There is a Purpose in your Path with fellow mil spouse and owner of Woman and Warrior Co, Ashlee

We are continuing our holiday mil spouse business spotlight today with Ashlee who wears all the hats at Woman and Warrior Co which is a mil spouse clothing line.

Ashlee shares their very non traditional path to active duty. Her husband actually spent 12 years in the coast guard reserves before going active duty Army. She shares the ups and downs of that transition and how they are coping today with that decision. 

We really go into a deep dive of starting and having to pause a home business because of military life. Ashlee shares how that “pause” actually turned out to be really beneficial in her business. But that those road blocks or hiccups can feel really big and insurmountable at the time. 

I ask Ashlee to share with us what resources she tapped into to learn how to start and grow a shirt business. Watching and being part of her husbands small business, and sitting in on meetings and being privy to the internal going’s on was a HUGE insight. She also really dove into books. They can be our greatest teachers! Even if we are living in an isolated space, we can read and learn anywhere!

Some of the books Ashlee recommends are:

-Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki

-Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

-The Power of Broke by Damon John

-The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

• The podcast The Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher

• 21 irrefutable laws of leadership by John C Maxwell

• Story Branding by  Donald Miller

As entrepreneurs, your community, your village, is SO important. You cannot do it alone, and you don’t have to! Find your people!

Connect with Ashlee on IG @womanandwarriorco

Check out her WEBSITE

https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63e17c34781752946ff2b424

https://www.organifishop.com/products/peak-power

Transcript

[00:00:00] Alison: so we are continuing with our mill spouse holiday series.

[00:00:06] Alison: Let's call it that. I think it's probably, and now as I like, I'm recording them, it's going to be different for each one, whatever. It's okay. 

[00:00:11] Ashlee: We'll just roll with it. Rolling with it. Right. 

[00:00:14] Alison: Good plan. So today we're talking to Ashley and Ashley is the, I didn't even ask you founder, CEO. What 

[00:00:20] Ashlee: do you, what do you like creator?

[00:00:22] Ashlee: I'm the C I am all the things I am every hat, every, every title that goes with the business. My husband is my number one investor, but I am the CEO, the founder, the, all the things create a designer, the maker, I'm everything. Literally. 

[00:00:39] Alison: Awesome. I feel ya. Of the woman and warrior. And if you guys, so she, you have a really awesome Instagram page. 

[00:00:48] Alison: You put out and I, we need, I need to ask you how you do some of the videos that you do, but they're super 

[00:00:53] Ashlee: funny and just really relatable as a 

[00:00:56] Alison: mom and a middle spouse. And so anyway, so I'm actually, I'm really excited for you to be here. Welcome to the 

[00:01:02] Ashlee: show. Thank you so much. I'm very excited to be on here and that you even thought to invite me.

[00:01:08] Ashlee: So yeah, of course. And I'm 

[00:01:10] Alison: actually wearing my woman in my know. 

[00:01:14] Ashlee: monochrome black on black. It's You are my people. I was like, I'm going to try this and my people will find me. They will. And you found me. That's it. A hundred 

[00:01:26] Alison: percent. Cause I did. I saw, I think I saw it on Instagram. I'm like black on black.

[00:01:30] Alison: That is so my gym. Cause 

[00:01:31] Ashlee: it's just, it's just a subtle. You know, like you can, yes. I 

[00:01:35] Alison: love it. I call 

[00:01:36] Ashlee: it my ninja clothes. Like I Yes. Stage. It's like I wear black all the time. Right. Understand. Oh, I, Mm-Hmm. . You know, like, I know some, I know a lot of people know, like the Steve Jobs story of like, he was like always like he had a black uniform.

[00:01:50] Ashlee: He just always wore black, but like. No, my man is Johnny Cash. The man in black. Call me the, the woman, the woman in warrior black. That's me. Yes. 

[00:01:59] Alison: I love that. It's so funny. 

[00:02:01] Ashlee: Okay. Well, 

[00:02:02] Alison: I always like, this is going to be a fun conversation I can tell already. So I always like to start off with what is your military affiliation?

[00:02:09] Alison: What does your military life look like? Whatever you 

[00:02:12] Ashlee: want to share. Okay. All right. So I have to take you way, way back down the road. That's okay. So when I first locked eyes with my my not even boyfriend at the time right now husband at a restaurant, and I was like, I'm marrying that one. He's gonna be my husband.

[00:02:31] Ashlee: Swear. Swear. Like, if there was a little movie, like, there's a video camera on me. I walked by him, like, you know, like, No, I don't really see you. And I just went like, Like, it's gonna be him. Wow. That's kinda cool. So we met two months before he was signed up, signed up to go off to boot camp with Coast Guard Reserves.

[00:02:53] Ashlee: And so, yes, I was like, alright, well. This is going to be interesting. And it has not stopped being interesting since then. So, so he was a Coast Guard reserve for 12 years. He was activated once when oil spills happened. That was conveniently when our daughter was very young and I was in the last stretch of college during my student teaching.

[00:03:18] Ashlee: So fun. So I had to scramble to get childcare, you know, like that was probably that I would say that it was my First and only time during that 12 year stretch that I really felt like, wow, , this is hard, I'm a military spouse, , other than that, I swear it was, it's, it's either that the Coast Guard is apples to oranges or like, reserve and active duty is absolutely, like, apples to oranges, you know? 

[00:03:42] Ashlee: So, he was the business owner for maybe like, I think it was like five years he was a business owner and also the Coast Guard Reserve. And then it was just one day he sat down on the couch and he was like, you know what? What would you think about me going active duty? And I was like, wow, like that came out of nowhere.

[00:04:07] Ashlee: Because we already had, we had a home, we had three kids at the time. And but I have to say, like, even when I I remember going to his Coast Guard graduation up in Cape May. And I remember watching him walk on the field and it hit me. I was like, you know what, I bet you one day he's going to go active duty.

[00:04:24] Ashlee: Like, I bet you. So like, I felt like. Like, I knew, you know, so it wasn't that, it was a shock, but it wasn't that big. So my response was, all right, let's do it. And he was like, okay, are you sure? I'm like, yeah, let's do it. I always kind of figured you would you know, pursue this path. It's a good fit for you.

[00:04:42] Ashlee: Like, we'll do it. He's like, cool. What do you think about me going on active duty with the army? And I'm like, what? What do you mean? So yeah, he went active duty with the army in 2020 and he had to go back to boot camp again and go to OCS and BOLAC and he left when he left on my daughter's birthday was his date to leave and I was two months postpartum with my youngest.

[00:05:14] Ashlee: And that is when my whole being baptized by fire by the army started. Welcome to the family! That's... Yeah, it was, it was, I swear, I was like, wow, this, this is hard. Some other level of hard I've never experienced. So we kind of, like, went through a seven month stretch there where we were, I guess it was TDY, you know, separated. 

[00:05:42] Ashlee: We got to... Be back together as a family for about four months we moved to Fort Riley, Kansas, where is where I am now, and three weeks later, he got orders to deploy. So, I have been through, I've been through a lot of things really fast. He has been home now from that deployment that included an extension for about a year and a half.

