M&R Episode 203: Leverage your time zone to deliver and overnight service with Ashley Pemberton.
In Episode 203 I spoke with expat Ashely Pemberton from OverNight.Design. Ashley moved to Thailand thirteen years ago to become an expat. He knew he could work remotely but didn’t even realize the competitive advantage he was going to gain by moving to a different time zone. He quickly realized a customer could send him their PowerPoint presentation in the evening UK time and he could put everything together for them by the time they woke up. Now he has a team of designers helping him service clients around the world. Enjoy!
Show notes: OverNight.Design, Henry Daas Episode, Viola Eva Episode, Dan Foxman Episode, Thai Freeze Dry, Support Misfits and Rejects on Patreon, Get a Misfits and Rejects T-shirt or Tank
Show Transcription
In today's episode I spoke with Ashley Pemberton. From overnight.design actually has a really cool service. He takes people's PowerPoint presentations and just gives them a super professional look and feel. And he does that to you within just 12 hours or less. So for somebody, for example, in the UK, which is where he's from, at the end of the workday, after
they've more or less create all the content for that PowerPoint
presentation, they send it to him and his team over Thailand, they make it look incredible, put everything together for you, and never go back by the time you wake up and present to whoever you're presenting for that day. I really enjoyed this conversation with Ashley because we really went deep into his desire to leave the UK moved to Thailand, what it was like for him over the 13 years he's been there and the unique value proposition he discovered he had after he decided to make that move to Thailand, which was essentially leveraging the time so he was in in Thailand against the UK timezone to deliver a very cool service to his customers actually now not only talk about his business, what it was like for him to move to tie But also some of the pitfalls that a lot of expats fall into, when they find themselves in a place where they feel like they have complete freedom where they don't feel judged by their peers or by the locals within the culture that they're assigned by
Ashley 57:10
giving them sort of this limitless
Chapin 57:13
feeling that can sometimes be a downside to don't have a strong constitution or self restraint. But Ashley's done a great job, he finds himself in a situation where he's really just trying to level up everything, his personal life is a mess. And I set some really big goals for himself that I have no doubt he'll achieve. So this was a really fun episode for me, because again, I could relate to a lot of what he's talking about the freedom that he feels since he's lived in Thailand, and just all the cool aspects of getting to be an expert in cultures where livings
Ashley 57:42
a lot less than your home country
Chapin 57:44
and place and
Ashley 57:46
just so warm and wonderful. It makes life just that much more. So if you're a
Chapin 57:51
first time listener is what that phone, hit subscribe on whatever you're listening to. This fits and matches on. And if you like misfits and rejects, please share with somebody you think might get something from this episode, maybe somebody needs Ashley service, or maybe somebody could relate to Ashley story or you think that they might hear something within our conversation that really ignites that fire under them inspires them to take that first step into whatever style they dream of
Ashley 58:13
having. And one last thing if you
Chapin 58:14
like misfits and rejects and you support misfits and rejects, you can do that one of two ways. First, you get handed
Ashley 58:19
over to patreon.com fashionista
rejects, and he gives a monthly donation, whatever you want, it's created,
nothing is expected. Or you can head
Chapin 58:28
over to misfits and rejects comm backslash shop at a misfit, some rejects t shirt. Now I can send these anywhere in the world. So don't hesitate. If you're in Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe, wherever you may be, I can send this to you. They're super comfortable traveling material, making a very lightweight, very comfortable t shirt. So please feel free if you want to support misfits and rejects. Those are one of the two ways you can do that. And thank you again for joining us. I have no doubt you're gonna like this episode. Please sit back, relax and enjoy this episode with Ashley Pemberton.
Ashley 58:58
From Got design Welcome to misfits and rejects a podcast about
Chapin 59:02
the lifestyle design index patriots,
Ashley 59:05
entrepreneurs and adventures. Let's enjoy
Unknown Speaker 59:19
the limiting stories really trying to overcome that speaker right there.
Ashley 59:26
A lot of what I would do in the restaurant was formulated, just went
Welcome to another episode, Sam joined by
Chapin 59:36
Ashley Pemberton from overnight dot design. Ashley, welcome the show you so much
Ashley 59:41
Chopin. Pleasure to have you man. Thank you for tuning in to your time here in Thailand in Chiang Mai headsweats. Six by 7am for me, one of the things about being in Thailand and wanting to work with Americans. You've got to get up early or stay up late. Right. I mean, that's,
Chapin 1:00:00
you know, we talk pre show and hide Atlanta. So jumping right in, but I think it's natural that we could just come talk about what you do and why it's been such a blessing
Ashley 1:00:08
to be in Thailand for you and your
Chapin 1:00:11
business model. Because I mean, you kind of have capitalized on the differences to deliver a service and a product that
Ashley 1:00:19
people really need and want in America in the way that you talk
Chapin 1:00:23
pre show about not realizing that was going to be your your selling point. Can you talk us through what you do so the audience can get to know a little bit better? Sure.
Ashley 1:00:32
Absolutely. Yeah. for about the last 25 years, I have specialized as a PowerPoint designer. So I use that software to create more than just presentations is posters is any form of graphic design. And we use it really because it's what I call the lowest common denominator, everybody in this everyone seems to have Microsoft Office installed. Everyone knows that when you open that software called PowerPoint that you get this blank piece of paper come up on your screen. And it's very easy to cut and paste and very easy to use. So PowerPoint designers is the name of my business. And typically, we design presentations for management consultants. My biggest client is based in the UK. They're fully remote business based in the UK. And I was working for them in England and just really badly wanted to live in Thailand. I've fallen in love with the country. So I wish I could tell you that I had the foresight to know what was coming. I actually said I'm gonna find that I wanted to leave. But I was be willing to work nights just to keep the status in zones as the UK but little did I know. Being sick, I was ahead of your customers, six or seven for England. Depending on British summer time, will turn out to be a massive, unique selling point. So the concept is that the consultants should not be doing their own design. They write the brilliant content over a long, hard day. Often, they'll stay up late anyway. But the idea that 10 o'clock at night, a management consultant is doing their own design on a presentation for the next day is just ludicrous because they are charged out at such a high hourly rate, that they could actually get five hours of time with a graphic designer, which would be equivalent to one hour of their day. So the service that we offer is to take that do it yourself design away from the management consultant. They can send their presentations at midnight, and then obviously because of the time picking that up at six or seven o'clock in the morning, we're working on their presentation is signing it all up while they're asleep. We deliver it back for ATM the next day. And being in a timezone. Six hours ahead has actually turned out to be probably my greatest unique selling point. No, it's so cool. And
Chapin 1:03:12
then you kind of stumbled into us kind of follow that the desire that passion, if you will to, you know, be an expat in Thailand. And then sure enough things kind of leveled for you. One thing you alluded to I wanted to clear up for myself was it sounds like worked for this company that either still work for now or did you branch off on your own? Or just add another arm to it? Sure. Yeah.
