Ep. 213: How this travel blogger clouts women body positivity everywhere with Ady Meschke
In this episode, I speak with Ady who is an Atlanta-based entrepreneur, boy mom, #1 best-selling author of the children’s book, Her Body Can, and living out her dreams as a world-renowned travel blogger of 8 years.
Ady is also the founder of Verbal Gold Blog and Social Gold, where she clouts a body positivity message
More than anything she wants to inspire all women, young or not, to dream their biggest dreams possible and keep trying no matter what.
Listen on to find out how Ady inspires body positivity to women of any ages and sizes so they can pursue their dreams whether big or small.
Listen Below:
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Transcription:
Debbie:
Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I am really excited for my guest today. I am here with Ady. Hey, Ady.
Ady:
Hey, how are you?
Debbie:
I’m great. Can you tell us more about you and why you live an offbeat life?
Ady:
Yeah, absolutely. My name is Ady. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, I’m a full-time travel blogger and entrepreneur. I have been blogging since 2012 so it’s been about 9 years. I also co-wrote a body-positive children’s book called Her Body Can and I have a few other things that I’ve been doing and working on for bloggers.
I just really enjoyed being a part of this community for so long.
Debbie:
Amazing. And before we even got on to this interview, Ady and I were talking about how many things she has been able to do because of her blog, right? So it seems like your blog was a stepping stone for you to be able to create multiple types of businesses and to be able to live this location independent lifestyle
How did this all start for you, Ady? How did you go and really create your blog? Did you used to have a 9 to 5 or was it something that you started right off the bat?
Ady:
A hundred percent. I am so obsessed with the entrepreneurial life. I actually got the itch when I was in high school. In my DECA club, we were in charge of running business plans for nonprofit organizations and helping them grow.
I worked specifically on a terrible horse farm, I increased their volunteers by 40 and I was able to generate over $20,000 of income for them from the business plan and the strategy that I wrote. And from then on out, I was like, “I have to start my own business.”
So I went to College Alabama for business and then transitioned into more of a corporate atmosphere. Regular nine-to-five, I was an ad exec. I handled sales for advertising, for the Yellow Pages, and mobile.
And everyone that I came in contact with, I guess I just felt this energy and they kept asking me when I was going to go out on my own.
So fast forward to my CrossFit days, I actually was injured pretty badly during CrossFit. And my friend started my blog for me and she was like, “Since you’re going to be immobile for a while, why don’t you try to write about it on a blog?” And I was like, “No, this is not for me.
This is like back before Instagram. I’m so old. This was before blogging and influencers existed as a job and I could actually call a job, at that point, as like a hobby or an online diary. It was not cool, not glamorous. People actually thought it was weird.
It’s been a while ago, 9 years ago. So I started doing it and I realized the community and other bloggers were so much fun. It was so nice to be able to connect with them. And then after a while, I was like, “Wait a second. With the advertising and marketing backgrounds, how can I make money from this?”
And since I already worked with brands in my full-time corporate job, I started to ask around and build up that kind of want and need to take it into an income-based opportunity. And I was able to start making an income from my blog and it was very small.
I mean, $100 for a job here, $40 there. But it did grow over time to the point where I was able to leave my full-time job and go full-time blogger.
Debbie:
How were you able to do that, Ady? Because that seems like a dream for most people, right? Is to leave their 9-to-5, start their blog and make money from it and make it into a career. How did you make sure that you can make this more sustainable?
Ady:
It was so hard back then, probably harder than now. Most people now are just afraid that it’s oversaturated and it’s not. Back then people had no idea what they were paying for or what they were getting.
And so it was more educational than anything. It was pretty tough back then, I made $11,000 my first year of blogging where I was really trying. And I think when I left my job, I was only making about $15,000 to $20,000.
So I was making multiple six figures as an ad exec. People thought I was crazy when I was like, “I’m done. I’m leaving.” They thought I was insane but I had a plan. Because I was very loyal to my corporate job, I didn’t take away from those hours at all.
I was only doing my blog on the weekends and after work but after work, we had a lot of dinners and corporate parties with clients. So I knew I wasn’t giving it my all and that the opportunity was there and I could grow it.