[00:06:10] Ashlee: So we have had a year and a half of quote unquote, whatever you can call normal. In this life. Yeah. Yeah. I feel ya. 

[00:06:17] Alison: That's a lot. Yeah. And I think it's so interesting because you know what comes to mind is like when you, when I hear other people talking about their stories, I'm like, yeah, yeah. Because and I've told this story before, but my husband When he was, he 

[00:06:31] Ashlee: was just getting out of school 

[00:06:33] Alison: and getting his first assignment.

[00:06:35] Alison: And we went out to like this nice dinner. It should have been 

[00:06:41] Ashlee: a giveaway. Right. Yeah. 

[00:06:43] Alison: Right. And he's like, well, I got my ship 

[00:06:45] Ashlee: assignment 

[00:06:45] Alison: and I'm like, okay, great. He's like, it's out of San Diego. I'm like, awesome. Cause that's what we were hoping for. And he's like, yeah, I leave in October. 

[00:06:52] Ashlee: And I was like, 

[00:06:55] Alison: because my brain immediately goes to, I haven't graduated from school yet.

[00:06:59] Alison: I don't graduate from school until December. He was leaving like 20 something October. My birthday is October 30th. So I'm literally like for my birthday, flying home from, I know, right. Flying home from sending him on his first deployment where I then get to graduate from school without him and then move across the country without him.

[00:07:17] Alison: From South Carolina to San Diego. Yeah. And then set up the apartment and everything like, luckily we didn't have kids at the time, but like, 

[00:07:25] Ashlee: yeah, that's, I feel like that's wild. It is 

[00:07:28] Alison: crazy. And it's one of those. And the other thing that comes to mind too, is that I feel like. If you were to say, this is what's going 

[00:07:35] Ashlee: to happen, 

[00:07:37] Alison: there's no way I'm doing that.

[00:07:40] Ashlee: But then when you're in it, it's 

[00:07:41] Alison: like, you just figure it out. You know what I mean? Like, is it pretty? No. Is it fun? No. Would you ask to do it again? Probably not. But you just, you get through and it's like, you know, you kind of. Yeah, you figure it 

[00:07:55] Ashlee: out. Yeah. Yeah, you really, you take on this almost like this mindset where you're like, oh, okay, so this is what we're doing now.

[00:08:02] Ashlee: Like, the things fly and they come and you're just like, okay, I'm, I'm gonna figure it out. Which I think is so cool about, I guess, this life and, you know, where having the role as, as a, as the spouse too, to just be like, okay, I am going to be the world's biggest, best problem solver, by the end of all this.

[00:08:24] Ashlee: I know, 

[00:08:24] Alison: right? And you're going to, what's so funny to me is that I've always been, and I still am very type A and I like things just so mm-Hmm. And I'm a planner, so I like to know. Mm-Hmm. What's coming down? You can't do 

[00:08:38] Ashlee: that in this lifestyle, like the planner to apply. I am a planner also that has learned to just like, use a pencil, use a pencil.

[00:08:46] Ashlee: Don't use a pen. Just use a pencil. Very. Yeah. 

[00:08:50] Alison: It was funny. I was driving my oldest daughter to school this morning and I was like, do you know what's really crazy is 

[00:08:58] Ashlee: that I feel like this year is like just flying 

[00:09:00] Alison: by and we literally have no idea where they're going to school next year. No idea, because we're PCSing this summer, and we have no idea where we're gonna live, so, we, no idea, I mean it's like, that's bananas to think about, like, you know, is it so, oh, and Sophia, what did Savannah say?

[00:09:20] Ashlee: She, she's like, you haven't, your daughter's name's Savannah? My daughter's name's Savannah. My daughter's name is Savannah. I knew we were going to be friends. I was like, we're going to be friends. Like, so yeah, she's, she's, it was 

[00:09:32] Alison: the only, it was the only name that my husband and I could agree on. The only girl name that we could agree on was Savannah.

[00:09:38] Alison: And then my grandparents named my my youngest daughter, Sophia, and they named her. So we have two S's, 

[00:09:43] Ashlee: which was not planned, 

[00:09:44] Alison: but again, the grandparents were like, it's. Sophia. And I'm like, okay, Sophia, it is. I, you know, what are you going to do? You can't argue with that. So, okay. So, so you've had a very different path in the 

[00:09:54] Ashlee: military life, which I think is cool.

[00:09:55] Ashlee: Yep. It's been different. Yeah. Bringing in a lot of random, like my husband, so my husband going in active duty, like significantly older, I think to it's you bring it in a way I would say that it's honestly, I think been a benefit, a weird path. Has been a big benefit to us, I think, because we have brought, like, a lot of lots of life experience, like, lots of life was lived prior to you know, going into the active duty lifestyle, so yeah, it's, it's been both.

[00:10:28] Ashlee: It's been both helpful and also just wild. I don't know. It's just been crazy. It feels like a whole nother life. Like, we started a complete new chapter of life when we hit, like, 30 ish. Yeah. 

[00:10:41] Alison: Yeah. I can see I can I Yeah, I can understand that. That makes a lot of sense. How So So, you are, like, two ish years into Almost three years into being active duty? 

[00:10:53] Ashlee: 22, 23. He's moving into year four. Year four. Okay. 

[00:10:57] Alison: And how are, how are you guys feeling? Are we still feeling like, okay, this is good. I'm, I think we're, I get, I see feeling like this is where I'm supposed to be. I want to keep moving with this. Yeah. 

[00:11:07] Ashlee: Yeah. Cool. No, he, he very much. Yeah, he really loves what he does for sure.

[00:11:13] Ashlee: Like he's so I don't know. I guess I, like I said, I called it way early, like way early. I was like, I invite you. I'm just kind of waiting on you to figure it out that like, yeah, we're going to be doing here. Yeah. Yeah. Finally caught up. But yeah, no, he's, he does what he does very well. And and I'm adapting myself.

[00:11:32] Ashlee: So that's 

[00:11:33] Alison: all you can do, right? Yeah, right. Exactly. Okay. So then talk to us about what your career has looked like as you've gone through reserves to active duty, to the kids, to the, like, 

[00:11:44] Ashlee: what is, what has that journey been? Yeah. So our oldest was a, The best surprise we ever got. We were both smack in the middle of college and we're like, cool, we're gonna have a baby.

[00:11:57] Ashlee: This is great. Like, what do we do? Yeah. Luckily though, he luckily for Tricare Select, that's so nice that he was a reserve already. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Yes. So but so after finishing up school, my my undergrad degree is in elementary education. So I was a classroom teacher for six years.

[00:12:19] Ashlee: I taught fifth grade. Loved, loved teaching. Like, I never thought that I would be more passionate about anything else in my life. Truly. There are times where I miss it. I just don't miss the schedules and, like, some of the politics. Sure. Yeah. But right at the end of my teaching, So right before I left the classroom I left because I was partway through my Master's program, which is in Curriculum and Instruction. 

