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[00:00:00] Welcome back to Female Founder World. This is part two with Ashley Stockton. She's the founder of Sunday Forever. Go back and listen to part one if you haven't listened to it yet.
But in this episode, Ashley, you're going to talk us through some resource recommendations, some things that have been helping you as you've been building the business. What's the first one? So I typically don't recommend books or anything because I think you have to listen to what resonates with you at that moment, right?
You kind of have to find your way. However, I will say, in the beginning, I devoured. So many podcasts and just learned and learned and learned as much as I possibly could. I took notes. I just, but I think that there's a point where you kind of have to stop. You have to put down the books, got to put down the business books and you got to get to work because I see a lot of times where somebody wants to do something, but they kind of keep putting it off by trying to find more and more resources, resources, right?
Um, so I will say after [00:01:00] I decided, and this is. After I knew and made the decision, okay, I want to stay small and intentional in my business, I did come across a book called Small Giants and just affirmed everything that I thought and it kind of made me feel even more confident in my decision. So this book is all about brands.
Small Giants. Tiny Giants. Small Giants. Bo Bur Burmingham, bur Burlington. I have to look. Mm-Hmm. is the last name. We'll put a link in the show next. Okay, great. Um, but that's, that is the concept of the book, that there's a way to stay small and intentional and stay intimately involved with your customers, be accessible as a founder, and move quickly without having to ask for permission from anyone.
Hmm. Um, that's not a business concept or a way of doing business that I think or starting a business that is talked about frequently. I love that. Is there anything else that's been helping you? [00:02:00] A habit? Sounds like you've had therapy. I feel like all the founders that I speak to who seem to, um, be building something they genuinely enjoy have invested in therapy.
[00:03:00]
Yeah, I've, I had been in therapy almost my entire life. adult life. Um, and I think it's important because, uh, sometimes we don't have the words to express the feelings or it's also good to have an outside source if you can have it. I mean, I know therapy is a privilege that not everyone can enjoy because it is very expensive, but honestly, we have an internet that is Endless, right?
We have so much information at our fingertips, and [00:04:00] anything you want to learn is right there. You just have to be motivated to learn. I didn't know how to build a website until I did. Mm. I didn't know how to optimize for SEO until I did, and even photography. I take all of our, our photos, I taught myself how to use a proper camera.
You know what I mean? Everything's there if you're willing to learn, and I'm all about outsourcing, obviously, but I do feel like if you can just learn enough to be a little bit dangerously good at it. You'll get a better result with whoever you're working with, whether it's graphic designers or photographers.
Just being able to speak the language a little bit and know how to direct, that's gonna help you so much and will save you so much money. That's such a good piece of advice. Is there anything else, any Shopify apps, tools that you're using in the business, stuff that's helping? Um, yeah, I use, let's see. I use an app for SEO that I've used forever called SEO Booster.
It's [00:05:00] great. It just kind of helps you keep things in order. It also optimizes images. Um, I use a loyalty program called, uh, Smile. Yep. And when you have a customer base that you're really, really close to, that's much appreciated, I think. It goes a really long way. So that's an investment because it's not inexpensive.
I think it's like the plan I have is 200 a month. There's lower plans, but I have the highest package because that's something that I really wanted to invest in and our customers deserve that. And then reviews. I also didn't start collecting reviews until maybe 2020. It's, it's wild. Like you know what I mean?
You just have to give yourself a break. The things that I didn't know. I also, um, think that. Teaching yourself the basics about running ads. Just the basics. Super important. Just kind of like Get in there. And then once you see a result in your business from something you did that you didn't know how to [00:06:00] do Then you're just gonna want to keep doing it.
Yeah, you get that little high. I love that Ashley Thank you so much for those recommendations. They are so good. I just wanted to jump in and end the show with a quick thank you and shout out to all of our paid business bestie subscribers for 9 a month. Business besties bypass literally years of networking by getting access to all of the people that you need to build your dream business. Besties get access to exclusive in person meetups in cities all All across the U S Australia and the UK, you get access to our group chat and you get to bypass the wait list.
You also get invited to exclusive monthly group business coaching call sessions where you can speak to experts and founders and ask them all of those questions that you just can't Google. It's 9 a month. You can cancel any time, head to bestie. vmarfounderworld. com or click the link in the show notes for more.
