Ashley Strong is a beach-loving, nature wandering, gym obsessed mother of two and the wife of a completely grounded Firefighter. Outside of her totally “normal” family life, Ashley is an intuitive teacher, psychic medium, and mindset coach for those who are seeking to further understand their own intuitive nature, how to heal themselves on a soul level, and how to manifest the life of their dreams.
Ashley has had these gifts since she was a child but didn’t accept them as reality until her early 20’s. The day Ashley set her intention to get happy and to understand who she was, was the day that everything changed. She learned more about herself in a few short months than all of her years. Her life was changed forever and for the better!
Ashley thrives on a morning routine that starts with gratitude journaling, yoga, meditation, a trip to the gym. She believes in love and mindset over everything and helps people transform their lives and attitude towards life daily! She takes the woo-woo out of spirit connection and strives to bring Spirituality back down to Earth for all to understand and embody.
Welcome Ashley, can you introduce yourself to us?
Thank you so much for having me! My name is Ashley Strong, and I am the owner and blogger behind LightLoveandSpirit.com, a website for all things spiritual understanding, self-evolution, and intuitive development.
I got started with what I call self-evolution after battling a lifetime of depression. My depression was due to lifestyle choices, programs from childhood, and (though I didn’t know it at the time) my undeveloped intuitive gifts.
Over the years, I had experienced many unexplainable instances involving spiritual messages, dreams of deceased loved ones, and feelings of being watched. It became so overwhelming! I tried self-medicating, ignoring it, and at one point had almost deemed myself crazy.
One day I was talking to my best friend about the dreams of a deceased friend I had been having. She told me that she had always known I had a “gift” and didn’t understand how I didn’t know this about myself! Ha! My friend recommended I learn about mediumship but in a safe way. She also told me I needed to get myself into a more elevated mental state before that could happen.
After I hung up the phone, I looked at the ceiling and said, “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but I am willing to do this. The first time you scare me, I am done. I am ready to be happy, I just need your help.” I had no idea who I was talking too!
After that, everything happened so quickly! I started learning more about myself as a person, the patterns I had, and for the first time, I saw how negative my thinking and language were. I dedicated every moment of my life to getting happier and healthier. As I did, my intuitive gifts surfaced so quickly!
I was a 24-year-old newly married mother going through a massive awakening and honestly, a personality shift. It was all for the better, but it rocked my world at the time. I became unfamiliar to most people around me. Even though I loved who I was becoming, I was so unfamiliar to myself!
So, I started a blog! I just started documenting my experiences and what I was learning along the way. To be honest, I didn’t think anyone was even reading it. I even used an alias for a while! Shortly after the blog started, I received emails from readers asking me to help them develop their gifts, so I did!
Eventually, I started giving readings and taking regular coaching clients after my 9-5 and putting my son to bed. I had no intention of developing a business. Still, within 7 months, I left my corporate job to become a fulltime intuitive development and self-evolution coach!
What is a typical day like for you?
I love my days now! Seriously, they are exactly what I used to journal about before this was ever my reality! I usually wake up around 5:30 AM, have a quick meditation, go to the gym, come home, get the kids ready, and get myself ready. Once everyone is off to school and daycare, I have another longer meditation and then start my workday!
I think that batching work is an important tool for staying consistent and in the right energy. So, 3 days a week, I am doing back to back coaching calls, whether its mindset coaching, transformational coaching, or intuitive work. Then the other 2 days, I am doing creative or admin work! My schedule has been a bit different since COVID started, but I think overall, I’ve handled it pretty well.
As we are all now navigating through a difficult time post-COVID-19 Lockdown, how are you finding the situation?
Oh man, I’ve had my ups and downs just like everyone else, but overall I’ve found it a very interesting time. Here’s the thing I practice what I teach, and if I am going to teach people to transmute fear and lack, then I have to do the same, right?