[00:12:47] Ashlee: But we had, our two middle boys are like, they're almost Irish twins. So, having two kids in daycare and being a teacher wasn't making sense. Like, sense with an S. Financially, yes. Yes, I get ya. Financially, for sure. Yeah, so So, yeah, my husband was like, Why don't you just, instead of carrying all the things Stay home with them, finish your degree, and then you can, you know, decide on going back.

[00:13:13] Ashlee: So when I was near the end of that degree, I, I really, really thought that my dream was always to be a college professor. Like, that's what I wanted to teach in the university. I wanted to teach teachers. Love the kids, but I wanted to teach adults. So I applied for a PhD program for the same.

[00:13:37] Ashlee: Thing for a curriculum and instruction and I actually was accepted and I actually got a graduate assistantship for it as well, which means that I would have been able to go to school for free but at the expense of A lot of my time. Okay. So like that's you, you work for them for free to be able to attend school, you know tuition free.

[00:13:58] Ashlee: And I, so it's free. Yeah. Right. Quote, unquote free. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not. Yeah. Sure. Time is my and, and Truly should be everybody's biggest big currency, right? Sure. All right So I had read my husband and I had gone on a trip to go visit my grandparents and we had read this makes that this There's a point to this a promise We read we read two books on that trip.

[00:14:22] Ashlee: I don't know why we read the books. I have no idea like totally I was his book. I was his audio book and I was reading to him in the car and I just was like, Oh, I've heard about this book. Rich dad, poor dad. And I'm 

[00:14:37] Alison: literally listening to that book right now. And it is blowing my 

[00:14:41] Ashlee: mind. It will, it will teach you real.

[00:14:44] Ashlee: It will transform the way that you think about money, how it's made like. Yes, right. Like it is, is 

[00:14:51] Alison: below. I will share it with you because I like to share the books that I read and I'm like three quarters of the way through it is below. I cannot. Okay. Seriously. Like we 

[00:14:59] Ashlee: were meant to meet and 

[00:15:01] Alison: we're supposed to be friends.

[00:15:02] Alison: That's just how it's going to be. Yes. Rich dad, poor dad. I, yes, we will talk about it on the show. So standby, but yes. Okay. So you're reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Yes. 

[00:15:10] Ashlee: I feel you. I'm tracking. I read him Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and keep in mind too, like, he, he was a business owner, but my gears are going now, and I'm like, like, looking at his example, my husband's example, listening to this book, and then the follow up book that we read on the way home from that trip happened to be Total Money Makeover.

[00:15:29] Ashlee: I don't know if you're familiar with Dave Ramsey and stuff. 

[00:15:31] Alison: Yes, I am. I haven't read the book yet, but I know who 

[00:15:33] Ashlee: Dave Ramsey is. Okay, so put two and two of these things together, and I'm sitting there, and granted, like I said, you know, we got pregnant very young in college while, while, while his tuition was paid for through the military and stuff, mine was not, and he was working full time, I was Daycare, so to speak.

[00:15:53] Ashlee: Yes. And also going to school full time because we were like, honestly, when we found out we were pregnant, we like shook on it. We're like, we're finishing school. Like, I don't know how we're going to help each other finish school because yeah, yeah, we're going to give her no excuses. So but oh, shoot, where was it?

[00:16:10] Ashlee: What was I just saying? So you, 

[00:16:12] Alison: so 

[00:16:12] Ashlee: you had read the two books. Right, right. So I, I had this PhD possible 10 year journey, right? Staring me in the face like it's sometimes like that's the max amount of time that you have to get a PhD, but sometimes it takes that long. And I read these books and I also in my closet metaphorical closet had we had like six figures of student loan debt, just like chilling in the closet.

[00:16:37] Ashlee: And I was like, after reading those two books, I was like, something's gotta change. Like I want to feel. For real, the way that these books made me feel, like, like I'm not strapped, and I have freedom of time, and we're not Yeah, I wanted a debt free life for our family, and I needed a shovel. Well, you know, I couldn't just be in school for free, that's great, like, that I would have a shovel later, but, like, we needed to get out of debt, in my mind, then, immediately.

[00:17:07] Ashlee: So, I started racking my brain about... Things that I, because I was like, surely classroom teaching is not going to be it. Like, it's not, it's not how I'm going to get out of this debt really fast. No, it wasn't working before. So I was just like, what can I do? So I started consuming like All sorts of business books, and really starting to starting to try to evaluate, like, what it what am what am I just what do I have a knack for?

[00:17:32] Ashlee: And I've always had a knack for actually, like, I don't draw any of my designs by hand, but, , drawing and stuff, , I've been 

[00:17:38] Alison: Like graphic design kind of stuff, or?

[00:17:40] Ashlee: I so I didn't know how to do graphic design when I started, but I was like, Well, I can draw on paper, I'm gonna figure out how to do this on on a computer.

[00:17:48] Ashlee: So, I had, I, on that trip, that drive home, I, we had visited my grandmother and she had this big, beautiful craft room. And I'm like, grandma, when I grow up, when I'm a, when I'm an adultier adult, I want to have a craft room like this. Like, I want to, I want a space like this to just like, do what I love.

[00:18:07] Ashlee: Cause I love making things and stuff. And it hit me on the drive home. I'm like, I look at my husband, like, I think I'm going to make shirts. He was like, do you know how to make shirts? And I'm like, no, But I'm going to learn how to make sure I'm going to figure it out because truly the beauty of the internet right now, especially right now, this is so I started my business like officially started the business that I'm speaking about now, like bringing up to my current career.

[00:18:31] Ashlee: And let's see, I officially filed in April of 2019. I had no idea how to do anything at all. Like nothing. I was just like, I'm going to figure it out and it's going to be a ride. But you can, you really can teach, I am, I am an advocate that you can teach yourself anything if you know how to, if you know how to ask the right questions, if you, and if you pay attention, because people will teach you too, like what they say, what to do.

[00:18:58] Ashlee: Like it just, it really, it matters who you're watching and it matters what you're what you're consuming. Absorbing. Yeah. It really does. Yeah. So, yeah. The name Woman and Warrior that was the, the most fun part in the beginning was like, what am I gonna call it? Like, this is cool. But I couldn't figure out a name at all.

[00:19:19] Ashlee: And then finally, one day at a stoplight, it's a very lackluster story, but at a stoplight, it just hit me. I was like, Woman and warrior. That sounds strong. Like, I want people who wear my stuff to feel like a BA, you know, like, yes, like that's the name. So I just picked it on a whim. And I have to say, I didn't know it then, but it's like it was, I believe that it was like placed in my head and on my heart then that it was going to mean more someday.

[00:19:52] Ashlee: And someday was when I. Relaunched and rebranded this past May because I couldn't know where that name came from because I hadn't met like the main characters yet and the main characters are the middle spouses of the world like they are the woman and warrior, you know, and it just that could not have been made more clear to me.

