Career Growth Advice from Ashley Roda, Personal Development Leader | Career Tips for Women in Personal Development

2B Bolder Podcast – Episode 24
Featuring Ashley Roda, Founder & CEO of Iconic Details

Episode Title: #24 Career Podcast Featuring Ashley Roda a Personal Branding Expert – Women In Business

Host: Mary Killelea
Guest: Ashley Roda



Mary Killelea (Host): Hi there. My name is Mary Killelea. Welcome to the To Be Bolder podcast, providing career insights for the next generation of women in business and tech. To Be Bolder was created out of my love for technology and marketing, my desire to bring together like-minded women, and my hope to be a great role model and source of inspiration for my two girls and other young women like you. Encouraging you guys to show up and to be bolder and to know that anything you guys dream of, it's totally possible. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversation.

Hi there. Thanks for tuning in today. My guest is Ashley Roda. Ashley is the founder and CEO of Iconic Details, a branding agency that helps businesses focus on their uniqueness and ensure that their brand is consistent in everything that they do. Ashley is also the managing director for the Portland and Vancouver E-Women Networks. It is a business networking organization with a mission of helping 1 million women reach $1 million in annual revenue, which is totally cool. Ashley, thank you so much for being here.

Ashley Roda (Guest): Oh, thank you, Mary, for having me.

Mary Killelea: Okay, so I'm looking forward today because I love this topic. So, let's just dive in and tell me what branding means to you.

AR: Branding is everything. Branding is a conscious choice to life. It's how we choose the elements that we surround ourselves with. It's how we present ourselves in the world. It's how we're known. It's our reputation. It's a little bit of everything. It's hard because the misconception is that it's a logo, business cards, and a website, but really your brand is your essence captured in each of those elements.

Mary Killelea: Oh, so well put. It kind of seems obvious, but tell me why should business women invest and be conscious of their business brand?

AR: Business women need to be conscious of their branding because they care, and when they care, other people care. So, you know the saying that if you spend five minutes on putting yourself together, people see that you invest time in yourself, so they'll want to invest time in you, and I think the same is true here. I don't know, and I'm sure not a single one of your listeners does things. Can I say half ass? Okay, we don't do things half ass, so for us, branding is a way to express ourselves through the visual elements, as I said. So someone that wants to move up in the world, present their ideas to the world, or stand out in the world, they need to be conscious of their branding.

Mary Killelea: So, it's not just for business women. It could be like I, you know, work for a big company, and I want to make sure that my career journey or the people that meet me know who I am, what my values are, so it's important that way too, right?

AR: Absolutely. So yeah, there's kind of two of us that are in the world these days, like yourself, those that work for a company, and those that run a company. So for those that work for a company, you need to be conscious of the company's brand, who you are working for, what do they stand for, what is their mission, what are they trying to do, and how do you add to that with your own essence and awesomeness? But then also, you know, for like a realtor, for example, somebody that works for brokerage, they need to understand that and leverage that into their personal brand. So yes, that's the foundation, but how do they distinguish themselves in a competitive industry or from that core branding?

Now for business owners on the other side, they're establishing everything that I just referenced. They're establishing their culture, they're establishing their values, they're establishing their vision and mission, and potentially hiring people to help them execute on that. So, it's all branding. It's very much an umbrella term, which can also be annoying when like you're trying to describe it to people, but really, everything points back to branding.

Mary Killelea: Well, I think what you said to start us off with is so true. It's like it's so much more than a business card, a website. I mean, and that's what people just think it is, but it's so much more.

AR: It's the mindset. I have my tagline for my business is that branding is something to be, not something to do. And I really believe that. Like branding is not, okay, I got a website, I'm done. Branding is not, I have a business card, I'm done. Branding is every single day when you make a choice. It's when you choose what type of mug you drink your coffee or tea from. It's when you choose how you present your work to your clients. It's when you bring on a team member or choose a job or everything you do comes back to that core branding, right?

Mary Killelea: All right. So I want to know how you got to where you are today. Give us a little backstory.

AR: Sure. So I went to college actually studying pre-med. I studied pre-med for five years. I was an athlete, so I knew a lot about the body. It was kind of the next best step. So I studied five years, as I said, and I was standing over a cadaver when I was like, I feel like you dead inside. This was just not my industry. It was fascinating to learn about, but I didn't like crave that next step. It was just kind of like the checklist of what I should do. So, then I ended up getting a degree in psychology and a triple minor, non-Western art history, business and administration, and psychology. Sorry, psychology was my degree. What am I talking about? Sorry. And with all the education that I had, I really knew that creativity was the way I wanted to go, but maybe not how I wanted to execute it.