So I just started making my spreadsheet, making a list of brands I wanted to work with. There are a hundred fifty networks out there where you can link up your blog through a third party and brands can contact you that way. I have a free list of those on my blog for anyone that is interested.
And I just started doing that more and more. And the hundred-dollar deals turned into $600 deals and I had revenue objectives for me. And then thanks to my blog, I was able to consult with other bloggers and businesses.
I started my other company, Social Gold, at 5 a.m. one night. I announced that I was going to help people with their social media management and content creation while I got my blog off the ground. I had a hundred inquiries that night and I secured 15 clients the next morning. And with those 15 clients, I was able to make six figures literally that night.
Debbie:
Oh my God. That is incredible, Ady. And when people are looking at that and they’re listening to your story of how you were able to do that pretty much overnight, how did you make sure that you actually had the audience to do it?
Ady:
I would say consistency online and positioning yourself as the expert. I had business experience, marketing experience, advertising, and then I have been doing social media for a couple of years and I always share that with people.
I’m very transparent, I’m very open online. I share my clients and then I share different strategies to help people grow. And I had been doing this online consistently so other people kind of saw me in that position and in that role and it really helps, I guess, my confidence.
And I would recommend going local first, you don’t have to get the Verizons and the Home Depots of the world to believe in you. A lot of local businesses need help, just take a look at their Instagram and you can probably do an audit and help them with their content creation and plan out their social media strategy.
A local plastic surgeon had asked for my help and when she offered to pay me like a legitimate income to help her, I was like, “Okay, I just need five more of her and I can sit pretty and do this full-time.” So, I knew that’s where I wanted to take it and I wanted to have different branches of my blog and different extensions.
I really wanted to have multiple streams of income so I didn’t have all my eggs in one basket. Does that make sense?
Debbie:
Yes, absolutely. And I love how you were able to do that so that it can become really successful and really sustainable for you. I think a lot of people have this misconception that when they’re just first starting out, they need to just focus on one thing and that’s the only thing that they should be doing.
But I think that really trying to figure out where your place is, in the beginning, is so important. And in order to do that, you have to try different things.
Ady:
Absolutely. I, a hundred percent, agree with that.
I have flipped a house to see if I wanted to get into real estate. I have rented out my car and my RV to see if I wanted to have an empire of rental vehicles. I have written a book, I’ve created a product before, I had merchandise.
I’ve failed so many times. I can tell a t-shirt to save my life. I have invested in companies that didn’t go well. But I feel like now, all those years later, I really honed in on my specialty, my passion, and my purpose and that is to help others grow and help them succeed.
So I definitely agree with you when you say find out what works for you and don’t be afraid to fail because I think multiple streams of income are so important.
Debbie:
Absolutely. So now, when you finally left your nine-to-five, did you do anything to prepare for this moment where you knew you wanted to work for yourself?
Ady:
A hundred percent. You have to have a strategy in place. I don’t recommend anyone just kind of jumping off the bridge without a safety net.
I had a team behind me: a website designer and a graphic designer. Create graphics and announcements that we were like teasing up to something or that I had a big launch and I did it at 5 a.m.
I launched these graphics. I had a test group for my social media consulting. In the backend, I worked with 5 businesses for free just to get it before and after. And a testimonial from them to say that it worked.
So I had all of the before and after images really pretty. Like, laid out very nice on Canva with their testimonial and the percentage increase. One of my clients was at a thousand percent month-over-month.
So I had all of that, I had my street cred and my testimony was ready. So everything launched and people could really see the value. And then I had a honey book, I don’t if you’ve heard of that, I had it set up.
So I had a template in there, a contract proposal, everything was automated. So when people emailed, I secured all their email addresses and I could nurture those relationships. It was just very strategic and organized to help me secure those deals.
Debbie:
So for someone who’s just starting out and that seems really daunting to them, right? Because there’s a lot of different things that you really have to put your systems in place, where should they get started? What’s the first thing that they should do?
