TCC Podcast #192: Building a Better Not Bigger Business with Ashley Gartland

Business coach and copywriter Ashley Gartland is our guest for the 192nd episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. No surprise, when it comes to helping other writers build a solid business, she knows her stuff. So we asked Ashley about a whole range of things, including: •  how she ended up as a writer and business coach •  what she does in her business today and the problems she helps solve •  what a “better not bigger” business looks like and how to create one •  a few of the business models that help copywriters grow a better business •  what Ashley does to help free up more time for clients •  her “marketing audit” and what it involves for her clients •  what copywriters starting out can do to build a “better not bigger” biz •  what happens when people hit their goals and what comes next •  growing a team and what you should think about as you scale and grow •  how to grow a business WITHOUT a team •  how Ashley deals with overwhelm and getting things done •  the tools that Ashley uses to get things done •  what her team looks like and how she spends her time today •  the packages she offers to her clients •  what you should do if you want to do more copy coaching •  the mistakes Ashley sees copywriters making and holding them back •  what she’s done to take her business to the next level •  the pitch that got Ashley on our podcast and why it worked •  the difference confidence makes in so many of her client’s businesses We also asked about the future of copywriting and what to do if you want a “bigger and better” business. This is a good one. To hear it all, the play button below. Or scroll down for a transcript. Better yet, subscribe and never miss an episode.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Ashley's website Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob:   This episode is brought to you by The Copywriter Underground, the place to connect with hundreds of smart copywriters who share your ideas and strategies to help you master marketing, mindset and copywriting in your business. Learn more at thecopywriterunderground.com. Kira:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work. That's what Rob and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Rob:   You're invited to join the club for episode 192 as we chat with business coach Ashley Gartland about creating a business that is better not bigger, what business challenges copywriters struggle with the most, her advice on managing time projects and overwhelm and the pitch she sent us that made us want to have her on the show. Kira:   Welcome Ashley. Rob:   Hi Ashley. Ashley:   Hi guys. Thanks so much for having me. Kira:   Yeah. Great to have you and I am excited to talk about the pitch that you sent us because it did grab my attention at least, and you kind of played the long game too as far as building a relationship on Instagram first and I just felt like it was very an elegant approach to pitching podcast. So we'll talk about that, but first let's start with your story. How did you end up as a writer turned business coach? Ashley:   Yeah. So really I have to say that though the way I landed here and the way I got into business by myself in the first place, entrepreneurship, is because I had this really strong desire to have a career that served my life. And when I graduated from journalism school I didn't see a lot of options out there that matched what I envisioned for my life, which was a lot of autonomy, a lot of choice in terms of how my days looked and also where I wanted to live in the country and those things. And so I decided that I would just give it a go and I would see straight out of college how to be a freelance writer and it went really well, and I came down to Portland, Oregon drove down here, started building a life here and business here and did that for about eight years. And at that point I felt like I had done a lot of the things. I had this big goal list, I checked a lot of those boxes off and I kind of didn't know what was next and so that began a process of asking what was next and what I realized eventually after a lot of soul searching was that I was kind of already doing the thing that I loved, which was mentoring other business owners. And I just didn't know that it was like a legitimate career path until I started to dig in a little bit deeper and once I realized that I realized I had a whole second chapter I could move into, where I still get to use a lot of my writing skills to be quite honest, but now I get to coach and mentor other business owners who want to build that better than big business, that business that serves their life. Rob:   So tell us more about that. What does your business look like and what kinds of coaching do you do? What are the problems that you help people solve? Ashley:   Yeah, generally for me... so I'll start with my business. So my business is a really simple kind of solopreneur with a little bit of extra team support type business where I'm a service based business owner, just like your audience. And I'm really looking to run a business in about 25 hours a week to do really, really fulfilling work, to have a lot of choice and freedom and autonomy, and that's what my clients are coming to me with. The problem for them is generally that they've reached a certain level of success in their business, but things feel pretty chaotic behind the scenes and they recognize that there are opportunities to scale, but they know they can't scale on the way that they've been doing before because it's just not sustainable and it's not in service of their life. So when I'm working with my clients I'm really looking at how to intentionally design the business for the kind of life that they want. We're looking at how to get really great systems and support teams in place to allow them to free up their time, to do either more creative projects, more client work, or just to work less and then we're also looking at the marketing piece and how to do less better there. Kira:   You mentioned the better than big business. Can you talk more about that terminology and what you mean by it and how you start to break that down along with your process for working with clients, how that all feeds together? Ashley:   Yeah, absolutely. So it's so interesting as so many things in our businesses this really came straight from my client's mouth. I was on a series of calls and so my clients kept coming to me and saying I don't want the million dollar business, I don't want the agency model, I don't want the massive team, I don't want to be the manager of that. They're like I just want a really simple streamlined business that serves my life and that's where that idea of this better than big business came up. And so I started talking with my clients about it and realizing that the way that we were building their business was different than this massive pursuit of fast growth. It was about really pursuing growth that matched their definition of success and about going after it in a really sustainable way. So it wasn't about overwhelm, it wasn't about hustle, it wasn't about burnout, it was really about pursuing again their goals, their definition of success and in a way that really served their life. Rob:   So can we talk a little bit more about what that looks like because I think it's really easy to envision a business that's continually growing, it's bringing in more revenue, maybe you're bringing on a couple of employees a year. But what is a business that is better, but not necessarily getting bigger look like, does it mean more money? Can it mean more money? Is it staying the same? Ashley:   It absolutely can mean more money. It doesn't have to be anti-growth, but it is about pursuing that growth and again in a really sustainable way. So instead of just chasing after the next level or pursuing another revenue stream, it's always about questioning and making sure that it's in alignment and then creating the systems and the support and the infrastructure to grow in that way, so you can do it in a way where you're not burning out. Kira:   Can we talk about how that breaks down for you. Let's say if we're working together and I'm the client and I'm trying to figure out, I'm feeling overwhelmed, I'm feeling burnout, but I'm not quite sure how to fix it. What does your process look like and what are some of those questions you're asking to move them forward and give them a clear idea of what they could build? Ashley:   Yeah. So honestly, the process so often starts with the services because as you guys both know your services impacts so many things from your revenue to your schedule, to the systems and tools that you need to the support you need in your business, so I really like to start almost all of my clients with looking at their services and figuring out what's not working. So for a lot of my clients that generally is that they're trading time for dollars, or they're doing custom proposals for each people and none of those things feel very sustainable for their business. So from there we can look at the business model and we can break down what would be a really... what would be a shift in their services that would allow them to grow in a more sustainable way. So for some people that's moving from the time for dollars approach to more of a product high service. And for some people they're moving from a done for you to a done with you model, like copy coaching. There's a couple of things that a couple of my clients have pursued that and done it really successfully. Or it might be that they're doing, you know, they want to pursue something like intensives,