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Episode 1Apr 1, 2020· 10:05

Welcome to The Bloggy Friends Show

▸ Show notes from the creator
I've been talking about launching a show online in some capacity for years now. As a content creator, I felt a visual or audio show would be a lot of fun. Fear held me back for years, but I'm ready to give this a chance. April Fool's Day felt like the best day to launch, so here's my introduction and welcome to The Bloggy Friends Show More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every episode of The Bloggy Friends Show. My new home base for all things Bloggy Friends can be found here: https://www.famousashleygrant.com/podcast/ Be sure to follow me on social: Facebook | Instagram | X | LinkedIn | TikTok | YouTube ------------------------------------------------------------------- This podcast is supported by affiliate partnerships. Please check out a few of our partners below: – Start a podcast today here: https://rss.com?via=famous – Create content from your own voice with Castmagic's Suite of AI Tools: https://get.castmagic.io/dcjy15cirnts – Want to help support our show? Buy a girl a drink perhaps? https://ko-fi.com/famousashleygrant – Need content for your podcast or blog? Check out Tools for Motivation! The links above are affiliate links. This means my podcast will receive a small commission if you order through any of them at no additional cost to you. Affiliate commissions are one of the ways my podcast makes money so that I can create episodes free of charge. If you do purchase anything from my links, I sincerely would like to thank you for your support!
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About this episode
I've been talking about launching a show online in some capacity for years now. As a content creator, I felt a visual or audio show would be a lot of fun. Fear held me back for years, but I'm ready to give this a chance. April Fool's Day felt like the best day to launch, so here's my introduction and welcome to The Bloggy Friends Show More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly…
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Show notes & timestamps
00:00Opening the Show
02:08Ashley talks about her start in journalism in 2007 and getting her first paid writing gig in 2008.
03:08In 2009, Ashley was covering local events and met the man who gave her the nickname "Famous Ashley Grant."
04:53In 2014, Ashley started ghostwriting and found it was an easier way to get writing gigs.
06:54Ashley explains why she called the show "Bloggy Friends Show" - she wants it to connect bloggers who can feel isolated.
07:40Ashley shares the goal for the show is to "inspire, educate and connect" within the blogging community.
08:26Ashley explains the show will share realities of blogging, making money blogging, interviews with bloggers, etc.
09:10Ashley provides info on where to find the show - for now at FamousAshleyGrant.com.
Full transcript
00:00
met the guy who would give me my moniker, Famous
00:02
Ashley Grant. Like, who calls themselves Famous
00:05
Ashley? Or who calls themselves famous anything,
00:07
right? What's up, guys? Famous Ashley Grant here,
00:26
and it's my sincere pleasure. to welcome you
00:29
finally to the Bloggy Friends show. I have been
00:33
talking about starting this show for years now,
00:35
and though I can't quite say what it is exactly
00:39
that has prevented me from starting it, a series
00:42
of events over the past year has led me to realize
00:45
there's no time quite like the present to just
00:48
launch already, even if I'm starting awfully
00:51
and it's awful and it's terrible. I need to just
00:54
launch. I need to quit being afraid. If you're
00:56
listening to this and you're wondering if you
00:59
should launch, go ahead and do it. You're going
01:02
to be scared. You're going to be nervous. I know
01:04
I am, but just do it anyway. Like you maybe have
01:10
a really cool idea and you're just as scared
01:12
as I am, but let's just launch and see what happens.
01:16
We may hate it. We may love it, but as long as
01:20
we're trying, Isn't that what we're all here
01:22
to do anyway? So that's why I'm just going to
01:24
go ahead and get into this right now. I know
01:27
one thing that has held me back has been the
01:30
fear of putting myself out there. That's especially
01:33
true considering the fact that most of the work
01:35
that I've been doing for the past six years doesn't
01:38
even have my name on it. You see, I've been a
01:41
ghostwriter since 2014, but long before that
01:44
is when my writing career actually began. But
01:48
I'm getting a little ahead of myself. In this
01:50
first episode, what I thought I would do is just
01:53
share a little bit about who I am, introduce
01:55
myself, share how I got into blogging, and then
01:58
explain the origin of my silly moniker that I've
02:01
been touting since 2009. I'll also share with
02:05
you what my hope is for this show and what future
02:07
episodes will look like. So let's dive in. In
02:11
2007, my very first written piece was published
02:15
under my name in my university's newspaper. I
02:19
was working towards my journalism degree, and
02:22
getting clips was required for one of my classes.