Ady:
Literally, keep track of everything. Honestly, it is a lot. If you don’t want to work and you want to coast, stay in your nine-to-five. Stay in corporate America where you have a salary, life is easier there.
I’m not here to like sugarcoat stuff for you. It’s hard work. You’re going to be your own boss but I will tell you, it’s worth it. It’s amazing. I get to spend time with my husband and my baby and just enjoy the family life and great memories together that otherwise I would have been in an office, 9-to-5. I wanted a different life so I have specific goals for myself and I wanted to achieve those.
But as daunting as it does sound, if you compartmentalize your little task, it’s just like you wouldn’t work. If you were in sales and you want to be the number one salesperson that sounds daunting but if you could just sell one person a week, it’s easily achievable and is not as daunting to do that.
So take those same strategies and into your entrepreneurial path and break it down. Say I want to do 5 graphics here or here’s my strategy. Lay it out and break it down into achievable little goals so you are prepared.
And in the meantime, I know it’s hard to say, give specific advice to someone I don’t know either what vertical they’re working in but when you track everything by months and you can see the progress, then it’s a visual kind of escape to help you achieve your goals.
I need to be able to visually see my progress even if it’s putting a chart on a whiteboard up in my office. I need to see something so I know that I’m reaching my goals or have a little bit farther to go.
I would say to break it down. It makes it a lot easier that way. it’s more doable.
Debbie:
I want to go back to when Ady talked about tracking because that has literally helped me become so much more aware of what’s happening in my business. Because I think for me in the beginning, I just did things to do things, right? And you didn’t really have any idea of what was going on.
And when I started tracking, and Ady is talking about this, you really understand what’s working and what’s not working, and what you can change and do more over less of.
Are there any specific apps or even companies that you used to help you with this process in order to talk to yourself?
Ady:
Not in particular, honestly, Google Docs and Google spreadsheets. I keep everything in Drive. I was one of the unfortunate ones that had their computer crash with all of their data on it and I had my backup hard drive crashed.
So I keep everything in the cloud now. I store everything, I have spreadsheets there and that is the number one way that keeps me organized. I don’t have a really cool planner to recommend. I’m very digital with Google Drive. I have about 15 different email addresses and they’re all linked to my OneDrive where I can see everything in one spot.
But I love that you said tracking helps you. I mean, I wish I tracked in the beginning.
Debbie:
Yeah, me too. We have a tracking system that we have on Google Sheets and then I actually have a whiteboard with our goals for every quarter. So like we’re in Q1 right now, like we have those laid out in our whiteboard because it’s just so awesome to see it.
It keeps you going, there is a visualization there that you see every single day when I walk past it and then just making sure that that’s where you’re going toward. So that is super helpful too.
Ady:
I love that. I’m gonna implement that as well and put my goals on a whiteboard. I think that’s great. So you use Google Sheets too? You’re a Google Drive person?
Debbie:
Yeah, I am a Google Sheets type person, and also, like my fiance, Aaron, he freaking loves Google Sheets and creating things on there. He just creates stuff for me and I’m like, “Great. I’ll put it on there.”
Ady:
We use Google Docs for assistant duties.
Debbie:
Yes.
Ady:
Instead of sending countless emails like, “Hey, can you do this? to take me to do this,” I just needed a centralized place where I can drop my ideas because I work until 2 a.m. sometimes and I don’t want to bother anybody but I’ll just drop it in a Google doc and have a list ready and it’s easy for her to accomplish.
Debbie:
Yeah, I do a combination of Trello and Google Sheets and it’s so helpful because, like you said, there’s no back and forth, it’s just there. Also makes it easier for everyone and you’re not bothering your assistants and people you’re working with or even your clients. It’s annoying and we don’t have time for that.
I also want to talk about when you spoke about tapping into local businesses first to get maybe your first clients because I think a lot of people will automatically look at companies that are maybe out of reach or big companies.
But a lot of people often overlook those local companies that they can work with especially if you’re doing social media strategy or even if you want to do a brand sponsorship, can you talk more about that and what your strategies have been?
Because I know you have done both: used local businesses as your clientele for services and also doing brands, right? Have you done brand sponsorships as well?