When all of this started, I promised my community and my clients that I would hold a light for them. If they were scared, I would be here to help them see the bigger picture. If they were anxious, I was going to help them rise above it, and if they needed peace, I would help them reach for it.
I’ve had my days; don’t get me wrong. It’s important to sit with our feelings and become comfortable with being uncomfortable so that we can release it. If we choose to, as some say, “spiritual bypass” what s going on around us, it just shoves it deeper down. So I’ve been doing a lot more meditating and using a technique I teach that helps look from a higher perspective.
What I have learned through all of this is presence and patience (something that I’ve needed to work on for a while!). I’ve found gratitude in the slower-paced lifestyle and realized there is no point in rushing all around. It has been a chance to notice that we spend so much time paying for these homes that we never get to spend time in, and now we are able to.
It’s been a chance to really reconnect with family and neighbours and actually pick up the phone and have a conversation. Sure, it’s a different time and, for some, very scary, but there is always something to be grateful for. Always.
In my darkest moments, I’ve cried for those who are hurt, scared, and in lack. I’ve cried for the kids that need socialization and how domestic violence and depression rates are rising. It’s a real thing. It pushes me to show up even more for all that I can those in the community or a stranger on the street.
Who is the most influential female entrepreneur that you admire, and why?
I’ve got so many! The cliche’ answer is obviously going to be Oprah for all of the obvious reasons! My next choice would 100% be Amanda Frances. I started following her about a year ago and was amazed at her mindset when it came to business because it the exact same set of rules that I follow…my own. What she teaches when it comes to business and how I have run my business from day one goes against almost everything most business coaches, bloggers, and entrepreneurs will tell you.
I do things when they feel good and most of the time. If those things don’t feel good, I either don’t do it or find a way that aligns with my energy. Amanda has built a multi-million dollar company by just showing up authentically and being herself. When I do this, I thrive in all areas. When I try to do it “their way,” my income drops 50% (not kidding), my vibe lacks, and I get super stressed out.
Amanda says to “let it be easy” and to let your work and your money work for you. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to hear this. I had always felt like I was doing it wrong or could be doing it better if I just did the things that work for other business owners. That was just a story! For me, it’s all about energy, and when my energy is in alignment so is my business!
When I tried to do what the more structured and seasoned online coaches do, my income dropped by 50%! I was told, “just hang in there. It will all even out just watch.” It never did. I kid you not, the day I decided I was done with “their way,” everything changed. I went back to writing casual emails, putting my true energy back into my offers, and giving heartfelt content at the moment, and my income increased by 117% from where I was at the year before.
Amanda is a badass who knows that money is just energy. She is authentic, shares what is on her heart, and she doesn’t care if people aren’t aligned because she knows the right work will always reach the right people.
This is how I live my life and run my business. When I found Amanda and heard her philosophy, it was like I finally had permission to do things my way and thrive in that energy! It’s what I teach too!
What is a solid tip that can help other young female entrepreneurs looking to build their own business?
Trust yourself and trust the universe; plain and simple. I left my corporate job to be a medium, for crying out loud! I had to trust, or I wasn’t going to make it. If you have been guided, follow it. If you have something on your heart that no matter how hard you try to push it away, it keeps coming up, just go for it.
If you have the drive and you dedicate yourself and decide, it will work, then it will. It has too. I left my job almost 5 years ago with 3 months salary saved and a website that I taught myself to build. Oh, and I left in November, not the best time.
The thing is, I followed the signs. I listened to my body when I felt like I was walking into the wind daily at my corporate job. I’ve always known I was meant to teach and to help, but I didn’t know how that would ever look. Now I work with people around the world, helping them to shift perspective, get happier, and live a more divinely led lifestyle. It’s freaking beautiful, but if I didn’t just trust, it would have never happened for me.
What has been the most challenging yet rewarding barrier you faced, and how did you overcome it whilst building your career?