Ashley 1:03:35
Yeah, I've kind of made the best of it. So I started as a freelance graphic designer, working for them, so I would work for them when I lived in London. The whole company was remote. So I would be sitting at home, in my kitchen in Stoke Newington in London. Doing PowerPoint presentations for for the management consultants from home When I decided to move to Thailand when I came across, I brought the job with me. And like I say the different time zones just then absolutely exploded and I became five times more in demand on my service was five times more in demand with my regular clients. Because I was working, what we call the graveyard shift, the shift that nobody wants to do is through the night. With that incoming stream of work, it was like down to me really, to take the next steps and that was to start hiring Thai graphic designers, particularly web designers that I could then retrain to become PowerPoint designers, and basically helped me with the vast amounts of work that I was getting sent on on a daily basis. That's so cool. How was
Chapin 1:04:46
that for you as you started to navigate?
Ashley 1:04:50
With the title
Chapin 1:04:51
designers was just high up to speed
Ashley 1:04:54
were they speaking English to mean how did that
Chapin 1:04:56
transition happen for you? Yeah, that's that's a, that's
Ashley 1:05:00
a really good point. So originally, my first employee was my wife. And she would help me with cutting and pasting, typing, you know, some of the more repetitive tasks. So I might design the first slide of the template, and then she would help me fill all the content in slides. Because the PowerPoint design were quite repetitive. You know, once you've got that template, you may well have a lot less than just need to look the same. Or be in the same standard, but you know, headings, sizes, everything needed to be the same. So my next hire after that was actually an ancient designer. And then from that moment on, we struck gold with a series of Thai graphic designers. And all of our work is in English. So the interviews were in English Most of my designers have pretty good, pretty good verbal, conversational English. But one thing that we found out that they are really strong on is messaging, you know, typing subtle messages, they really do understand absolutely every word when we communicate that way. So a lot of the notes that would come from from the clients come from the management consultants would just be short, simple instructions. typed in English, which they clearly understand and they get it, they get it, they get it right almost every time and to many people is to find real gems and buy, like really good original thinking graphic designers in Thailand. We decided that we had some to to Chiangmai partly because I just didn't want anything to come back. I'm sure I would have found a great supply of graphic, a tie graphic. Design is in Bangkok. But that's just not the place for me to live. I tried also living on the islands, I tried living downtown. And then just Chiang Mai kind of presented itself as the next best option. And that's where I set up my office. Now, when you say instead
Chapin 1:07:19
of your office, you have people coming to work every day, since it can be done remotely for everybody. It sounds like isn't that
Ashley 1:07:26
necessary sort of component of your business? Or is it just something you like having? No, I found it necessary. Yes, we do work remotely, especially in the last two months, we've been 100% remote, but being a PowerPoint designer can be quite a tricky job. If you're left alone, to do it by yourself. So the covenant in our office, everybody helps everyone and I've really taken that from Working in a four, seven global presentation teams, I used to work for the big banks in London, doing our PowerPoint presentations. And one thing that that I really took from there is that when a job comes in, someone might well get a six or an eight hour job landed on the desk. And then other designers only have small jobs. So there's a real culture of dividing up that job listing up amongst other designers and getting help, you know, helping each other. Otherwise, it can be quite a daunting task. If you're the one that gets the big job with a with a really serious deadline. And the person you know, the other person doesn't get much at all. By working from an office, it allowed me to really support them to answer any questions that they might have some of the nuances of the English or some of the complicated data
It allowed me to really support them to answer any questions that they might have about some of the nuances of the English or some of the some of the more complicated elements of the group allows me to kind of stand over their desk and point to things and direct and really, to bring them up to be able to do the pendant they and here we are six years later, and I no longer need to do the office that I hired. Actually, I no longer work from at all and neither does the English major. We're both fully remote and what it sends it off to office in New Haven Haman in Chiang Mai it's now 100% for them It's it's it has known as the you know, the English washes of weather at all. It's become the Thai graphic designers office, and they absolutely be together. They enjoy having that type of culture and supporting each other and working as a team. That's cool relations. You you've done kind of what we
Chapin 1:10:20
all dream of this, you know, writing ourselves out of the day to
Ashley 1:10:23
the businesses, yet
Chapin 1:10:24
we still have a steady
Ashley 1:10:26
stream of income and happy. Congratulations, man. Thank you, thank you, you know, a couple of years ago, I've been really quite badly with myself for doing that. It was like a muscle bone that I wanted to achieve. And there are a couple of reasons why I was able to do that. And again, I don't think it's because of my expertise. Vision is just like being a series of just led me down a certain path. So I do feel quite blessed. That It's happened to me. I'm delighted that I have a business that pays me. Well, certainly by chain my standards to live a pretty comfortable life. And one thing that you would do pre pre shows,
Chapin 1:11:13
you know how you kind of found yourself in a quasi retirement date at one point,
Ashley 1:11:17
golf whenever you wanted
Chapin 1:11:19
liquid lunches.
Ashley 1:11:21
And but it wasn't fulfilling for you. Can you talk us through that? Yeah, sure. So the reason why the main reason how I managed to get out of the business was was quite simple. I plan to go back to England for a six week holiday, it was time for me to visit my family. You know, I hadn't seen my target for a long time. It's very important that I spend some quality time with them. So I am a non resident of the UK and therefore I'm actually not taxed in the UK. I checked out the test implications. And it said, If I go back to the UK, and I work one minute of one day, then I have to pay tax in the UK for the whole year. So obviously, that was something that I didn't want to do. I wanted to go home, I did not want to be become a resident. And so it was my ambition. And I told him pretty clearly I'm actually going to leave work. I'm the check my email health because I thought, well, there's going to be an electronic trail here. If I'm if I'm still sending emails, the taxman might well qualify that as working. So I said, I'm going away for six weeks, and I'm not even going to be checking my email. I trust in You. Good luck. See you in six weeks. So that was my first introduction to actually stepping myself out of the business. And I came back after a six week holiday with my family came back to business check to check on the business. And there was virtually no difference to the bottom line. I think we were down like 5% I think question myself. I was like, oh, all the input that I put into this business on a day to day basis not founding it, but actually running it is worth about 5% of the turnover. I was like, Okay, well, I could live with that. And yeah, so that's kind of another reason that I actually stopped meeting hands on designer is RSI, which is repetitive strain injury. I would work fast and I would work 10 to 12 hours a day. Sometimes just couple of hours that just a couple of meters from the bed that I would sleep inside, check my emails, start work, work all day, and then go to bed. And I did that for years to build my company. But the like one of the repercussions of that was that I developed quite bad RSI in actually in my mouse wheel finger. That was that was where it will manifest Then it just spread all the way up into my shoulders. And it would give me excruciating pain if I spent too long actually on the computer. So that was another reason why I actually had to step away from him in the work. So it's not like I was the forward banning entrepreneur that had this in mind. It's like a, like a series of, of happenings that kind of led me in the way that I've that I've gone. Do you still suffer from this RSI. If I was to do an eight hour day on the computer, certainly at a pace that I used to work, which you know, it's all about fast design for my business class. So if I was to do that, I probably would find some discomfort. But at the time, being, I could say tense often 10 to 12 hour days, hands on, working at speed always on the computer. So that was what To stop and as soon as I reduce that the RSI has has dramatically changed. Also, we live in Thailand right? So there is such a thing as a daily massage. My wife used to take meetings by some of the real old Thai master experts. So you get this, you know the 65 year old man. People all his life. And one point he was he was massaging the top of my shoulder like pinching on my knees and my nurse. And he said to my wife in Thai said, this guy's got attendance of a six year old man. Like Kim Kim, what did he say? What did he say about he would want to know and that was a real moment where I just thought to myself, am I damaging myself here I'd like damaging myself long term causing myself and some pretty serious discomfort, but potentially long term damage to my body. So it Another factor for right it's time to grow your business to start hiring people and to start projecting yourself as the person no longer the guy that does all the clicks. Absolutely. I thought of a friend of mine who I interviewed in Chiangmai as well he lives
Chapin 1:16:16
just outside the city like you. His name's Daniel Foxman
Ashley 1:16:19
tie freeze dry.
