A L E R T ! ! ! H U G E N E W S

Hey all!

So I have been blogging for quite a while now.  I started a youtube channel some years ago but was just never happy with it (watch video below to see why).  Here is my brand spanking new channel and my first video on it!!  I hope you like it, I am so excited about it and everything I have planned!!  Check it out!!

Ashly xxx

5 Top Tips for Success

Up until a couple of years ago I didn't realise that there is a formula for success.  Success has a touch, feel and smell.  If you study any of the greatly successful men and women there are a few things you will hear over and over again that they relate their success to. 

1. Follow your dreams

If you are going in to business, be passionate about what you are going to do.  This will get you through the tough times.  Success is hard, it takes blood sweat and tears, if you aren't in love with what you do it will be all to easy to quit when the going gets tough.

2. Get Comfortable With the word 'No'

Not everybody will want the service or product you have to offer, and thats ok.  Sometimes no doesn't mean never and it is more often that not, not personal.  Take the emotion out of it and get comfortable with hearing the word no.  You will also have to be ok with saying no yourself, apparently women find this harder to say than men.  Practice makes perfect!

3. Be Persistent

Success takes stamina, patience and a massive amount of persistence.  There are hundreds of stories of successful people who had to hear 'no' or got things 'wrong' before they succeeded, but they persisted and that persistence paid off.   The secret.. never give up.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas.

 

In one of Fred Astaire's first screen tests, an executive wrote: "Can't sing. Can't act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little.

 

While developing his vacuum, Sir James Dyson went through 5,126 failed prototypes and his savings over 15 years.

 

4. Wake Up Early

It is no coincidence that successful people wake up early.  Research actually shows that early risers tend to be happier and more pro active.  Starbucks' President Michelle Gass wakes up at 4:30 every morning and goes running. Vogue editor Anna Wintour is on the tennis court by 6 every morning before work. Square ceo Jack Dorsey is up at 5.30am to meditate and go for a 6 mile jog.  There is even a book about it "What the most successful people do before breakfast".

5. Set Goals

"The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score" - Bill Copeland.  Goals propel you forward, having a goal written down means you are 80% likely to achieve it, a goal in your head has only an 8% chance of success.  The more specific your goals the better.  This is a great article with a more in depth look at goal setting.

I hope you found this useful.  What are your top tips? Do you agree with these?

Ashly xx

Procrastination killing your success?

There is no bigger killer of success than procrastination or lack of motivation.  You make lists but don't complete them.  There just seems to be so much to do before you can get round to your actual task... sound familiar?

The sad truth is, if you don't have motivation all you will ever have are dreams and goals with no successful outcome and you will continue to procrastinate.

In the past I have found it difficult to motivate myself.  Whether it is getting up in the morning to workout when you just wanna turn that darn alarm off and get back under those warm covers, or something as seemingly simple as writing an email.   It appears procrastination is everywhere at times.

So here are some fantastic ways I use to motivate myself that always work!!

1. Work out why? Have vision

You have to know WHY you are doing something.  What is your motivation? What will you gain from completing your task/goal.  This is necessary for the times when you really want to give up. Remind yourself of this why, it will spur you on.  Be as specific as possible with your 'why'.  This is where the vision comes in.

Create a vision board (use pinterest if you like) put on there what you want the outcome of your task/goal to be.  Want to loose weight? add pictures of the bodies you aspire to have, the food you want to eat, the clothes you will wear.  Want to have a successful business? Pin pictures of the car you want, the home, the holidays you will go on.  It is all about being specific, what colour of bikini will you wear? What colour will your new car be?

Put pictures up around the house to remind yourself of your vision.  When I feel really low, I simply work on my 'vision boards'.  This always gets me excited and motivated again.

Visualisation is no joke when it comes to success and motivation.  How many times have you heard somebody successful talking about how they imagined themselves in the position they are now years previously? When Jim Carey was broke and a 'nobody' he would visualise himself getting acting roles.  He even wrote himself a cheque for $10,000,000 for 'acting services rendered', he dated it thankgiving 1995 and put it in his wallet and kept it there.  Just before that date he got the role in Dumb and Dumber and found out he was going to make $10,000,000.

