On Creative Assemblies, The Spark Podcast, our mission is to amplify Nashville’s diverse creative voices, foster growth through shared journeys, and inspire a city that thrives on collaboration.And now, here’s The Spark.Hello, everyone.Welcome back to The Spark.I’m your host, Mark Scrivner, and today I’m welcoming Ashley Robinson from Green Cardigan Marketing to the show.Ashley, it’s great to have you here.You just moved to Nashville, so there’s probably not a lot of, uh, agency owners or creatives that, uh, have come to know you yet, but after the show, I hope a lot more do.Yeah, same here.I, I haven’t been in Nashville long, but I’ve loved it so much.Um, from Alabama originally, so it fits my, my kind of Southern vibe.So yeah, happy to be here, and, um, you and I have a great history together, so excited to be close to you too- Yeahhere in Nashville as well.Well, I appreciate you being on the show.We do have a history together.We met at a, uh, AMI, a Money Matters workshop- That’s rightwhere you were trying to make your business better financially, and we were doing the same.And, uh, that’s where we met each other, and luckily you moved up to Nashville, and now we know each other even better.I know.I know.It’s been, it’s been fun.What a kind of a bizarre, you and I have talked about this, kind of a bizarre meetup.We meet out in Colorado at this event, and then I end up moving to Nashville, and, and you and your wife and your team have been so welcoming, and you’ve been a mediocre workout partner, but-you’ve been a great Nashville host.So yeah, you’ve, you’ve introduced me to a lot of great restaurants and people, so it’s, I appreciate you.It’s been cool.Well, Ashley, I do appreciate you kicking my butt at 5:00 AM- You’re welcomeevery morning, so.I just wanna make sure everybody knew that.Well, great.Well, hey, listen, maybe just to start us off, maybe you could take the audience back to the start of your journey- Yeahinto, uh, the creative, the agency space.Like, what got you into this?Yeah.You know, there’s, um, my, a coach that I worked with and was, we can talk about him later, Jason Swenk, he talks about being an accidental agency owner.And man, if that’s not my journey of kinda waking up one day saying, “Holy crap,” like, “I, I think I own a marketing agency,” you know?So I started working as just a side hustle for a criminal defense lawyer in Atlanta.So I was in marketing.My degree was in public relations, but I kind of always been in marketing up until this point, and I, I start helping this criminal defense lawyer with his, his marketing, and really recognized the need for, for this service, and then also a transparency behind the service.I, I, I started to- Mm-hmmrealize that wasn’t a thing in this industry.Um, and it kinda took off from there.Again, it’s so accidental.He tells a friend who tells a friend, and the next thing you know, I’m kind of 4 or 5 lawyers deep and was looking around like, “Okay, I think, I think this is it.”So yeah, I really just stumbled my way into it, had no idea, and then kinda had to re-engineer and learn everything, uh, to get me kinda to the starting line is what it felt like.Yeah.Well, um, it’s interesting because we had another agency owner on, uh, Arnie Malham, who had probably one of the biggest b- um, uh, firms that specialized in personal injury law in the United States, and he was on the show earlier, and it’s interesting that you’ve niched down into your niche is lawyers, not personal injury, but, uh, just family services lawyers, right?Mm-hmm.That’s right.So what we did, so when we first started, we worked with, uh, so since the beginning, we’ve only worked in legal because again, I saw this need with this criminal defense lawyer, and then next thing I know, I’m 5 or 6 lawyers in Atlanta- So we were always just legal.Uh, but within the last, like, year and a half, 2 years, we’ve focused more on family and estate, and so that’s become more of a niche for us.Mm-hmm.I’m getting ready to launch our own podcast.I’ve, I’ve been doing kind of this interview series for a while, interviewing just family and estate lawyers.We found some real specialty and some real unique marketing strategies that have really helped family and estate lawyers.So we’re a niche within a niche, right?Mm-hmm.But, um, it works for us.The legal industry is very competitive.Um, so yeah, I, I would have never thought that the day I started, but here we are, and it’s, it’s been a lot of fun so far.Well, tell us, uh, a little bit about where the name Green Cardigan Marketing came from.It’s quirky.I’m quirky.I have a sign in my office that says, “Stay weird.”Um, so number one, it was like from the get-go, I did not want a boring name.You know, I, I did not want Ashley’s Legal Marketing, something.Mm-hmm.And then I also played college golf.I played a little golf after college, so I wanted something to do with golf.I wanted to kind of like an homage or like a shout-out to golf.So I was thinking about the green