[00:20:16] Ashlee: Actually, during my hiatus of working. Really? Which I was, yes, I was, I was working, but like, dreaming, planning drafting designs, like, just. I was so, I, I worked from, I, I started my original business on Etsy. And I, Pretty rapid success. And then we were scheduled to officially PCS come February 2021.

[00:20:49] Ashlee: And what ended up happening was like, of course, a paperwork holdup. So instead of going directly en route to where we were supposed to be, we ended up with you're here in limbo. We were at Fort Benning. In limbo waiting on paperwork for it ended up being two months, but we did not know that at the time.

[00:21:07] Ashlee: So we literally a family of six lived in our camper at the campsite that was right there. And what I do, I can't operate like if I don't have a space. Yeah. Oh yeah. I was like, okay, well this'll be a healthy pause. And then I thought once we finally, a couple months later got to Virginia, I was like, cool, I'm excited.

[00:21:25] Ashlee: I'm going to reopen again. And this would be great because his class day wasn't supposed to be told for like months down the road. We were just supposed to be like chilling. And then his class date got bumped up by like four months. So , we got there and he was starting his class within a couple of weeks.

[00:21:38] Ashlee: I'm like, cool. We move again in three months. I, I guess I'm still pausing. Right. And then when we finally got here, , which was supposed to be, which is, which we have been here since the fall of 2021, I thought for certain I'm like, cool, I'm going to open up. Give me a month, , I'm gonna open up, right, open up shop, , but no, he deployed, , in three weeks, so I was like, I, I, obviously, obviously, I need to start paying attention, , to, what was happening around me, I'm like, I don't think I'm supposed to be open right now.

[00:22:11] Ashlee: Yeah. So, it was really, , that pause of time, although it was, , a little frustrating, because I wanted to create, , it was the biggest blessing, because it gave me so much. , I just, I don't know. I just, certainty and clarity of , this is the direction. This is what I'm doing. This is who I'm serving.

[00:22:28] Ashlee: And yeah, there's a lot of blessings that come in those holdups and pauses and that the military throws at us. Yeah.

[00:22:36] Alison: I think it's, that's, I think that's one of those spaces too that can cause a lot of stress and anxiety for military spouses, right? Where it's like, I have this thing that I want to do, but it keeps getting paused.

[00:22:50] Alison: Or push back because of other things that are happening. It's, and I think that 

[00:22:56] Ashlee: mentally that's really hard to, it's like, it feels like you as the 

[00:23:00] Alison: mill, as the spouse are constantly being put on hold or held back because of the military dictating where you're going, when you're going, how that's happening.

[00:23:10] Alison: And I think that's really hard for a lot of us to grapple with, right. Cause it's like, 

[00:23:17] Alison: you know, we have our own. Dreams and things that we want to do. And it's, but I, but what I love is that it can also be looked at as, okay, maybe this is where I'm supposed to be right now. Like, and I see it a lot of times in, 

[00:23:32] Ashlee: you know, military 

[00:23:33] Alison: spouses that I follow on Instagram.

[00:23:34] Alison: Like, oh, we're taking a break or I'm going to be I'm not going to be doing this for a little while. And it's like, we all feel that, you know, and I think that we need to. Be better with allowing ourselves that space and that grace, right? Cause I feel like I feel like, Oh my God, I gotta go. I gotta, I gotta, right?

[00:23:55] Alison: Yeah, 

[00:23:56] Ashlee: we got it. No, I, I, I see, we see, I see it too. Like I, I will see people, you know not that anybody. Ever has to announce their step aside or anything like that. Right. But I, I, I see and I, and I feel it like in my soul when I see people like I got to take a pause and I, what, like what I wish I could just like scream into the void here of the internet world.

[00:24:18] Ashlee: I'm like, there's no shame in taking a pause. It's a blessing in disguise. You got to believe that, you know, like you, you listening to you and what You, what life is just throwing at you and paying attention, like I said, like there, there's a purpose in the pause. There is. There's a purpose in the pause.

[00:24:37] Ashlee: There's a preparation for the plan that's coming. So, you know, sometimes having our hands off of things is the absolute best thing that we can do. Yes. It took me, obviously, I'm not just like, I didn't just have this like all of a sudden profound moment. Like, I absolutely during, because technically I was away.

[00:24:57] Ashlee: For almost two years. So one, due to deployment, and two, it was just placed on my heart to, there's a, there's a ministry that operates on our post, actually operates on a lot of posts Protestant Women of the Chapel is what it's called. It's supposed to be throughout all branches. I think as long as there's someone there to operate it, but I relied on that so much from like my mental health and emotional stability during the deployment. 

[00:25:25] Ashlee: They had a turnover of, you know people PCSing and they needed. It was very obvious that they needed somebody to, you know, lead that ministry. And I was like, wow, I really thought I was supposed to start again, like start my business again. And I, but I could not have been more confident. I'm like, I'm not confident in being able to do this and lead this ministry, but I'm confident that I'm being called to it.

[00:25:49] Ashlee: So I'm just going to listen now because that's what I learned, I think through the deployment was just listen, pay attention and listen. And even so, like. I just, I missed, I, I am so grateful to be able to be in a, a season where I am able to create and do what I absolutely love to do, but I'm also grateful that I took the time away and, and, and I'm grateful for every lesson that was gathered, I guess, during that time frame.

[00:26:20] Ashlee: Yeah. 

[00:26:22] Alison: Yeah. That's I, I think that what, and I don't know if other people feel this way, but how I feel is it's like, okay, I keep getting this added and then this added. And now we have this and then there's this and then there's this, but I can do it. Right. Like I'm a, however you look at yourself, I'm a military spouse.

[00:26:37] Alison: I can do anything. I'm a neighbor, I can do anything I'm a, or whatever the case might be. But sometimes it's like, you don't have to continue to take stuff on. You can just breathe and be where you are. And I feel like we are so bad at giving ourselves that space. Like I'm looking at, we're looking at a PCS coming in the summer and we folded our PCS and I've got a 10 and 11 year old, right?

[00:27:01] Alison: Yeah. We can talk about that too. I've got a 10 and 11 year old and and all of the things that go along with that and moving them and where they are in their lives are, is harder. Like they're just. The right there at that age, like that tween age where there's a lot of emotions and there's, and it's, and as a parenting through that is freaking 

[00:27:23] Ashlee: hard, right?

[00:27:25] Ashlee: Yeah. And then 

[00:27:25] Alison: when you, when we're putting, now we're putting a move and they're going to have to move schools and all this stuff on top of all of the stuff that they already have going on, like, it's a lot. And then the, the podcast and the, all the things, 

[00:27:36] Ashlee: right. And it's like, 

[00:27:38] Alison: I can do all of this stuff though.

[00:27:40] Alison: Like I can keep putting out a show every week and do it. Yeah. Or, or, or. You know, give yourself some grace, take a freaking break, you know, 

[00:27:51] Ashlee: like it's, oh yeah, yeah. Okay. There's a lot of strength. There's a lot of strength found in weakness. There's a lot of strength and humility. Like, there really is. Yes. Oh, man.

