IAM2403 – Marketing Consultant and Founder Provides Digital Marketing Services to Service-based Business

Ashley Mason

00:00 - 00:25

A few of the services that I offer, as I mentioned, are social media management. I do a little bit of PR. We do paid ads. We do SEO. But I'd say the biggest piece that people find valuable is this whole management part. Because right now, everyone knows that social media is really big, but they just don't want to do it themselves or they just don't have the time to do it. Because as everyone knows, as entrepreneurs, we're wearing a million different hats. And so marketing usually is one of the things that tends to fall to the bottom of the to-do list.

Intro

00:27 - 00:55

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grush values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO Podcast. Hello, hello,

Gresham Harkless

00:55 - 01:03

hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Ashley Mason of Dash of Social. Ashley, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Ashley Mason

01:03 - 01:04

Thanks for having me, Gresh.

Gresham Harkless

01:05 - 01:32

No problem, super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Ashley so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Ashley Mason is a marketing consultant and founder of Dasher Social, which provides digital marketing services to service-based businesses. Services include social media marketing, paid ads, SEO, and public relations. When she's not working, she loves to go for a run or curl up on the couch with a good book. Ashley, are you ready to speak to the IMCEO community?

Ashley Mason

01:32 - 01:33

I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless

01:33 - 01:39

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Ashley Mason

01:40 - 02:10

Yeah. So when I was 15 years old, I started a fashion lifestyle blog called Lily and Lemons. And so I actually grew that blog organically through social media. So I was spending probably 10 to 15 hours per week just on building the blog organically, connecting with others online, kind of getting my name out there and things like that. And so once I really kind of started to grow, I got the opportunity to work with a lot of small companies to do paid partnerships. So they'd send me their products, attend press events, they would just pay me, just write about their services and stuff like that.

Ashley Mason

02:10 - 02:39

And I noticed that most of these companies, this was actually 2013. Most of these companies were only focusing on influencer marketing at the time and just neglecting using social media on their own. And I was like, well, I see the benefits of using social media as kind of leveraging your online space. And so I realized that they need to be doing this too. And so through kind of using social media on my own for my blog, I became... I kind of fell in love with it, I guess is the best way to put it. And so I wanted to help these companies out while also myself learning more about marketing and how it works.

Ashley Mason

02:40 - 03:02

So the companies that I had relationships with, I really started to help them on a pro bono basis and built social media strategies for them, assisting their marketing efforts and things like that. So I really loved what I was doing and jumped into freelancing from there and then established my business. And because I'm so passionate about helping others and really supporting them and giving results to their businesses, that's why I continue to do my business.

Gresham Harkless

03:02 - 03:20

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I absolutely love that story, especially because it's kind of like you, it's always like scratching your own itch, so to speak, you start out with, you know, creating a product for yourself and creating something for yourself. And then all of a sudden, all these people want to listen and read and watch and see everything that you're doing, then they want to partner with you. The next thing you know, you kind of see an opportunity where they're kind of not leveraging

Ashley Mason

03:20 - 03:22

something. Exactly.

Gresham Harkless

03:22 - 03:29

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about what you're doing with dash social. Could you take us through like exactly how you're helping out the clients you're working

Ashley Mason

03:29 - 03:57

with? Yeah, definitely. So a few of the services that I offer, as I mentioned, our social media management, I do a little bit of PR, we do paid ads, we do SEO, but I'd say the biggest piece that people find valuable is this whole management part. Because right now, everyone knows that social media is really big, but they just don't want to do it themselves, or they just don't have the time to do it. Because as everyone knows, as entrepreneurs, we're wearing a million different hats. And so marketing usually is one of the things that tends to fall at the bottom of the to-do list.

Ashley Mason

03:57 - 04:16

And so with my social media management offerings, I really support them on a day-to-day basis. And it's almost like I'm in the company internally, although I'm just an external consultant. And so really kind of supporting them with making sure that all of their profiles are optimized, but then also getting results and taking a bunch of time and stress off in my clients' hands as well.

Gresham Harkless

04:16 - 04:38

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And in this day and age, you know, you kind of have to have like a social media strategy. And a lot of times the, you know, business owner or even maybe even whoever's in charge is supposed to be doing that doesn't have the opportunity to always be on the edge and learn everything that's going on, all the changes and algorithms, all these things. So it sounds like you kind of are a partner. And like you said, you're in the business, but also able to provide that expertise.

Ashley Mason

04:39 - 04:59

Exactly. And so that's one thing that they really like too is that everyone, that's what everyone says is everyone's like, Oh my God, the Instagram algorithm is at it again, and they don't understand it. But they're like, I need to understand it in order to get around it to help get their content seen. So that's one thing that they've really appreciated is the fact that like, they don't have to worry about reading up on all the different trends and changes and things like that.