2. Be Positive  

"Research shows happiness increases productivity and makes you more successful"

 So lets get happy! Sit down with a pad of paper and take 15 minutes to make a list of 10 successes in your life, big or small.  It can be anything from winning a race at your school sports day to getting a new job.  Whatever it is, the thought you create when remembering the event will trigger positive feelings.

When you wake up in the morning try listing (in your head or on paper) 5 people you are grateful for in your life.  Try playing an upbeat song that makes you jump up and dance around. 

Think about it... what is going to make you want to get up and get on with your day, thinking about how you've done nothing and you are a waste of space or being positive and feeling like you are on the right track?

3. Feel the Fear & do it anyway!

Are you procrastinating because you are afraid? Maybe you are afraid to fail or afraid to succeed. Either way fear is something that holds everyone back at one time or another.

I see many quotes about not being afraid, but the truth is fear is always going to be there. So instead of trying 'not to be scared' which I believe is virtually impossible, or waiting until you are 'not afraid' anymore.  You have to feel the fear and do it anyway.  Understand that anything new will probably make you feel anxious, nervous or afraid but you can't let that stop you.

After all nothing great was ever accomplished from staying within our comfort zones.  If you feel nervous or afraid, that is a good thing! It means you are growing, that you are stretching yourself!  So go out there and just get it done!!!

I hope this helped a little. 

I would love to hear any tips on how you motivate yourself

Ashly x

Thinking of giving up on your dream?

The other day I randomly started chatting to a younger girl (18ish).  She told me about her hopes to be a fashion designer.  She spoke about the brands she loved, the colours, fabrics, her passion shone through immensly, practically bursting out of her veins.  It was so refreshing.  However, she then went on to tell me sadly all the reasons she wouldn't ever 'make it'.  "It is so competitive", "I live all the way up in Scotland, it all happens down south", "I don't have all the money to invest", "there is always somebody better".  As I sat and listened, I began to realise all these reasons were not actually her own, they had come from others.  And in fact were making her quite sad.

We spoke for about an hour.  I told her about my own experiences in fashion, in the end she promised to never give up and follow her dreams.  I gave her my email address and said "email me when you've made it".

This conversation resonated so much with my own experiences.  It is funny how the most random of meetings between people can mean so much.

I wondered how many of us give up on our dreams because of the thinking of others?  So many times people told me I couldn't.  You can't make it as a model, you can't live in London, you can't be successful on your own...  instead of taking on these thoughts as my own, I used it as amunition to prove them wrong.


You see I belive we all have that small flame inside,  call it passion, your dreams. What ever it is,  it's there for a reason.

Ever since I was small I've had a passion for entrepreneurship, it fascinated me. I would make peppermint icing animals, selling them outside my house. I set up stalls in my lane selling old toys, persuaded my mum to take me to car boot sales. I would often save my lunch money up so that I could buy something I really wanted. 

This passion branched in to the fashion industry and building my own business' through trial an error, mostly error.  When modelling I would question the photographers, the stylists, the owners of the brands... how did their business' work, how did they start? I wanted to be around successful people.  I watched my dad build his own businesses and saw his hard work and dedication.  Whenever I found something I loved there was no stopping me.

You see I think part of the problem, when it comes to SUCCESS, is that we might look at somebody successful like Richard Branson or Steve Jobs and see their huge successes, essentially their results. What we don't see is the journey they took to get there. The ups and downs, the determination, set backs, knock backs and many many failures.  Because when Richard Branson created Virgin, it didn't happen over night.  It took time.

So what I want to share with you are these amazing quotes and 'success principles' shall we call them that inspire me everyday to NEVER GIVE UP ON MY DREAMS!!!!

So never ever ever give up on your dreams!!!  They are there for a reason, and so are you :-)

Lots of love Ashly xxx