Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Kelly.
Ashley, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Xanga, that’s where it started, if you can even remember that. I clearly can picture my eleven-year-old self sitting at this DIY desk in my Pops’ dining room and editing my blog on a purple iMac, the one with the giant back, for hours. My username was, get ready for it, @carebears600. My goal in life then was to become famous enough to be featured on the front page of Xanga, which never happened. As time went on and social media grew, we moved from Pensacola to ATL in 2004. Xanga was no longer relevant and my new addiction was Myspace. I’d spend days googling coding to find out how to hide every aspect of my page and build it all over again in my own way. I took website design and coding classes in high school that would not help me pass sections on “making a red ball bounce on an HTML page” but enable me to add Chris Brown images in a gallery on my profile. Basically, I was obsessed with being the person everyone asked: “How did you get your page to look like that?” – and I succeeded a lot.
I didn’t grow up in your typical parental environment. I spent the majority of my time with my Pro Skateboarder – vegetarian – coffee addicted – indie music lover – Pops, Pete Kelly. He owned countless skate and streetwear small businesses and I was basically born on the side of a vert ramp. From the time I could speak, I was helping customers that visited his endless amount of shops. If he taught me anything in life, it was to create, then re-create, then create again. I barely graduated high school in 2009 and fought to find myself for three years. I worked retail, skate, re-sell, bullshit jobs, anything to get by, while having this dying urge to create, then recreate, then create again. I just didn’t know where to do it, or how to get the ideas in my head into a business format.
In July 2012, my son was born. I was a twenty-year-old single mom, living at home, working two jobs, and still trying to find myself. Money was a struggle, so when I received an opportunity to run a corporate skate shop, I’m sure you can guess the name so I’ll save myself the embarrassment, I took it. I packed myself and my son up and moved to Columbus, GA – hindsight, the best and worst decision of my life. I spent two years shelling out 60 plus hours a week, working for someone else’s success. I was mentally and physically exhausted. In the end, they fired me because I made the most money (still basically nothing) in the region and no one could get raises because the budgets were all maxed out. I moved home with no job, no money, just me and my son. Here’s where things start to change.
I never wanted to go to college. I wasn’t ever the school type. What I was though, was sick of working for someone else and never truly meeting the “in my own head” potential. In August 2014, I signed up for college. It took me four years just to get my associate’s degree in Data Analytics, but I walked across that stage in Bradenton, Florida with something accomplished, a goal that I achieved, something I never really thought I would ever do.
Along the way, in my third year at State College of Florida, GirlsGoNowhere was created. In its beginning stages, it was my “new aged” Xanga, a place where girls who thought they were going nowhere, could come and belong. An Instagram account that focused on helping girls, and really myself, find our potential. It transformed into a lot of different things in the beginning stages, but I always had the same goal, go somewhere with this.
In August 2018, I started college again at the University of West Florida all while using my online skills to freelance. I built websites, helped people find their target markets on Instagram, and I developed an algorithm to succeed in gaining a following. I balanced school and freelancing this way for a year and a half. I watched as my grades took a back burner to complete deadlines for analytic reports for clients – in reality, I knew I had to make a decision and ultimately, I picked GirlsGoNowhere.
This was just six months ago that I decided to go full time with my freelancing. This is when GirlsGoNowhere Creative Solutions was born. A creative online business that helps brands, companies, and small businesses meet their own potential online.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Balance. Work-life, being a single mom, and maintaining my own sanity has been my biggest struggle that I didn’t overcome until I realized how to say NO. When I first started GirlsGoNowhere, I said yes to everything. I worked with whoever, whenever, and whatever they wanted me to do. Learning to pick and choose what I wanted versus what others wanted was a huge step into owning myself. I didn’t decide to become an entrepreneur. I was born for this. Saying no to certain opportunities or requests is how you become the driver and not a passenger on the freeway to success.
We’d love to hear more about GirlsGoNowhere Creative Solutions.
GirlsGoNowhere Creative Solutions specializes in social media marketing, content creation, print & digital graphics, and web design. I primarily focus on Instagram and help businesses grow a following with an organic algorithm I created. In 2020, I started teaching in-person and online Instagram classes for businesses to help them learn how to create a successful business profile. From this, I’ve grown a large following in Woodstock, where I’m based out of. I love seeing small businesses succeed and seeing the difference in the way they market and promote themselves virtually.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
A few weeks ago, I moved into downtown Woodstock. My main goal for this was to live right above the coffee shop I hold classes at, Copper Coin Coffee. As those classes are now moved online due to social distancing, my big plans for 2020 are to continue to grow my business and the businesses of my clients. I’m looking forward to starting in-person classes again and launching my part two of my online course, Instagram Basics 101.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.girlsgonowherecreativesolutions.thinkific.com
- Phone: 770-450-1323
- Email: ashleypaigekelly@gmail.com
- Instagram: @girlsgonowhere
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/girlsgonowhere/
Image Credit:
Instagram Story Templates – designed by GirlsGoNowhere Creative Solutions – for Blue Joy Boutique with permission to share.
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