jacket with the Masters.Mm.And then I, I just did a quick search of does anybody own Green Cardigan, and it was like, oh, it was that easy.It was like riding down the road, quickly searched, and it’s like, okay, that’s kind of quirky.Hopefully, the idea when I meet someone, they think about this girl with this really strong accent and some sort of quirky name.So, so far it’s worked.Uh, a lot of people ask me the story behind it.It allows me to kind of share and be a little bit my personality.Um, so yeah, it’s, it’s unique and different, and I’m really glad I went with that versus, you know- Yeaha little bit more down the middle.Well, and also you get to say that you were a golfer and all the way through s- college, but what you didn’t mention is that you played on the LPGA Tour, right?Yeah, I played on a little mini tour.I try not to give myself too much credit ’cause if I was a professional golfer, I wouldn’t beNo offense to you, Mark.But I don’t think I’d be sitting here.Um.I’d be caddying you, right?Right.Right, right.Well, you just have to play golf.So I played on a little mini tour.So think about in baseball, you have the mini tours.There was a mini tour below the LPGA Tour, so that’s what I played on for 2 years.Um, look, it’s, it’s one of my greatest accomplishments.I, I’m so proud that I, I tried to do it and, and tried to play.Um, after 2 years realized I’m not gonna be able to, to feed a family or, you know, playing golf, so then I turned to my degree.But I did play golf, uh, for a long time.It was a huge part of my life.Still is a big part of my life.So it’s fun to get to kind of walk down that road with folks, and a lot of, uh, lawyers play golf, too.So it’s just like a good commonality and, umSo yeah, it’s a, it’s a cool story.Smart.Yeah.Yeah.Genius idea.So, uh, well, so you were working as a side hustle down with the lawyer in Atlanta.Yep.You saw this need.You started up Green Cardigan Marketing.Tell us a little bit about, like, when you made that decision to, “I’ve got enough that I can step out on my own,” and how scary was that?Mm.And then maybe even talk a little bit about where you’re at today, what services you’re offering- Yeahnow that you’ve, now that you’ve started the business up.Yeah, so the decision for me was truly a monetary, financial decision.When I crossed the threshold of making each month what I was making at my marketing- MmI worked at a public relations agency and marketing agency, it, it was that simple for me of like, okay.Um, and the goal was never to do anything bigger.The goal, now we have 11 employees and, and we serve 70 to 90 clients on a monthly basis, that was never the goal.The goal was like, oh, you’re making more money than you make at your marketing agency.Mm-hmm.And you have so much more fulfillment and enjoyment.So that was the switch for me.Um, it, it, it was very scary because the world had just shut down, too.It was COVID.I remember sitting in a coffee shop and forming my LLC, and I was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the time, so it was a little bit different experience there.But I remember it.Everyone’s in masks.So it had just happened.Mm-hmm.So it was a really scary time.But again, I can also really, as much as I’m a type A person, I can really have a personality of like, let’s try.You know?Mm-hmm.Like, you live once.My, my dad has always done a great job of like, “You got one life.Turn over every rock.Try it.”You know?So that’s a little bit l- kind of the scariness and, and how it started and then where we’re at today.So what’s been interesting is we’ve kind ofAnd again, learning from coaches, you kind of start big.You, you narrow in, I think.I- that’s been my approach, and I think that’s a- Mm-hmma great way of doing it.So we started offering more services, and today we have fewer services we offer.So website design, anything to do with websites, it’s a big, uh, revenue generator for us because there’s just need there.Mm-hmm.Um, we provide SEO services, would be our, our main core offering, paid ads, and then video as well.And then the video translates often into social media a little bit, but that’s certainly not our main offering.We are a lead gen company, so at the end of the day, we are hired from lawyers to produce leads from them.So our digital services are doing just that.Yeah.Well, you talk a lot about, uh, honesty and responsiveness in the legal field.Mm-hmm.Like legal marketing.Like, uh, what were you seeing in the industry that made you start talking about this andYeah, that very first client, um, I read his contract and what he was getting, and it was shocking.I was in automotive marketing before, so the agency I worked at before, we only worked in automotive.And we had a pretty educated client, so they knew questions to ask, that they- Mm-hmmkind of knew how to navigate our services and hold us accountable.I then come into this industry, and these lawyers have no clue.Understandably so.Right?They’re trying to run a business and be a