Chapin 1:16:21
And he freeze dries all the medicinal, natural herbs
Ashley 1:16:26
from the jungle. And one that I found really
Chapin 1:16:29
beneficial to me because I have like eczema, inflammation issues with some mango steam husk, it's a really anti inflammatory he freeze dries it and puts it in pill form and like I was taking that when I was in Chiang Mai is just incredible. Powerful wasn't helpful and he he has like a genetic arthritis thing that was like really debilitating, crippling and but since you've been taking this for him, he's been there like 18
Ashley 1:16:57
years and he doesn't really Haven't much anymore. So if
Chapin 1:17:01
you're that into that sort of thing, but I'm
Ashley 1:17:03
saying like, yeah, cool. I'd love to see it. Yeah, by all means I never heard of mangoes.
There you go. Yeah, it's a free
Chapin 1:17:12
course. I love it.
Ashley 1:17:17
What what was sort of Thailand to you
Chapin 1:17:20
the weather being from the UK? I mean, why were you so fixated on being
Ashley 1:17:24
the place that you're going to go and
Chapin 1:17:25
be to love your life and retire? Because I mean, you're young man like to have that kind of knowledge about what you want in life. I mean, it's kind of neat.
Ashley 1:17:33
Yeah, I can Thailand kind of a little bit by accident. I think I was about 22 years old, and my friends were planning a holiday. And typically no one had really done any research. I think we all will let me choose the Choose the venue, and we just jumped on a plane, and there was six of us. We were coming in. I You've, like I say no one had read. They're lonely. It's a Lonely Planet guide. We just jumped on a plane to didn't really know what to expect, and walked out the plane in Bangkok. And I'm sure many people have experienced this before where you just get hit by a wall of heat. And it just blew us away. Like, we just had no idea that it was going to be that hard walking through the streets. I've never smelled the city. I've never witnessed the city that just felt just so I don't know, so crazy. But Thailand really attracted me because there's just a tremendous sense of Yeah, it is a day when I wake up every single morning. And I just look up at the blue skies and, you know, we're lucky enough to have by nature here. It just has some really magical whether or not from the climate or the people Or the food, or maybe just kind of like the the giant ears as they say entirely like that the cool hearted attitude that the people have here seems to be tremendous sense of non judgment from people on a day to day basis. I think if a person doesn't like what you're doing, you know, if you're walking down the road, and they don't look of you or they don't like the wall, the way you're carrying yourself or what you're doing, tend to just leave, they just get on with their life and just ignore you, or certainly not be as judgmental. As if I was in England where everybody lost to tell people, whatever they do, you know, they don't like it, they will tell you. And I think another really good example of that is so in the UK, road rage is such a thing. I mean, it's threatening. Quiet If you cut up a car, and they want to just change your job, or they want to let you know that, think about your driving, whereas here, like the ties do for any crazy and the lines down in the road are not late. They're just kind of like an indication to where you might want to be in the road. There's this tremendous of like feeling of, Oh, well I can see it as a motorbike and as a truck. We'll just kind of adjust a bit we'll all kind of like just fit in together. And there isn't that one person that no this is my lane. You must get out my lane. Otherwise, my horn all the way down. There's the culture of the vehicle that's bigger or faster than you. you undertake you overtake you use the sidelines. It's just like more of a free society. less judgmental, free up easier. happier, warm up. They're just a few of the words that I, I feel every day when I'm living here. I can relate 100% I will get on a flight from LA to London, you know, Bangkok
Chapin 1:21:12
at whatever, no 21 hours later 22 first thing I do is like go to that 711 I get a bunch of different customers in front of the airport and just like toast I think I've done like this that smell and like everything that I love so much about travel to Thailand, specifically, I just saw you sit there and soak up the airport and all the beautiful things that
Ashley 1:21:33
you get to see there. I love it. Cool. I've never never actually done that earlier, or that I've drunk a few beers outside 711 I don't know. Of course.
Chapin 1:21:42
Yeah. I don't know why it's become such a ritual for me. But for me, it's just, I came the first time from Calcutta. When I was like 23 I flew from Calcutta to Bangkok. And
Ashley 1:21:53
having that contrast
Chapin 1:21:55
I think made that experience you describe it really That much more powerful than that
Ashley 1:22:00
much more special. Because Thai culture, my people are kind, they are so kind and so friendly and just go above and beyond like I hate Thailand and just people will go out of their way over like where you going in three minutes to an hour the way to get you there. Yeah, yeah. So I guess you will have experienced that, that tremendous sense of freedom that you get here. And I kind of relate it bit to like having low health and safety. So if there's a great big hole in the pavement, I'm sure if we were in LA and someone tripped on it, it would be Sue sue the council. There's a culture in in England too, but here, I don't know if there's a hole in your own code you should have, you should have watched out probably some Taiwan and just stick a branch in it. Just to give you a little bit of warning. There's that lack of safety. I think is what the freedom is all about. And I have really good memories of living in coaching. I can do my PowerPoint design, finishing, let's say at three or four in the afternoon. And then just jumping on I'm only wearing a pair of shorts. I don't even need a pair of flip flops. I don't need a tablet, it was support, just jump on my motorbike drive to the nearest watering hole, which was just like a free running rhythm with all the rain water that came down on the mountain. And just, you know, swimming this beautiful clear water. When you're done taste like you've enjoyed your swim, just jump back on your motorbike, you know and just drive off. It's just unbelievable sense of freedom and I'll always kind of remember that and it's kind of extending that into nightlife as well as a culture here where you can just run your motorbike from a bar to bar you know, you just literally park it up outside the bar that you'll go hopping in, have a beer, eat some street food, jump on your motorbike drive off. Now I'm not I'm not saying that that drink driving motorbikes is a good thing. Actually, I've lost friends in my 13 years here of people that have been doing that. And it's just the fact that you can and there's no policeman telling you or there's not a council worker, there's even a member of the public, stopping you and directing you and telling you what you can and can't do. And I guess that's what I'm talking about that that's what I feel when I talk about the feeling of like, Well, yeah, again, I just relate so well. One more question on the Holy Grail. If you could
Chapin 1:24:41
describe freedom with one smell, what would it be?
