About me
This is the longer version. The real story of how Not A Life Coach came to exist, and why it has two sides.
How I got here
The full story
Where it started
My dad’s business had no online presence
After my dad passed away, I stood in his workspace surrounded by everything he’d built — a business with no digital footprint, nothing that could carry on without him. It wasn’t stable enough to hand on. That thought planted a seed. I just didn’t know what to do with it yet.
First attempt
My sister’s cake business
My first real attempt at helping someone build something online was my sister. She wanted to start a cake business, and I wanted to help. I created her social media pages and built her a website on Squarespace. Looking back it wasn’t great, but it got her online. It existed. And that mattered more than I realised at the time.
Going properly
Ashleigh’s Business Development
I dropped a day from my cleaning job, posted in a community group that I was looking to help businesses get online, and my first client came from that post. I built around five WordPress websites, managed social media for multiple businesses, and collaborated on growing a digital marketing company. I learned a huge amount. I also burned out completely. I was working huge hours for very little money, overdelivering constantly, and quietly drowning. But I loved what the work represented ... people building something of their own.
The personal shift
Everything changed at once
While all of this was happening professionally, something else was shifting personally. I quit vaping which was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I quit drinking. Tackled binge eating. Started working through years of people pleasing. Lost my dad and came out the other side of that grief a different person. Each of those things taught me something about myself and about what actually helps people change.
The realisation
It was always the small businesses
The businesses I loved working with most weren’t the big ones with big budgets. They were the sole traders like the dog walkers, the cleaners, the coaches, the mobile beauticians. People with a genuine service to offer who had no idea where to start online. And the thing holding most of them back wasn’t lack of skill. It was overwhelm, imposter syndrome, and not knowing where to begin.
What Not A Life Coach is
This is where the practical and the personal meet. I help service-based businesses get online without the overwhelm. No going viral promises. No overcomplicated systems. Just the basics done properly so that you can get started and keep going.
Alongside the business side, I write about quitting habits, people pleasing, grief, burnout, and all the internal stuff that nobody talks about enough. Because the person behind the business matters just as much as the business itself.
Getting your business online
Choosing the right platforms. Setting up business social accounts. Building a simple website. Understanding your niche. Pricing your service. Getting your first client. All without the noise.
Getting out of your own way
Quitting the habits that hold you back. Dealing with imposter syndrome. Stopping people pleasing. Pushing past overwhelm. Actually starting instead of endlessly planning.
Most of the time the thing stopping you isn’t the tech. It’s everything going on in your head. I help with both.
What I believe
Done is better than perfect
You don’t need everything figured out to start. You need to start to figure anything out.
There’s no one-size-fits-all
What works for someone else might not work for you, and that’s fine. Stop forcing systems that don’t fit your brain.
The internal stuff is real
Imposter syndrome, people pleasing, and overwhelm aren’t excuses. They’re real obstacles that deserve real attention.
You don’t need to go viral
You need to show up and keep going. Consistency beats algorithms every single time.
If you’ve got a service to offer but no idea how to get it online, you’re in the right place.
Or if you’re just trying to figure life out one step at a time. That works too.