lawyer.They have a lot on their plate.And I have found, and I hate to make a blanket statement, but across the industry, there is a, a lack of understanding about marketing.Again, makes total sense.And so they don’t necessarily know how to hold you accountable at times, and they’re also running around doing a million things.And in their defense, they shouldn’t have to hold you accountable.But for the first lawyer I started working with, I was shocked at, um, he was working with one of the, the bigger, I’ll, I’ll not name names, but one of the biggest marketing agencies in this field for legal, and the contract was appalling.The, the lack of services that they provided, the lack of transparency, and then how, how much they owned.If that lawyer left them, they really lost everything, their website, Google Business Profile.Um, so that was a big part for me of I wanna provide a service that if you wanna leave, you can leave, um, and we’re not gonna hold you hostage to it, but we’re gonna provide good marketing services at the same time.Yeah.Well, when you, um, when you started up Green Cardigan Marketing and, um, you got going and you had a bunch of assumptions about, like, running your own agency, you know, what, what of that kind of turned out to be completely wrong?Ooh.From what you thought.That’s a good question.I think runningMaybe not evenIt took me a while to realize I had an agency, just that word, right?Mm-hmm.But just running a business, I think the biggest this Ashley versus the 2020 Ashley, a lot has changed, um, would be that you have to do everyThe first one would be you have to do everything in your business.Mm-hmm.That took me a while to recognize I did not need to do that.It seems so simple.But then the second one, and this has just been within the last few years, is you don’t even necessarily have to know every detail that’s happening within your business.I was on a call yesterday with my team, and 5 of them on the call were telling me about this whole situation, and I was like, “Hey, I didn’t know this was happening.”You know, I felt a little left out.Mm-hmm.And it was such a great moment for me to say, wow, this problem happened, was resolved, kind of happened again, was resolv- like, and this whole thing was resolved without me.And you could have never convinced me several years ago that things can happen in your agency, in your business, and you don’t even know about it.So and there’s certainly, there’s, there’s definitions to that, but, um, that’s been a big change in my mindset, for sure.Yeah.Well, um, so your team was just handling the situation.That’s right.That’s right.And that’s such a freeing feeling for an agency owner to just know, like, man, I don’t have to handle every detail.It’s, it is like when you start to get your sleep back.Yeah.I think because the anxiety of I’ve got to handle everything, um, when you realize, hey, you’ve put trusted people in place.Mm-hmm.Let them do their job, you know.You’ve paid them.Let themThey’re capable.Um, it’s hard to let, I don’t know if you felt the same, but it was hard to, like, relinquish that control, but when you start to do it, uh, it’s very freeing.Yeah.Well, you’ve got, uh, you’ve got an office down in Birmingham.That’s right.And you’ve, um, you’ve got some folks that live, uh, throughout the US.Like, how hard is it to runNow you’ve got an office here in Nashville.Yeah.How hard is it to run multiple offices in what you’re doing?You know, you and I have had this conversation often.Um, I don’t, I don’t know anything different, you know.So when I started the agency, I was in Fort Lauderdale.Um, I hired a few folks there, quickly hired a few folks in Birmingham, Alabama.It’s where I’m from.I have a big network there.Um, quickly got some folks overseas.So that’s kind of all I know.There are certainly challenges, and I would imagine if I’d never done that, I might see those challenges more.Mm-hmm.Maybe because it’s just been from day one.I, I would say the biggest piece is just over communication.Your team has to communicate.You have to incentivize them to communicate.You have to build structure that revolves around communication, Slack, phone calls, just constant communication.So there are certainly challenges, um, b- but I do believe they can be resolved, especially with the technology that we have today.Yeah.Well, lawyers are, um, I mean, they’re- Usually a very driven, particular type of client.And, uh, you know, I guess y- you know, all of what you’re doing right now is on, like, performance metrics of, like- That’s righthey, you’re driving leads and opportunities in for them.Mm-hmm.Uh, how do you manage that without, like, losing the human element?How do you teach your team, you know, to work with these folks that are very driven, they’re very busy, but they also still have pretty strong opinions?They do.They do.So we talk a lot about the agent- in the agency about being a trusted advisor.We talk about, we know we are in a successful partnership when