[00:28:01] Ashlee: Gosh, I was, I will say, I tell everybody, everybody that, if a conversation ever goes in this direction, my Achilles heel is pride. It is. Like, I know. I have just, pride has got, let it, allowing pride to, like, stay in my life or seep in, you know? Like, that has, that has caused me probably every problem I have ever captured in my life.

[00:28:25] Ashlee: But. The biggest, one of the biggest lessons I think I have learned since becoming an active duty military spouse is that you got to just shut the pride out the door and you need to just, you need to accept the help. You know, you need to say, I can't do this or I need help or, you know, whatever it is like it's, you know, we do not have to be strong all the time and admit it.

[00:28:50] Ashlee: And to think about the amount of strength it takes. To admit that that's strength. You know what I mean? Like that is strength is admitting like this is too much or like I need a break. So yeah, I agree. 

[00:29:03] Alison: Oh my gosh. Okay. All right. So then I'm curious then. So you were saying that you, as, as you were driving home on this trip and you had this epiphany, I'm gonna, I want to start this.

[00:29:14] Alison: I want to be a creator. This is what I want to do. And listening to the rich dad, poor dad, and the. My master, whatever the other Dave 

[00:29:22] Ashlee: Ramsey book was like, yeah, total money makeover. Yes. There you go. Total money 

[00:29:27] Alison: makeover for some reason. I was thinking that it was Susie Orman, but I'm like, no, that doesn't seem right.

[00:29:31] Alison: Yeah. But he, he, well Dave Ramsey, I feel like is really prevalent in the military community because that's something that has brought to a lot of bases 

[00:29:41] Ashlee: or, you 

[00:29:41] Alison: know, like workshops and things like that. So I feel like it's, you know, most, I think a lot of military families have heard of him. Anyways. 

[00:29:48] Alison: What I. What my question was, was when you were talking about, you know, do you, cause part of what comes out of rich dad, poor dad is, are, are you working, are you working for money or is money working for you? Right. That's 

[00:30:08] Ashlee: one of the big things. Yes. And then your assets versus 

[00:30:11] Alison: liabilities. And then looking at where you are in your life and are you boxing yourself in and he gives a specific example about the more education you get, you kind of get put into this little bit of a smaller space where you don't have the room to grow and to expand, right?

[00:30:29] Alison: Which is really interesting. And so, and one of the things that he really pushes a lot is educating yourself. Right. And so I'm curious as you're like, okay, I want to start this. This, this shirt is it wasn't, was it a shirt business initially? Yeah, you did. You said, I want to design 

[00:30:44] Ashlee: shirts. And your husband was like, do you know how?

[00:30:46] Ashlee: And you're like, no, I don't, but I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to become a silkscreen printer. He's like, that's, that's a really hard thing to do. Good luck. Like, 

[00:30:56] Alison: so I'm really curious when you're like, you know what? I've always wanted to create. I think I want to make shirts. This is what I'm going to do.

[00:31:02] Alison: Where did you start with your education on opening a business, developing a product, like all of those things? What did you dive into for that? 

[00:31:13] Ashlee: Gosh, what did I dive into it could be I just watched a bunch of YouTube videos because that's a lie. Yeah, I definitely did. Well, it's funny you mentioned about the box and that shrinking as you get more education because it was that book that I was like, Do I want to get a PhD?

[00:31:31] Ashlee: , I don't think so. , I'm just kind of like, okay, good enough that I got accepted. I will just keep that one, like, for myself. And I'll take back my 10 years. And also my, my ceiling, because, or my box, because it does, it boxes you in. So I definitely, leveraged, well, I honestly, my husband, him watching him because he wasn't active duty yet, right?

[00:31:55] Ashlee: So he owned a window to a window tinting business. Okay. His, his degree is in criminal justice. So also like was in something that he did not use his degree. I I have a, it was a friend's dad that was like, Hey, I'm looking at buying this business. Do you know anybody who would run this business? And I'm like, I bet you, my husband could run that business.

[00:32:17] Ashlee: Cause I feel like he can do anything. And like, I think being privy to, I guess, watching their business meetings, listening in, , just seeing all the inner workings. Cause one thing to, to be a creator, to create things, that's great. But if you don't understand and don't know the back end.

[00:32:38] Ashlee: Important business stuff, then you just have a really expensive hobby, you know, if it's not generating an income, it's an expensive hobby. So I really learned a lot from watching my husband and paying attention. To those types of conversations, I have read, I mean, I have read a million books, like a million books on business, marketing, , I really need, I have thought for a long time, I'm like, I really need to, , make, , a master list to be able to give people, because I swear, I swear by it, that the biggest, the biggest, , driver of my own success has been what I have read, , some of your, some of your best You will find some of your best mentors in books, , and they're telling you everything for, for, for like, what, , 15 bucks, 20 bucks, , they just lay it out for you in a very, , beginning to end thing, and if you just take the time to, I see, I personally see, I'm going to sound like my teacher self now, but I see reading as an investment, , you're investing in you, all that professional development I have taken courses, but that's Only recently have I invested in any courses.

[00:33:46] Ashlee: Courses were like a massive deal, like, when I started. So it was really books and YouTube and, yeah. Asking, like I said, making connections with other people who know how, who are already running a business and, like, asking for help. I am very, I very I very openly offer help, advice. People send me messages all the time, just, can I ask you a quick question?

[00:34:11] Ashlee: And I'm not a gatekeeper because I feel, I honestly, I feel that you know, while entrepreneurship isn't the only career for a military spouse, I really do firmly believe it's the optimal one to be your own boss and be able to close doors when. You know, and a random extension happens and you're having a mental breakdown.

[00:34:34] Ashlee: I literally just posted about something about that today, but you know, like to be able to have the flexibility to do that, or like your kids are having a rough time and you're in the, in the middle of a deployment and just be like, cool, I'm going to attend to them now. I just think that. I, I think that entrepreneurship to me before I really started reading a lot of books, it seemed like something so far fetched.

[00:34:59] Ashlee: Like I come from a long line of teachers and coaches, ranchers. So like lots of, lots of non entrepreneurial ventures and stuff. And so it was a very big, like out of left field. Same thing with my husband. It was very out of left field that we were, that we both pursued something like that. But but it does.

[00:35:20] Ashlee: It seems so out of reach. I think because when we're in school, and I'm guilty of it, , I'm guilty of being in the classroom and telling kids, , where are you going to go to college? Don't you want to go to college? Sometimes that's not the, that's not the route. , you know, I know you go to college to become an employee somewhere.

[00:35:35] Ashlee: Yes. That, you know, you go to college. We're 

[00:35:37] Alison: being taught to be employees. That's what we're 

[00:35:39] Ashlee: being taught in school. Yeah, that is exactly it. And, and again, I, you know, I have a higher ed degree and, and People have asked me before, too, , are you upset that, , you have these degrees and you're not using them?