Ady:
Yeah. I love reaching out to the local network? I think networking is so important. It’s a little bit different right now because we aren’t doing a lot of face-to-face networking.
This is where I started, wherever you are a client, those are the people to talk to first. And what I mean by that is: Where do you go get your hair done? Where do you go to get your facial? Where do you get your nails done? Where do you get injections? Like, where are the common places that you visit frequently?
My first client was my eyebrow microblading specialist, my hairstylist, my injector, and I think a restaurant I ate at frequently and they were local people. And it’s crazy because when you do a good job and they know how passionate you are about it, I am so obsessed with business.
So obsessed with this world that they recommended me to multiple people. There was a gym that started called Smart Fit that does EMS training. My microblading client, Milly at Brows by Milly, referred me to the gym and it just has been like this ongoing trickle-down. And it feels so good because you know you’re doing a good job and you’re making an impact.
You have a wide network around you locally that you can tap into that not a lot of people do and I think there’s so much opportunity there.
Debbie:
I love that. That’s so true. You mentioned this, I tapped into this a little bit too, people overlook this, right? They don’t think about these people that they do encounter every single day who know them already.
We take so much time to go online to do the ads or prove ourselves to people that are complete strangers that we don’t really tap into the people that actually know us so that is such a great tip, Ady.
Ady:
Thank you. It works, it’s secure, and it is a long-term strategy in my opinion because I still caught on to those same places and I’m still working with them.
I left Corporate America in 2017 and it’s 2021. So it’s been really nice and I’ve been able to build into other aspects of my business because I have that stability there with my social consulting, and social media management clients. I’ve been able to do so many other things because of that.
so I think just building your revenue stream, your business in that and securing it and then adding another one if you want. I’ll be very content just doing this forever but I had a needing so I needed more.
Debbie:
That’s awesome. So we talked about your services and now let’s talk about another project that you have which you actually co-wrote a book about body positivity and it’s a children’s book. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and how it started and why you decided to do it?
Ady:
Yeah, absolutely. It actually stemmed from an idea. I owned a legging company at one point or I bought a legging company, I guess, I should say and I just quickly realized, it wasn’t quite my passion. So I sold it back to the original owner. It was really fun to try ou,. I just don’t have that in me.
When I was in that space, I was like, “Why don’t they make leggings in these sizes? An additional extended size. Why is it all-inclusive?” So when I had the brand and I took that brand over, I extended the size about to 6X and even down on the extra small side. And I just wanted it to be an all-inclusive brand.
And then, as I was sleeping, I started thinking when I was pregnant also, I was like, “Why don’t they have all-inclusive children’s books? Why don’t I see more diversity within children’s books? I just see diversity in like monsters, trucks, or different types of characters.”
And my friend, another blogger in Atlanta, was really honing into this message online, on social media. Her name is Katie Crenshaw and she had a platform called Her Body Can. So I pitched the idea to her, I was like, “What if we do a plus-size princess? What do you think about this and would you want to do this with me?”
And she was on board right at the start, she’s like, “Why haven’t we thought about this before? But instead of doing a princess, why don’t we make her like a more realistic person that kids can relate to and be able to see themselves in literature?”
And that message I wanted to hone in on was Her Body Can and show people, parents included and littles, that your body can do amazing things and you’re so capable and did not really worry about what your outward appearance is and just know that your body is powerful and amazing and so are you.
So we took it and ran with it and it’s the most fulfilling thing, I think, I’ve ever done. We got to be on the Kelly Clarkson Show, a couple of other segments and it got global press. We were being translated right now into Portuguese and Spanish. And we have another book called His Body Can coming out soon and a coloring book.
So I’m just really, really thankful that their message resonated with so many people on such a deep level. It made us cry on a daily basis; the messages that we were getting so I knew it needed to be there.
Debbie:
It is incredible what you have both been able to do with this book because like you said, now it is seen globally. And we don’t realize how important these things are because we’re always told that you have to be perfect, right? It’s not good to be imperfect, you have to be in a specific standard.
