PR Lessons From a Red Carpet Showroom with Ashley Michaelsen - 22

This is Law and Wit, Episode 22: Lessons from a Red Carpet Showroom with Ashley Michelson.

Welcome to Law and Wit: Creative Counsel for Entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Brittany Ratelle, mother of 4, entrepreneur, naptime lawyer, and attorney for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to share inspiration and action so that you can tackle your business blocks and confidently own your business in every sense of the word. Thank you so much for joining me today.

For being here.

Okay guys, welcome back. I am so excited for our guest today. So I have Ashley Michelson, and she transitioned from her true love of fashion design and marketing. At age 21, she designed and developed her first clothing line in New York City and introduced the line into independents on the East Coast and onto online retailers. She wanted to expand, so she moved to West Coast and quickly started gaining traction by participating in the major markets there. Um, and now she's transitioned into, um, doing PR work, and she now runs Ashley Michelson, uh, PR, AMPR, a unique PR boutique that's based in the heart of Hollywood, California. And she does all things in terms of marketing strategy, fashion showroom benefits, design, um, brand development, production services. I mean, the girl, the girl does it all, okay? If you have pretty things or, and you are looking to get your pretty things out there in the marketplace, Ashley is the girl that you want to talk to. So I'm so happy that she gets to join us today and share some of her wisdom with us.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Brittany. This is actually my first podcast ever.

Oh wow. Okay. Well, we promise to be nice to you. Yeah.

So no, this is super cool. I'm really excited to talk to you and kind of give you a day in the life.

Awesome.

Excellent. So Ashley and I had the chance to meet at Alt Summit, which it was my first time going. It wasn't your, it wasn't your first time going this year as well?

Time as well. I loved it.

Yeah, and I loved it too. And the great thing about, if you guys have had the chance to go to something like Alt or something similar, is that you get to meet just the most incredible people who are doing different things and you just, you really get your eyes wide open. Your horizons are broadened in terms of how people are making money and how they're able to combine their passions and monetize them and to build successful brands and service-based businesses all over this creative empire that now we have access to online. So, and that's kind of what I wanted to talk a little bit about today is, you know, how do you harness the gifts and other people and kind of some of these promotion and PR strategies, even if you're just starting out as a small brand, you know, there's, you get, you know, we get the opportunity now to have a wider platform. And yet there's a lot of people out there. There's a lot of noise, there's a lot of content. So how do we stand out and make those connections that'll really be meaningful? So, So, you know, I kind of alluded to a little bit of your origin story, but kind of fill in some of those gaps in terms of how you transitioned from, you know, doing your own fashion line, which is just incredible at age 21 that you would launch that. You know, how was doing fashion into, into what you're doing now?

Well, I mean, even before that, I kind of started out as modeling and acting. I was kind of born into it. My parents were famous Kodak models. So I was literally born into the industry in upstate New York, Rochester. And although there was a market, there was a tiny market there, it wasn't large enough for what I really wanted to do. So when I was old enough, I moved to New York City when I was 18. I went to Fashion Institute of Technology and then I continued to support myself modeling. But modeling never really fulfilled me completely. I always just wanted to talk more and say more and, you know, talk about the editing and talk about the styling. But I was just a mannequin. And so I couldn't, so I would find this like inner battle of myself of being like, okay, you were hired just to smile and you can't do anything else. And so, you know, fashion had always really, really been my passion and I still enjoyed being on set, but I wasn't really sure how to kind of do all of that. So I, when I went to FIT, I got a degree in fashion merchandising management. So it was not design, but I still wanted to find a way to design. And so I met a designer actually in an elevator during a casting casting call and he showed me his showroom and he's like, we're looking for an assistant. I was like, great, I don't know anything about designing, but I go to FIT. So he hired me and I kind of was like more of his muse for a little bit, but I got to learn everything from sample making, designing textiles, mass production to, you know, one side was literally like the manufacturer, if you will, and then the other side of his showroom was the actual showroom where you met the customers and you fit them and you sold them and everything. And this is way before social media, as well. So I got to learn everything in a one-stop shop. On one side, like I said, was all the manufacturing, sample making, textiles, fabrics, and on the other side was the sales and marketing piece. So I got to learn everything and kind of really see what I wanted to do. And so I kind of stopped working for him for a second and I thought I could do it on my own. And I went out and like just bought a bunch of fabric, made some samples, had no strategy, no idea who I was selling to, how I was selling. I didn't even know how to go back and buy the fabric to remake it if I had an order order. I did not think it through whatsoever. So after a year of completely pounding the pain away and so frustrated because I just wasn't, I mean, I was 18, I was not thinking. I went back to him and literally took my savings and was like, teach me everything from beginning to end in detail. And I wanna make my first collection with you, but I will pay you to teach me every step of the way. So that's how I was able to kind of create my first line. And that one, obviously I was a lot smarter about eventually got into boutiques on the East Coast, the West Coast, did all the markets, and did a lot of the fashion shows. So the fashion shows, I feel like, is what really sparked my interest in the marketing side of things. I realized that I actually was very impatient with the design process, and I just wanted to be finished and put it on models and sell it. So that's how AMPR kind of came about. So it's kind of like modeling inspired designing and designing inspired the marketing.