You would think that the whole mediumship/intuitive thing would be it, but it wasn’t. Probably because I just decided from the beginning that I was unapologetic about who I was. The most challenging thing has actually been running a website because I had no training in running, building, or maintaining a website. I overcame it by just deciding that it was going to work (that is clearly how I get most things accomplished, haha!)
I remember one day before I left my job, I was so frustrated that I was almost in tears. My husband suggested that I “take a break for a while with the website building because it seems to be too much.” He didn’t mean to, but it really set me off, and I am glad it did!
At that moment, I felt a rush of energy inside me that said I couldn’t stop. I felt like it was my mission to get the website (not just blog) up and running because it was what I had to do. So I just taught myself via google and youtube!
I am by no means a master coder, but I like to think I know my way around WordPress pretty well now, and if not, there is always tech support! Ya girl isn’t ashamed to ask for help!
Can you tell us which 3 marketing tools are your most preferred and how they support your everyday business functionality?
Pinterest is, by far, my biggest tool and a massive blogger secret. Since day one, I’ve been posting my content on Pinterest, and I get most of my traffic from there second is organic.
The second tool I use publishing tools like tailwind/Hootsuite. It is so important to make sure you have content consistently cycling through, so these come in handy vs. trying to post daily! My last tool is definitely my email list, but like I said, not generic emails. I tried that because I was told to, and it didn’t work for me. I do have blog posts and many emails scheduled out about a month to two months in advance, but my energy is all over those emails. You’re hearing about my life, you’re getting helpful content inside those emails, and you’re hearing from the real me.
Plus, if I feel like hopping on one day and saying hi, you’re going to get those too. As I said, I like to keep it real and authentic, so like last week, I wanted to give a tool for managing anxiety, so I made a video, put it in an email and on youtube, and blasted it out. The feedback was amazing!
What support networks do you personally love and can recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs out there to become part of?
I think it really depends on your niche, but I always loved different Facebook groups. To be honest, though, a few years ago, a colleague asked me to be on her weekly call with her mastermind friends. I was so nervous! They were across the country, and I had never met any of them.
We started talking as a group and supported each other with business and then life. We still are all in a group chat today and actually just had a zoom call to catch up recently. They are some of my closest friends and colleagues.
How are you working on your own personal development?
I am always working on it, currently, my focus has been on observing myself in action. I teach this to develop your intuition and to heal, but I’ve been taking it a bit next level. I’ve been working to watch myself, my thoughts, and even my reactions in all moments.
For example, noticing how things trigger me. Instead of “working through it,” I have been asking myself to just feel it and remain open. I try to look at things on a larger scale and ask how this will actually affect me long term. Most of the time, it won’t at all!
The point is to try to set myself free from the expectations and ideas of others. To just live my life in a joyous state and not be afraid to feel what comes up for me!
It’s also changed the game for picking out an outfit! Ladies, instead of asking “what will he like,” or “what is best for this occasion,” just ask yourself, “what do I want to wear today? What makes me feel like the badass that I am? What do I feel most confident in right now?” Then watch how quickly you pull the best outfit together! Life is so much easier when you’re not worried about being judged all the time!
How are you looking to grow and expand throughout the rest of the year?
Honestly, I am looking to serve more for the rest of this year. That is my entire plan, how and who can I serve? I think we are all being pushed to reflect inward and do our own work right now, and I want to support people through that. This is what I was put here to do! To help people shine through the darkness, and I am committed to it wholeheartedly.
To do that, I am, of course, trusting that the universe and spirit will lead me to where I need to be and put me in front of who needs me. I also have an amazing team that is helping expand my social media presence, and I am showing up more on video, something I had resistance to for a long time. But… I was guided to do weekly Facebook Lives, so I am stretching and showing up so that I can serve more!!
Thank you so much for having me!
Instagram: @light_love_and_spirit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Light-Love-and-Spirit-243095672705553
Website: LightLoveandSpirit.com
