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The Power of Authentic Storytelling in Building Your Dream Business
92 Plays8 months ago
In this episode of the Dream Business Podcast, Ashley Shaw shares her personal journey from growing up in a fitness-focused, entrepreneurial family to building her own business helping women achieve freedom through entrepreneurship. She discusses pivotal life events, including loss, motherhood, and spiritual growth, and how these experiences shaped her purpose. Ashley emphasizes the power of sharing authentic stories to connect with others and build a values-driven business. She encourages listeners to reflect on their own journeys as both a healing tool and a way to attract their dream audience.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Dream Business Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey there, it's Ashley Shaw and you're listening to the Dream Business Podcast. If you've ever felt like you're doing all the right things but not seeing the growth you want, take a deep breath because you're in the right place.
00:00:16
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Around here, we believe business shouldn't feel like a never-ending to-do list. It should feel like clarity, confidence, and finally having a plan that actually works for you.
00:00:28
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I'm obsessed with figuring out what really moves the needle and ditching what doesn't.
Building a Seven-Figure Business with Limited Followers
00:00:33
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After building a seven figure business with just 7,016 followers, I can promise you this, you don't need to do more.
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You just need to do the right things in the right order. Each week we'll talk about what's working right now in online business, what's not, and how to scale with more freedom, not more hustle.
00:00:53
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So if you're ready to grow your dream business with ease, heart, and whole lot of strategy, grab your coffee, get comfy, and let's dive in.
Ashley's Personal Journey and Entrepreneurial Roots
00:01:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Dream Business Podcast. My name is Ashley Shaw.
00:01:08
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And today I wanted to share more about my story and how all the dots connected. And the reason that I share this is not only to share the real messy, beautiful through the line that explains everything of why I do what I do today. But I think that this story is so important for each and every one of you to share as well, especially when you're trying to attract your dream audience in in your dream business. So
00:01:42
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If you had told me back when I was born in a Gold's gym, literally my mom went into labor while she was in the gym parking lot, and you had told me one day I'd be running a company helping women build businesses that give them freedom, i probably would have just grabbed another protein bar and shrugged. But looking back, it all makes perfect sense because from day one, fitness, freedom, and women have been the heartbeat of my story.
00:02:11
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So it all started, my parents were actually entrepreneurs in the fitness world before it was trendy. My mom was an aerobics instructor. My dad was a bodybuilder. And our house always smelled like protein powder and homemade baby food before organic was even a thing.
00:02:28
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And at that time, I really didn't think much of it. I mostly just wondered why everyone else got Dunkaroos. Well, I had carrots. But looking back, that early exposure to health and discipline really planted something deep in me.
00:02:42
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And that was that your habits become your entire reality.
Early Inspirations and Challenges
00:02:48
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And then came my first real mentor. This was my grade one teacher, Ms. Gravlev. She saw something in me before i ever did.
00:02:56
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And in grade one, I was filling notebooks with stories. And she treated me like I was this little author. ah remember taking home these books that were... She had wallpaper for the covers of the books.
00:03:09
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And she was from Australia. And that year, my parents actually took me to Australia. for six weeks and something really lit up, something really lit up in inside of me.
00:03:22
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And I realized that there was this whole world beyond my small town. And that was the first moment I really connected adventure with possibility.
00:03:32
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Moving into high school, high school really didn't feel easy. I lost my best friend to suicide at 14. And it really cracked something open in me that really never fully closed.
00:03:44
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I didn't have the language for grief or depression then. I just knew I wanted to make people feel seen and safe because I didn't always feel that way myself. But also to compound that, it felt like...
00:04:01
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I needed to be able to recognize that in other people that that would never happen again. And so sports really became my escape. I played ice hockey, i played soccer, and I even played field hockey.
00:04:15
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Anything that really made me feel strong and like I was a part of something bigger than myself, a part of a team. And it was in those locker rooms that I learned about the power of community of women cheering each other on instead of tearing them down.
University Years and Meeting Bill
00:04:31
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And in university, I started to find my purpose. I studied English and then I also did a degree in women's studies because writing and women's empowerment had always been my twin North stars, although I didn't realize it until that moment. I had actually started in psychology But I found just memorization so brutal for my brain. I just was not engaged in what I was doing. I thought I was going to love it.
00:04:59
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And then i went back to English because I wanted to be able to think through concepts and have an opinion and just kind of exercise all those parts of my brain that just felt like I was connecting the dots and learning and and it was just sort of a different dopamine hit for me. So around that time, actually in my third year of university, i met ah my now husband, Bill, and I instantly knew that he was going to be my husband. It was like one of those moments we worked at a bar in Kingston, Ontario called AJ's.