we are being brought to the table for that yearly planning meeting.When they see us more than a marketing agency, but a- as a trusted vendor and a partner that truly understands their vision and their goals.So we ta- we wereI was just in Wyoming a couple weeks ago, and we were talking to the client, we were out there doing a video shoot, of, “Hey, we need to have a conversation soon about your next 3 to 5year goals.”And, and he, I could understand, and I saw the appreciation on his face of, “Man, that’s great that you guys are invested in that, and you’re not just worried about today’s SEO and today’s video.You’re really concerned with how does this play into effect of, of his long-term goals.”And so the conversation that we’ve started with him, and we do with many of our clients, is where are you at?Where are you at gross revenue?Where do you wanna be?And maybe that’s not a, a huge discrepancy, but you wanna work 75% less.How do we do that?Right?Like, we, we can only do so much in the marketing seat, but we can do a lot, and so let’s have these conversations.So that helps tremendously of just gaining that client’s trust of, man, these guys are not just here to just check off a box and get on a meeting each month and re- recite all these numbers that I don’t know what they mean.Um, one of my account execs, I was talking to her today, and she saidI said, “How did this call go with this client last week?”She said, “We never even talked metrics, honestly.They’re in the middle of a rebrand.They’re bringing on another partner.”She said, “I asked them, are you okay with us not going through metrics?And let’s just talk about this rebrand.”And, and, and I, I was really complimentary of her because as a business owner, you and I both know when a vendor that we work with takes our baby and treats it as their baby- Mm-hmmit, it’s kind of, it, it’s, you can’t really beat it.So we talk a lot about that in the agency.Yeah, man, that is a great approach, too.The 3 to 5 years, they love hearing that.Right, right.So, um, what, you know, just dealing with lawyers, I guess, you know, there’s a lot of agency owners out there that are listening.Um, a lot of them probably are more generalist in that they’ve got clients in, you know, maybe legal, maybe banks, maybe, you know, restaurants, whatever.They’re great at what they do, but they’re more generalist.Yeah.You’re more of a specialist.How much easier is it to run a specialist agency?Or is it harder?Is it easier?Again, I, I mean, I’ve only ever done legal.I could not recommend enough that you pick an industry.The saying that riches are in the niches, it is, it is, from A to Z, it is true.So your team is focused on one industry.They’re, we study this industry.Mm-hmm.We study how these individuals think, how their clients think, how our clients think.Um, I can’t, I can’t encourage it enough because it just, it helps with your team.It helps with your marketing, your brand, your voice.I wanna be associated with one thing, and so a clear, concise messaging.I, I would encourage anyone to do it.It’s scary.I would imagine if you’re on the other side and, and you’ve been working with all these industries, I think it’s a really freeing approach.Yeah, ’cause everybody on your team is completely aligned to- That’s rightthe work that you’re doing.That’s right.Yeah.They’re really bought into that.Well, you’ve, you work with a ton of, like, law firms, too, so it’s impressive the numbers of clients that you have.Um, and you said early on that, like, hey, um, they don’t really realize what all goes into the marketing that we’re gonna do.What is, what are the things that I guess you have to educate them on- Hmmfrom a marketing standpoint to get them to understand what you’re doing?Oh, man, there’sSEO is hard to explain to anyone, right?Like, that’s hard, um, e- explaining that.I think the hardest part is probably explaining that life cycle of the client.So if I, if you’re a family lawyer and I’m explaining to you the life cycle of your client and how every marketing strategy fits in at a different point of that cycle.So if you’re a family, we were just talking today about a family lawyer who’s targeting high asset divorce, so we’ll, we’ll use that example.Video marketing is a great way to educate that client and push them down the buying funnel.Because if you’re a high income earning business owner going through a divorce, you wanna learn about that.You’re probably an educated person, so that buying cycle involves a great website, SEO, probably not paid ads, video marketing.There might need to be some webinars.So, but that’s very different than an estate planning firm who’s just focused on volume, right?Mm-hmm.In a small town.So I think that’s the hardest part is really helping the client understand the strategy as a whole and how each marketing technique comes into play at different points of the, the sale cycle, if that makes sense.Mm-hmm.That’s, that’s a nuanced conversation that’s kinda hard to explain, but