The Brazen Podcast with Ashton Robertson: Recent Episodes
Ashton Robertson
I’m Ashton, a curious entrepreneur who lives for combining strategy and creativity in how we talk about ourselves & our work—especially as womxn business owners, a community that’s growing without precedent.
On the Brazen Podcast, I’m diving into the question: how can we break the rules we didn’t know we were following… especially as entrepreneurs and freelancers? I’m chatting with women who are shaking up perspectives and industries as they create something amazing: a life and livelihood all their own.
On this episode of the Brazen Podcast, I’m chatting with Candace Ramirez of Moon Honey Media. She’s a content manager for creative, women-run small businesses and is here to talk about mental health and how it affects connection with people and life as an entrepreneur. Your brain and business are very interconnected when it comes to the state of your health and wellbeing. Having developed PTSD from an abusive relationship, Candace has personally seen the impacts of mental health, especially on work. Feeling isolated after her trauma, it was scary for her to sort through it, but when a coworker who also had PTSD reached out to her, she realized how helpful it is to have a support system. This lead her to build a community of people who are open about talking about their healing journeys, specifically relating to work life.
We discuss the silence and stigmas around mental health issues, the power of speaking up and sharing about your struggles, and the benefits of sharing your message no matter what the response is. There’s always someone listening.
Your mental health is not an excuse to not reach your goals. We speak on the self-care culture and mentality aimed towards entrepreneurs on social media and its potential for making it difficult to start or grow a business. Candace emphasizes the balance that’s needed between rest, drive, and making goals. Finding a balance between mothering yourself and having an outside voice, like a therapist, to give you guidance and words of reason is also extremely helpful as a business owner.
On this episode of the Brazen podcast, I welcome Caroline Peterson: Copywriter, Content Creator, and Founder of Not Your Average Gal, to talk about her recent move to Hawaii in the middle of the pandemic and our experiences with connecting with people around the world.
Caroline details the challenges and mundane stress of planning the trip and moving with her husband during covid-19 and shares a few hacks for integrating yourself into a new community and creating new routines, including following locals and other travelers on Instagram.
“Instagram has been a savior of finding new places… because you don’t know what’s good, what’s not, so just following other people who are around here who seem to have been here for a while and are connected… then you can find the little coffee shops that you’re not going to see from the road.”
—Caroline Peterson
We discuss staying in touch with friends and clients who are in different time zones, with emphasis on setting boundaries and being proactive with maintaining your existing relationships, as well as observing the adjustments that people and businesses have made regarding working from home.
Caroline and I touch on the value in finding communities of supportive people and learning about the history and culture of the place that you’re living. We emphasize the importance of changing your mindset regarding the restrictions of the pandemic, while figuring out ways to feel creative and adventurous within those limitations. Tune in to hear about the books we’ve been loving recently and where we’d go if we could travel right now.
“It’s been a year of trying new things, even though it feels like I’m not trying new things at all.”
—Ashton Robertson
About Caroline Peterson
Caroline left corporate America and her job as a Senior Copywriter to build a business that encourages people and brands to push through those crippling layers of self-doubt and reveal a shiny, authentic version of themselves. The status quo is so boring. You are not, my fabulous unicorn.
She started her blog, Not Your Average Gal, as a way to not only be a story teller of her travels, but also create an encouraging community where sharing the not-so-average life together validates that we all take our own paths in life.
To learn more about Caroline and Not Your Average Gal, visit her website: www.notyouraveragegal.com
About Ashton Robertson
Ashton Robertson is a curious entrepreneur who lives for combining strategy and creativity in how we talk about ourselves & our work—especially as womxn business owners, a community that’s growing without precedent.
Like many women, she used to believe that not questioning authority or assumptions made her a ‘good girl.’ Now, she realizes that the world doesn’t need more good girls. It needs more women who have come alive. Today, she uses her communications strategy and writing skills to help other women speak up and start movements. She believes that confidence, clarity, and connection are the three keys to creating the life, business, or change you crave, and you can learn more about her courses and services at brazenstory.com
Connect with Ashton Robertson Brazen Story Co.