00:05:35
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And but when the first time I actually saw him, I was working coat check and he was a beer runner. i just knew like, oh my gosh, I'm going to marry this guy.
Career Beginnings in Fitness and Management
00:05:45
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After graduation, i had definitely wanted to be a writer, but I was working part-time at the gym.
00:05:52
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And I really wasn't sure how this... writing career would come to fruition. So I applied, there was a job locally in the town I grew up, and it was to work at A Good Life Fitness as a personal trainer. So I got my certification and started working at that gym. And then within a few months, I was running the personal training department.
00:06:11
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And i didn't know it then, but that was really the start of everything. i was helping women transform not just their bodies, but their confidence and their self-belief. I was helping a lot of men too. And in fact, um my very first client, I just have so much experience freaking love for him. His name was Don.
00:06:29
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And he had just quit smoking. And he would come in every day and take his blood pressure. And in fact, he still sees my mom around town. And this is like,
00:06:43
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I'm going to say 18, 19 years ago that I had first trained him. And he still tells my parents every time that he sees them how much I changed his life. And i just couldn't be more grateful for having that experience of being in that position where I could just help people. And I really didn't feel like I was doing anything genius.
00:07:05
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But I just made space for people. And, you know, it was just such a beautiful first relationship with um helping someone transform their habits. And that's really where i fell in love with coaching, with leadership and ah transformation.
Life in Vietnam and Online Ventures
00:07:24
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um And at 21, after becoming a fitness manager, at 22, I became the manager of the entire club. but And i decided ah couple years into that,
00:07:35
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that I would pack my bags, sell everything, and Bill and I moved to Vietnam. That was at 24. And so that shift really... I just felt like the nine to five wasn't for me. It was like, oh my gosh, like, you know, we had built a house, our parents had ah give us the money to build a house and then we took out a mortgage.
00:07:55
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But it was like, I don't want to be tied down. Like I'm, you know, 24 years old. um And we just felt like there was this bigger opportunity for the internet. And so we sold everything. We had $10,000 in our pockets and absolutely no plan beyond like, let's see what happens.
Corporate Ladder and Entrepreneurial Shift
00:08:12
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So we taught English, um started a jewelry business and learned more about grit and humility than any textbook could have ever taught us. I was creating something from nothing. It was messy, imperfect, but alive, which was just another dot along this story of of connection.
00:08:32
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And after about a year and a half, we moved back to Canada and I went back to good life. I started working in training and development. So I got to teach, inspire, teach sales systems. And somewhere in there, I realized I was obsessed with why people change. And I even made a company wide video called Start With Why before I'd ever heard of um Simon Sinek. And then when Simon Sinek started coming out with this, I really had felt like it was and such an important piece for the company to start talking about.
00:09:04
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So I remember being this like, you know, you know, 20, 25, 26 year old sending messages to the head of the company about like, we need to talk about our why, you know, and and it ended up coming a couple years later, which I think, you know, everyone after they had seen the sign Simon Sinek video was like, we got to talk about why we do what we do. So,
00:09:22
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Fast forward, I climbed the corporate ladder. i became a divisional manager and moved to the East Coast of Canada when Good Life had opened up um some positions to help with transitioning the company.
00:09:35
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ah They had bought a company and then transitioned, think it was about 30 clubs over to Good Life Club. So... I worked out East, loved it, and then got recruited to go out West to Steve Nash and worked as a district manager there for about nine months.
00:09:52
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And then I became the president of a fitness company on Vancouver Island. So I really felt like I needed that like on paper. I had sort of made it, but something inside of me was also whispering, is this it?
00:10:04
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And
Personal Tragedies and Spiritual Awakening
00:10:05
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when that that company actually ended up closing and there was... um It was an interesting story. There was a past president that had worked for them that was suing them and was like draining their bank accounts. It was like $30,000 a month in legal expenses they were paying to fight this other person. So they just decided to close it.
00:10:24
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But I really had two choices. It was like, okay, I can either start handing out resumes or I can finally bet on myself. And I chose me. It felt ah like a little bit scary.
00:10:35
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But at the same time, I also felt like I had no option B. there there was no way I was just going to go back to working for anyone else. Like, you know, think you have a safety net and all those other things that, you know, why people say stay at one job.
00:10:48
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um But I just knew that like that wasn't security either. If I could bet on myself, then that felt more secure. um And something deeper in me knew that um this was what all those other dots had been preparing me for.