I mean, as much of us as we'd like to skip ahead to the parts where we know ourselves and what our strengths are, you know, there's usually a journey that comes into it. And I mean, you, you know, found that for you, what parts of it that you, that you really liked and were able to hone in on, onto that. And, you know, I love the, you know, the just the, the, you know, raw energy you had as a young 18-year-old. I mean, you can feel that, your passion with it. And we all have that at the beginning of whatever it is that's starting to drive us. And Yet, you know, you got kind of knocked down by it, but you didn't let it keep you down. You know, you decided, I, I could still learn a lot, and I still have some resources to, you know, grow from this experience, right?

I know when I look back now, I'm like, oh my god, I was— that was crazy. Just, I mean, New York City is not an easy city whatsoever. I remember the day I decided to move to California, I had all my samples from my collection, like ready to go, I did production, and I was holding them in my hands and it just started downpouring all over me and all over my samples, and I was like, I'm moving to California. And literally, that was like my moment where I'm like, I can do this, and I know I can do it cheaper there, I know costs will be lower, it'll still be expensive, that's not a cheap city either, but it's better than Manhattan. And I already worked out the costs and everything else, so I moved out, continued my modeling, and was able to get signed in LA and then really went full force in LA.

Yeah, I love that moment. I mean, I could see you on the street, you're holding it, the skies are opening and you're like, this is New York, the universe, you know, higher power telling me it's not your moment.

Yeah, it was not my finest moment. I went home hysterical, called my parents and was like, my complete line is ruined, my samples are destroyed. Obviously the buyers aren't gonna want them now. And I'm like, I still was so passionate, but I'm like, there's got to be an easier way.

Yeah, you know, you were ready to work smarter, not just harder. You know, you had shown yourself that you could work hard, but now it was time to, to attach the savvy to it. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, so you get to LA and you kind of get plugged in there. And when did you start moving from, you know, just selling your own line to, you know, working on and helping?

So I had a great moment, a great first client, and I will always credit them for everything because starting out in modeling, I had modeling clients, right? But it's very hard to prove to someone who just looks at you as, you know, talent or as a model, as, you know, anything that has substance because it's just, you know, you're brought on just to kind of make something look better. And so my first shoe client actually had came to me and said, hey, we wanna do a campaign. We haven't done one in a really, really long time. We'd love for you to be the face, and can you help us out? And I was like, absolutely, sure. And I'm like, well, do you have a photographer? Do you have a stylist? Do you have any of those things? And they're like, we don't really have any of it set up. We'll just, you can do it. And I was like, fantastic. This is like a dream come true for me. And so I was able to hire the photographer, the stylist, the, you know, look at the locations, do all the wardrobe. And I, you know, that was kind of my first test of, you know, can I really do more besides, you know, designing and modeling, and can I kind of put it all together in one package? So I executed that. We did a couple campaigns after that, and I didn't really see the images go anywhere. So I kind of went back to them and I said, well, what are we doing with, you know, this campaign? Where is it going? What's, you know, I kind of did my part, but "I'm not a marketing person," and I wasn't at that time, "so I just feel like we spent a lot of money, what are we gonna do?" And there wasn't really a plan. So I'm like, "Okay, let me pitch you a plan." And I literally pitched to my first client a marketing strategy plan of how to get these photos out and how to generate sales and how to build that emotional, like, emotional connection with the end consumer, and that became my first client.

That's amazing. I love that, that you're just like on the spot. You don't have a plan, Okay, well, how about this? Because it's probably— it sounds like anything is better than what you have, which is zilch. Which is our— no, our plan is to spend a whole lot of money making, you know, a really beautiful styled shoot, and then, you know, build it and they will come. That was the plan. I mean, which is no plan, right?

There's no plan plan. Yeah, no, and they're a fabulous brand, but, you know, they're so— they're very, very sales-driven. And so, you know, marketing wasn't needed for them. They're already established. This is It's kind of like bonus and icing on the cake for them. I was like, but imagine all those other sales we can do if we just kind of can connect to that end consumer. Being completely retail-driven in the big box stores, they're not touching and communicating with the girl who's actually buying the product. I'm like, let's speak to her. Let's find a way. At that time, bloggers were just now coming up, influencers, all that was just starting. I'm very thankful of like I caught on to that trend very quickly and was able to utilize that as like one of my strategies of let's hire influencers, let's hire bloggers because people weren't doing it at that time. So it was new. And let's drive the traffic to our big box stores. Let's create these campaigns, let's run some ads, you know, maybe more industrial magazines, doesn't have to be like Elle or Vogue necessarily. You know, it's crawl before we walk type scenario. Yeah, and it was, you know, that client referred me to another client, and that one referred me to another one. And honestly, a lot of it has really been word of mouth.

Yeah, because when you, when you do a good job in serving your clients, I mean, happy clients are the best referrals. Yeah, yeah, I know that too, you know. I mean, they, they beat out any other thing that you can be doing to put, you know, promote yourself. And that all stuff is all well and good, but at the end of the day, you got to make sure your clients are happy, you know, with the work you do for them.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. So you are getting all of these sirens. What is going on in your neighborhood?

It's the life of Hollywood Boulevard. That's what it is.