you can tell the lawyers that when it clicks, because then they start asking questions of, “Okay, I’m”first they stop asking questions about, “Should I put my name on this, uh, bus?”And they’re more of focused on, “Okay, let me think through who’s my client, and then how can I get in front of that person?”And nothing else matters.You know?Mm.If my client is not looking at that marketing channel, then nothing else matters.that’s great.Well, well, looking back, like, what advice would you give to your younger- Mmself that just started up Green Cardigan Marketing based on what you know now?I, yeah.Yeah, yeah, that’s a great, that’s a great question.I would say time is your greatest currency, and there is a trade-off for everything.There’s a trade-off for everything.I, I spent many years working, um, 100-hour weeks.I don’t know how many hour weeks, right?Like really long weeks.I have much more work/life balance today.Um, but I, I, I’m so proud that I did that.And there will be another season in my agency I’ll have to work those hours again, right?Mm-hmm.There’s a trade-off.So I think at your younger self of understanding that, I do believe I had the upper hand of understanding that because I’ve played golf, and golf is such a diligent individual sport, and I missed, I can’t tell you how many dances in high school I missed.I remember one Valentine’s Day being on the driving range.I sacrificed so much to play golf, so I do think I kinda had the upper hand of, of, of that, of- Mm-hmmsacrificing it.But yeah, going back to my younger self, time is your, your greatest currency, and, and don’t take advantage of it.Yeah.Well, that’s good advice, too.I mean, because agency owners tend to take on right?And they tend to say yes to a lot more things than they say no to.That’s right.And so that’s great advice.What’s, uh, you know, law firms, they have a ton of money to spend on marketing.Mm.Mm-hmm.Just, I mean, that’s the way they get their message out.Mm-hmm.So you did say riches are in the niches, and you’re in a rich niche, so, uh, it’s awesome.But when you walk into a firm, is there something that you do immediately that just builds trust with them?Like, they know you know their business.They know, you know, hey, you’re gonna be at, you know, you’re, you’re gonna be my ally in this marketing- Yeahendeavor.You know, I think in business and in life and in relationships and in every interaction, if you will consider asking questions before you do any talking, you’re gonna gain trust.I, I was just having this conversation with a friend last week.Everyone has a, a, a, an emotional trigger to them.So in dating and in friendships and in business, try to find that as quickly as you can, and then speak to that pain point.So how we build trust is immediately ask so many questions, and what I’m trying to get to immediately is what is your goals?What are your goals?What are your goals?What are your goals?I wanna buy a boat.I, I’m trying to literally get to that goal, right?Of I wanna own a second home at 50.I wanna put my kid through college.It’s often tied to money in my industry.Mm-hmm.And that’s great.Tell me what these goals are.Then let’s talk about what is your average client value?What is your closing rate?And then it becomes a little bit of an equation at this point, and then I can get really close in telling you, “Okay, here’s the variable.We need 30 more leads a month.We can get there, right?You, you need to s- probably staff your team a little bit better, and you guys need to answer the phone, but we can produce the leads.”And that builds trust so quickly when they know that you get them.Again, we all, as human beings, we just wanna be seen.You know?I, I just wanna be s- you just wanna be seen.Yeah.So the quicker you can make your client feel seen, and you can make them feel seen by understanding their goals.And asking questions on the front end more than you talk.Ask so many questions.Shut up.Quit talking.Ask so many questions, and you’re gonna build trust, and you’re gonna learn so much about your client.Yeah.Well, you and I, we talk about AI quite a bit.And, um, I guess, like, what, what are you seeing right now in your business in this, in the niche that you’re in with AI and w- how you’re using it?Yeah, I think we’re probably similar in, in a lot of industries.Again, you and I talk, I’ve got a bunch of friends in this world.We’re using it on the operations side to make our work faster, um, you know, fewer errors.But then we’re also using it on our client side.Um, w- we use it a little bit for content.We still write human content, but for research.Um, so we use it on Green Cardigan’s side, and we use it on our client side.We use it within a lot of the technologies nowadays.Most of all of our tech stack have AI incorporated in it, um, from our, our software, our CRM, to ourYou and I use it.Y- you turned me on to this platform that’s listening to all your calls, and so using it as often and, and everywhere as you can.Um, AI is