So, as I got out of college, I started getting into sales roles. I had the natural gift of gab and working with people, and one thing led to another. I started working for an image consultant, and that image consultant had a division of her business focused on wardrobe styling. And so, I got really interested in that, and I started looking at the ABCs of that industry, appearance, behavior, and communication. And as I hired on more people to work with on my own, they started saying things like, Ashley, you really help us from everything from our wardrobe to our website, because they started picking my brain on things. Like I would style them, Ashley, I look so good. I feel so good. What would you do in this situation? How would you do this? You know, they liked my creative direction. And so through a natural evolution, a few years later, it was a business coach that actually showed me that my brain pickers were clients and my friends who I would bring in to help said brain picker on said project were vendors and that I had a full branding agency. So that is kind of the evolution.

Mary Killelea: That’s awesome. Tell me about the services that you offer your clients.

AR: Sure. So we cater from intention to integration. And what I mean by that is everything from doing like a starting audit. If you have a business and a brand in place, we like to audit everything. If you don't, then we skip that step. We do three hour intensives. If you need to do an insta-biz starter kit, just get everything set up for yourself. And then as you build the brand, have that support all the way up to what I'm somewhat known for now, which is my iconic brand binder. It's really a creative SOP. It is the way that you govern and run your business in an organized way. And it outlines the identity of the company, the mission, vision, values. It talks about the strategy and your uniqueness and how you're going to put out your message to the world. It also has the foundations of the business. So, what are the services? What are the processes? What are the approach that you're going to take? And then the core part that I'm really responsible for is what we call in my industry, a style guide. It's the colors, the fonts, the logos, the mood boards, how it should all feel. And the reason that this is so important is that what I save my clients from is many people feel fragmented, frustrated, and overwhelmed in the branding process because they're going to a graphic designer for one piece. They're going to a photographer for another piece. They're going to a business coach for another piece. And there's no cohesion in it. There's no consistency. And they're like, I feel like it looks scattered. I'm sorry. It does, because it is scattered. And so what this core style guide does is it gives the inspiration point for all of your vendors or your team or your employees to work from. So it's really that true north of creativity.

Mary Killelea: I need one of those.

AR: I think I know a girl who can help me with that.

Mary Killelea: You mentioned SOP. What is SOP?

AR: Sorry, excuse me. Yes. Standard Operating Procedure.

Mary Killelea: Okay. Okay. Good. So what is the most common thing that you see amongst your clients? Like, is there a consistent, like, oh, here we go. Not here we go again, but…

AR: No, there is. You know what I see? I see a moment of transition. I often see that woman that has had the vision of who she wants to be. It scares her because she can't fathom how she has been the way she has been for so long and absolutely cannot continue forward without transitioning into this new version of herself. And she has absolutely no idea where to start. It's this beautiful transition phase of who do I want to be in this phase of my life? They know it, they see it, they just need help executing it and finding all of the vendors that can help them do that and bring it from their mind into the everyday world that surrounds them.

Mary Killelea: Yeah, no, I think that's amazing. Okay. So I'm going to bring up a bit of a taboo topic, and that is money and fees. As you were building out your business, I'm sure you set financial goals for yourself and how to determine your rates. Can you share some tips or insights on how you dealt with both?

AR: I love taboo topics, so bring them. But I would say when it comes to finances, yes, you have to be smart. Everyone knows the phrase that you have to have six months in savings and all of that, but that's a nice to have, not an ever have. And what I mean by that is you're never going to stop your passion because you don't have, you're nesting, you're going to do this thing. So what I would say is number one, just be smart about it, right? You're not going to have an instant overnight success, so don't expect that. Be reasonable, be responsible. If you have a primary job, use that as long as you can to get the business off the ground.