That's what happens when I'm talking to like, you know, yeah, West Coast LA girl who's—

No, I mean, it's, it's not that amazing because that's what happens. I'm on a conference call and I'm like, um, let me mute you for a second because you hear the sirens. But I wanted to still feel like I lived in New York, so that's why I kind of chose Hollywood and Vine. I like that.

So you got your high ambient sound, you know. Yeah, you don't feel like you're living in a yoga studio. You didn't go that far to California, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I'm not a true Californian yet. I still have that New York City mentality.

Yeah. Um, well, I love that. Okay, so now that you've kind of transitioned and caught us up to where you are now in PR, um, you know, what do you, um, what do you think is the biggest challenge? And I know this is a broad question, um, what do you think is the hardest thing as you are doing your job in terms of trying to draw pieces together, create that brand story, that marketing plan for people, what's challenging about that?

So I find that a lot of the clients have a hard time understanding the strategy or the vision of it because sometimes it's so far-fetched. Again, like if it's a sales-driven brand who's doing really, really well, sometimes they don't understand why do we need marketing. So sometimes the toughest challenge is really getting the clients to kind of understand your vision for them. Sometimes they come to me and they know exactly what they want and they want me to execute it. But most times they don't know what they want and they don't know what they want until it's done. So it's really one of those, you don't see results immediately. It's not, we put something up today and you get results tomorrow. A lot of the time span is 2 to 3 months to really start seeing the difference. Now something like social media, you can see the difference in maybe content creation or the aesthetic is more clean. That's instant. But to feel and see the growth and the engagement, that takes time. Along with being able to see the sales that are generating from marketing. And sometimes it's very hard to prove that your efforts are actually adding to the bottom line. Unless there's something set up where they know exactly my efforts do equal that, it's really hard to prove what of my efforts worked, and which ones was it that worked? Was it the social media piece? Was it the blogger piece? Was it the celebrity placement piece, it's really hard to kind of figure that out. And I have a challenge with that, and I find a lot of other PR companies do as well. Obviously brands like to say that their product was on a celebrity or this, and that's kind of instant, right? But how much of that actually turned into sales is what's hard to prove. So a lot of my brands have kind of been like, well, all we know is that we've done so much better since you've been on, or our sales have doubled or they tripled. And so if they were going down, we'd have a problem, but they're going up. So I'm like, okay, great. And, you know, I, my clients, I'm very relationship-driven with them. Like, I'm always available. It's not one of those where, you know, you have to schedule a call 3 weeks in advance. Like, I am like your best friend throughout the whole process, explaining and explaining exactly, you know, what we're going to do, how we're going to do it, and really making them feel comfortable about something that might be a little foreign to them.

Gotcha. So, well, it sounds like, you know, you make the client experience, um, a really important part, you know, and making them feel heard and that you guys are a trusted partner. Um, even though, you know, as you said, that's, I mean, that's a challenge for anyone who's working, especially in the influencer marketing spaces, still, you know, us being able to quantify what are we doing and how is it making a difference, especially when some of that is more of the softer brand goodwill ambassadorship stuff, you know, name recognition, which maybe it doesn't translate into a sale right now because maybe your brand is one of those that it's a higher-priced item that needs several, several touch points before someone actually makes a purchase, you know. And it's hard to know how many of those are yours and how many of those are come from someplace else.

Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. And you know, I always tell my clients, I know for me personally and just kind of my peers I often have to see something like 3 or 4 times to get familiar with it if it's a brand that I'm not aware of. And so I always kind of lead with that as well. Like, if I were to see your brand in a magazine, on a blogger, on a billboard, and then mentioned, let's say, in a podcast, I'd be like, oh my God, they're everywhere. But I need to have that comfortability. And so because I am a little bit in the millennial world, I understand that that's how we think. And, you know, we need to be able to see it everywhere because there's a sense of that, like, oh my God, it's there, I want it too. Someone has it, you want it. I was in church the other day and the whole, like, sermon, speech, I'll say speech, was about basically we want what we can't have and we want something when someone else has it. And I'm like, that's kind of true, but we don't think about it that way. If you were to see a pair of shoes, let's say, on a rack in DSW, you may not kind of look twice, but then when you see it on someone who styled it well and they're walking down the street somewhere, you're like, oh my God, that looks so cute, I just saw that shoe, but it didn't look like that, right? You know, so it kind of, it just adds that like emotional connection and adds that impulse purchase.

Definitely. Yeah, it's, it's filling the whole brand story in terms of where the positioning, in terms of what is this brand saying. That's the personification of all that, more than just a product. Yeah, or a service.

Yeah, right. Absolutely.

For sure. Yeah. Um, so when you start with your clients, if they come to you and are don't have maybe as well developed their brand, you know, and they're looking for more of your visionary, you know, in terms of the visual or the aesthetic or content creation, where do you like to start with them? You know, do you do questionnaires? Do you just kind of like to talk about, you know, value? Would you go to the mood boards or Pinterest? I mean, people have different strategies. How do you like to start with clients?

