FamousAshleyGrant

I’m participating in the 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge. If you would like to join me, do so HERE! The challenge is all about action and getting clear on what your ideal lifestyle really is so that you can get focused on it and move towards it.

Today is Day 1 and the challenge of the day is “Take some time to think about your biggest challenges, then list down 2-3 of them and write a few lines about why you think they are holding you back.”

So, for me, what has been holding me back is fear of failure, lack of confidence and procrastination due to not knowing what items on my to-do list take top priority.

Fear of failure: I have no one to blame but myself if I don’t achieve my income goals. It’s scary to think about the fact that I’m the boss and only I can determine whether or not I’m successful. To get over this fear I’m trying to focus on the current tasks at hand rather than the end goal of success because success feels so vague and like it will never actually be reached. As an entrepreneur even if I hit certain income goals I feel like the work will never be done, so I’m trying to stop thinking about things as failures and rather think of them as experiments. And, rather than think about the big vague goals, I’m trying to just think of each task as the only goal I have to worry about so that as long as I’m completing each task success will be inevitable.

Lack of confidence: This one keeps me from going after the bigger clients, stops me from creating passive income type products and generally makes me afraid to put myself out there for free of people making fun of me. After chatting with a coach this week though, I’m trying to celebrate the mini-wins and learn to love rather than beat up on myself. I realized that in less than two and a half years I’ve ghost written nearly half a million words for my clients and last year I made significantly more income than I first thought and in half the amount of time my old job would have cost me. To work on my confidence I plan to celebrate the mini-wins even more and again focus more on the task at hand than the possibilities surrounding the tasks. I’m also going to work on automating and systematizing some things so they feel less emotional to me.

Procrastination: This a big one and I think it’s actually more than just not knowing what items on my to-do list take priority. If I’m being REALLY honest, I think part of the procrastination is related to the fear of failure and lack of confidence. If I simply don’t complete the items on my to-do list I can’t blame MY performance or MY skills for why I failed. I can blame the non-start and then it’s not really me that failed. To work on this, I’m trying to get my head and heart out of the game and simply act. I’m working on developing a routine so that work will become a habit I don’t even have to think about and I’m trying to create check points for my work so that it’s more like a game than something to be emotional about.

Hopefully, as I continue growing as an entrepreneur I will continue to squash these things holding me back, and let the emotions and thoughts of the journey fall to the background so that the focus will simply be on the tasks at hand. Perhaps then I will be more like a productivity machine than a person filled with fear, overthinking and too many emotions.

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Hey everyone! I’m thrilled to tell you I’ve just signed up to participate in the 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge with the amazing and vivacious Natalie Sisson!
Why should you consider joining the challenge? In my virtual business, one of the common things I hear from people is that they want a life of freedom, but they don’t know where to start. THIS challenge is a fantastic place to start. The challenge was created with freedom in mind.

If you have ever thought to yourself “I want the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want,” this challenge can help you develop a clear vision for your ideal lifestyle and start moving toward it right away. Sign up here today!

Once you sign up you will receive a welcome email that explains a little more about the challenge. AND by participating you will qualify to win some exciting prizes!

Want to win a spot at Natalie Sisson’s Freedom Mastermind Retreat in Bali (worth $2,900)? Sign up here today!

Want to win a free 1-on-1 coaching session with Natalie Sisson, along with a lifetime membership to her Freedom Plan training program (worth $1,997)? Sign up here today!

Are you excited yet and ready to move towards the freedom lifestyle?!? GREAT! Sign up here today!

See you in the challenge my soon to be #bloggyfriends!

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The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically.

