

(15:33):
eighth grade lens, is, I wascommissioner of school spirit in
seventh grade, of

course, and it's

so aligned, because, like, I was also a
cheerleader too, but I wascommissioner of school spirit,
and being commissioner of schoolspirit meant that I was putting
on what they called the socialsfor the third and fourth grade
and the dances for the sixth,seventh and eighth grade. And so
it's funny, because the socialslooked like games and pizza and
food and like, they just like,literally, I'm like, wow, you

(16:02):
let me run with that in like, atlike, 1112, you know? And then
sixth, seventh and eighth grade,it was calling DJs and talking
to them, yeah, getting contractsand understanding pricing,
right? And so like, when youhave to, like, get over the fear
of calling someone early, youkind of just like, go for it.
You put yourself out there. So Ibring all of that stuff up

(16:22):
because I do think that when Ilook back, like a lot of that
was foundational, yeah. Also,like, my parents always told me,
like, I could do anything and beanything, yeah? And so, like
they they never doubted that.And so then I never placed a
doubt in myself. I would saythat when it's so lucky. Yes, it
is. It's great. Like, they solucky. They just always were

(16:44):
like, Yeah, you guys are goingto be great. Like me and my
sisters, they even tell us thatto this day, is very like, this
is you are you guys are just sosmart, like, you're all, you're
all going to be great, andyou're going to figure it out.
And so, like, that was the selftalk. Really, any doubt that
came in was seeing how otherpeople responded to that. I

(17:05):
think that was, like, the hardpart of seeing how, like, I came
in so sure, and seeing otherpeople's maybe, like, sour
responses to it, andinternalizing it and be like,
oh, did I do something wrong?Like, I don't really understand,
right? Like, why is thishappening? And then it's going
on a journey of, like, reallyunderstanding that, like, be
you, because, like, sometimespeople are just projecting their

(17:27):
**** onto you, and like youreally it's true, and like, you
really have to be okay withthat, right? But I bring this
all up because, to me, it'slike, being sure in yourself
also means, like, being able to,like, tune out the nonsense when
it's coming at you. And thenonsense didn't really come from

(17:47):
my immediate family. It camefrom people externally that saw
someone that showed up and justlike, knew what she wanted, and
be like, Well, how do you know?Right? And so I feel like in the
last couple years, though,there's like, an extra layer of
that, like, the foundation hashelped, but then, like, the more
I feel like I get closer tolike, my vision and my goals for
life, the more I realize that,like, I have to have time to

(18:11):
plug into myself. I have to havetime to talk to myself. I have
to, like, having a dialog withyourself. I feel like, is super
underrated, but it's reallyimportant to be able to check in
with yourself and talk toyourself and ask yourself, like,
are you doing this from a puresense? Are you trying to perform
like, what's your what's yourdriver here? But like, I've

(18:32):
learned and gotten reallycomfortable with having those
honest conversations withmyself, and then, like, I see
counsel when I need to, probablya little better at it honestly.
But I think talking to yourselfand having those really clear
conversations is how I can belike, No, this is what I want to
do. And I really don't care ifyou're like, on board or not,

(18:53):
it's what I want to do, and Iknow that that's what works for
me.

Yeah, I love that last bit of advice because, I
mean, the reality of it is, isthat everyone has different
childhood backgrounds. I thinkthat there's whether it's good,
bad or indifferent. I thinkthere are things to be learned
from that in your self discoveryjourney, but that all of that
requires some sort of selfreflection, like it is that, you

(19:16):
know, what was I good at injunior high, or what was that in
grade school? Like people alwayssay, and some people I don't
have the greatest experiencesthere, but even, like, what do I
wish that I had at that moment?Yes, you know, like, that's a
big thing, and that is, like apart of that can be part of that
self discovery. And like, Imean, I'm Team therapy, right?

(19:36):
But there are so many differentpaths for that self reflection.
So I love it, yeah, I love it. Ilove it. And so I'm just trying
to take a look at our notes,because, like, I we prep
because, like, we're preppers,right?

Like, we're preppers. What you guys should
see how I prep for panels. I'mlike, we will not be hemming and
hawing here.

Okay, she is a prepper, yeah? But, but, I.
Think that, you know, but thereality of it is, like,
actually, let me, let me ask aquestion that you know, we
didn't touch on as I'm sittinghere taking a look at, like,
what so some people feel soattached to their brands? Yeah,
right, attached to theiridentities. And like, the

(20:16):
reality of it is, is that theworld right now for so many
reasons, and let's just chooseAI as the example for the
purpose of the conversation, butthere are so many more in my
brain. Yep, but the world isshifting. It feels like almost
every single day, and soidentity is being challenged
every single day, and it'ssometimes so hard to let go of

(20:39):
the identity that doesn't serveus anymore.