We’re told that that’s what we have to be and then you find out when you’re an adult or not even that you just can’t rise to that type of standard. And when you see books like this where it accepts you for who you are and just to be a better person and that’s why I think it’s been resonating with so many people not just children but also adults.
Ady:
Yeah, we got so many messages from parents that say they had to like sit in their car and read the book about three times and just cry it out before they could take it inside and read it to their kid. That’s generational right there because we put some deep messages in there.
I played fastpitch softball, Katie was told she couldn’t run the New York City marathon, and we put that in there as a body-positive, plus size, little girl that you can actually do it. Katie trained, ran it, and finished and did amazing.
So, we have a lot of deeper meaning messages that are in there that have been resonating with the adults a lot. I think it’s been a really good kind of breakthrough.
Debbie:
I think it’s the little kid in us that needed to be told that it’s coming out, right? It’s like, “Oh my gosh.”
Ady:
I would’ve had this book when I was little on my nightstand for sure.
Debbie:
Absolutely. So that is incredible. I am so happy that you were both able to put that out there to really show children that it’s okay to have different types of body types. I’m not surprised actually that it’s receiving so much great coverage and people are really resonating with that.
Ady:
Thank you so much. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be a children’s book author but here we are. I think we need to take the entrepreneurial route. You really have to just keep your antennas up and your eyes open for opportunities that cross your path and be ready to say yes.
I just can’t even imagine what would have happened if I would have just slept on this idea and not gone through with it. Just like the little girl: you’re amazing, you can do all these amazing things. It’s okay to try things. It’s okay to fail even.
If it wouldn’t work out, I would have just kept the books on my nightstand and loved it just as much.
Debbie:
Yeah. Even if it’s just to give your children, that’s a huge, huge thing. That’s your legacy right there.
Ady:
That’s exactly why we wrote it actually. We never expected it to take off like it did. I was like, “I’ll just get a copy from Amazon. It’ll be cool that our book is listed on Amazon. No big deal.” And all of a sudden we had like over 10,000 copies sold and we’re a best seller.
We broke Amazon within about 5 minutes and Glamour wrote an article and I was like, “What is happening?” I was just a puddle of tears, just sobbing in my room, I’m like, “What is this?”
Debbie:
That is incredible. It’s really amazing when you have this idea and this passion and it just blows out, right? People really resonate with it and you’re making an impact in the world. And who would have thought? Did you think that this is going to happen after leaving your nine-to-five?
You wanted to have freedom for yourself, you wanted to travel, you wanted to be able to spend time with your family or friends. Like, own your own time to, now, having these multiple businesses and to be able to make such a huge impact in other people’s lives. It’s so incredible.
Ady:
Thank you. Never in my wildest dreams. People still think I’m crazy for being an entrepreneur up until I would say last year. I still get asked pretty regularly when I plan on going back to corporate America.
Debbie:
Wow.
Ady:
I was like, “You, guys, don’t get it.”
Debbie:
Yeah. I also find it interesting that now because of the pandemic, I think before this, people always thought the regular nine-to-five a super secure, right?
Ady:
Yeah, that’s a good point.
Debbie:
Right? And now after the pandemic, remote working, working for yourself, having the versatility to be able to do multiple things has been the new sustainable thing to do and it’s really incredible. It’s turned around. I’m like, “Now you finally see it our way and now you have to.”
Ady:
I absolutely agree with you that having a side hustle is trending and it just goes to show during the global pandemic how necessary it is to have multiple streams of income even if it’s as simple as renting your car out on Turo. I did that last year and I made an extra $8,000. I rented out my RV and in the first month made an extra $16,000.
So you can just do little side hustles like that that can produce additional income passively almost. It helps to have more of a security blanket in an unknown time, right now.
Debbie:
Absolutely. And things like you just mentioned, thinking outside of the box, is pretty incredible because those two things that you just listed are things that you don’t have to do any physical labor before.
Ady:
Yeah, not at all. A third party takes care of everything and you literally just hand your keys over to somebody else. And if you have a car, you can do this right now. That’s how easy that is.
Debbie:
Absolutely. So if people are interested, if they have an RV or they can rent out their car, what are the companies that you would recommend them doing this with?