Yeah, I mean, for the most part, a lot will I mean, I like to have more of a one-on-one conversation with them and kind of just have them explain their business, where it is right now, where they want to see it, and what parts are missing and how can I fill in the blanks. So I mean, the biggest services that we have is social media content creation, management, and product placement. So I have a showroom that's basically full of apparel and a lot of shoes, and all of those brands basically I work with, I house their product in my showroom, and then I work with stylists and wardrobe teams on a daily basis to make appointments with them to show them the latest collections so then they can get them on their celebrities or their magazines or their red carpets. So first I really explain my services to them and they kind of explain, you know, what's missing for them, you know, what's the void, and then we kind of figure out from there how can it work. I mean, it really depends. Some are like, okay, we don't need the celebrity piece yet, we really just want to, you know, focus on the social media, so we just focus on that. Some are like, our social media is fine, but we really need to get that buzz. Like, we want to show that we're proven, we want to be on celebrities. And so then we just kind of work out a retainer for that. So it's kind of just a little bit of back and forth. Obviously, I, you know, I give them a proper proposal and things like that, but I won't take on a client if I don't think I can do anything with them. I'm not here just to make the money because they're gonna be frustrated and I'm gonna be frustrated, and my anxiety is already through the roof. For everything. So if I have a client where I feel like I'm really not getting anything for them, I will tell them before they tell me, like, it's not working out. And, you know, there's clients that have low budgets as well, and I will tell them, you know, with a low budget, there are things that you can do that eventually maybe you can set up the foundation and I can take it from there a couple months down the road. Like, a lot of people can handle their social in the beginning. It's just a matter of making it look a little professional. Maybe you don't post every day, you post every other day. You know, maybe you work on Hootsuite and you just spend one day creating the content and putting it up. Because I don't want to take their money if I know it's something they can do. Now if they're like, we don't care about social media, we don't know how to do it, I don't even know how to shoot a picture, I'm like, okay great, I'll do it for you, no problem. But I really try to feel out where their strengths are. Do they have a marketing team internally? Have they always worked with third partners? Do they have a, intern that could be good with something. So I really try to like save them money throughout the process if I can and say, hey, can you delegate some of this responsibility to somebody that's internal or shift their scope of work a little bit more because that will save you money. And when you build up whatever that is, whether it's your press or your social media, then pass it off to me type thing.

Right, gotcha.

And I also work with smaller clients. I just always feel, you know, If they really have a plan that's built out from beginning to end and they understand their finances and they know that marketing comes at the end in a way. It's like the product has to be designed, they have to do some sort of market research, they need to figure out their target market, and then a little bit of sales, and then I feel like marketing kind of comes, I don't want to say at the end, but they really need to think that whole process through. And so I would just hate I remember when I was a designer being on the other end, I got into a showroom right away. I didn't need to be in a showroom right away. I spent so much money being in one and all I got every month was who picked out my outfits but never wore them. So I would get these recaps every month and it'd be like Kim Kardashian pulled your item or Rihanna pulled your item but it never got placed. So I'm like, well that's really exciting but—

It doesn't actually mean anything.

Anything. So I'm like, you know, so being on that end actually helps because, you know, looking back on myself when I was that age, I wish someone would have told me you don't need a showroom yet. Wait till you generate sales. Try to get it, you know, try to get it placed on some celebrities from word of mouth, or you might know someone who knows somebody, or whatever the case is. So I know that I kind of jumped the gun a little bit, and so I try to help that from, you know, smaller brands not jumping the gun so quickly. Yeah, I probably have a good strategy, but I'm just trying to be transparent.

Hey, no, when we I appreciate your honesty. And you know, when you've been on the other side of that, it's hard not to be thoughtful and know— yeah, you don't want to waste anybody's time or money. And again, that doesn't serve anybody when it's not a good fit. So you said, you know, word of mouth. If you were, you know, if you had just designed, you know, a fabulous diaper bag or some other, you know, some other killer product that, you know, was maybe more of like a lifestyle or, you know, a baby brand. That you wanted to start getting more traction on, you know, what would you do knowing now that you have the inroads that you do? What would you do to try to place it and get some buzz?

That's so specific.

You can think of— if you have a dream product that you would maybe do, then we can use that in our hypothetical here.

No, I like the diaper bag.

Yeah.

So the diaper bag wouldn't work to be in the showroom necessarily because a lot of those placements are very like red carpet and more editorial, but I think, I mean, I think a diaper bag could end up in a magazine for sure. So I think the way I would focus on that is I would really make it social media driven, and I really work with a lot of bloggers and influencers, like mommy bloggers, and align the product that way as well. I'd probably do a lot of pop-ups, especially if the brand was interactive, where there's like a lot of pockets, or there's like cool things that you kind of show where you needed to be in person. And like maybe even do some sort of like fashion show type thing could be cool with it. Because I know it's a diaper bag, but I think the idea is like to make it a cool, new, innovative diaper bag is the way that I would want to take it. There's so many like mommy bloggers now, and it's like moms are so cool. And I'm sure we like to think so, you know, hair flip, hair flip. Totally. And so yeah, I mean, I would, depending on the market you're going after, if you were kind of going after that cool mom, then I— that would be a perfect fit for me because those are my relationships. I'm like, I'm kind of aligned with the cool bloggers and the influencers and, you know, things like that, and understanding the aesthetics of social media and how important that is as well. And then I probably would do outreach. So as opposed to you being in the showroom and paying like a retainer fee, I would probably do outreach to very specific editors to try to get that bag in the bag. As well.

That's really smart.

Yeah.