Yeah, I know there.

I mean, I live this, I live some version of
this, literally every day.

Yeah, so you're right, and I so this is,
this is so hard for people. Ithink initially it was hard for
me. I understand why it's hardfor people, because, like, it's
someone said to me, like,healing is destructive. I also
think it's in the same veinwhere, like, in order to heal,

(21:12):
in order to let go of something,in this case, your brand or a
version of yourself you onceknew, it requires you to be to
say, like, it's not serving meanymore, and that's, like,
really hard. It's a hard thingto be like, What in the hell?
Like, I'm being required tolevel up again? You know, I'm
telling you, I'm like, Oh, but Ithink in the beginning you

(21:34):
resist it. So if anyone'sfeeling resistance, it's normal,
right? But then when you realizethat, like in every level up,
there's something that you gainfrom the situation. Then over
time, I felt the resistance justkind of like slowly chips away.
And now in 2025 really was theepitome, for me. It's not over,

(21:58):
but thus far, it's been theepitome of, like, you know,
sometimes you just have to takeit day by day and kind of let
things unfold. Like, aspreppers, as someone who likes
getting ahead of things, it'sbeen really weird to be like,
well, let me just see where thisgoes, right. But I think it's

(22:19):
understanding that there aretimes where you drive things
ahead and there's times whereyou have to let it unfold. It's
the same thing for, like,identities and brands, right?
Like, there's a time where it'slike, okay, this is who I am,
and I'm just gonna keep going.But then, like, you really do
have to be open to just newinformation as it unfolds, and

(22:39):
what that means for yourworldview. But I think that if
you it really does come back tolike, having those conversations
with yourself, if you have thoseconversations with yourself, if
you're taking in information andyou're like, trying to create,
like, well rounded perspective,eventually you'll kind of, you
know, phase into that person youneed to be, but at first it's

(23:02):
going to be resistant, and thenthe more you keep morphing, I
feel like it gets lessresistant, because you
understand what's happening. Andit's a muscle you build. It is a
muscle. It's literally, like,going to the gym, right? Like
you don't put on muscle without,like, lifting weights, and then,
you know, you want to maintainthat muscle. You want to build
muscle. And the weights getheavier and it gets harder. Gets

(23:23):
harder. And so it's probablylike the best description for,
yeah, the

workout metaphor shows up a lot on the podcast,
and I'd say, but I think thatwhat you were also touching on,
and I don't want it to gounnoticed, is like the self
evaluation, that's one thing,and the constant check ins with
yourself, I think, is important.And being like, is this serving
me? Is this serving me? But Ithink that the other piece that
you touched on ever so lightlyor not, not as, not as deeply,

(23:48):
as better way to say it sure, isseeking counsel from others,
right? Like so, you know, tryingto start with, like, a couple of
different like, mini series ison the podcast, and the branding
is going to be one of them.We're gonna have a couple of
episodes on that back to back.Episodes on that, back to back,
and in the other episode inthis, in this mini series, I
talked about, like, fascinating.There's a there's a self

(24:09):
assessment, the fascinatoradvantage that I took, one of
the things that came back forme, it was avant garde. And I
was like, telling other peopleabout this, and I was like,
like, it felt so, it felt so notme. I was like, I'm like, I'm
like, I'm not avant garde. Idress norm core. I'm like, I so
whatever. I'm so boring, right?And, but everyone's like, no,
that's so you because. And thenI looked at the definition of

(24:31):
it, and it was, it was that Ibasically, you look at the world
differently. I'm like, Oh, I do.I do do that. But like seeing
how other

podcasts, you know, I'm saying, like, This
podcast is a perfectrepresentation of that,

yeah, and it's, it's, I guess it is, yeah, no,
they think about it. But, andit's, I think, finding those
external sources, like, if youhave that trusted person, like,
hey, what do you think about me?Or, hey, what do you think of my
brand? Or hey, you know, like,it's even taking that self as.
And seeing how you react to it.Yeah, that's a version of having
a sounding board, because noteveryone has the people that

(25:06):
they feel comfortable with onthat stuff

super important. Yes, I think word
that I want to highlight thatyou said was trusted, yeah, I'll
also throw in discernment,discernment, right? Like I one
of the biggest lessons that I'velearned, and I think this does
kind of go into your sense ofself, where it can skew it if
you are not talking to the rightpeople. Oh yes, talk more. Okay.

