The People Who Help Me Do It All

The People Who Help Me Do It All Hopes and Dreams by ashleyg To keep with this weeks Help Theme, I wanted to put together a post of all of the amazeballs people and products who have helped me run my business, in the hopes that my way can help you figure out your way! Because really, a big huge piece of how I can do all that I do is that I ask for â€" and receive â€" help in various ways. Of course, just because certain platforms and coaches and freelancers work for me doesn’t mean it’ll work for you, so while wholeheartedly endorse everything mentioned below, don’t take it as a given that it’s the right solution for your needs. A P.S. before the end of the post: I realized that this post would be the longest evah, so Im gonna talk about my helpful peeps today and the kick-ass platforms/products tomorrow! Aw yeah. For website design: Rebecca Pollock Thank the Heavens Above for my husband working in advertising with the one and only Bekky Pollock. He recommended her to me when I was looking to have a super-professional-yet-playfully-fun site in the summer of 2009, still a full-time Corporate America drone but a recent life coaching certificate grad. Having a website I could be proud of was one of the ways I knew I could leave my job effectively, and Bekky delivered it painlessly, easily, and in a way that makes me look reeeeeeal good. For website building: Brian Perry Brians a former client of mine whos a one-month Corporate America escapee (and almost a first-time Dad!), and hes busy with moving my site from html (which is a pain in my husbands balls, as hes the one to update it and I torture him about it constantly) to WordPress. Hes the type of upstanding guy you trust with scary things like your website passwords and full access to your blog, and you know that hes gonna deliver what he promises. Hes also an uber-talented designer, so I recommend him for web design gigs, too. For time management coaching: Thekla Richter Ive been meeting with Thekla monthly for the past year or so, and she always helps me screw my head on straight and take approximately 10 tons of weight off of my shoulders after every session. Ive always struggled with time management and Im still working my way through the beginnings of being a full-time Woman of the World (aka entrepreneur), and Thekla has helped me experiment to find my own systems that work best for me. For virtual assisting: Jess Larsen A practicing doula as well as a virtual assistant, its easy to see why Jess started her VA business on the platform of self-care something that spoke to me right away, and allowed me to see how beneficial it would be to partner with her. Before we even started working together, I asked to interview her for my blog and we became fast friends, Renaissance Souls united. Because of her, Ive finally started trusting someone else with my baby (aka my biz!), and thats Huge (yes, capital H!). Shes also ridiculously  knowledgeable  and always helps me take my often-complicated-for-no-reason processes and streamline into the ridiculously easy. For graphic designing and illustrating: Jess Swift Jess is my Declaration of You partner-in-crime, the woman who made my rhyming career change workbook not make me look like a crazy person, and a lady I hope to one day live with Golden Girls style (along with our husbands, of course). Her style is super recognizable, yet shes able to mold it to what it is youre promoting a workbook, a blog banner, a business card, a logo you name it, she does it, and with her own artistic flair. Plus, youre gonna wanna own everything she sells. Youve been warned. For Press Representing: Brass Knuckles Media I decided to work with Shennandoah for very important, grown-up reasons: she was recommended to me by a client, her company name kicked ass, and she talked about Stephanie Tanner in a blog post. I emailed her right away. Thankfully, not only was she the quirky-cool chick I expected her to be, but she was super-duper  knowledgeable  about PR and all that went along with it. Since we started working together in January, shes pitched me to dozens of outlets, acted as my tour guide in Austin during SXSW (I met so many people!), has me guest posting up a storm, and got one of my articles approved for the May issue of a print magazine (details to come!). For logo-ing and branding: nbcreative When I found Nicole on an Etsy search way back towards the end of 2008, I stepped in s***. For $200, I got my logo, a double-sided business card, letterhead, notecards and a blog banner. That package is $229 now (note to Nicole: raise your rates, woman! ), and honestly, I cant think of a better investment for a new business. I shudder to think what When I Grow Up would be without Nancy the Ballerina Nurse and Bruce the Strumming Businessman, and I have Nicole to thank for that. I also wanted to give props to people I havent directly worked with, but who I recommend regularly because they are awesomesauce with a shot of amazeballs. You can call on any of these peeps for the services I list before their name and know youre getting some great work from a great person to work with. Virtual Assistance: Your Creative Ally Design (Web, Graphic, and/or Otherwise): Perfect Laughter, Everything Little Miss,  Apples and Orange, Tara Sroka Coaching (they all have different niches, so it depends on the type of coaching youre looking for): Tiffany Moore, Kylie Springman, Anne Hubben, Tracy Brisson, Laura Simms, Monica McCarthy, Cairene MacDonald (Im currently in her Incubator), Molly Mahar, Kate Swoboda, Juliana Finch, Laura Neff, Cassandra Rae. Jamie Ridler, Dawn Trautman and Kira Sabin. Copywriting/Branding: Alexandra Franzen, Shenee Howard And I cant end this post without giving props to my man, my Mom, my bestie, and my tribe. I get so much goodness thrown my way, I cant take full credit for anything I do and thats a good thing. Dont forget to come back tomorrow to hear about the products/platforms/resources that help me every day/sometimes/one-time-but-it-meant-a-lot! **********************************************************************************************