So, and so, I mean, yeah, the, the common theme that I'm hearing here is, you know, it's all about relationships and really recognizing that, um, people like to do business with people they know and they trust and only send them good things, useful things. And they get how, you know, we're all trying to make each other's jobs easier, you know. So when you're working with an editor or a stylist or, um, you know, someone who's trying to fill the pages of Huffington Post or Medium or whatever it is, um,, you got to be thinking about what makes this job easier to them, what's going to be useful for them.

Yeah, exactly. And you know, you said it perfectly. It's, you know, if it's a product I can't do anything with and it's going to discourage me, my stylist, the editors, then it's just nobody wins. You know, the brand is frustrated, I'm frustrated, the stylist is like, I can't do anything with this, the editor is like, sorry, we don't need that. So it's You know, I think there are ways around it as well. I mean, I do consulting as well. So if there was a product that I felt had potential, but it still wasn't, you know, it was still having difficulties, let's say getting the right press or marketing, then we would figure out how can we change this? How can we add some spice to it? How can we add talking points or different elements that, you know, make it super exciting for that next editorial or that next pitch or, you know, whatever the market is looking for at that time.

Yeah, no, I like that. You know, in terms of, you know, just trying to, still keep it fresh and moving it around, you know, so you're looking at different angles, um, yeah, and trying to increase that value for other people. So, um, so when you work with, you know, social media or bloggers, um, of all the different types that we have now, do you— what do you look for when you are on your own trying to go for people to work with? Do you have something that you like to see, or the, the way that you like to be pitched? Um, if you get pitched by people, um, do you have any tips for for those bloggers that we have out here and our listeners?

Well, I mean, on the blogger side, you know, and they've said this before, if it's a brand you want to work with, they, they hope that you have already purchased the product at some point and talked about it organically and, you know, put the obvious hashtags. So then when the brands go and look for that, you know, that blogger pops up under their name. So I mean, that is the most organic way to kind of go about it because you're reaching someone who naturally loves the product and they're not just looking for some money to promote it. Obviously bloggers need to survive, they need to be paid, I totally back that up and appreciate that 100%. But I think that we do have to be careful of like, you know, what we are promoting and if we really are authentic and truly believe in it. And so yeah, from blogger standpoint, I think if you're already creating content around something you love, then I think those companies will come and then you can pitch them afterwards and you could say, hey look, I did a shoot last week and I got this many likes and I got this many followers or this many comments. It was a really great response. I'd love to do it again, you know, maybe with some free product. And then the third time I would then ask for compensation. And that's what I have— I've gotten into the blogger world personally, like myself, just influencing a little bit. And that's what I'll do. So I'll literally do— I'll take a bunch of brands that I personally love. I'll do a shoot around them that I organically like believe in. And then afterwards, once I see the response of it, I'll pitch it to the brand and I'll say, well, this is what I did. There was a really good return. If there's not a good return, then I don't pitch them. And I figure out why wasn't there a good response on that one. And I find that it just works out because everyone's like, oh my god, you actually love the brand. You're not just looking for some money here. And I'll do it free for them the first time, and then the second time I come back around and say, okay, here's my, you know, my rates. This is how it works. And going forward, you know, this is the expectation.

Mm-hmm. I think that's really smart. And then, you know, obviously it's going to be a brand that fits into your aesthetic, it fits into, you know, your voice. Influence and however you've decided on whatever platform that is, whether it's Instagram or YouTube or, you know, whatever it is that you are exerting your influence. No, I think that's a really smart way of kind of building it because you are proving to the brand that you are already deriving value and that it's going to be a good fit, good partnership.

Yeah, absolutely.

Awesome. Very, very cool. So take that tips away. And, you know, it doesn't hurt if you have a beautiful showroom and pretty things to take pictures with. So, and have, you know, just a little bit of modeling experience, just, just a bit.

Yeah, right. It all kind of— yeah, I'm, I'm really grateful for, you know, all of the things that I've been able to do. And although at that time I probably was frustrated, you know, whether it was rain all over my samples or like just being a face and not having a say, but it's— I think it all has got to this point of being able to open up this company because I can speak from those different angles now. And like we've said, it's all relationship-driven and knowing how a blogger might feel or how a model might feel or a designer, I'm really able to sympathize with that when it's needed.

Mm-hmm, gotcha, yeah, which I mean really helps be a more thoughtful person in the industry for sure, knowing the different sides of it. So do you still, do you get nervous about pitching people or approaching people that you maybe don't have a relationship with? Do you have any tips for psyching yourself up, you know, when you have to sometimes make those harder phone calls or in person?

A lot of it is laid out beforehand. Like I said, a lot of it is done— I mean, you have the pitch, right? They say yes to the pitch, and then you kind of break down the entire, entire marketing plan and how long it looks over, you know, how often. So they really know what's going to happen in month 1 and 2, what's going to happen in month 3 and 4, what's going to happen month than 6, and longer contracts as well. So there's really kind of holding their hand and walking them through the process before it even happens so they know what to look out for and they're kind of familiar with it. So I feel like the translation— or the transition, I'm sorry— between going from potential client to client has always been really well. That's when everyone's super excited. They can't wait. And, you know, that's when my anxiety comes in because I'm like, okay, they need to be happy. And we need to make sure that they're happy, you know, throughout the whole contract, not just in the beginning, but all the way through. So I mean, so far I've had really, really great clients and good experiences. And I can tell right off the bat, usually, I mean, I've had one client before where like, we couldn't make it past one month. And it was really just because they couldn't give me the product I needed. So I couldn't do anything. With their brand and the communication was just like, just so off. I mean, every time I tried to call, they weren't available or like their email wasn't working, like weird, bizarre things. So I was the one who I was like, okay, I just, I don't know if I can do anything for you. So if I start feeling those, like I really go with my gut and my instinct right away. And like, I will be the one to say no before they say no to me because I already know what that headache is going to look like.