When it comes to setting prices, I'm full transparency. That's how I live my life and how I want to be for you today. In my experience when I was working with people and I was charging amounts that were under a hundred dollars an hour, I just felt that they weren't committed to the project. They felt like they got a budget, they got a deal, they were going to get a thing, but they didn't really like care. They weren't invested in it. And as soon as I took that price point above a hundred dollars, it really started to change the way my client was participating in my project because they were invested. Like that's a price point. And I also, I'm conscious to it. I honor it. I respect that people are investing large amounts with me and I want to A, provide the service that reflects that. B, know that they're investing well and feel like they have an ROI, a return on investment, but also that they're taking this seriously, right? Because why should we as providers have to show up at our 110% and work with people that are only 20%? It just doesn't make sense. So for me, in full transparency of being a smart blonde, I set my rate at 125 because I could easily add that increment. If somebody were going to ask me how much is this going to be? And I can kind of in my mind think, okay, I need about three hours, five hours to do that. And then eventually I moved into larger projects that the hourly, it was still something to consider, but more to work on a flat fee, because what I found was people can break that apart into a payment plan, appreciate the flat fee, and also get an idea of the, excuse my word here, but girth of the project, like what are they taking on? And also with flat fees, you're able to include setup costs, you're able to include admin costs that you may have, you're able to kind of not buffer that number, but really take care of yourself and the client in the way that is needed for the project.

Mary Killelea: And you mentioned in there that the girth of it, but also the level of participation that your customer has to invest in it. So, what's some of the participation, if you will, that is on your clients?

AR: On my clients. So in my process, it's a very, it's a creative process, right? So we both need to be on the lookout for inspiration. We both need to keep eyes open during the process to see things. I also need them to be very vulnerable and transparent with me, because my job is to visually represent you in tangible ways through the business card, the website, the logo, whatever. But if they don't share that, I am creating generic because you're giving me generic. So in that fact, I do have my freak factor, right? That I can see people and pull out their ultimate potential and really have them say like, oh, how did you know that about me? Or have people say in immediate first time conversations, I don't know why I need to tell you this, but I want to. I have that ability to pull that out. But to answer your question of what is their responsibility, I also have somewhat of a structured set of questions I asked to really probe them and honest to God, every direction possible on the same topic so that maybe you answered a little bit different in this context than you would over here, but it gives me that 360 perspective so that I really know who I'm representing, right? The client is my muse. So I want to know, I want to be 100% clear on who that person is, what they're trying to do, where they want to go, who they're trying to attract. And if I don't know you, I mean, that's an intimate process, right? And I think that's it. Did I answer that?

Mary Killelea: Yeah, no. You know, it's wonderful is I've had two past guests on the show, Joelle Lewis, as well as Kelly Mooney, who both used you to help them not discover their brand, but build upon their brand and really take it to the next level. And you did a magnificent job with both of them.

AR: Thank you.

Mary Killelea: And I love those women and they're willing to be vulnerable and they're willing to do the work and they see the value, which is what it takes.

AR: 100%. They're also badasses. That I have to, I hope that's another thing I can say on here. You know, that's another quality my client has. She's a thought leader. She's an industry leader and she's kind of a rebel in the way that she does things. Like she's been in the industry long enough to kind of know how to adjust the recipe as needed for the success that she wants. And you can say that about both of those ladies. I love them both. Both of them have personas. One of the parts of my process is identifying your iconic persona and that ultimate potential that I mentioned earlier. And with Joelle, hers is superwoman and everything that she's overcome and gone through and brings to the table, she's not just a realtor. She's so much more. She's a wealth of knowledge. And with Kelly Mooney, oh my gosh, her persona's nickname is Anne. And when we bring out Anne into the photo shoot, she'll even call me after a photo shoot and say like, oh my gosh, Anne was in complete control today. Like wow, what I did and oh my god. And I have another client too that just called me that way. We introduced her to her iconic persona this last week and she said, Ashley, this last week I really channeled her and all of the details that you helped me to uncover about myself and I've just sent out five proposals. Oh my god, people are like just flocking to me and that's what I want to get to. I want to get to those details that make you iconic and memorable that people hunt for you and feel like once they see you amongst the crowd of your industry, that they're like, obviously I choose Joelle. Obviously I choose Kelly. Obviously I choose Mary, right?

Mary Killelea: Yeah, no, that's so awesome. And I love the level of description that you put with that because I haven't heard a lot of people or really anyone talk about branding and empowering the woman in that way, which I think really is the essence of what you said is empowerment.