This virus is called Weekly Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever – DO NOT TOUCH IT!!! This virus will wipe out your private life entirely. If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises. Take two good friends to the nearest liquor store and purchase one or both of the antidotes – Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.
Oh damn I have WORK, I better go get some WINE and BEER

Hahaha! So, I found this on Facebook last night and when I looked it up, the only reference I could find as to the author was “by British Bitch January 05, 2010” on Urban Dictionary. If she is in fact the author, awesome. If not, however, and you see this and the author is actually you, please let me know and I will change this post to the correct attribution 😀

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The On Point Book Fair is coming soon and I’m CRAZY excited about it. I’ve never participated in a book fair before, and since this is the first time I’ve ever done one I’ve got some fun ideas for it.

First, I’ll be giving away a bunch of goodies. I have an entire bag of blogger swag and I’ll be giving away some of it every 30 minutes throughout the day!

Second, every single person who stops by my booth and signs up for my newsletter will be given links for free eBooks not just once, but every single month! The best part? You get to choose from more than 100 eBooks!!!! Newsletter recipients will also get the latest news for all of my new projects 😀

I can’t wait to meet everyone at the On Point Book Fair on September 17, 2016 at Westshore Plaza. I already know this is going to be a fun filled and exciting day. Stop by and say hi to me, and be sure to join the newsletter sign up for freebies!

Just a few of the authors I can’t wait to see again at the event include, but are not limited to:

• Karen Gillman, author of It’s Never Too Late: A Ten-Year Journey With Weight Loss Surgery. Karen is also the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for On Point Executive Center, not to mention the founder of the On Point Book Fair and co-founder of Charity Chics!
• Karen Mertes, author of Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You to Know, and founder of Fulfill Your Destiny
• Meg Nocero, author of The Magical Guide to Bliss: Daily Keys to Unlock your Dreams, Spirit and Inner Bliss
• Tara Richter, owner of Richter Publishing, and author of 10 Rules to Survive the Internet Dating Jungle and Launch Your Book into the Stratosphere & be a Best Seller!

There are also dozens of authors I’ve not yet heard of that I can’t wait to learn more about.

So, if you’re going to the On Point Book Fair, spill! Who are you most excited to see? Leave me a comment below and tell me about it. And, if you’re not going, have you read any of the books by the authors that will be in attendance? Would love to know!

When people ask me why it costs so much for me to write an article for them, I think I should start sending them this parable I found:

The Graybeard engineer retired and a few weeks later the Big Machine broke down, which was essential to the company’s revenue.  The Manager couldn’t get the machine to work again so the company called in Graybeard as an independent consultant.

Graybeard agrees. He walks into the factory, takes a look at the Big Machine, grabs a sledge hammer, and whacks the machine once whereupon the machine starts right up. Graybeard leaves and the company is making money again.

The next day Manager receives a bill from Graybeard for $5,000. Manager is furious at the price and refuses to pay. Graybeard assures him that it’s a fair price. Manager retorts that if it’s a fair price Graybeard won’t mind itemizing the bill. Graybeard agrees that this is a fair request and complies.

The new, itemized bill reads….

Hammer:  $5

Knowing where to hit the machine with hammer: $4995

yea…it’s kind of like that only my itemized bill would read something more like this…

Article delivery…. $5

Time, energy, sweat, blood, ugly crying, research, so much brain power (including thinking about your article while I’m watching Blue Bloods and cooking dinner), not being able to sleep because I’m thinking of a better way to write paragraph two, finally typing it up then scrapping it because it could’ve been better, rewriting and then finally submitting since it’s deadline and I have no more time and must simply give you this masterpiece I could have poured my heart and soul over longer…… $245 (or some other number depending on the project you hired me for, but you get the idea LOL!)

I used to know a gal who’s motto was “I heart controversy.” Although that has never exactly been my way of thinking, I definitely understand the sentiment when it comes to PR and writing. After all in media controversy gets page views and readers.

Still, I generally have always wanted people to like me and do my best not to ruffle feathers, but I took a chance and threw that caution out the window with a post I wrote in April on the GoDaddy Garage. The title was Are you getting too personal on your blog? and the subtitle was When to pump the brakes. The highlights of the post included the following:

• Don’t overshare
• Don’t write negatively about people you know
• Remember what you write can cost you friends and money

Have I whetted your appetite? If so, read the entire article HERE!