great for collecting a ton of data and consolidating it, right?So I’m trying, and that’s probably the hardest part of my job at the moment, of ensuring that we’re using it in every place we can, um, and then y- and then using that data to tell us something.Mm-hmm.But that- that’s hard ’cause you’re overwhelmed as an agency owner, right?Yeah.You’re running in so many different directions, so, but that’s probably my number one job at the moment.You know what I’ve always been very impressed with you is that, uh, you know, you don’t always think you’re the smartest person in the room.You actually are always looking for help and coaches, and it’s been important that you’ve been surrounded by people that can help lift you up, and- Yeahyou know, you’ve, you mentioned Jason Swenk.Uh- Yeahwe met at one of Drew McLellan’s, uh, conferences.Mm.So, you know, and, and there’s probably been a lot of others that have helped you become even a stronger- Yeahentrepreneur.But did it all come from, like, your coaching in golf?Like, was, is that where- Yeahthis came from?It really did.Um, I think it, it, it’s instilled in you at a young age just how you were raised.Um, and that certainly was a part of my childhood of my parents are entrepreneurs and, and seeing my parents recognize that maybe they’re not the smartest ones in the room and get help.And then in golf, golf is just the greatest sport, but the most impossible sport, right?Like, you’re, you’re never really happy, and so you’re always looking to improve.So I, I had so many coaches along the way, and yeah, I think it teaches you of, uhIt just teaches you a different mindset that you could always grow and learn and improve.So that’s been a bigThat, that’s been huge for me.Again, we mentioned Jason Swenk.My agency from the time I started with Jason until now is completely different, and I truly have his team to thank.Drew, um, I mean, just the information that Drew puts out is invaluable.Uh, the books that I’ve read, you, having conversations with you.So yeah, I think maybe it’s an ego thing of just saying, “I’m, I am notI’m just a girl from Alabama.I’m not the smartest one in the room.I’ll work harder than anybody, but I don’t, I don’t know a lot.”That attitude I think goes a long, long way.Yeah.What’s, umYou know, everybody thinks entrepreneurship is all about, like, freedom, and you’re your own boss, and really it’s a lot of the opposite of that.So, but what’s something that you’ve had to sacrifice maybe along the way to build w- Green Cardigan into what it is today?Man, again, time.I, I’ve sacrificed so much, so much time with friends and family.I don’t regret it.I, I really don’t.Um, but you sacrifice a lot.You, you’re at, atThe times that I’ve been at the office and my friends are wanting to go out on a Thursday or Friday night, and I just couldn’t.Um, and there’s a lot of anxiety with it.You know, I don’t, I don’t wanna be dramatic, but if you’re an agency owner watching this, you would agree.Like, sometimes you lose some peace be- because of the anxiety that, that comes- Mm-hmmwith it.So yeah, you sacrifice a lot.Um, there is so much more to gain, I believe, but it, it is.It is a- Mm-hmmit’s a real sacrifice.You know what, what was interesting for me, what I wasn’t prepared for is when I started hiring employees, the sacrifice, I don’t know ifIt would be interesting to know if you feel the same.The sacrifice for me really escalated.I suddenly felt the weight -of their children, their school, their car payment.TheirI was not expecting that.And, and at that point I’m still not old, but at that point I was early 30s, and many of my employees were older than me.And so that was a huge weight- Yeahof anxiety and again, like kind of peace.You lose a little bit of peace, um, during that transition.Yeah, I don’t even know that employees realize that.Like, your own employees realize how personal it is to you that, that when they pull up to their house every night that they feel secure, that they’re gonna have a great place to come in the next day and work and – Mm-hmmyou know, have a paycheck and support their families.And so, but it- It’s a burdenit’s, um, it’s hard on entrepreneurs and agency owners- Mm-hmmcreative folks, so.It is.It’s, it’s, it does not go, it is, it is not something I take lightly, and I know many agency owners do not as well.Yeah.Well, you mentioned, like, you go in and you talk to your clients about 3 to 5 years out.Like, “Where, where do you wanna be?”You know, where, where do you see Green Cardigan going in the next 3 to 5 years?Like, what do you hope that it becomes?Uh, is it all about the money?Is it about the fame?Is it about the-prestige of building the biggest- Yeahyou know, legal advertising empire?What is it?It’s changed for me over the last year or so.Um, just life kinda teaches you some things and, um, I think at 1 point it was about money for me, if I’m, if I’m being honest.Um, I think it’s more now, there’s stil- still certainly a money aspect to it of