Exactly. So, um, so as you started building your, um, your business, you know, did you have, um, people that either in person or kind of online or, um, you know, mentors that you were looking for in terms of being, you know, your own business owner and providing your own client-based, um, service, you know, business in this area? Did you have mentors, or especially if there's any women mentors that were, that were really important to you?

I haven't. And I'm frustrated with that because I still want one. I want one right now. Which is funny because at Alt Summit there was a mentor segment and I was like, sign me up because I want one. There's always been aspects of women where I like what they're doing and I believe in it, but I feel like what I'm doing is kind of a little bit scattered but still under one umbrella that it's hard to find one person that's doing that exact thing. I will say, like, I am grateful for— or grateful— I look up to women who are able to transition, no matter what that is, whether it's transition from their day job to being a creative or an entrepreneur, or transition from modeling to business owner, or transition from, you know, any industry to another one is so scary and so difficult. So that's something I really, really admire. And I mean, we have a ton of examples of it. I can't think of it on the top of my head right now, but I mean, I would even say bloggers in general right now. I mean, a lot of them have gone from, you know, having 9-to-5 jobs and then transitioning and being full-time bloggers. And I'm like, that is amazing. And that is so scary and so rewarding for them. Like, I mean, I'm just always like super excited when I hear those type of stories. So I definitely admire that. I just don't have one person in particular, but there's definitely like little bits of people that, you know, I'm completely inspired by women in general and just, you know, we are taking over and I love it.

The future, you know, future is female and all that. Um, yeah, you know, but, but, but I agree with you that it's always inspiring to see. Um, and I think that's really smart what you said in terms of, you know, taking pieces of other people and admiring parts of their story and just, you know, the, the bravery, the courage they are to show up in ways that are meaningful to them. Um, to not be confined about, you know, traditional ways of this is how you have to do this, this is how you have to earn your money, this is how you have to move in your careers. Um, because you know, it's, it's a brave new world. It's 2018 and you know, people are full-time YouTubers now, you know, who make funny videos. I mean, that's a real gig for some people. That's all they do and they're fabulous at it. So, um, yeah, I think you're right that you shouldn't limit yourself too much. Um, in terms of what your potential can be.

Yeah, and I wanted to talk about Alt Summit for a second because I think what I loved about that so much is it was a bunch of women entrepreneurs who at one point or another, like, we don't really have a job title. And I think that's amazing because like when I try to explain to people what I do sometimes, they're like, well, what is that? And I'm like, there's, I mean, I do have a title for it, but I struggled with that for a while. I used to be, you know, people ask me, what do you do? And I'm like, I do social media and then I model and sometimes I do this and I do that. I'm like, oh my God, I look like a crazy person trying to conquer the whole world. So I'm like, okay, I opened up AMPR and all of those side jobs became services, you know? And then for me and my mind, I was able to comprehend also like, okay, like I felt like I was just all over. One day I was a stylist, one day I was a blogger, and one day I was like, designing, and it kind of tore me apart because I'm like, who am I? Like, I felt like I had no identity away because I was like all over the place. But what's great is I feel like— but what's great is I feel like those different career choices now don't have to have titles, and they're still now recognized and people are, I mean, that's their full-time job. It's not their side hustle anymore. It's their real job. And so it was really cool because meeting all those girls at Alt Summit, I didn't even know a lot of these like quote careers existed. I was like, oh my God, you can do that all day and make a living off of it? And I felt like when my parents would talk to me and they're like, wait, you do what? And you actually make a living off of it? That was like me asking the girls at Alt Summit. So it was just eye-opening that really you can make anything your own and make anything your business if you're passionate about it passionate enough about it.

Yeah, no, I, I totally agree with that. So I think it's— yeah, it's, it's really helpful to start, um, yeah, do collaborating more, meeting in person, you know, if you can, meeting online if you can't, people, because it does open your eyes that there's, um, you know, there's a lot of creative, talented people out there who are finding ways to give value to other people. And, um, although it might make hard to— when they have to do their business cards, um, oh wow. You know, oh well, like, you know, if it's meaningful to them and they're doing a good job at it and they're helping other people, then, um, you know, I say move forward, move forward with it.

Or have 5 different— with 5 different titles.

Exactly. Yeah, alternate, alternate branding strategy. So, um, yeah. All right, well, I wanted to, um, I wanted to kind of wrap up with— I like to kind of have some, you know, hard little tips, you know, some pithy tips at the end, because I know, um, sometimes it's really helpful after listening even to a podcast that talked about lots of different things to be like, okay, now what are my takeaways? What am I actually gonna do with this information? So I kind of wanted you to talk about maybe some promotion mistakes that small brands make. If a person is unfortunately not at the point right now where they can hire someone brilliant like you who can do all these amazing things, if they're still running this kind of promotion game on their own, what's kind of the 4 top mistakes that maybe you see people making that they should avoid?