[00:35:50] Ashlee: But the thing is, is, I am, I am using, I am using skills and stuff that I gathered, you know, connections, like, with people that I've gathered, so no, like, my path was my path. For a purpose. Like I said earlier in the show, like you're, there is a purpose in your path. There's a plan on the way there. Some, the, the scary part is when it's the unknowns, right?

[00:36:14] Ashlee: Yeah. When you're just like, I don't know how this is going to turn out, but it feels right. So I'm going to pursue it. Yeah. Entrepreneurship seems scary and unattainable and, or, or like something that you need, , Hundreds of thousands of dollars of capital to just get going and that's just not true, you know It's just that's not it.

[00:36:32] Ashlee: So, you know, there's the there's this book called The power of broke. Okay Okay, so it's by Damon John he's on Shark Tank Oh, yeah. He started FUBU. Yes. Yes. FUBU. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. So he wrote a book called The Power of Broke, and there is, honestly, you make, you will make wiser, more precise decisions for your business.

[00:37:03] Ashlee: If you don't have a whole ton of capital, because I did not, I started out, if we want to be technical and I'm lumping in my family's debt when I started, I was a hundred K in the hole, like, plus a, plus a mortgage. . It just, you don't need to have a whole lot, but you do have to have a whole lot of well, I'm not going to quit in you.

[00:37:21] Ashlee: Like, well, I'm, I'm going to figure this out and I'm reading a book right now actually called the obstacle is the way. Okay. By Ryan Holiday. And it is just so, I think every military spouse really could benefit from reading it, whether you're an entrepreneur or not, but it basically is how, life happens, but it doesn't, it's not like, your perspective is what determines how the story goes, you know, , the obstacles are gonna be there, but how you, if, but by you viewing it as an obstacle or an obstacle.

[00:37:57] Ashlee: Unclimbable mountain. That's what it's going to be. But if you can flip it into, okay, the obstacle is actually the way and I'm going to figure out how to make it through that obstacle. It doesn't become such a hardship anymore. You know, it just becomes something that's like, okay, I'm going to learn something from this and it's going to benefit me for my good and I'll be better for it after I scale it, you know?

[00:38:21] Ashlee: Yeah. So yeah, 

[00:38:23] Alison: I, and I, that's, I've said it on the show before. I'm a huge, that was, I was a beach buddy coach for awhile. That wasn't the thing for me, but one of the best things I got out of that was this love of personal development and just, you know, when you're isolated. Like a lot of times we are as military spouses.

[00:38:41] Alison: You feel like I don't have like you, right. You hear you are the sum of the six people you spend the most time with. And I'm like, Oh, 10 and 11 year old me. Right. I was going to say, okay, this is great. I'm doing awesome. Right. Right. You can have. You know, Robert Kiyosaki in your ear as you're walking the dogs or drive in the car, and you can have like all of these big names or all of these mentors who you've never met before, but they can still be impactful.

[00:39:08] Alison: And I think that, so I love that I, and that their, the ability is there. And that's on, that's another one of the things that I've gotten from rich dad, poor dad, is that we have to take the, the 

[00:39:21] Ashlee: parameters off of ourselves and 

[00:39:23] Alison: be open. To other possibilities, right? Like we feel, I think we're kind of like trains, like, this is what we're going to do.

[00:39:33] Alison: You're going to go to school. You're going to go to college. You're going to get a job. You're going to buy a house. You're going to go to work for, and then you're like, we're all put on this like track. And so we're all staying in this little spot and it's just getting harder and harder and harder and harder.

[00:39:46] Alison: Right. 

[00:39:47] Ashlee: And then, but is there 

[00:39:49] Alison: something else that we can, can you look at it a different way? And what I love about the book is that. He is comparing the two, right? His dad, who's the poor dad and his best friend's dad, who's the rich dad. And there are two philosophies and it's just, it's so fascinating. But so you've kind of, you've mentioned a couple of other books.

[00:40:08] Alison: Are there any other books that like stick out in your head as far as like, Hey, I was starting my business. I need to learn marketing. I need to learn sales. I need to learn all of these things are there. Are there resources or books that you read that were like, Oh my gosh, this made such a big difference for me as I was growing my growing or building my business.

[00:40:26] Alison: Cause again, we've been talking about mill spouses and entrepreneurship, I think is where a lot of us are going just because we need the flexibility, 

[00:40:34] Ashlee: right? Yeah. It should. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Oh, well, I listen there. I will say there is a A whole lot, just, again, from paying attention and listening there's a podcast I know it's not a book, but there is a podcast, the Gold Digger podcast.

[00:40:55] Ashlee: Oh yeah, Jenna Kutcher. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I listen to that one. So, branding, marketing, authenticity. Just, if you need a pep talk, of like, yes, I can do this. Yeah. Email list building, like, how to make connections that, that definitely, that podcast, I have, I have literally listened from episode one, and she's like on, I think she's like in the 700s now or something, but I've been listening to that for a long time, so it's Yeah, that's a good one.

[00:41:25] Ashlee: I listened to that one too, yeah. Yeah, it's a good one. Okay. It, it might not, maybe it doesn't sound like a business book, but it absolutely is. But it's John C. Maxwell. It's the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, leadership books. I will say that leadership and finance books are probably, have probably given me the biggest Those niches, right, those genres of leadership and finance have actually given me the biggest bang for my buck as, as a business owner than any other business y type book that I've read, or a marketing book that I've read.

[00:42:05] Ashlee: Honestly, for marketing too, like, I can't think of one off the top of my head about marketing that I'm like, yeah, like, that's, that's a good book. Because... I think that a lot of marketing, a lot of what you learn and learning how to market well is paying attention to what other people are doing and what they're doing well.

[00:42:23] Ashlee: Like noting in yourself, like when you're, when you're looking at something and you're like, wow, I really, really want that thing. It's the pausing and be like, hold on behind that desire. Like what made me want that thing? What about that? You know? So it's like a lot of observation. You can teach yourself marketing by just observing. 

[00:42:43] Ashlee: I will say that, Oh, Yes, wait, I got a book for you. Okay, it's by Donald Miller. Okay, it's called Story Branding. Oh, I don't think, I haven't heard of that one. Oh no, it's a good one. That's a good one for being bringing your authenticity to the table, but learning how to speak. To speak in a frequency that your ideal customer hears you, I guess, you know and he also came out with a book this year and it's literally called how to, I think it's how to grow your small business.

[00:43:18] Ashlee: So it builds, it builds in the story branding to that book. So actually maybe even that one first, would be great. So it's, I think, I think it's, it's and, and I feel like 

[00:43:32] Alison: this is, cause this is a mental block that I have had personally. And as I'm listening to Rich Dad Poor Dad, I'm 

[00:43:37] Ashlee: like, okay, I've got to flip the script on this.

[00:43:39] Alison: He gives an example of he's meeting with someone, she's a reporter in Singapore. And. 