wanti- wanting to hit certain gross revenue and wanting a certain lifestyle.It really is more about the freedom that, um, it brings.Not freedom in terms of lifestyle, but freedom in I have an agency, I have great employees that if I need to take times away, it’s rolling.Um, my employees feel comfortable.My clients know that they’re getting a killer service.So I, I think maybe it, m- my life has just brought me a little bit more balance in the last year or so, that it’s not, I’m not chasing that money.Where do I see us in 3 to 5 years?I, m- my goal would be we’re over the 150 monthly clients.We are a more volume agency than maybe someone like you or, or some agencies, um, just n- naturally with the industry we’re in.So I, I would like to double our, our monthly volume.Mm-hmm.And then I want to be known in this space as the marketing agency for family and estate lawyers.So we’re doing a few things more and more to solidify that.When we go to events, events are still really big in this space.Mm-hmm.So when we go to events, we’re presenting more as we are known as the family and estate.We’re doing the podcast.And I have a few more, you know, goals and ideas around that, but that’s what I’d like to be known in this industry.Okay.Tell us a little bit more about the podcast.Hm.What, what’s the, uh, have you named it yet?What, uh, when does it launch?So we are doing, um, the whole intro or, or the, kind of the beginnings of it this month, so it’ll be launching, and I don’t know exactly when this will air, but it’ll launch in August.I haven’t named it yet, so we’re gonna do our first few recordings and then kinda work backwards.We’ve got, we’ve narrowed it down to 3.Um, but the, the podcast are, pretty simple idea.Again, I’ve been interviewing lawyers for a while now and just posting on YouTube.Um, but we’re kind of breaking up into 2 segments.The first half is me interviewing a, a smart lawyer just like you’re interviewing- Mm-hmma smart agency owner here, Mark.Um, and it’s just, like, getting to know them, what they’ve done to, like, grow their firm.I wanna know, like, a few things that’s really helped them in growth, um, because at the end of the day, we’re a marketing agency doing a podcast.And then the back half of the, the podcast, it’s gonna be a rapid-fire questions, because what I do, every day, me and my team when we’re talking to lawyers, we kind of get asked the same questions of, like, “Okay, we’ve talked about marketing, but I’m an estate planning firm.Should I be doing webinars?”So webinars, for example, are really big in, in the estate world.Um, or online or in-person events, kind of like a wine and wheels situation.And I always say, “Yes, here’s 10 lawyers you should go call and talk to about that and in other markets.”Um, “We’re changing CRMs.What CRM should we change to?We’re changing case management softwares.We’re using this new AI company to help us write briefs.Do you know who, anybody using that?”And I’m always connecting these lawyers.So I want the back half of the podcast is, “Here’s rapid-fire questions.”Smart.So as you’re an agent or if you’re a, a, an estate lawyer, you’re gonna watch it and say, “Oh, okay, great, I’ve been wondering about that technology.I’ve been wondering about should I go to this event.I’ve been wondering about this coach, this business coach.”So it’s a pretty simple concept of a podcast, but I want it to be 30 minutes, you, you listen and you learn.You hear an inspiring story, but then you also learn some things at the end too.Mm-hmm.Super smart.God, it will, uh, be dramatic for your business development opportunities, I have a feeling.So, um, as you look back over the time that you’ve launched Green Cardigan Marketing, what is one of the proudest moments that you’ve had?Ooh.Um, man.My, my first thoughts are always around the employees, and that’s, that’s, again, I don’t know if I would’ve ever said that, you know?Um, to hear how they talk about the company that they work for I- it like, it could bring meI’m a crybaby anyways, but I could cry, because it’s really special to know that you’ve created that, you know?Mm-hmm.Um, so those moments, I don’t know if I have one particular moment, those moments are usually some of the most impactful.Again, I mentioned we were out in Wyoming last week with a client, and he, he cornered me and, and I thought he was about to have some big, long, serious conversation, and he, he just went on and on and on about our team.And when we started with him, his monthly gross revenue was 30 grand.He’s at, his last month he was at 118 a month.And so when he, he started, he was a smaller firm that started with us, and he was just so complimentary.And so it’s moments like that where y- you know, I’m pretty hard on myself.I think a lot of us are of most days I’m like, “You are a piece of shit.You’re so, you could do so much more, Ashley.”And in those moments, you’re like, “Man, all right.You know, we’re doing something right.”Like, this man, this is his