00:11:05
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And what came next wasn't a clean success story. um Around that time, I went full time into my business and um we had hit sort of 10k a month inconsistently. um And we had accessxe actually at the same time when the other business was closing, we had gotten pregnant for the first time.
00:11:27
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We weren't trying to have a family. But i soon as I got pregnant, it was like, okay, yes, I really want this in my life. And I ended up losing two pregnancies back back to back.
00:11:40
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um Both were boys and it was due to a rare genetic condition I have. um It's called Wiscott Eldritch Syndrome. and And also in that timeframe, we lost our dog of 13 years. So there were days during that time that I just felt like I cannot even get out of bed. And I remember we live near um Lake Huron.
00:12:02
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I walked the lake um just to move through the heaviness, i'm listening to podcasts, trying to really, you know, dig deep and find reasons to keep going. And one story about a woman who lost her husband, um who was saving their child, shifted everything for me. I remember just like walking the lake, bawling my eyes out.
00:12:22
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And it made me realize that... um Even in heartbreak, there can be gratitude. And that moment really cracked me open spiritually, I would say. um i had started meditating and I was doing a Joe Dispenza style meditation one afternoon.
00:12:40
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And I saw a vision of a little blonde girl walking and between us at the beach. And I woke up from that meditation. I knew that she was coming. And within six weeks, um we had seen this owl.
00:12:53
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It flew across our windshield at night. And six weeks after that, I found out I was pregnant. So that's my little girl. um And her name's Coco, um my miracle baby. And yeah, it was just kind of wild. Like I saw her before she came to Earth, which was, you know, kind of crazy for somebody that at that point. Yeah.
00:13:13
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I wasn't really into the spiritual realm. Like I didn't really understand it. So that just like definitely opened my eyes to like, there is just more than we know. And so after Coco was born, everything changed again. i didn't just want freedom for me anymore.
00:13:27
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i wanted it for our
Mastermind Investment and Business Flourishing
00:13:28
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family. i wanted, um you know, Bill to be able to be home. And I went all in. So I invested $10,000 a mastermind where it made you know, maybe no financial sense, but it changed everything.
00:13:41
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um Within a year, um you know, I was at about 10k a month inconsistently. And within six months, I was at 30k. And then that year, we had 10x the business.
00:13:52
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um And so that gave us the opportunity for him to stay home. um and ah take paternity leave, which in Canada is 18 months. So, um you know, after that, I ended up, you know, 18 months later, I got pregnant again. And I had another miracle baby, which is our son, Beau.
00:14:10
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And again, Bill was able to stay home those 18 months um with our two kids. And now Beau is almost three and Coco is five. So What this has led to is now I get to help other coaches and entrepreneurs do the same, build businesses that don't cost them their lives, businesses that support their health, their families and their joy.
The Power of Personal Storytelling
00:14:30
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And the best part is every time I teach or tell my story, i can see those dots connecting for other people, the aha moments when they realize that all their past chapters were leading somewhere.
00:14:41
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um Why do I do what I do today? Because I know what it's like to lose yourself chasing success that isn't aligned. I know what it's like to pray for freedom and to build it from scratch. And I know that your story, the messy imperfection, the deeply human parts are your greatest marketing tool, your greatest healing gift, and your roadmap to the life that you're meant to live.
00:15:05
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The dots connect and Just not until you take a moment to reflect and look at how far you've come and you can see how they're so beautifully aligned. Our life is like a savings account.
00:15:20
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um These experiences come into our lives. They teach us something and we don't always know how they are going to connect for us until we look backwards and see the road that has brought us to where we are today.
00:15:34
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So I would so encourage you to share your own life story. Like what has brought you to this point? Because i you know, people don't care what we do. They care why we do it.
00:15:47
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And i think that that message is just so, so important. So thank you guys so much for listening to the show today. And we'll see you next time on the Dream Business Podcast.
00:16:00
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You've been listening to the Dream Business Podcast with Ashley Shaw. If you love today's episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode that helps you build a business that feels like freedom.
00:16:12
Speaker
And if you want more free tools and resources to grow without burnout, head to ashleyshaw.ca and grab your free guide on the Dream Business Map.
00:16:24
Speaker
This is your roadmap to clarity, calm, and consistent income. And hey, if you're feeling generous, share this episode with a friend who's ready to stop chasing strategies and start building their dream business.
00:16:37
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Until next time, keep growing with clarity, not chaos.