Gresham Harkless

05:00 - 05:04

Absolutely. Absolutely. Because the Instagram algorithm is always added. It seems like, and so is Facebook.

Ashley Mason

05:04 - 05:05

It's

Gresham Harkless

05:05 - 05:11

always changing. So better to have to know everything and every change and nuance. At least you have somebody that you can call, it sounds like.

Ashley Mason

05:11 - 05:12

Definitely.

Gresham Harkless

05:12 - 05:21

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for you or your organization, but it's what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique.

Ashley Mason

05:21 - 05:44

So I would say one thing that I really have that kind of sets me apart from others is definitely my time management. A lot of people will often be like, how do you handle so many different things in a day? And I guess it's just because I can say I was blessed that I was given really good time management skills. And so I have kind of like a very, I guess the best way to put it is like a strict schedule. And so I use Trello to do this, but literally map out my entire week.

Ashley Mason

05:44 - 06:11

every Monday morning and I know what I need to do at what times every single day so that way it really kind of helps me to ensure that no projects slip through the cracks and that it makes sure I hit every point of a project that I need to do. And so my days start really early at like 5 a.m. but I find that I'm totally a morning person and that's what really kind of helps me to get through things just having everything scheduled. I think that's something that my clients really appreciate because a lot of the things that they say is that they really love how like responsive I am.

Ashley Mason

06:11 - 06:17

And so I think that I'm able to be responsive, really responsive to them because of the schedule that I've set for myself.

Gresham Harkless

06:17 - 06:30

Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned that. I could definitely echo that as well because a lot of times when you're managing so many things, you have to be more quote unquote disciplined and you have to pay attention to the schedule. But what it allows you to do is to take on more kind of scenes. I don't know if you have that exact same experience.

Ashley Mason

06:30 - 06:55

Exactly. Yeah, that's one thing I found is that like once I really kind of started as my friend Liz, which as she calls a time audit, once I really started auditing myself and really taking note of how long I took to do certain tasks, which tasks were best for different days, that's when I really was able to make a perfect schedule for myself. And as you said, once I had that schedule, I was like, oh, I actually have more time in the day than I think I do. And I'm able to add more things in and kind of get ahead on work, which is always a great feeling.

Gresham Harkless

06:56 - 07:09

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think Liz might have mentioned her time audit and doing the time audit. And that was one of the things that you might be afraid to look at. It's funny. I always have it running, but you're kind of afraid to say, Oh, I'm spending all my time doing this when I could be doing that, but it helps you make better decisions.

Ashley Mason

07:09 - 07:35

Exactly. And it also helps you to know, like when to outsource, because this is something that actually I very recently did is I realized I was taking way too much time actually posting my clients' content on Instagram. And I was like, I really hate doing this because it's just so tedious. And I realized that it was taking me 10 hours a month just to post on Instagram for them when I already had the content written. And so I outsourced that. And I was like, now I have 10 extra hours a month that I can work on so many other things.

Gresham Harkless

07:35 - 08:00

I absolutely love that. It's kind of like that combination of knowing thyself and knowing like where your strengths are and knowing what you can outsource because you have a full kind of view of everything that's on your plate and you know, you know where it might be somebody else even stronger strengths to kind of, you know, put that on their plate. Absolutely. Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you, and you might have already touched on this, but this is for a CEO hack. And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Ashley Mason

08:00 - 08:28

Yes. So as I just mentioned, Trello has been a total lifesaver for a long time. I was totally a pen and paper type of person, but then I realized that it wasn't really, I guess, efficient or feasible for me to continue to use a paper planner because I was constantly crossing things out, switching days and all this stuff. And my calendar was just one big scribbled out mess. And so I really realized that I needed like a digital tool where I can easily kind of drag and drop and move things around. And so after trying out a few different project management tools, I really love Trello.

Ashley Mason

08:28 - 08:53

And so I've set up a ton of boards, depending on the different, like, I guess, aspects of my business. So just my regular to do list, I have like, like basic bookkeeping in there I have, um, I guess boards for delegating to different team members and things like that. And so using Trello has really helped me make sure that I don't forget to do anything. Because with entrepreneurs, we have like 1000 different things in our plates. And if you don't write it down, you will forget. And so with Trello, it just takes two seconds to add it in.

Ashley Mason

08:53 - 09:05

And I have it on my laptop and my phone, which is a really big plus for me. So that way, if I'm not on the go, and something comes to mind, I was like, Oh, wait, let me get that right in there. And that way it's in it immediately, instead of me having to try to remember to add it in later on.