02:25
A few short months later, my first paid piece
02:28
was published in a local Tampa paper called TBT,
02:31
which stood for Tampa Bay Times. I have to say
02:35
that from that very first piece in February 2007
02:39
in the University of South Florida Oracle newspaper,
02:42
I was absolutely hooked. For me, there was nothing
02:47
quite like having your name displayed and a story
02:50
you had written being visible for all of your
02:53
peers to see. Then, fast forward, and I got the
02:57
gig to write for TBT, and I was on cloud nine.
03:02
I was telling everyone, pick up your paper, pick
03:04
up your paper, because I was convinced at this
03:06
moment that I wanted to be a writer for the rest
03:09
of my life. Fast forward again to 2009, and at
03:14
this point, I had several writing gigs under
03:16
my belt. I was writing stories for various news
03:19
outlets, both online and in print. And around
03:22
that time, I was covering a lot of local Tampa
03:25
events. And at one in particular, I met the guy
03:29
who would give me my moniker, Famous Ashley Grant.
03:31
Like, who calls themselves famous, Ashley? Or
03:34
who calls themselves famous anything, right?
03:36
Like, I know it sounds silly, but I'll explain
03:39
why in a minute. His name was Ron McDougall,
03:42
and at the time he was known in Tampa as Ron
03:45
from the Don. He worked for the famous pink hotel
03:48
in St. Petersburg, the Don Cesar, as a concierge.
03:52
Needless to say, conversations that ensued with
03:55
Ron were always entertaining. I love chatting
03:58
with him. He is a great guy. He's just the coolest.
04:01
So one night when I was covering a story, as
04:03
I walked into the room, he blurted out, Oh my
04:05
God, it's the famous Ashley Grant. I thought
04:08
it was hilarious and I could not stop laughing.
04:11
Of course, that night he kept cementing it into
04:13
my brain by calling me that multiple times. He
04:16
would introduce me to people and be like, have
04:18
you met the famous Ashley Grant? Do you not know
04:20
the famous Ashley Grant? And I can even hear
04:22
him saying that now. So Ron, if you're listening,
04:25
thanks again for the moniker. It still cracks
04:27
me up and I still use it to this day. When I
04:30
got home from the night that he called me Famous
04:33
Ashley, after a little too much white wine, I
04:35
must confess, I accidentally ordered business
04:37
cards with the name Famous Ashley Grant instead
04:40
of Ashley Grant. Now, when they arrived, I bursted
04:44
out laughing, but then it settled in like, oh,
04:46
my God, what am I going to do? They say famous.
04:49
But I realized I couldn't exactly return them.
04:51
And I thought, you know what? Why not? I'm just
04:53
going to hand them out and see what happens.
04:56
So incidentally, I started introducing myself
04:59
as famous Ashley Grant as I was handing out my
05:01
business card. And it was the first year that
05:04
I made full time income as a freelance writer.
05:07
I was so excited as the momentum picked up during
05:11
that year. I got excited even more and I bought
05:14
the domain, thefamousashleygrant .com. I decided
05:17
I was going to keep using it because every time
05:20
someone met me, they either would laugh at me
05:22
or they would roll their eyes. But the point
05:25
is, they would never forget. They would remember
05:27
who I was. And for me, that became essential
05:30
to getting more work. Of course, you probably
05:33
know where some of this is going. Slowly but
05:35
surely, maintaining the level of work I was getting
05:38
was becoming a little bit harder. Blame it on
05:40
the economy, blame it on whatever you want, but
05:42
as advertisers would pull out, the first people
05:45
to get cut are always the freelancers, and that's
05:48
what I've always been, is a freelancer. So come
05:50
2013, I was making significantly less income,
05:54
and I began looking for other opportunities.