Start your connection ritual today with this free guide: https://ashtonwhitney.lpages.co/the-connection-ritual/
Visit my website: www.brazenstory.com
Follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/ashtonwhitney
Want to learn how to connect with clients and collaborators every day and have more conversations like this? Join the Verve waitlist: brazenstory.com/verve
Resources mentioned:
The Copywriter’s Club on Facebook
Write Like a Mofo: www.writelikeamofo.online
NaNoWriMo: www.nanowrimo.org
Books mentioned:*
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover https://bookshop.org/books/educated-a-memoir/9780399590504
Brainrush by Richard Bard https://bookshop.org/books/brainrush/9781533257604
Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii by James L. Haley https://bookshop.org/books/captive-paradise-a-history-of-hawaii/9781250070395
Untamed by Glennon Doyle https://bookshop.org/books/untamed-9781984801258/9781984801258
*I don’t link to Amazon. Buy books on Bookshop.org instead and contribute your business to local bookstores instead. Plus, they donate to other small businesses with every purchase!
Today I'm chatting with Caroline Mays, the founder and creative mind behind Switchblade Lemonade, a defiantly unorthodox image crafting and bio salon based in Portland, Oregon. We know that storytelling and bios and brand stories are trendy AF right now, and we chat about why we—as copywriters and marketing minds—need to do a better job of defining and education our audience about what, exactly, those words mean... and how to use these tools to your advantage.
What if your home office helped bring out your creative genius, instead of causing you constant frustration? With all of us spending a lot more time at home these days (and often with new office buddies), this question is more important than every. Stephanie Jackson, of Practical Sanctuary, is a sensory interior designer, focused on helping highly creative and neurodiverse people create home and office spaces that support their creative genius. She sat down with me to talk about neurodiversity, what it means to be highly sensitive, and how to create spaces that support you. Learn more about her work at practicalsanctuary.com.
How do you know when to quit? ….. or when not to? That’s a question that comes up a lot for Shea Keats, a creative career coach, podcast host, and entrepreneur based in Portland, Oregon. We sat down to talk about the unique dilemmas and questions that come up for creative people when they’re making important decisions about their next career steps.
How do you build practices and boundaries into your business that protect your creative workflow? What does it look like to make sure your business is not only sustainable financially, but energetically as well? As a freelancer, your brain is your business's greatest asset, so I'm sitting down with Samantha Pollack, copywriter for feminist businesses and thought leader on entrepreneurship as a highly sensitive person, to talk about practices that will help you set boundaries that work for you.
How are small travel businesses coming up with creative ways to stay engaged and create revenue during global travel bans? I'm talking with Sierra Busch, founder of Creative Edge Travel and the travel networking group Travelistas United, to talk about the creative, beautiful ways people are connecting with clients, creating content, and adapting to the pandemic today. This episode was originally recorded as part of the Confident Challenge. Learn more at bit.ly/confidentchallenge2020
Can discovery calls be valuable to your clients? Do they have to feel like awkward sales calls, or can they (shock and horror!) be... fun? Today I'm chatting with Michelle Marie, Founder of Put Your Passion to Work. She's a business strategist for coaches and expert on scheduling and closing great discovery calls.This episode was recorded as part of the Confident Challenge. Learn more at bit.ly/confidentchallenge2020
How do some freelancers find success and grow a thriving business in just one year, while the stereotype is to struggle for years? Today I'm talking with Megan Van Groll, founder of Evoke+Engage, about her entrepreneurship journey (including whether or not you should call yourself a freelancer) and what strategic steps she took to get to $100k in revenue her first year freelancing. This episode was recorded as part of the Confident Challenge. Learn more at bit.ly/confidentchallenge2020
Why do some people seem to show up consistently on live video, Instagram stories, and podcasts so easily? What are they doing differently? Today I'm sitting down with Instagram stories mentor Sheila Streetman to learn about her journey finding her niche, what it means to show up for her business and her audience, and lessons from connecting with people every day on Instagram stories. This episode was recorded as part of the Confident Challenge. Learn more at bit.ly/confidentchallenge2020
What does it mean to trust yourself and give your intuition the space in needs to lead you to your version of success in life, even in the midst of a global pandemic? I sat down with coach Rachel Paz, founder of the Un-Finishing School to learn about her journey to confidence in herself, every day, no matter what her circumstances may look like. This episode was recorded as part of the Confident Challenge. Learn more at bit.ly/confidentchallenge2020