Gresham Harkless

09:06 - 09:27

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that forgets a lot of stuff because that happens all the time. It kind of helps to have and leverage technologies like that. And so it's kind of like a project management system where you kind of just organize everything in it. And I guess it's kind of a little bit more creative because it has the boards kind of similar to Pinterest from I haven't used it, but that's what I, what I understand. Is that correct?

Ashley Mason

09:27 - 09:52

Yeah, I definitely would say it's more of the creative because a lot of project management tools are more, I guess, technical is the best way to put it. And so that's one of the reasons why I like Trello is because one, it's free. I really didn't need a paid one because I didn't need all these capabilities that the paid ones had. And I also liked that it was just so easy to use because with the technical ones, they're more meant for people who have larger teams. And I'm like, well, it's just me and three other people right now.

Ashley Mason

09:52 - 09:59

So I need something huge. And so Trello, I just like how it looks visually and aesthetically. It just makes it really easy to plan things around that way.

Gresham Harkless

09:59 - 10:10

Absolutely. Absolutely. I love that. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Ashley Mason

10:11 - 10:47

I would say to definitely network, network, network. So that was something that I've really worked on a lot over the past probably year and a half now. And there's a specific Facebook group that I'm a part of locally for women entrepreneurs, and there's almost 19,000 group members in there. And one thing that I've consistently done every week is just show up. So I never really promote myself. I always just kind of share more of like my story or about myself or give free pieces of marketing advice and things like that. And because I'm so consistent with that and constantly connecting with multiple other women from the group, that's actually where a lot of my clients come from.

Ashley Mason

10:47 - 11:10

And then I often get referrals from people because of that group and they'll be like, oh, so-and-so referred you. And I'm like, I haven't even heard of that person that referred me, but they just like know who I am because of what I've done. And so I think that really setting aside time every single week to network can be not only great for getting clients, but also like making friends and really kind of getting those mentors and people you can turn to in the entrepreneurial world.

Gresham Harkless

11:10 - 11:36

Absolutely. Absolutely. Relationships are everything. And then, you know, making time, you know, to do that or setting time aside to do that, to show up, as you said, which I love that. is because it provides so many opportunities. And a lot of times, and let me know if you find this exact thing where you find out the world is a lot smaller than it seems, because you know, it seems like everybody's connected in some way, shape or fashion. So like you mentioned, next thing you know, you're working with one client, this client knows, you know, five other people that end up becoming clients.

Ashley Mason

11:36 - 11:54

Exactly. And I always say that referrals are the best compliment. So knowing that someone appreciates the work that you're doing for them and then wants to, they trust you enough to refer you to people that are close to them. I think that's really huge. And it's a definitely a big source of growing your business is just getting those referrals simply because you're connecting with others and showing up.

Gresham Harkless

11:54 - 12:08

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's nothing better than a referral. So I definitely would echo that as well, too. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Ashley, I want to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you? I

Ashley Mason

12:08 - 12:35

would say that being a CEO means that you're, I think, showing up. Honestly, again, I'm going to say that because I think with a lot of bigger businesses, the CEOs aren't always I guess face to face with a consumer because they have so many other people working below them who are kind of doing that process. And that's one of the things that I love most about being a solo entrepreneur is that I'm really the face of the business and I get to connect with my clients face to face every single day. There's not kind of that middleman or anything like that.

Ashley Mason

12:35 - 12:41

And so that's what I think is what it really means to be a CEO is just always making sure to show up and make those connections with the people that you're serving.

Gresham Harkless

12:42 - 12:59

Absolutely, absolutely. And a lot of times, you know, everything kind of takes and marches to your own beat. So depending on what lead that you create and how you, you know, carry yourself in, you know, if you're the face of the business and everything, a lot of times your team members, clients, everything will kind of go according to that beat. So you kind of have to set that.

Ashley Mason

12:59 - 13:00

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless

13:00 - 13:11

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Ashley, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can tell our readers and our listeners. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you.

Ashley Mason

13:11 - 13:37

Yeah, definitely. So I would say my piece of advice, if you're looking to kind of take control of your own marketing is to really just take it slow. I think oftentimes people just try to do everything at once because they're like, Oh my God, I need to be on every platform for social media. I need to do email marketing, YouTube blog, I need to do all of this. And I'm like, No, you just need to start out with one or two things, get comfortable with it, and then kind of work your way up. If you try to overload yourself, you'll get stressed and you'll not want to do it anymore.

Ashley Mason

13:37 - 13:48

And so I think that's the easiest way to fail is just kind of overloading your plate. In terms of where you can find me online, I am www.dashofsocial.com or I am Dash of Social on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Gresham Harkless

13:49 - 13:59

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up with you. And Ashley, I truly appreciate you and appreciate your time. Appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Intro

13:59 - 14:29

Thanks. You too. Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase. It's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16media.com. This has been the I Am CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.