I was sitting in the shop getting my daughter’s hair done. Laptop open. Finishing touches on our sabbatical plan. Thirty days. Again. Nigeria. Ghana. The Philippines. Bali. Dubai. Bangkok. Thailand. Family fun. Rest. God. Dreaming. This is our third one. And I’m excited. But here’s what I told my husband recently. The weeks leading up to a sabbatical? I work like a mad woman. Not because the business needs it. Not because clients demand it. But because somewhere deep down… I don’t always feel like I deserve this much time off. Corporate taught me that rest has to be earned. That joy must be justified. That abundance should be balanced with exhaustion. So even as an entrepreneur with freedom, I found myself recreating the same trap. Overworking. Overproving. Overexplaining. Just in case God changed His mind about blessing me. And that’s when it hit me. Rest isn’t a reward. It’s a responsibility. If I say I believe in freedom, but only feel safe resting after punishment-level productivity… then I’m still operating from corporate conditioning. My daughter doesn’t need a mom who “earned” joy. She needs a mom who models it. My husband doesn’t need a wife who burns herself out first. He needs a partner who trusts what we’ve built. And my clients don’t need another exhausted expert. They need proof that alignment actually works. So this sabbatical isn’t just about travel. It’s about unlearning the lie that rest requires permission. Clarity doesn’t come from grind. It comes from trust. Justin-Welsh-style punchline: You don’t earn rest. You practice it. P.S. If you want help landing rich clients using your authentic voice, go to landbigclients.com. It’s just $97 until further notice.

You’ve just joined the #1 community for experts who want to land five- and six-figure corporate contracts and scale their businesses strategically. Here at SPEAK Your Way To Cash®, we’ve built a reputation for excellence: we’re the 14th fastest-growing privately held company in Georgia and ranked 370th in the U.S. We don’t just teach sales—we create transformations. I’m Ashley Kirkwood, founder and CEO of SPEAK Your Way To Cash®. I left a $300,000 partner-track attorney job to build my own law firm and SPEAK Your Way To Cash®! Since then, I’ve personally closed five- and six-figure contracts with corporations and helped countless others do the same. If you’re here, it’s because you’re ready to take action and build a thriving business by selling your expertise at the highest level. This community isn’t just a group—it’s a movement of experts ready to unlock their full potential. We’re here to share strategies, celebrate wins, and challenge each other to scale bigger and faster than ever before. 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘: To unlock the best this community has to offer, complete these three steps in the next 7 days (and within 30 days, you must reach Level 2 to stay active—this is a space for action-takers): 1️⃣ Introduce yourself: Drop your introduction below! Share who you are, what you do, and what your goals are. 2️⃣ Engage with 5 other members: Comment, ask questions, or show support. Building connections is key. 3️⃣ Make a post: Share a quick win, a challenge, or a question to spark conversation. 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒: This isn’t a spectator sport. The most successful members are the ones who show up, connect, and contribute. This community thrives when YOU show up boldly. 🔥 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒: • 𝐍𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠: Keep the focus on collaboration, not self-promotion. • 𝐁𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥: We’re here to build each other up. • 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲: This is a space for doers—not passive scrollers. When you’ve completed your first steps, keep the momentum going by:

Look, I did an interview today about how we grew our business… Here’s the real key to our growth: 1. We raised our prices. We stopped charging $350 for services worth $35,000. 2. We built a strong team. Hardworking people who believe in the mission. 3. I stopped needing to be liked. As CEO, I started making the best decisions for the company—not the most popular ones. You can’t lead if your main goal is to be liked. It was a process. But maybe some of you need to: ✨ Raise your prices. ✨ Fight for your company. ✨ Wake up and realize life is too short to play average when you’re extraordinary. If that’s you, come to Speak Your Way To Cash® Live — we built it for YOU. 👉 www.speakyourwaytocashlive.com

Y’all got time for a story?! 😭😭 I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was sitting at my desk at my $300,000-a-year corporate attorney job, staring at the life I had built and realizing God was nudging me toward something completely different. It made no sense. I had worked hard for this. Since I was a little girl I had one goal: to become a lawyer. And I loved it. The title. The salary. The “security.” But the whisper in my spirit was louder than my fear: Go. I left. I had no clue that decision would lead me here. No business plan that mapped out a multimillion-dollar company. No crystal ball showing me how we’d pay close to 20 people each month, the contractors, the employees with benefits, the global community of experts looking to us for guidance. All I had was the next step. We started in a small conference room with 10 people, answering the question everyone kept asking me: “How do you keep getting paid to speak?” That tiny workshop turned into Speak Your Way To Cash®. Now we train experts worldwide on how to sell their expertise to companies large and small. And we’re good at what we do. Our clients are winning! And that matters more than any award we could win! And for the second year in a row, we’ve made @incmagazine’s prestigious list of the fastest-growing companies in America—this year ranking in the top 24% of the list. Growing a company is not easy. It is hard, humbling, and self-less work. As the CEO you sacrifice first and are sometimes rewarded last. But being recognized alongside powerhouse companies reminds me why we keep going. To every expert, every entrepreneur reading this—maybe you do not know how to build what God has placed in your heart. Do not let that stop you. Take the next step. You never know where it might lead. It might just be a life you never even dreamed of. P.S. We’re hosting our night Speak Your Way To Cash live event and it’s not 10 people in a conference room anymore now it’ll be about 400+ experts in a ballroom learning sales, marketing and operations. You should be there!

Hey, yall! I just signed another $25K client for coaching over 3 months - CEO of a nonprofit org. A former client who came back around in crisis! And you know what??? Yesterday's prices are not today's prices. Praise HIM!