AR: It is. It is. You provide. It is. Oh, that gave me goosebumps. Yep. You know, it goes back to also when you asked me what was the common characteristic of my client when I said that transition phase, they are coming to me confidently because they know they want to live what they've dreamed in that vision. You know that, I'm going to just say it. So, you know the movie Eat, Pray, Love when she falls to the floor in the bathroom and she's like, God, like, hello, my name is now. She's like introducing herself and she's like, I just, I don't know what to do. And I'm here, like, help me, give me a sign. Yeah. I swear to you, every single one of my clients had a version of that moment where it's just the, I cannot continue the way I have been. I am denying this part of me. It's time to let it out. And I can't not, like come what may, like hands in the air, Ashley saved me. I claim sanctuary, but I claim my passion too. And that's a profound moment to be responsible for. And the only thing I can do is support them in that moment is to say there's a way to do this. There's a way to be and not or, right? Because a lot of people are coming out of an aunt, like an or like an, am I this or this? No, you can be both. And that's one of the things that makes branding a transferable asset is that the sense of identity that can't be stripped, dumped, fired, diluted, or changed. It's a sense of identity that's refined over time, applied in new different ways and honored.

Mary Killelea: Great. All right. Let's shift gears and let's talk about E-Women Networks. Tell me about that program and how you got involved and what you're doing for them.

AR: Sure. So E-Women Network is a beautiful organization. It's a business network of business women. And their core message is, as you introduced me with, one million women making one million dollars or more in annual revenue. And I am the managing director for our local chapter. I have integrated four C's into it of community, connection, collaboration, and caliber. And with that is kind of our focus at the core level. My history with the company is that five years ago in 2015, I was nominated as an emerging leader, which meant I was under 30 at the time, doing impactful things in our community with my business and highlighted for it. And they paid all expenses paid, flying me out to their international annual conference. And it was just an awakening to be around that many business women that thought like me, acted like me, had visions like me. And I really like to say it was like going to the freak convention and figuring out that you weren't a freak, that it was just natural to be a business owner. And I was like, okay. And so I had been a member ever since then I joined, I was a member five years, we'd had different managing directors over the years for whatever reason, come, go, whatever.

I actually had a dream about it. I had a dream that I was introducing myself as the managing director. And I woke up saying, Oh, God, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing this. No, no, no. And yes, as we've already mentioned, Kelly Mooney is one of my dear friends. So, we were actually having a happy hour that week. It was actually the week right before COVID hit. And I told she and another friend that we were networking with that evening about this dream. And she goes, Oh, yes, you are. And I was like, I went through the interview process and introduced myself to them saying I've been a five year member, I know the ins and outs of this, I want to help continue this message. I want to be a torchbearer, if you will, of this message. And it selfishly, it was a beautiful compliment to my core business, and a way to also have another service for my clients where it was a built network and resources, business resources for them. I mean, it was kind of a no brainer, even though it was petrifying to take on and a lot of work. We have two events every month on the first and third Tuesday. But I'm glad I did it because as any women were founded on nine core values, the first two being give first, share always, the second one lifting others as you climb. And I want to be that woman. And it's just a way it's a conscious, here's the iconic details moment of it. It's a conscious choice I made to live with intention on those nine values, and also symbolically step into this role, leading the group.

Mary Killelea: So how does someone I know you're a head of Portland, Vancouver, which benefits me because I'm local, but this is global, right?

AR: Yes, it is global. We have 118 chapters across the nation, and internationally, we're in Canada, London, Australia, and I believe one other, but I don't want to quote it wrong. So, I'm not gonna say that we have multiple international as well. And yeah, what's been beautiful about COVID, one of the possibilities during the pandemic is that all of our events have gone online via zoom. So we're able now to network in a day, let's say here in Seattle with my fellow managing director, Marianne Harlow, or in Atlanta with Amy Matthews, or you can literally go anywhere in a day and network. So in business, we often think local, we're now thinking global.

Mary Killelea: Right, right. So what's the website address should people want to learn more about e-networks?

AR: E-WomenNetwork.com. Yeah, so it's E as in the letter entrepreneurial, WomenNetwork.com.

Mary Killelea: Awesome. Well, I know I will put personally checking that out after this episode. So thank you for that.

AR: Well, be my guest, come to an event.

Mary Killelea: Yeah, no, I totally, I'm writing it down. Okay. So when it comes to being a professional businesswoman, what is the best piece of advice that you've ever received?

AR: It's gonna sound so basic, but I swear it was like five years in and I was like, well, I didn't know. Never tell me this. You need to not only schedule your meetings and your deadlines, you also need to schedule time to do the work. As I said, I said it was gonna be basic. But oh my God, I spent the first five years of my business just deadline after deadline after deadline with no time to do the work because I set so many meetings for myself and I was so close to things, I was working nights and weekends and I was like, how did I do this to myself? And my coach at the time was like, well, obviously you set time to do the work and I was like, well, obviously, I was like, you've been watching me struggle for how many years and I swear that is just such a golden nugget that I can't like, I can't overlook. I know it's basic, but seriously, like schedule the time of when the next client meeting is or the deadline and also schedule the work because it's a fun fact when you stop freaking out about your business not working and you start freaking out about it working, now you've got like 10, 15 clients that you're working with. If you don't schedule that time, you're just gonna be working overtime burned out and it's nuts.