I think that people really have to come up with a business plan that has a lot of financials involved in it, and it doesn't have to be for anybody else but yourself. It's just something to kind of keep yourself on track and something to kind of go back to and keep you in your lane. I find a lot of people kind of like, you know, get super excited about whatever they're creating and they want to go straight to PR and straight to marketing and straight to you know, whatever the case is. And it's, you know, by the time they get to that point, they ran out of money because it wasn't thought through all the way. So, you know, my biggest tip would just really be like, make an internal business plan with your financials as well. And it doesn't have to be this crazy extensive thing. It can be on Microsoft Word. And it's just kind of like, this is what my business looks like in the next 6 months. And these are the elements I need in it. And this is how much I have for each one. And even if you don't have if you don't have that money yet, I mean, you can take your full-time job and try to budget that. Put yourself on a budget. Don't go out as much. Don't dine. Get your groceries. And you can really rearrange something enough if you want it. And I know that everyone may not have that luxury, but I'm saying even if you have a job, minimum wage, somehow I think there might be a way to save even $10 a month, whatever the case is. But you have to be practical as well. If you're trying to build some crazy business and you can only save a little bit per day, maybe that's a business you save for later and you kind of start smaller. A lot of times when I've had— I'm thinking about a new business plan right now. I have the crazy extensive, like I'm going to need so much money to do it, and then I have the one that can kind of like a little bit start tomorrow, but it's not going to be as grandiose and it's not going to be as amazing. So it's like these two little business plans that I have, and one's crazy and one's kind of like, I can hopefully do it.

It's the bare-bones version, but yeah, you know, it's a place to start.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know, you know your starting point.

Mm-hmm. And make sure there's a byline in there for legal. So shameless, shameless pitch, but make sure that you are thinking about, you know, what needs to go on your website and your contracts and If you have a name that you absolutely love and would just die if someone else took it, then we should probably get that protected so that doesn't happen. Right.

Yeah, probably trademark that.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah. And that's really— that is really, really, really important. And I feel like sometimes that's something that I have skipped over in the past, so we probably should talk after this off of the podcast. Yeah. Um, and it's important, and that is something that you should put in your budget as well, is, you know, you have to stay protected and you have to understand that Sometimes that's the thing that you forget about because you get so wrapped up that you don't even think like, oh, someone could have taken that name, or I should have trademarked that, because you're just so caught up in being a new business owner. All those things need to be taken into fact. Speaking to other people that have done it, I mean, really, yes, networking is great, but I also think if you're going to network, go to wherever that place is with 3 people in mind that you want to meet and exchange business cards. Really strategize your networking. Don't just go there and kind of hope someone is gonna stumble upon you. Go and do your research and find some common denominator between you and that person, whether it's similar hometown or you both know so-and-so, whatever the case is, to have an easy intro when you meet them. And then you just have to put your alter ego on if it's hard to kind of approach people and just do it. You just have to do it.

Yeah, you just, you know, you follow the 5-second rule, you know, whatever you need to, but just put one step in front of the other and just start talking. Start talking. It's scary.

I still have, you know, issues with that at times where I'm like, just go talk to them, it's not that big of a deal. But I find if I'm not rehearsed a little bit and I didn't study them, that's when I get intimidated. As soon as I look them up a little bit, I see what they're about, I'm like, they're just human like us as well. And I feel more confident because I know I can crack a joke about something. But it's really— if you don't really do your research, I think that's when you can become a little bit intimidated by these type of opportunities that can happen.

Mm-hmm.

I think that's— that's really smart advice. So, okay, so I like that, you know, have a business plan, have a, you know, a networking plan, a relationship plan, especially if you're gonna have the opportunity to do something in, in person, or if not, online. I mean, the same principles apply in terms of do some homework, know a little bit about about someone and be able to ask, you know, interesting questions or crack a joke or have something that makes it sound like, you know, you're not sending a form email because we've all gotten those and, you know, that's, that's straight to the, to the trash bin, guys. So don't, don't waste your— don't waste your time, your sends with that.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, do you have one more, one more tip to finish out with us?

Yes, um, I would say balance is also key. So, you know, with all of this, you know, being an entrepreneur and everything else, it's so easy to crash and burn. It is so easy to get exhausted and lose all your energy and become numb to, you know, everything that's going around about you. And so, like, personally, like, I'm working on self-care and, like, self-love, and I'm having to do meditation I've never done in my life and go to yoga and literally make sure I get 3 meals in a day no matter what. And it gets so caught up that you just don't think about it, and it's not It's not worth sacrificing your health because you cannot do anything without your health. Me, I struggle with a little bit of stress and anxiety, so I have to figure out what is that outlet to make that better for me. I think balance is key, whatever that means to you, whether it's doing something social once a week to just get out there and not think about business, whether it's family time, whether it's reading a book, whatever that is, I think it's so, so, so important.

That's awesome. No, I think those are all really great tips and all things that, you know, they, they sound cliché that we need to hear them, but here's the thing, we all need to hear it and we need to hear it again and again because, um, like we said, it takes all of us as humans, especially now, we got to hear it a lot of times before we really start believing it and, um, and making it a habit until it's a practice. And then, you know, it can really make a difference in our lives because you're right, if we don't take care of ourselves, then how can we expect to be doing any of the things that we want to serving the people we want to serve, being there for the people that we love, we just can't do it.