Ashley 1:24:50
I don't know why I could answer this. Fish sauce. I mean, stakes officials
when My wife first cut out that
she came and lived in in my house in London and I was in it with a friend and Kim brought fish shorts with her. And he would tell me that like the stats Mel just used to hold on to him at night he would come up from the kitchen and it would like immersed his bedroom. Similar for my father's when he first came to Bangkok, but he's not really into Asia. He doesn't like that. He he absolutely hates that smell. But so that that's the smell that I think of. Not so much free. I like that smell of like Bangkok streets. It's it's fishy. It's the combination. Leave some trash, like just to be specific.
I know I'm like,
Man, that's that's a bit of an issue at the moment. Chiang Mai is burning season. I'm not sure How much we really want to talk about that, but it's incredibly depressing. The burning that goes on in Chiang Mai, right? Yeah, that's experienced
Chapin 1:26:07
once I was living in PI for like six months and my time up there kind of lapped into like March and it was horrific like actually that's what forced me to believe I was sleeping with the mask on like,
Ashley 1:26:19
choking couldn't see, you know, like 10 meters in front of me because thick fog literally smoke. Yeah, yeah, basically, anyone that can now plans to get the hell out of Chiangmai that season and London and into two months now it's almost like a solid three months of having the worst air times in the world. Like you look up Beijing. You look up like most cities in India, or industrial cities in India, Chiang Mai on worse air and all of these places. And when when you kill in school And they shut the school down because the pollutions too bad. I just thought to myself, okay, like, that's fair enough. Like we've got air con, we've got doors that actually fit.
We can keep
our house failure
in like six different air filters to be able to be air breathable from night. But the big thing that I always think about is if your kids in the schools or the local kids without the tub, where are they going to go? You know, like, only the schools would be the best place for them. So interesting thing and I just, you know, I wonder if the Thai government is going to realize exactly how much damage is being done to the like the lungs of the young kids because they've been properly looked after and then being educated on the burning season. For instance, I as a football coach, In Chiangmai, and as soon as the aq Quality Index rises above 150, we have to cancel all outdoor sporting activities. So from a coach and from a parent's point of view, this is just about one of the most depressing things in the world, you actually have to tell you is please don't go outside. If you do, go outside, don't run, don't play sport, don't exercise the point where you're getting out of breath, because it's bad for you. And my kids are looking at me going that's a different message to what you've been telling me to the rest of the and then what you've got to do is you've got to stay indoors with the purifier and you've got to play Xbox for three months. They're like, Okay, cool. So they my kids are very adaptable, you know, even in the lockdown had the best time of their life. It's absolutely locked in, locked in. And it's it's almost like something that they think now is just part of their life. It's just pretty normal. But for me it is. And it's probably the one single factor that is making me evaluate whether or not Chiangmai is a long term home for me and my family. Interesting. Yeah, I'm gonna get to that question before I do that is good enough to be coaching your
Chapin 1:29:19
children's team?
Ashley 1:29:21
coaching and tie? Yeah, actually.
for about five weeks, this boy was called in and I was saying, how can you, you know, and we talk English as well as occasional blowers. Yeah, I mean, shoot. It took me four weeks to learn what Oh, shit is no, it's not you. Okay, so, my tie is okay. It's not great. It's not really a strong point of mine. Like I say all of my work comes in in English. My my By employees, my Thai tea has to have a reasonable level of English. I think one of the reasons why I've been able to survive and thrive in Thailand is because of my wife, who when I met her was just absolutely fluent in English. I mean, she is completely tired. She's probably sad. But her English was really, really good. And she was the first type of girlfriend that I'd connected with the truly understood me that I could truly communicate with. And so, actually, a lot of my life here in Thailand has still been in English language. And now I'd say 50% of my, of my students, football coaching students are Chinese might speak English to them. So yeah, I'm counting my way through 13 years in Thailand with the help very good time and I feels Sometimes normal is kind of like an expat life, or I live a bit of a tourist life and actually quite works for me. And tourists get treated really well here. There's lots and lots of things to do. And I quite enjoy. I quite enjoy being a bit of a tourist, I've got to say I've never really completely immersed myself in a Thai living conditions or Thai culture. I have friends that some of them have done really well and enjoyed it for a short amount of time. And one in particular, I think, completely crazy that everything as it is he used to say, everything's just different. He said, The people are just wired a bit different when you can really immerse yourself in a culture and live in a time where there's no English language, where there's no shot that you will be familiar with. He he ended up fluent in this task, he didn't last he ended up going home back to England because too crazy. Yeah, what are the some of the
Chapin 1:32:07
things that you've seen kind of the pitfalls I've
Ashley 1:32:10
talked about that you see people coming, you know, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and hopefully leaving either with their tail between
Chapin 1:32:18
their legs or as you described earlier, you know, how to create a small fortune to start in time with the big one. Yeah.
Ashley 1:32:26
I mean that that is a class. A lot of the older cats that are sitting lean on the bar, drinking that the story about how they lost all their money or fell in love with a girl who took all the money. That's that's kind of life today. How do you make a big deal? How do you get to a small fortune in Thailand? Start with a big one. Yeah. So some of the pitfalls that I think are some of the big ones there. to happen around love life, you know, people tend to fall in love with the girl and say to themselves, well, this one's different. I've never had an experience like this, you really think she's five years younger than me that we just hit it off. And then they tend to get a little bit crafty. When it doesn't last, you know, when when the when the money tends to run out, and the left on their own, they have this this bitter resentment. And so I just wanted to be a dad. I've met a few people like that in my own my own my time here on my travels here. And now it gets to the point where I kind of disassociate myself with with that type of connection. I've stopped drinking in those sad lonely beer boss. I've tried to up my game, and a real big part of that is having children. So my kids go to this amazing school. Green School is out in handle structure is built from bamboo. And Martin. It's expanded now. So there you know there is some concrete and there is some air car that was designed to air comfrey is designed so that the women can whip through the buildings. It seemed like a natural bent. elation, is surrounded by trees so it gets the shade and the breeze is just an absolutely heavenly note, a lot of parents when they drive down like this to get to school, they drop them off and they don't leave. Like it's that type of place. It's just a really nice place to hang out. If you are sending your kids to Green School, which it has Buddhist values running through the school, it's a value based education. If you're the type of kind of like forward thinking parent that send your kids to that type of school. Then, pretty good Personally, I think normally it would be like ties that traveled or kids that have at least one foreign parent. So it's a really nice mix of forward thinking families, and they're the type of people that I like to hang out with now. Basically, I've made a lot of friends through my kids going to school, and through hanging out or dropping school gate and just meeting some really cool people in Chiang Mai. Was it an
Chapin 1:35:32
expat who started that pool? Or did it start typing?