[00:43:46] Ashlee: She has written 

[00:43:48] Alison: this book and he reads the book and he's like, this is really good, but she can't get anybody to give her the time of day. Like, it's just, she can't, the publishers are saying no, whatever. And so she asked to sit down with him to kind of pick his brain.

[00:44:01] Alison: And by this time, he's a New York times bestselling author, right? He's a bestselling author. And so he sits down and he's like, well, you know, can I offer you some advice? And she's like, yeah, of course. And he's like, have you considered taking a sales? And she's all affronted and, you know, I am a writer. I have a education, a college education as a writer.

[00:44:23] Alison: I'm not taking a, I'm not a salesman that, and, and what he says to her is, well, 

[00:44:30] Ashlee: I am not a best selling writer. I'm a best selling 

[00:44:36] Alison: author. So he's like, I, you know, I, because I, , I went to a publisher and they said, I want to, you may, you should change the name to this. And he's like, no, the, nobody's going to buy that.

[00:44:47] Alison: So he kept it what it was because it, it made people. 

[00:44:50] Ashlee: Like you 

[00:44:50] Alison: say, who is this guy to name his book, this or whatever. And she got, she was 

[00:44:56] Ashlee: so 

[00:44:56] Alison: shut off from that. Like it's not sales, but it is almost everything that we do is sales. And to be like, I hate sales. I'm not a salesman. I'm not going to do. 

[00:45:06] Ashlee: Well, then you're going to just give you a mental block real quick.

[00:45:08] Ashlee: You're just going to be sitting where you, and 

[00:45:11] Alison: I've had that. Like I'm not a salesperson. I don't want to do this. 

[00:45:15] Ashlee: But yeah, I think that, I will say that sales,

[00:45:20] Ashlee: I think everybody has been on the receiving end or has Witnessed, you know, ick salesy people, just like they give you the ick, you know, and you're just like, you're literally just trying to sell me. But if you very genuinely have some, I mean, genuine from your heart, have something, a solution, for example, to a problem or, you know a product that solves somebody's problem or makes them feel a certain way.

[00:45:45] Ashlee: There is nothing ick salesy about being passionate about your product. Like, if you are authentically passionate about, or you're authentically passionate about your service, you know, or whatever it is. Sales gets easy when you really buy into your stuff. Like, when you're really, like, you're not, you shouldn't shy, people shouldn't shy away from, you know, trying to sell their products or, like, talking about their stuff. 

[00:46:11] Ashlee: If they know they're not underhanding people, you know, so I think that I think, I think it's a, it's just a, it's, it's all in the mindset shift, you know, I don't know if you can edit out the piano, but, but it's the same thing with the shift in money. You know, people are like, well, I just want to make pretty things.

[00:46:32] Ashlee: It's like, there's no shame in wanting to make money for yourself or your family. 

[00:46:36] Ashlee: It's a shift in mindset and I don't mean like the wooey like, you know, like what's, what's the word I'm looking for manifesting, like, I'm not talking about that, but. The idea that giving yourself permission to love your, love what you're doing enough to go ahead and want to love people enough to go ahead and want to help them enough and, and generate a source of income for yourself, there's nothing wrong with that.

[00:47:03] Ashlee: Like, that's enough.

[00:47:03] Ashlee: I'm giving you as much time as I'm giving you. 

[00:47:05] Alison: So we need to like wrap 

[00:47:07] Ashlee: this up and get going here. Okay. So I

[00:47:09] Alison: feel like we could talk. Maybe we should come back on again and we can talk more about, 

[00:47:14] Ashlee: I would be happy to come back. Talk about 

[00:47:16] Alison: the mindset and the business, because that wasn't really the point of the show, 

[00:47:20] Ashlee: but that's what I love about just, no, it's not, but, but it's, I 

[00:47:24] Alison: love conversations like this because it's like, again, these little things that there's so many mill spouses that are in this space, right?

[00:47:31] Alison: Like what do I want to do? Or I'm going to build something on my own and it's really freaking hard. And how do we, and what, so 

[00:47:37] Ashlee: I think, and the on my own. That one kicked me. Because. You know, it's, I don't, I don't know that I have ever in my life met a successful entrepreneur that's done anything on their own, you know?

[00:47:50] Ashlee: Yeah. Like, like their network of people. It matters. Yeah. And I, and I mean, genuine network, like, Hey, let me support you, you know, and let you know, let me give you advice or. We need, we need each other in the entrepreneurial world. You need, you need each other. Absolutely. 

[00:48:07] Alison: Yeah, a hundred percent. So what let's just, because again, I think we're running out of time.

[00:48:13] Ashlee: So 

[00:48:17] Alison: tell me about your, what your business is right now. What you have to offer who your like ideal client is. Cause you offer a wide range of stuff. It's not just for military spouses. There's a bunch of other things in there. So kind of give us just a little bit of a rundown on what woman and warrior looks like now and what products you have.

[00:48:35] Alison: And then if you have anything specifically 

[00:48:37] Ashlee: for the holidays, let us know about that too. Okay. So the, the idea behind woman and warrior, like the whole brand is that. First and foremost, it is for the military spouse, like, it's, yes, I offer patriotic apparel, you know, I offer, I actually just, I had a launch today the Compassionate Service Collection has launched today, so I have, yes, so I am br Well, and truly though, again, at its root is still the military spouse that has transitioned now into the life of a veteran, you know, veteran or a veteran spouse or what, you know, what have you. 

[00:49:17] Ashlee: So the military spouse is at the heart of everything that I do. I, I'm trying to make sure that I'm including things for the family. So right now I a couple of weeks ago, I did launch a brat collection for the kids. I offer things for, you know, I have a teen, I offer things that are not so loud in your face for, for bigger brats, so to speak.

[00:49:45] Ashlee: Yeah. So right now I, I really offer like my, my, my big brunt offer is apparel. Like I just have a, I just have a passion for wanting to put something out there where we can be seen, you know, like not, and not in like a. I'm a proud army wife, like, kind of a way. More like a hey, I'm a part of something greater than just me.

[00:50:14] Ashlee: I'm not alone. Like, I, you know, you're, the shirt that you're wearing, I wore it yesterday. So I'm, you know, it's like that I wanted it to be like a comfort every time I put something on that I'm like, That's right. Today is hard, but I'm on a team of people that do a lot of hard things all the time. So I can do this.

[00:50:32] Ashlee: I just, yeah I have, Oh, I have a, I have a line for military spouse entrepreneurs to just to again, in a understated way, give them random, unique experiences to talk about their business. You know, people see the word entrepreneur and they're like, Oh, what do you do? How easy is that? To be like, Oh, let me tell you what I, what I do.

[00:50:56] Ashlee: Let me tell you why I'm wearing this shirt. That's true. It's a good discussion. It's like a good conversation opener, right? A hundred percent. Yes. Yes. I never thought about that. That's true. And any, and anytime I wear it, I do, I get asked. And they're like, Oh, you know, entrepreneur, like, what do you do? Like, so easy.