So, oh, I know. And yeah, you're so right. Like, those are clichés. When I used to hear them, I'd like eye roll, but now I'm like, no, they were so right. It just— I was too stubborn to take it in. I mean, I would hear meditating for years. I'm like, I'm gonna meditate? Like, that's crazy. And then today I'm like, oh my god, I did it for 4 minutes, and I'm so excited. I got through 4 minutes. But yeah, it's cliché, but it's true. You just, you really have to do it.

It's true. So, all right, well, if people want to know more about you and what you do, and I'm sure they do, where can they find you? How can they connect with you?

On social media, of course. Instagram, it's Ashley.Michelson. And then my website is AshleyMichelson.com, but I'm going to be switching that around. So I'm actually launching a blog myself in August. So you'll be able to kind of get to know more of me and less of the business Ashley. Very fun.

AshleyMichelson.com. Okay, well, thanks so much, Ashley, for joining us today. It was a pleasure to have you.

Great, thank you so much.

Wasn't that so great to have Ashley on? I think it's so fascinating just to hear the different things that people are doing in the creative fashion world, the promotion world. And even though I am a PR girl myself, got my undergrad in public relations, I had no idea that that was the way that red carpet showrooms and getting product on celebrities. I didn't know that that was the way that works, and I love that Ashley shared a little bit of insight into that world, but also kind of spoke to some of us who were not in that world and probably might not ever be in that world, and yet we could take advantage of a lot of the lessons that she's honed and been able to bring some of those disciplines together of promoting yourself, of being business savvy and strategic. You know, making your social look professional, batch processing, writing out a business plan, you know, what else did she, you know, talk about? Getting out there and just meeting people. Don't hide behind your computer, you know, make the tough conversations and the introductions and get out there and be a people, you know, a real face that people can interact with. Because people are not interested in your products and they're not interested in your service, they're interested in you and they're interested in what problem you're solving. And so the more you can hone in on that, then I really think you're gonna be able to build a successful brand and do whatever it is that you want to do. Also, nice shout out about the self-love and the balance. And certainly we all know that those are important things, that if we don't take care of ourselves, if we don't put that oxygen mask on first, then it makes it really hard to take care of other people. And, you know, we'll find ourselves drawing on an empty well, which does does nobody any good. So, you know, cute sunset motivational posters aside, take care of yourself, okay? And make sure that you're not burning the candle on both ends and that you're hustling and hustling to what end? You know, make sure that those goals that you have, that there is a purpose to them. You know, I want to make this amount of money this year because— why? Is it because you want to travel? Is it because you want to spend more time with your loved ones? You know, be thoughtful about what your goals are. And if the way that you're achieving them is actually the easiest way or the best way, and most successful way to actually get to the end goal behind it. Because for most of us, I know, the money is actually not what it's about, you know, money is energy, and it's other things, you know, we want to serve people, we want to reach more people. We want experiences or a certain lifestyle. For ourselves or our loved ones or employees or something else. So, um, so just dig deep there. You know, those are some of my takeaways as I was listening, relistening this episode. Um, if you want more resources from me, sign up for my newsletter, brittanyrotell.com/newsletter, and you'll get a free legal checklist that kind of gives you a bird's eye view of some things that you might need to be thinking about for your business. Um, also tune into my feed on Instagram and you'll get some tips there. If you're listening to this on Friday, you have a few more hours to jump on and enter my free trademark giveaway. I'm giving away a free trademark, okay? It's a $1,000 value, um, at least is where my trademark packages start. So I will take care of the government fees. I will give you the full white glove client service that I usually offer to all of my entrepreneurs, um, for whoever the winner is. So enter in on that post on Instagram. You'll see it's a hot pink post, um, and you can tag friends for different, for additional entries. And other news and actions, if you can leave a podcast review, I'd really, really appreciate it. I read all those reviews, they make my day, and they make it easier so other people can find this podcast. So I know that there are other hustling entrepreneurs out there, people who have their side gigs getting going or maybe have gotten going and would love to have some more inspiration. And and tips, things right in their ears as they're going about their busy days to try to get them excited and moving forward and whatever they need to in their business. And whether that's a business issue or a legal issue, to have some, some tips and tricks and have someone in their corner who's rooting for them. So that's what I hope to be here and build here is to help build more confident female entrepreneurs. That's my whole shtick. So if you can help me accomplish that mission, maybe share this episode with a friend. Friend, or if there's another one that you've listened to that you think, oh, you know what, I should— there's someone who would probably really appreciate that or would find it really useful. Please just share it with a friend, you know, send it directly from the app, whatever it is you're listening to, or screenshot it or send a text message or share on your social to those that follow you and are interested in what you're learning and digging. I'd really, really appreciate it. And, and leave a review if you can. I know it takes a few minutes, but, um, I really appreciate it and it lets other people find the podcast. So thanks so much for being here, supporting, um, Law and Wit Creative Council for Entrepreneurs. Um, I hope that you are owning your business in every sense of the word because you are a true business owner, and I will catch you on the flip side.

Thanks.