Ashley 1:35:37
Yeah, that's a good question. Actually, a deep DB architect is a German expert. And he's married to a Thai hater. And they started it together. Yeah, that's cool. You definitely hear a lot of that. People I've interviewed in Chiang Mai and then
Chapin 1:35:56
as well, they're always Usually starting their own kind of schools in the way that they feel
Ashley 1:36:02
their best be educated to get some very unique
Chapin 1:36:06
schools in these countries. I know you and I both
Ashley 1:36:10
enjoy so much. Yeah, I mean that that is the model. They couldn't find a school that they love says on their own. And then they started recruiting other other color like minded parents who send their children there. And I, my kids joined on about the fifth year of the school being established. So actually, it's quite, quite well run by now. It's it runs from an English syllabus, but it's just a booty call. And yeah, it's we get all the benefits of those visionary school owners that wanted to, you know, set up this place for their children. You mentioned, possibly considering at some point, the pollution of relocating, would it be something similar Or maybe another Southeast
Chapin 1:37:01
Asian country, your wife can talk pretty in depth about that.
Ashley 1:37:07
You've laid off because my wife is so patriotically Thai. It's unbelievable. Like, I don't think she wants to live anywhere. So I think it would be a real struggle. And every time I suggest to her that we may go somewhere else with her love, that's back to England, possibly to America. Maybe another Asian country, not quite sure. She just keeps turning around saying you will regret that decision. were quiet, Thailand, there's nowhere that's because of freedom, you know that you're going to be able to just walk out and buy the street food and have this peace of mind. A great example of that. I mean, I'm a pacifist by nature, but I've never been in close to a fight in time. I've never felt threatened. I've walked through groups of let's say 1018 year old tide in the morning hanging out on the street corner. I just kind of plow straight through them. And you know, there's nothing wrong. There's nothing kind of dangerous about Thailand and the people here from from like being threatened. Whereas when I went back to influence, I experienced very different scenarios, you know, like I feel friendly all the time there I feel quite sure. I would hate to be walking down Croydon high street or in the morning and try to push my way through a group of like 1010 us, it would just be a recipe for disaster. So she always keeps coming back to me and always keeps reminding me that you got to be this there is some it really truly magical about living here. And that's also not even talking about the cost of living Yeah. Which was like a major thing at the start when we have too much money. Just your your logos so much further in Thailand, but particularly in Chiang Mai, and especially so
do you get
Chapin 1:39:16
homesick? Do you have anything that you do
Ashley 1:39:18
genuinely miss that you're just thinking about? I don't, I mean, this sounds bad. I'm not the type of person that look at only ever looking forward. So with social media, particularly Facebook is 25 people that I went to school with, you know, I seen their activities on a daily basis. I do go home, and I try to go home, let's say once every two years, because I like to take my kids back home so that they know you know, they know their family. When I tell me I would meet up with my friends, you know, like I put a little calendar event together and Everyone would make the effort to come out to the park to see me. I look around the room and I'd say so what do you think take in and then say, Well, actually, we haven't not last came back last year, you know, their lives just right. And a lot of them are still doing that slog. They're still working, getting up early, commuting into work slogging away at nine to five getting home absolutely shattered, probably drinking themselves to sleep and then getting up and doing it all again. So, I don't miss that is that and I'm really, really handy to that. There are some things that obviously I'm quite fond of, you know, when I when I look back at my time in England, and all the things that you might say you miss, like, it used to be like Oh, nice wine, nice cheese. Sports interaction with with English people I can do it all from here anyway you know the shops here sells everything you get my mom likes the classic right at mama in my local repeating now so that I think licorice licorice was a big one for me and mom I'd like to say thanks for those that are like available here because of social media I keep in touch with everyone you know. We're just gonna say that they have a better relationship with my with my parents with my mother and my father. They're not together so I end up putting phone calls into the site at least every three months for like an hour on the phone. I never had that relationship when I lived in England you know when we live here. So actually be 1000 or six and a half thousand miles away. Can you favor sister calls me golden balls because it's like I can do with my parents. You know, when I cut when I come home, and I bring my family we stay for a short amount of time, you know, we don't just come, we will have a great time and then we and I just never had any problems. I turn up with, you know, you've attitude, bringing their grandkids along stolen, and then go. So I think that the balance and the price that I have here satisfies everything for me. And no, I don't I don't miss
talking about your positive
Chapin 1:42:37
attitudes. That's something that you have.
Ashley 1:42:39
Did you have that back in the UK? Or is it something that you found as you kind of went out into the world of your life and did what you want with it? I definitely always had a positive attitude. Even doing the best job I can ever I did which was a teaching assistant. Like 14 years old system and it'd be like clearing out the bins, clearing up all the dirty food in the dishwasher. I still always do it with like a big smile on my face. And I remember people would always come up to you smiling, you know, why are you so bloody happy about
didn't realize I was smiling at it.
I've always had a really positive attitude.
I feel quite lucky
to kind of fall in place for me. So yeah, yeah, it just kind of fits with with living here to where the majority of you are also quite happy.
What kind of hobbies you personally
Yeah. It was all local years. It was just slogging away making money. And then the hobby is really like health and fitness and your life and dining. They were they were really, it just sounds like it. But that's how I would choose to style when I was flat out. And more recently, I've got back into football. So caused me to change my mind. Players really found out when I decided to
do football coaching for the money.
I went back to England and I call it a
football association coach. So I got which meant that I was entitled to legally teach under 16 football, but not only that gave me all the tools that I needed. So yeah, I've been doing a lot of things. And I kind of put so much time and effort and energy into that. Last year I did my accounts did my personal accounts, and it paid me one 600 pounds and I've put probably more effort into that in that last year than I did my actual business. So that was a bit of a red flag just to work out more. I also had an import export business from Thailand one of the first things that I ever did when it when I came here, I just wanted to sell a business that will allow me to live and work in Thailand. So we use a it was myself and we used to export metal, wood, home furnishings and baskets we'd like lining, and there's another product called benjarong Royal porcelain, which is just a fully hand painted, extravagant, loyal design of things like sunglasses, but we started putting those products into England. Checking I've completely forgotten my train of thought what was the title About a free Dude, I was like to draw them into the Import Export thing. I forgot my original question. It's okay to export things. I'm curious. Did that make you money? Yeah, actually, this is what we were what we were talking about. So, again, I did it because we put out doing it. We set up a business stands in England. We want pretty attractive customers as the department stores john lewis and heels of London, which is like a quite a high profile department store. And we were supplying beautiful homes home, flusher jeans made in Thailand. We were making money on it. But did that business make a lot of money, not really certainly not enough to sustain us. I did it with as a partnership with a friend. In the end, we actually pass that business over. We can hear ya as well. But there just wasn't enough money for all of us. And I remember I slept for about 18 months. And that was my counsel at the time. If I forget about something, he was like ash, you made more money or a boy. Oh my god. I mean, this is another one where I give him my heart, given all my energy in
and learn.