[00:51:11] Ashlee: And it's not like, Hey, can I tell you about my business? No, they're asking you, you know, they open the door. Right. I never thought about that. That's smart. Yeah. I like that. holiday specific, I don't actually have anything that I am offering this year that is specific to Christmas. I did, cause I had some stuff that like came to mind for like Halloween and fall and stuff.

[00:51:35] Ashlee: I'm like, let me make, I want to make that stuff. Like, that'll be fun. But I think it's not that it felt like wrong, but I was like, you know, there's a whole lot of that everywhere. Like, let me stick to. My niche, you know, like, let me, let me stick to the authenticity of, like, what this brand is that I'm trying to build.

[00:51:53] Ashlee: So, although I don't offer, you know, holiday themed things, I do offer things in red and green, and in blue and white, and, you know, like, I, I've got it. I have I have gift cards, you know, I have e gift cards, those are the easiest things to go ahead and purchase. You know, to go ahead and gift somebody.

[00:52:12] Ashlee: Maybe, maybe you have, maybe to gift a female service member that's overseas, like, that's super easy. Yeah. So, yeah. I do have a lot of offerings and I'm not done yet. I really, you know, like I said, my, my passion really is education and I like to teach now in the different ways that I have available to me.

[00:52:37] Ashlee: Yeah. But. You know, I think what I've learned, the biggest lesson I think I've learned from being an entrepreneur is that like what you learn doesn't always happen in those four walls, you know, so I, I really foresee I really foresee my, like my passion for entrepreneurship and my passion to teach kind of coming together in the future.

[00:53:01] Ashlee: Okay. I just, you know, I don't know, I don't know yet what that will look like, but I'm just like. You got to go together somehow, right? They were part of my past, so we will see what next year brings. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:53:12] Alison: I think I, I like to just being open to what feels right at the time and it might be a pivot. It might be, 

[00:53:20] Ashlee: but just being open to that, like an addition.

[00:53:22] Ashlee: Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a lot of space. Okay. So if, 

[00:53:26] Alison: if people are interested in what you have to offer, they want to check out your, what's the best way to get in touch with you and to find, see 

[00:53:34] Ashlee: what you have for sale. I am on Instagram. If you need to get in touch with me fast, that is the best way. So I'm at thewomanawarrior on Instagram. 

[00:53:44] Ashlee: My website is womanawarrior. com. Actually, I have a lot of domain, domain names. Like, you can literally go to millspouseshirts. com and you'll find my website. Like, I just, I have a lot of domain names. Yeah. But yeah. Womanandwarrior. com for my main hub website. I have all of my products listed there.

[00:54:04] Ashlee: I am also on Spousely. If you search, woman and warrior, woman and warrior co, I should show up. I don't have everything on there only because there's a cap of how much you can have, but I have as much as I can have on there. Like, my shop is maxed out. So sometimes like, like when I launch things, I have to like this compassionate service collection I just launched.

[00:54:26] Ashlee: I need to now figure out like, okay, what am I going to rotate out? Yeah, this is now on specially. I gotcha. I gotcha. Yes. Okay. Yep. All right. Cool. Those are the best spots. Okay. 

[00:54:38] Alison: Well, I, this is not what I thought it was going to be, 

[00:54:41] Ashlee: but in the, in the best way possible, the best way possible. 

[00:54:47] Alison: So I will, I, I tried to make notes of the books that you were talking about so that I can link those in the show notes.

[00:54:54] Alison: And and I think that conversations like this are really important to have and and like, you know, The community, right? And just like bouncing ideas off of each other. And this is what someone else did. And, and really surrounding yourself through audio books, through reading through courses, through podcasts.

[00:55:16] Alison: Like there's so much that education that you can get yourself that again, podcasts are free. So audible, like that's not that expensive. Like there's a lot of stuff that's out there. YouTube. I mean, gosh, you can find almost 

[00:55:27] Ashlee: anything on YouTube these days. Right. So it's just being, being 

[00:55:31] Alison: teachable. That was when you were talking about some of the things that are important is you have to be open and you have to be 

[00:55:38] Ashlee: teachable because if you're like a person.

[00:55:41] Ashlee: I don't want to do 

[00:55:42] Alison: sales. Right. And then you take a seat. You're 

[00:55:44] Ashlee: going to be like, no, that doesn't feel right. 

[00:55:46] Alison: You have to be open to what is the best way for me to continue to move forward in the way that I want, you know what I mean? And, and the way that feels authentic to 

[00:55:57] Ashlee: you and whatnot. And on that note, with the mentoring and paying attention to being teachable, there's so much that peers.

[00:56:08] Ashlee: There's so much that your peers can teach you. As long as you can, like I said, for myself, like I know sometimes it can be a hurdle, but to push the pride over and be like, okay, what are you going to teach me today? You know, like, what can I learn from you? Even, even I have, I have. Learned things recently from just paying attention to people just starting their entrepreneur career and our journey And I'm just like and I'm like, oh but like imagine and I find myself too I'm like man, imagine if I didn't like deal with that pride issue like I would have missed that You know, I would have missed all that all those teachable moments.

[00:56:43] Ashlee: So you know you got a

[00:56:51] Ashlee: Yeah, that's 

[00:56:52] Alison: true. And that's, and I think that that's something that I think a lot of military spouses can be guilty of, especially if you're a senior military spouse of like, oh, you've only 

[00:57:01] Ashlee: been in for, you Three or four years, you don't have anything to share. And I'm like, no, we all 

[00:57:08] Alison: have things to share, regardless of if you're a newer spouse or, you know, or a veteran spouse, there's, there's, there's a lot of life experiences that people experience in a different way 

[00:57:18] Ashlee: and can share in a different way.

[00:57:19] Ashlee: Right. And which is all a beautiful thing. Okay. I think 

[00:57:23] Alison: we're definitely going to have to.

[00:57:30] Alison: So we'll have to like regroup and see if there's like something, because I, again, is I love personal development and how can we 

[00:57:38] Ashlee: grow and make ourselves better and and you're 

[00:57:41] Alison: in that similar vein. And so I feel like maybe we can. I don't know. I think there's more conversation to have around, you know, things that have, you know, we found that have been helpful and different things like that, just to share with other spouses that are, you know, on the same journey 

[00:57:55] Ashlee: that might be like, Oh, 

[00:57:56] Alison: I'm stuck in the middle of South Dakota.

[00:57:58] Alison: I don't have any mentors. 

[00:58:02] Ashlee: Yep. Yep. Maybe not a lot there, but they're right. 

[00:58:06] Alison: Yeah. You can still listen to Jenna 

[00:58:08] Ashlee: right on her, on the 

[00:58:09] Alison: gold digger podcast or other people on their 

[00:58:11] Ashlee: podcasts and stuff like that. Okay. 

[00:58:13] Alison: All right. Okay, Ashley, I appreciate your time so much. And I hope 

[00:58:18] Ashlee: that we have you back on the show again soon.

[00:58:20] Ashlee: Thank you so much for having me and, and supporting me again. I love your shirt. Of course. All right.