Hey everyone! Now that I’m back from my summer travels, I’m thrilled to announce that I’m taking on new ghostwriting clients. So, if your website needs copy, I hope you will think of me! My rates begin at just $50 for a 400-500 word blog post. You supply the topic, I provide the write-up. It’s that simple.  Interested in learning more? Drop me a comment below and I’ll contact you so we can get started on creating the content your site needs.

You guys, I can’t even believe how close the On Point Book Fair is getting!!!! It’s less than a month a way and I’m crazy excited. I seriously can’t wait to meet all the attendees and my fellow authors and bloggers at the event at Westshore Plaza.

If you’re an author/blogger and you want to participate they still have a few tables available. Author tables start at just $125 and additional sponsorship opportunities are also available. Learn more HERE!

For those of you who don’t know, this summer I went on an EPIC bucket list adventure. I spent 3 and a half weeks traveling the United States. My husband, my two dogs and I took off from Tampa, Florida to California, then headed North toward Washington state before making our way back east via South Dakota, Minnesota and then south through Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and finally back to Tampa, Florida. We got off to a rocky start because of traffic but we quickly learnt to keep an eye out for Car accident news and ended up avoiding most of the traffic from then on. It worked out quite well!

The entire experience was intense, exciting, horrifying, nerve wracking, emotional, amazing, wonderful, breathtaking – you know what I’ll save some time by simply saying I felt nearly every emotion in the book on the trip. I saw things I’ve only dreamed about seeing. I ate some pretty amazing foods. I got to hang out with some fabulous people – a couple of which even hosted my little family for the night (thanks again Jim and Lauren 😀 ). I froze my bottom off in a few states. I thought I would die of heat exhaustion in Texas, New Mexico and Nevada. I drank some delicious wine. I tried a few things I never thought I would and learned some pretty spectacular lessons on the way.

Now, all I want to do is write about the entire trip, but rather than try to stuff it all in one post, I’ve decided to break it up into a series. This way my friends and family can see the pictures that they’ve been asking me to see and I can tell everyone all the things about the trip they want to know! So, stay tuned. I’ll be adding everything to this little blog of mine – a virtual scrapbook if you will of the most amazing working vacation I’ve ever had in my life!

As I add write ups I’ll post links below of all of my additions to my virtual scrapbook!

I first learned about Boiron USA at BlogHer 2013. They were one of the vendors for the event. While chatting with the brand ambassadors somehow we got on the subject of hangovers. You’ve had them, I’ve had them, we’ve likely all had them.

One gal at the booth started telling me about Boiron’s Nux Vomica and referred to it as the hangover cure. “Yeah! Right!” was my response. She then handed me this description:
Nux is made from the seeds of the Stychnos nux-vomica tree native to Southeast Asia. In this safe micro-dose form, Nux provides symptomatic relief of nausea, acid indigestion, upset stomach from overindulgence in food and drink, hangovers or excessive coffee drinking. It’s also great for when you feel drowsy after meals, or if you tend to eat too much spicy or rich food.

Still hesitant, she asked me if I was planning on drinking at the BlogHer party scheduled for that night. I told her I would probably indulge a little… She gave me 5 tablets and told me to just let them dissolve on my tongue.

Well- I did indeed drink that night, perhaps too much, but do you know what? The next morning – NO HANGOVER! I don’t know if it was a placebo or if this stuff really works but I didn’t get a hangover.

She gave me a bottle to take home just in case and I have used it a few times that I knew I’d be drinking and I haven’t gotten a hangover any time that I’ve used it. I would highly recommend it! Again, I have no clue if this stuff works because of the ingredients or if it’s just a damn good placebo, but either way- I’ll take it!

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 Have a product that you want me to review too? Contact me HERE!

I’m PR friendly 😉

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