But at the end of the day, if it doesn't make money, and you put all the time and effort into it, it's not sustainable. And that business just was not sustainable for us. I can relate. I mean, that's where I found out the last six months shutting down my
Chapin 1:47:44
online search construction business.
Ashley 1:47:47
Five years I've been trying to come up with just even and been able to do it, which I mean,
Chapin 1:47:54
leads me to us connecting through the dynamite which I know has been a huge influence for you really positively. And
Ashley 1:48:01
well, you can talk to the audience
Chapin 1:48:03
about you joining us
Ashley 1:48:06
What did you learn like a year ago, because that's what really impacted your your business. But this is this is such a good critical. It's something I'm really happy to talk about. And I feel that I've spoken a lot about and in the last year or so, I'm living here, having my business kind of working my side of the business and then mingling with older expats. So playing a lot of golf, and you quit lunches. I mean, that's what golf is, to be honest, especially here. It was. But, again, let this keeps on coming up. It wasn't sustainable. This was not how I wanted to live. You know. I'm like 40 to 50 years old, hanging out with 6570 year olds playing golf all day. It became a related, I knew that I needed support. I knew that I needed a mentor. I was looking for a coach. And I just didn't know where to start. Why coach?
Well, just to help me
to take my business to the next. Absolutely no one that I could talk to about my business. I just thought no one will understand the math. No one will really be able to walk through this with me and help bite me. And I was just so wrong. Like I was isolated. And probably my brain was starting to regress because of the No offense to that. Anyway, but no offense to all my old golf buddies. But that wasn't the type of internet intellectual or stimulation that I needed as a business. And I was desperate. I was desperately looking for something I didn't know what that was. So cutting a long story quite short. Someone had in Chiangmai and they just quite simply said that when I explained my situation, he said you should listen to tropical MBA, tropical MBA, you know, you didn't it didn't really resonate with you. So like everything I scribbled it down like my book and then about I checked it out and one of the first episodes I listened to was about an agency of pretty much exactly my situation and all the support option, but ahead for an agency owner just like me, and I remember I was listening to it at night. On my on my phones. I have a lot more. It's like half 11 at night. I took it for a little shaky, would not believe it is me This is exactly me. I know So, the podcast was how I got introduced to IRA signing on to the DC and looking at a $500 than the I've never spent $500 membership to anything online. So I was a little skeptical. I wasn't quite sure if the data you get from it. Suddenly, I'm not the guy. So I wouldn't pay $500 to have access to a four. So it's like, well, maybe Am I gonna, I looked on on the membership lists, and I saw, I knew, so I phoned him up straightaway. I just got one. spoke briefly about the TC and then to set up Scott, why did you pay $500 to join? And he was like, Oh, I can't remember that. That was the killer question for me. I just just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be scattered like a papers. So that everyone else was getting for free, did it I joined up and up and up to go to Bali, which was my first one. And I'm gonna put in Bali. It's quite formal shoes. And by crisply, I and my wife show at the DVD.
Little bit overdressed here.
But the value that I got from Dave walk was unbelievable sitting and listening to people sharing their expertise. What I love about the DC is like the openness. Autumn I call it I call it like opens. Yes, people stand up and they tell you exactly what they've done exactly what they have experienced. And the benefits of doing so. And some of the pitfalls and they just stand there and they just stone with you. And that's just been absolutely me. I'm completely motivational. I Actually to, to get a scholarship to Austin. And I probably would never have gone to Austin. If I had my little a member it said in three sentences, say exactly what this opportunity would mean for you. So I'd make it straight back to the fact that I feel isolated. I don't know what to do. I buy a nice business, but I just don't expect steps. I'm looking for a coach. I'm looking for a mentor. And I put that nicely into two to three sentences. And then I was delighted when they told me I've won, you know, and then two weeks after barley, I was flying straight off to Boston. And just reception I was given the support was unbelievable. So winning the scholarship. Jimmy Hayes sent me some luggage, which is just like an amazing bonus. Ben McAdams, Henry and Samantha out is sorry all three of them gave me three months of their coaching for free. And it was just, it was the arm round. And it was this hole that I just needed at the time. Just to be able to, I think I call it like, is it? Is it coaching or is it therapy? I think I called it business therapy, because it's just venting out some problems that I have with people who go Yeah, yeah, that really was what I was looking at the dog. Yeah.
Chapin 1:54:32
I feel the exact moment in that. It's, it's what you would normally pay
Ashley 1:54:38
like, like five grand to tell you but you have a lot of people that you've just described, willing to divulge. Not free because we pay
Chapin 1:54:45
to be in the group. But
Ashley 1:54:47
it's like you get so much value,
Chapin 1:54:49
I think for such a fraction of what you know, some coaches are you absolutely
Ashley 1:54:56
one stage more than I've been I've been a member of DC for a year, very sociable person, I like face to face events went to Austin, I kind of kind of set it as my goal is not to get there with everyone but to at least meet everyone that was there. And I joke of that. I've met a lot of people, but the short of is I think in the last 12 months, I made about 250 rooms, really inspirational. But I take it one step further. It's not just a commitment, like I've actually made personal friendships that have changed my life that led me positive direction. And a couple of years ago, I tied back off my old chain my friends, with just, you know, I was trying to lift them up. They were trying to live well, they were probably bringing me back down and help people until the point themselves I didn't realize that I kind of lower my game to fit in there. And I realized that I was doing drinking too much going to the bar, staying out late, being a particularly good husband, and definitely not being a good father by just picking up too many. And I've noticed that with myself, so I made the call. And I remember telling my wife, she immediately told us that I'm going to stop hanging out with these people. And she's sure to kind of edit this before I believe it when I see it. And I did I just cut off and that's it on. So that actually left me even more isolated. I knew that I didn't want to be hanging out with people doing that type of stuff. But it left me no man's land. So I was even more receptive to making new notes in the DRC. And these aren't just normal friends, you know, they're pillars of business. They They are motivated, they have wisdom to share often. Some of them have experts that they know that makes them stand out from the crowd. And these are just exactly the type of people for you to be hanging out with is related to my game no end. And it's made me it's made me a better father made me definitely a better hospital. Looks beautiful, man. Is it viable? I can check your income. No. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, um, one thing that I have done is I have to do a little shout out to Henry das here because he does impact on me. He was my first coach. He was the one that I signed for first, but he was just the one that had to really let it all out. So what Henry did is he really helped me stabilize my business and really make sure that the foundation is in place. Me too comfortable to stay. Okay. So I have my numbers increase slightly but I definitely a better leader, a better boss kind of like classic moment review, I think, pretty shit boss for quite a long time especially to my English manager. You know he was pretty insistent that I was worst bosses ever. And five years ago I asked him what do you want on your business cards, printed some business cards online you can put right hand I just didn't get it. I didn't I you know, I remember him asking for it but I didn't really resonate. And then after Bali especially after going to DC Austin, I realized that this guy's been a little awkward for me that I was the visionary. I was the content, but not perfect. of the company, all the ideas, and that this guy was the total indifference, and just how much I adored his contribution to assets. And it really did take a DC for me that I've given a lot of decisions. We'll always be looking to find an air integrator with their right hand, or find someone that they trust as a business manager to help them with their business.