05:57
Then in 2014, I'm not kidding when I say ghostwriting
06:01
literally landed in my lap. I knew how to write.
06:04
I knew how to take a story and turn it into a
06:08
really helpful piece of content. But the problem
06:11
was I couldn't find gigs with newspapers, online
06:15
publications, etc. So I started writing for businesses
06:19
who needed content on their websites. Suddenly
06:22
getting gigs was easy again, as long as my name
06:25
wasn't on the byline. So I've been doing that
06:28
while also trying to get more gigs under my own
06:30
name ever since. Of course, I continue to try
06:33
to get internet famous enough to make full -time
06:36
income as Ashley. But in the meantime, I'm truly
06:39
loving how many clients I get to help to get
06:42
their story out, get their content out for their
06:44
businesses. So while I'm trying to get internet
06:46
famous, I'm also trying to help other people
06:48
get internet famous. All right, so there you
06:52
have it. That's the backstory of how I got into
06:54
blogging, how I got my moniker. Now, you might
06:57
be wondering, why call this the Bloggy Friends
06:59
Show? And the truth is, the life of a writer
07:02
can be a really lonely one. I have been writing
07:05
so much and I write from home most of the time
07:08
so I don't really get to see people but whenever
07:11
I do I love calling them my bloggy friends. I
07:14
started calling the people in my life who were
07:17
writers and bloggers my bloggy friends and I
07:19
liked the idea that anyone who was a friend of
07:21
mine had a special title. I thought it was cool.
07:23
Instead of just calling them a friend I call
07:26
them a bloggy friend and I often say Whenever
07:29
I'm handing someone my business card, let's be
07:31
friends. In fact, if you've ever met me at a
07:33
conference or an event, you've probably heard
07:35
me say that to you. As soon as I hand you my
07:37
business card, I say, let's be friends because
07:39
I want to be friends with everybody. So what
07:43
will this show be about? Well, I want it to be
07:45
a show about bloggers for bloggers. by a blogger.
07:50
It won't be about how to start a blog though.
07:52
In my opinion, there's plenty of posts, podcasts,
07:55
and vlogging episodes, articles, etc. about how
07:58
to start a blog. What I'd rather this place be
08:00
is about the wild world of blogging after you
08:04
launch. or even after that if you've been around
08:06
for a while. I want it to be a place to just
08:09
hang out and learn about bloggers that are actually
08:12
doing this. I want to share their stories. I
08:15
want it to be a space to learn about the latest
08:18
news that could impact your blog, your revenue,
08:21
or your business. And let's face it, if you're
08:23
in the blogging world and you're making any kind
08:25
of money, you can turn this into a business.
08:28
But most importantly, I want this to be a party
08:31
to celebrate the coolest people. in the blogosphere.
08:34
I want to celebrate the amazing things everyone's
08:37
doing online. So the goal of this show is to
08:40
inspire, educate, and connect. So what I plan
08:43
to do is release 10 episodes or so per season
08:47
as a podcast. And in these first 10 episodes,
08:50
I will just share all the things I currently
08:52
know about blogging. I want to talk about ghost
08:55
blogging, promoting your blog, making money,
08:57
things like that. Later, I'd love to do a series
09:01
of interviews with bloggers, vloggers, podcasters,
09:04
even brands. all with the theme of connection
09:07
and becoming bloggy friends. So that's what you
09:10
can expect from me on this show. I do ultimately
09:13
hope to share episodes and other clips that didn't
09:15
quite make sense to put a full podcast episode
09:17
out of on YouTube as well. But without further
09:21
ado, let's jam on all things blogging. So I'm
09:26
working on... I'm working on a proper website
09:29
and social media handles for this show. But for
09:32
now, you can find me on FamousAshleyGrant .com
09:34
and as Famous Ashley Grant across social media.
09:36
So let's be friends. I'd love to connect with
09:39
you. Until the next episode, may your page views
09:42
be high and your bounce rate be low. Thank you
09:46
for listening and I'll talk to y 'all later.