Ady:
Turo, it’s an app and then the RV app is called Outdoorsy, and simultaneously, you can also rent from these places. So if you want to go on vacation and you don’t want to pay the rental cars of the world hundreds of dollars, you can actually rent a car from Turo on another end.
I did it when I was in Palm Springs and I rented a car for $20 a day, it was really great. There are even luxury cars on there. You can rent for a lot more, obviously, but you can list your car to rent and you can rent a car. So they’re pretty cool. I really enjoy them.
Debbie:
Amazing. I love this tip, Ady. Thank you so much.
So I have five fun questions for you and you have to answer them in one sentence. Are you ready?
Ady:
Okay, I’m ready.
Debbie:
First, what’s the worst food that you’ve ever eaten and why?
Ady:
On my gosh. I’m just reviewing this quick. What is the worst? Oh no, this is hard. I like food so much.
Debbie:
Me too. That’s why I asked this question ’cause I’m like, “I love everything.”
Ady:
The food that I don’t like at all. Oh gosh, I don’t know. I’ll just blank it. Okay. What do I not? Like I had this the other day and I was like, “This is gross.” The pho.
Debbie:
Oh, you don’t like pho?
Ady:
I don’t think I like pho, no.
Debbie:
Is it the texture?
Ady:
Yeah, I really hate soup. It’s so gross. Why would anybody drink soup or eat soup – I don’t know.
Debbie:
Ady is like, “Soup, in general, I don’t like it.”
Ady:
Any kind of soup is disgusting. You need to eat your food, do not drink it.
Debbie:
You’re like, “Unpopular opinion: soup is gross.”
Ady:
Where do you live? That’s not popular for you?
Debbie:
You’re like, “That’s a popular opinion with me.”
Ady:
Yeah, it’s very popular over here – soup is gross.
Debbie:
Alright. Next, what’s the best money you’ve ever spent while you were abroad and why?
Ady:
When I was abroad, the best money I spent would be on a massage in Bali, it was $6. It was two hours. I tipped her like three times that amount and it was an entire experience. And you got to just really live and enjoy Bali. I would say that, by far, hands down, the best money I ever spent.
Debbie:
I need that right now.
Ady:
I’m just like, “When can I go there again?”
Debbie:
I know. When the border opens and we can start traveling again.
Ady:
That’s why I hiked my prices anyway and bought the RV. Let’s do safe travel.
Debbie:
Right? Describe what your ideal day would look like, Ady.
Ady:
My ideal day. Does it have to include work?
Debbie:
No, it doesn’t
Ady:
Okay, my ideal day is when, okay, let’s pretend I’m already there, I land somewhere new on an airplane. And I’m in this new tropical location, private island. Would be great with a frozen cocktail in my hand and the waves crashing behind me.
And then like maybe a dolphin jumps out of the water, a whale, or something. And I just get to like lay and relax and I don’t know. Just literally, like, relaxing on the beach somewhere would be my ideal day right now because all I’ve seen is my house.
Debbie:
Yeah, I hear you. I’ll be there right next to you, like, drinking coconut juice or something. I don’t know.
Ady:
Like a frosted daiquiri. That sounds really great, doesn’t it?
Debbie:
That sounds so good.
Alright. So, if you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
Ady:
This is tough because, for a superpower, the petty side of me wants to say invisibility, just so I can be nosey AF.
But I feel like, for productivity reasons, I should choose things like time travel, or not even time travel but, like, if I wanted to be in Bali and I had the superpower to just snap my fingers and be there, that would be what I would want but I would need it for my entire family.
Debbie:
Yeah, you would need to be able to bring them with you.
Ady:
Yeah. You might just grab them and snap. That’s the power I want. I’ll leave the invisibility for another time.
Debbie:
And lastly, what’s the one thing you wish you did sooner?
Ady:
Started my own company.
Debbie:
That’s awesome.
Ady:
I wish I had taken it seriously in the beginning and just started believing in myself sooner. I was still worried about what other people would think and what they would say and if I was making enough money for them to approve my decision.
And I wish I would have just like scrambled all those thoughts up into a little ball and thrown them in the garbage and done it.