I have played for five years, I've really taken it for granted. And so when I came back from Boston, I went into the office. He was working in the office like a couple of days a week, went into the office and said, I want to have a light He's like, this is not the flu. It's a completely different person. He was incredibly uncomfortable, because that's the type of person he is. But I think in the end, he told you my love because of the channel dedicated to it. Given my visit, which now I call out business, I talked to him now like he's a co founder. He was, but I now treat him like, I respect his contribution way more. And it's just made me before but also more aware of what I've got. And the people that I've employed. I've been really fortunate that I've fairly rarely lost a member of staff. Anyone has left my company and a couple of people have the core design team and particularly Jason, who is the new English manager, been phenomenally loyal to me and really have facilitated the growth of this
gratulations Yeah, Henry
Chapin 2:00:46
was kind enough to do some coaching
Ashley 2:00:47
me I've had one podcast one. I'll link his episode show notes, but since mazing congratulate
you're appreciating your manager
DC members and Henry really flipped everything upside down
Chapin 2:01:04
for you and showed you a new path. Yeah.
Ashley 2:01:08
So every New Yorker is a hard hitting kind of like no bullshit tie. Oh, he has seen and heard it all before. laughed about him He is like a classic saying every single situation I met is just got it and I don't know. When I'm talking to him, he says so many brilliant little classic one liners, just like oh, I've got keep I've got
Henry's call with me because
we used to do them at 7am on Monday. So if one of the positive start to really take him resolve at 7am on a Monday morning because that will get you in shape. And it really did really, I really, really benefit from my time with you. Consider uninterpreted Yes. Why'd you ask? Just the way kind of life is unfolding for you, you plot implied that things just kind of worked out. Your sister calls you one bolt, or something like that. That's the that's the one I yeah, these sorts of questions for people who, like navigating business with intuition i think is important. But I was I think I just talked about it's, it's only important if you understand the business as it is trying to navigate into in a business model that you will understand your thought, this is not gonna count. And actually that that came from viola, who you'll hear from, he's also the de an expert in search engine optimization. But yeah, just to admit that I think you know, maybe a Steve Jobs had like, you can get to the top
Chapin 2:02:53
but you have to really
Ashley 2:02:54
stand your business, your niche. So maybe I am maybe I am intuitive, and I just kind of relate to him and fortunate being in the right place at the right time and being for the opportunity, because he does seem to fall into this for me, you know, I've really experienced that throughout my whole thing. You know, or likely wasn't. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. And sounds like you work very hard to
Chapin 2:03:27
get where you're at. You know, you spend hours on the computer.
Ashley 2:03:30
Yeah, I do keep on reminders.
I think it's
one thing that I knew best was when I was in a hands on PowerPoint designer, and I was sending those jobs back for 80. And my clients when it's on cards, file, dash off to them. It's scanned, as well. Wonderful, thank you so much. Hopefully, you've made my day you know, I would just get a summary. have positive comments coming back at like, three o'clock in the afternoon or five o'clock in the afternoon where they picked up their files and they accepted the changes and and then would just give me money for a job well done. I really missed that. When I became like the boss I wasn't get. I was Pat's on the back. I wasn't getting the daily recognition from happy times. A little exercise that I have to do with myself now is to give myself that sort of situation. I've actually recorded a little mantra. Yeah, you did a good job. You've worked hard. Congratulations. Keep on myself. Because there is a bit of a void within me that I'm not getting that recognition from my client or from other on a daily basis. Do you listen to that
Chapin 2:04:52
stuff? Will you record it for
Ashley 2:04:53
your life? lesson to perform better when you wake up in the morning? Yeah, actually And initiatives that I focus on with Joon buoy. She's been a really, really great kind of like vision. She does a bit of five year goal setting with me and helps me to become the future version of myself that I really want to be. And one of those things, you know, one of those little obstacles I had was self recognition, just just not beating myself up for not driving my business to the next level or new, the super CEO that would launch SAS business or product service business and take it to seven figures. She kind of like gives me the reassurance that you've done a good job. So the next steps will unfold. Don't beat yourself up over the fact that you know you haven't achieved the things that cite what I call the heavy hitting DCs. She's like that Take your time, you know, you'll get that. That was one of the exercises that I've done with her. Do you have ambition to like, grow this into something and then maybe retire complete from it or just grow into something big, just level up learning style, be traveling, you know, business class first class. It is Yeah, it has become really apparent in a second recent. I have put some put a number on it, I know. But the mission of the person that wants to be and that person is a provider. It's a provider type to my immediate family such as extended family. I went back to seven, which is where I'm from. I hired just for three weeks on Airbnb. I hired an impound mentioned. That was quite quite grant, but he's got opes most of the house has a million now. So anyway, hi. I meant that I could invite my father, Goodbye my sisters and mothers. Ah, no, I didn't bring this and sleep on mobile, or we all cram into the spare room. But this was the first time that I came back and I was like, This is my house, we're gonna entertain, you can cook for you, we're going to host and that was just such a positive memory for me that I clap. I want more than that I want to be to provide for my family. And especially for my two children, because it seems that if they grow up in Thailand, they won't go to England and to have proper supper. So you know, if we didn't call it England, they probably won't go to Thailand. I guess what I'm trying to say is when a certain age that will be their decision. And if they want to go in India and America or Holland or Germany or maybe they want to UK football trinities apprenticeships, whatever it is to do, I'll be able to provide But not only that, well to be able to travel, I want to be able to go and support them. You know, my wife is very unlikely to let my kids go you know, she said I'd say go icap she will travel the world with them to go to school to uni with them. And so I i love that tree. It feels just right for my heart, but you need to be fed up to keep your house in Chiangmai for the beautiful green private school, and then you know the amount of money that it's going to take maybe if they decide to go to university Yeah, that's why that's why the scale up right now. Do you have a timeline that you've stuck? Like a goal? Five years 10 years? I know you mentioned you doing a fucking song written down? Yeah, Do I've set the goal on a personal wealth of $10 million? Yes. And I didn't even transfer dollars, because I now flow with what I call a bit of an American dream. I've worked out of the UK for a long time has over the past four or five years steadily plummeted and the bar you could imagine all my climbing every ounce of my outgoings are in Thai bar. And I think Brexit that was triggered it. I think I lost something like 27