Mary Killelea: That totally helps with balance. Essential.

AR: I'm just mad I took five years to work. But yeah, it's that.

Mary Killelea: Who's been your biggest inspiration?

AR: My coach Suha Tolkman. So growing up, I am a retired athlete. I was a 12-year competitive swimmer, a six-year water polo player. I played for the University of Oregon's national water polo team. And my coach, Suha Tolkman, coaches the Turkish Olympians. So, where you've probably heard of like Russian gymnasts, I was the Turkish swimmer. I was three-day practices, morning, afternoon and night. So 5am was mornings, 11 to 1 was afternoon weights, and then 4 to 7 was evening practice swimming. And he really was the inspiration of your late if you're on time, you're on time if you're 10 minutes early. He was the inspiration for get your head in the game and win the game before you ever start playing the game. He is everything I am. My discipline, my structure, my responsibility, my first understanding of branding, being on a team and representing that team that's still branding. I credit everything to him.

Mary Killelea: That's so great. And just in the brief time that I've spoken to you, not only your energy, but you can feel the discipline that you have.

AR: Oh, why thank you. Thank you.

Mary Killelea: So I asked every one of my guests this, what does to be bolder mean to you?

AR: To be bolder means to show up, to speak up and to stand out.

Mary Killelea: Love it. What would you tell your 20-year-old self?

AR: Keep going. You get to live the dream.

Mary Killelea: Fantastic. What is something, okay, we're almost done. So, what is something that you hope people would walk away from today listening to this conversation that maybe we haven't covered yet?

AR: I just want to go back because I'm tied to it and I love it. What we were talking about earlier with that core of all my clients is don't be afraid of the vision. Whenever the calling hits, I like to call it your calling, the calling or the vision or the idea. And you're going to know, it's going to be one of those things that you feel like you want to drop to your knees. How am I ever going to do this? Why was I ever given this idea? Like, oh my God, this is way bigger than me. If at all possible, I would just say, don't be afraid of the calling when it hits. Know that you have full capability to make it your reality and to lean in.

Mary Killelea: Great advice. Do you have any favorite books that you're reading or favorite podcasts?

AR: I wrote a few down here because I was like, yes, I mean, yes, on the latter one, we will definitely do that. I wanted to write down a few because there are so many that we hear over and over again, and I wanted to give you a few off my bookshelf that I really love that I don't hear often. And so the first one is Hug Your Customer by Jack Mitchell. Sorry, Jack Mitchell. The second one is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I've read that one. That's a really good one. That's so good. I have the third one is The Go Giver by Bob Berg and John Mann. Those three, I mean, yes, there's the iconic ones that we've all heard of, Strength Finder, Start with Why, all those things. But those three I don't hear and I love. So I wanted to share those. Favorite podcast, obviously this one, the To Be Bolder podcast.

Mary Killelea: Fantastic. So how can people get in touch with you? It's been awesome talking to you. This is a fun way to spend my Saturday and I appreciate you taking time out on your Saturday.

AR: Oh, you're so welcome. I love Saturdays. They're like a creative day. You know, this is one of my flow days where I stay open. I just stay open. I do experiences to see what inspiration may flow to me. So I love a good Saturday. The best way to communicate with me really is probably my website, iconicdetails.com. And the reason is it's got all of my social media handles there. So if you want to stalk me that way, you can find it. You can schedule a free 30 minute brand strategy call off of the website, but also you can send me a note directly through it on the contact page. So, when I was trying to think of that, I was like, where should I send them? Website is a good place to be.

Mary Killelea: Wonderful. Well, thank you so, so much for being on my show.

AR: Well, thank you for the opportunity and thank you for having Kelly and Joelle previously to me. They're phenomenal business women that I think will inspire so many, including myself.

Mary Killelea: Thank you. Thanks for listening to the episode today. It was really fun chatting with my guest. If you liked our show, please like it and share it with your friends. If you want to learn what we're up to, please go check out our website at 2bbolder.com. That's the number two, little b, bolder.com.