(25:31):
So I, when I left corporate, Iwasn't very forthcoming to
people about what I was doingbecause, yeah, I didn't really
know what I was yeah, why am Igoing to take in opinions and
things when I don't even knowwhat's up? Yeah, right. And so
that was level one discernmentof being like, I'm going to
protect my peace and and myprocess, and I need to feel out

(25:53):
who to tell him not to tell.Then there was a second level of
discernment of when I did openup to certain people. You kind
of see their stuff come out ontoyou. And by their stuff, yeah,
by their stuff, I mean thatsometimes people will give
advice or give perspective froma place of them and not what's
best for you. And when they dothat from a place of them,

(26:17):
sometimes it's well meaning. Idon't mean to say that all of
this is like, not well intended.Of course, sometimes it's super
well meaning. Other times it'smaybe not or well meaning from
the sense of like, they couldn'tlike, conceive how a different
reality, yeah, and so they can'teven conceive how you would do

(26:37):
it, even though you're adifferent person, 100% Sarah.
Sarah Blakely, yes. Blakely,yes. Thanks, founder. She i
There is this tick tock thatsticks with me to this day. She
had just joined tick tock. Thisis back in 2023, and she's like
doing a get ready with me. Andshe said she did not tell anyone

(26:59):
about Spanx her family for ayear, she said that she the only
people that knew were like herhusband and investors and anyone
who was a part of bringing theproduct to life. That was it.
And it stuck with me, becauseshe said, You know, when I did

(27:19):
tell them at that year mark, Iwas far into the process, but
you know, all people kept eventelling me at that year mark was
like, Well, how do you knowMacy's isn't gonna beat you up,
right? Like they were, they werebringing up things and, like, I
get it, like, these things dosound rational, right? But
they're not helpful, but they'renot helpful. And there's a lot
about building a business thatis a little delusional, and you

(27:40):
gotta have a little dulu, yes.And so it really that story
sticks with me. I And youactually need to go back and
find that yeah, save it. Thatstory sticks with me, though,
because she practiceddiscernment, yeah, right. She
understood who could she, sheunderstood the players in her
life, yeah, and who she couldtell and when she should tell
them, yeah, in order to executeon her vision.

Yeah, and what you touched on, I think there's
such a sensitive place thatyou're talking about the moments
when you do start tellingothers, because you know, part
of being successful as you know,an entrepreneur, a professional,
and anything right is you doneed to talk to others so that
they can help you along the waytotally but then you inevitably

(28:23):
will. It's not an if, it's awill, and it's a when, and it's
a how somebody is going to comeand try and consciously,
unconsciously, intentionally,unintentionally, burst your
bubble. Yes. And like, what youdo with after that is really
hard. It's really hard, superhard. It's hard and like, you're
not alone. There's a whole, youknow, that's a whole episode

(28:45):
unto itself. It is. But, yeah, Ithink that that's, I think
you've given some really goodadvice, Ashley,

I love yapping,

good see. But I think that there's so much,
there's so much, so many of us,I'll talk about myself, and part
of why I started the podcast isthat I wasn't really good at
talking about myself. Like, I'mreally good at talking about
everybody else, yeah, not goodat talking about myself, yep.
And part of this was, like, aleap of faith to see what
happens. And so, like, you know,I think that bit bold moves,

(29:17):
small moves, whatever it is forpeople, like, don't be afraid to
rebrand your company. Rebrandyourself. Yep, try it on. Enough
in a forum, like threads likeyou were doing a startup baddie.
See how it resonates. And guesswhat? It's a home run. And, you
know, and then, and then seewhere, and then see where it

(29:38):
takes you. So, you know, Iencourage everyone like do the
reflection, do the selfreflection. It's totally worth
the time. It's not always easy.You can do it in micro moments.
You can do it in big things. Seecounsel. See counsel, yeah, but
don't. Don't, don't. Don't beafraid to get unstuck. Don't be
afraid to get

on. Don't be afraid to get unstuck. There's a
will, there's a way. Cheesy, buttrue, but

it's true, but it's true. Ashley, thank you so
much for having me. You are notgoing to be a stranger on the
podcast, and I know that ourlisteners are going to get
something good out of this one.And I hope you all join us next
time when we talk about anothertopic from the messy middle,
bye, everyone, bye, you.

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Ep 32: Your Brand, Your Rules (w/ Ashley Grace Jefferson - Startup Baddie & F3)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep 32: Your Brand, Your Rules (w/ Ashley Grace Jefferson - Startup Baddie & F3)