of my monthly salary. So the amount of the link that when I transfer that back into Bart, I was 27 times out that I was pre Brexit. So that hit me up. And not only that I have savings in the UK that I bring over to support my life here. Even the trends of the firing of that money, you know, it just dramatically brought. I actually bought my own house in Chiangmai. And I ended on half of it to myself, whoo, the exchange rate, I think at the 255 baht to the pound of change rates now. Good, you know, if it was 58, I'd probably bring all my money over, and then it's just positive. And now it hovers around 40. And it dropped as low as 38. So one of the wonderful tools that I've set is to expand into the American market. There's a couple of reasons. One, I think, much premium for my services in America, too, is that the management consultancy, work exclusively for them, then we want only to ever work for any of their competitors for that time. So, pretty much throughout a lot of industries in the UK, they are one of the most independent management consultants in the UK. Compare that to America, not Apaches compared to some of the giant phones that are out there in America. So that combined, like, the positive attitude that I got when I came to Austin, really positive, upbeat and supporting. I just loved it. And I thought, Well, yeah, this is what I want to start from now. So I've set my set my goals on the American I want to business into America. I want to be like the Power Belt, as I call myself and just refining a little bit more. My team has been working with the early progress It management consulting for quite a long time, we've picked up some really good industry practice, what we're able to do is pick a presentation deck or document and by design, increase chances of success. We increase conversion rates on proposals, documents, we create explainer videos. When you pitch for a new account, just leaving a copy of the slides or leofric entation or a PDF, or a document, actually, what what we leave behind now, mated explainer videos that paint a vision for the future. Just be like a 62nd cartoon style animation explains the client. If you go ahead and use our services. This is your vision of the future really nicely with the lighting and cartoon graphics because anything's possible, and there's nothing you can't do. With a cartoon, people tend to believe the stories that they're told by parents of more than, let's say, a shoe or were like stock photography. Do. cartoons are just friendlier, they're more believable and potential to judge less. This is another thing now that we, it's whenever it's a plane that to us pitchers, they're like, yeah, that's a really good idea, but you leave behind the video and then anyone who wasn't present, it's very easy for them to just be sending the video so that they can watch it in 60 seconds. And just like a nice overview of why you should say yes to this result. So that's kind of intervene in the US to increase the effectiveness of presentations. And to increase the likelihood of the conversion, by design. It's also doing that studio Are your company really does? That's correct. It used to be called power science. Since it's a registered company at the time, we would just focus on and then maybe half of our work is done in Adobe Creative Suite was just white papers I designed it in. And then we have the animation, the illustrations, all done using Adobe Creative Suite. This is cool, man.
Chapin 2:14:32
I wish you all the best congratulations on to see accomplishes
Ashley 2:14:35
that you've made. You can just take one second to
Chapin 2:14:39
talk to an individual
Ashley 2:14:40
Listen, right. heard your story, get into it inspired by it, but maybe still a little hesitation. You know,
Chapin 2:14:46
take that trip to
Ashley 2:14:47
Thailand, start their first line of business, whatever they may want to do. So expect them to help motivate them the first step. Yeah, I think the issue Lean on someone? Because I did. I had, at the time a trend that making all this the silly mistakes that I would have made if I tried to do it by myself. So I've benefited from the DC. But even if they're not, they should find someone that can. An example of this recently is I was talking to someone, because I talked to a lot of PowerPoint designers do exactly the same job as me because we share quite a few experiences of what it was like to be a PowerPoint designer. Let's say 45 year old Indian, but I just said, What do I need to do to start a successful web design agency? he seen that I had one and he was just just ask questions, just like, what would I need? And I was like, Well, what you need to do is you Need to get clicks, you need to have a regular stream of clients. And he's like, well, they just asked me, but how would I go about doing that? Well, potentially, I could help you, you know, just by asking in a polite way and not, not not pressing. But definitely lean on a little bit for some guidance, some wisdom. And he had the balls. Last question. Oh, could you send me a client Do you have. And in the last month, I've sent him three files. These are the clients that will no longer fit into my business model. They're smaller one off jobs. And now they're trying to go into like more regular high paid work. So in fact, with my business, my business is running almost at capacity, especially working. I didn't want to be loading my designers with extra work. That is Just in case, it's absolutely lovely. So I didn't want to just bring on a little low paid one off project that really kind of stress them out on top of their daily work. So he asked, he got I sent it to him, and he really good job is super effective. So that could well be the start of a people in buildings agency. And it all came from just finding one that you can learn from somewhere experienced someone that knows the way and just politely asking them for a little bit of support or ask for their expertise. Great advice. Ashley, thanks so much for your time folks. Check him out at 90 dot design. And when asked that they could find you if they can just reach out directly show the active on Facebook. I can now really start doing this. I enjoy socializing on LinkedIn, there's some content added to Facebook and LinkedIn for a conversation you can find me overnight dot design, you will get a link to my question from that. Thank you. We appreciate you. Cool. Thanks, JJ talking to you. Awesome. Thank you so much for your time I
Chapin 2:18:17
really appreciate the fact that I could really
Ashley 2:18:20
I found so many of those those feelings you have just with mainland in Thailand to those freedoms you talked about being in Thailand, also
Chapin 2:18:28
things I felt for myself in Thailand, all the other beautiful places around the world. I love traveling. That's why I love being an expat. It truly is the most freeing feeling I've ever experienced in
Ashley 2:18:39
these cultures
Chapin 2:18:40
where I feel less inhibited
Ashley 2:18:42
by the policy of social mores than my culture. So thank you again for jumping in. If you want to check that out, over to overnight dot and if you want to support Mr.
Chapin 2:18:51
subutex. Remember you can do that in one day. They
Ashley 2:18:53
can do that by giving a donation that is always appreciated. Nothing
Chapin 2:18:58
is expected. It's a monthly donation $1 $2 out of 10. I'm working on creating
Ashley 2:19:03
something that for those who sign up for a donation or a gift of some kind
Chapin 2:19:09
for you and if you just want to go to
Ashley 2:19:11
the backslash shop and pick up a misfits shirt remember I can send those anywhere else so don't hesitate to sign up. If you are in Australia, Southeast Asia, you're your baby, I can get that up. Super covered. Material very light. comfortable. I have no doubt that I love getting pictures of fans wearing them as I go across their chest.
Chapin 2:19:29
So thank you so
Ashley 2:19:30
much for your support. I think you also pulled it ready for next week's episode Monday midnight. Yeah, I appreciate it. Take care keep you're listening to miss this.