baby.Mm-hmm.And we’ve helped grow his baby, and as someone who has a business myself, like, those moments are pretty impactful for sure.Yeah.Well, you moved up here from South Florida.You got an office in Birmingham.What’s, what have you experienced in Nashville since you’ve been here?Ooh, work or just anything?Just, like, what’s been, uh, something that maybe you didn’t, maybe you didn’t think it was gonna be this way when you came in.What, what have you experienced from just a Nashville personality?Yeah.Well, Mark’s the mayor first.Well, besides that.Mark’s the mayor of East Nashville-is what I’ve learned.All right.Other than that, the business community is really tight, and I love it.Like, so South Florida’s different.Um, South Florida’s in the South, but it is, it is not the South.It is, um, a, a h- a wonderful, beautiful melting pot of all cultures.Um, and I wanted to move back to the South, which was the point in coming to Nashville, and be back close to my family in Alabama.I have some real estate in Alabama, my business in Alabama.So I ki- I, I wanted to be in this part of the world, and I, it has, it has been exactly what I thought it was, that warm Southern culture that I’ve missed so much in the business community.I have met, uh, so many people, like truly, like a lot thanks to you.Uh, but I’ve kept in touch with these people, and I’m having breakfast or coffee with someone every week in Nashville, so that’s been wonderful business side.Personal, I’m a huge outdoors person.So you know what’s been impressive to me, and, and my friend came to visit last week from Fort Lauderdale, and she was shocked at how much hiking and outdoors activity there is.We went on an 11-mile hike.So I would say Nashville is just a beautiful place that you can do so much outdoor activity, um, from riding your bike or going on a lake or playing golf or hiking.Um, and that has been really wonderful to experience.It’s, it’s very calming and, and it’s a beautiful place.and a great business community.The people- A wonderful business communitypeople help you out, and you are a networking machine.I love to see you out there meeting with as many people as you have, even though maybe they’re not even attorneys or they’re not people- Yeahthat are gonna help you out, but just so you can learn about this business community.It’s been very impressive, so.Yeah.Thank you.As we start to wrap up, maybe is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you think could be helpful for the audience?I don’t know if it’s something we didn’t talk about, but when I think about an agency owner who’s watching this, I think my piece of advice would be to just narrow your focus, and we’ve talked a little bit about it from many different angles today.We talked about it from a time perspective.We talked about it from who your clients are.I would say if at any points in my business where I have been overwhelmed, the walk that I went on that solved it, or that time in the sauna, or that time in the gym, driving, was just slow down, narrow your focus.Maybe it was a conversation with someone, but every time when I’ve been so overwhelmed, and, and again, if you’re an agency owner watching this, you know we all have those, so many of those moments.Try to bite it one, one piece at a time.Try to stop saying yes to so many things.Stop saying yes to those clients.Just narrow down your time and your focus, um, because that’s where we get the most overwhelmed, is when we’re, we’re just stretched so thin already.Mm.So try, try to narrow down your decisions to the smallest possible window.Yeah.Great advice, again, and you’ve, you shared a lot of really great nuggets, uh, on the show.Really appreciate it.Really appreciate you being a part of the Spark podcast and- Appreciate youand, uh, appreciate you being in the Nashville community, and now you’re giving back to it, so thank you, and thank you all for showing up week in and week out on the Spark podcast.Really appreciate it.I love what I’m doing right now.I love talking to so many great creative agency owners and, uh, creatives and organizations that support creative, and without you showing up, I wouldn’t be able to do this.So I really do appreciate it.And, uh, if you would, do us a solid by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show, just so we can get the message out to more people.We’ll see you next week on The Spark.That’s a wrap on this episode of The Spark from Creative Assembly.Thanks for spending time with us and exploring the minds shaping Nashville’s creative future.If you’re walking away more inspired, connected, or energized, that’s exactly the point.A big thank you to our sponsor, Snapshot, and the incredible team behind the scenes who make this show possible.Your support fuels every conversation and keeps collaboration alive.So if you haven’t already, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review.Thanks again for tuning in.Until next time, stay creative, stay curious, and keep that spark.