Debbie:
Yeah. I think it’s so hard not to do that in the beginning because you feel like you have to prove something especially if you left the job that people or everyone, even yourself, was really secure to do something that is so scary and outside of your comfort zone. It’s so hard to be outside of that mental block when you’re just starting out. I hear you on that one for sure.
Ady:
You’re walking In a parade and everybody is going the same direction and you suddenly stopped and you’re like, “No, I don’t think I’m going to go this way anymore.” And you turn around and you go against the crowd.
It feels like that to start off on your own and it’s scary. People are like, “Why are you going that way?” They’re questioning your every move: How much are you making? Have you made your income yet?
It’s like in The Matrix. Like, you’re dodging off with your hands up and you’re swatting away all the doubt to just keep going in the direction you feel you’re meant to go in.
Debbie:
Absolutely. That’s such a great analogy because that’s pretty much what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. And it’s hard enough when we have those self-doubts and then people say that to us too, and it just built it up.
But I do have to say if you are in this for the long haul and you got through that stage, we get a deeper skin. Like a thicker skin and we just become really awesome after that because nothing really pretty much fazes you. You’re like, “Okay, whatever.”
Ady:
I love that. IDGAF. I love that attitude. When it sets in you’re like, “Okay.” It’s like you float above it almost. You know what I mean? That’s how I feel. It is such a good feeling finally to have that. Nothing fazes you, honestly.
Debbie:
Yeah. And also, when you finally reach a certain goal that you have and you’re out of that mentality, it becomes so much sweeter because it wasn’t about them, right? It’s about you and really proving to yourself that you can do this. So, it’s pretty amazing.
Ady:
Yeah. Off the bat. Don’t expect any help from your friends or family, you are a hundred on your own but you can definitely do it.
Debbie:
Oh, absolutely. One last thing I have to say about that is, and I’ve seen this from other people too where they say this as well, this has happened to them, it’s kind of ironic that strangers will be more on your side than sometimes family and friends, right?
There’s more doubt on that end than from strangers who don’t even know you. So it’s interesting when that happens but you’ll get them on your side eventually.
Ady:
I have a support group online from people that I have literally never met or even seen in person and they support me more I would say than other people who I think are waiting and observing and watching you. And they are waiting to see if you fail, honestly.
And when you succeed they’re like, “I knew you could do it. You did great. I’ve been cheering you this whole time.” They’re not going to give you a hand up from the beginning.
Debbie:
It’s true. But you gotta keep going.
Alright. Ady, let’s fast-forward to 30 to 40 years from now and you’re looking back at your life, what legacy would you like to leave and what do you want to be remembered for?
Ady:
I love this question, that’s so good. My entire goal and being an entrepreneur is not to work myself to death. I had a retirement plan and I’m working on building generational wealth, and something I could hand down to my son or any future kids, and I can leave with my family.
I want to be remembered as someone that would always help others. Like, when people would ask me, “What are you going to do when you get to the top?” The quote where they say, “I’m going to reach my hand back down and pull everybody else up.” That is what I want to be remembered for: reaching my hand back down and pulling other people up with me.
Debbie:
Amazing. I love that, Ady, and that’s what you do right now with your business and your personal life. So you’re already on the way there.
Thank you so much for being here, Ady, I had so much fun talking to you. If our listeners want to know more about you, where can they find you?
Ady:
Thank you so much for having me. It has been a blast. I cannot wait to just binge all of your other podcast episodes. You’re such a good host.
If you guys want to find me, I’m at Verbal Gold Blog. You can find me on Instagram, on Clubhouse, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Pinterest, and you should visit my blog VerbalGoldBlog.com. I hope you’ll keep in touch, come say hi. I would love to reciprocate the love and say hi to some of Debbie’s fan base here.
Debbie:
Awesome! Thank you so much, Ady, we really appreciate you.
Ady:
Thank you.
Listen to Ady’s extended interview where she shares how to turn your blog into multiple businesses and multiple streams of income.
What you’ll find:
In this episode, Ady will take you through the necessary steps into multiple businesses and multiple streams of income.
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