Why I decided to start my own business
If you were to ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” when I was younger, I would have said a teacher. Ever since I started going to school, I was obsessed with the idea of having my own classroom one day—so much so that I built one in my basement. I spent all of my free time down there, teaching perfectly crafted lesson plans to my invisible students.
When it was time to start thinking about college, I shocked myself—and my closest friends and family—by not going to school for education. After visiting Marist College and learning about their fashion program, I knew that that was where I saw myself. The second I stepped on campus, I got that “when you know, you know” feeling. It instantly felt like home. At Marist, I was able to double major in Fashion Merchandising and Communications. It was stressful and challenging, but also the most rewarding experience.
Fast forward to May of 2022. Nothing can prepare you for the culture shock you experience when you graduate college. You go from living with your best friends and feeling a constant sense of freedom to the real world hitting you smack in the face. It’s difficult, and it’s exhausting. But for me, the hardest part was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, particularly in terms of my career.
We are taught to graduate, and immediately get a job. That is what success equates to. As the end of my senior year started to unfold, I watched as Linkedin became the new Instagram or TikTok. Everyone was obsessed with what everyone else was doing post grad. It didn’t feel like something positive or exciting—it felt like a competition.
When I think back to why I always saw myself becoming a teacher, I can equate it to a few different things. First, I have always prioritized my creativity—and let me tell you, this definitely came through in those wacky lesson plans. Second, I have always loved learning from others around me, and interacting with different people of all walks of life. Third, I have always been what the enneagram test likes to call “the helper,” wanting so deeply to help others succeed in whatever way they can. And although I didn’t get to take these desires with me into a classroom, I bring them with me as I enter this new journey of starting my own business.
Starting Ashleigh Eden Creative has required me to take a huge leap of faith. I don’t have a sense of stability from a big company to fall back on. What I do have, though, is the fearless drive to network, learn, and grow. I get to channel my creative juices with every new client I work with. I get to learn from all different kinds of people about businesses that I didn’t even know existed. Best of all, I get to help others accomplish turning their digital dreams into a reality.
If there’s anything I could teach you now, it’s to pursue what makes you happy. What I realized from pretending to be a teacher all those years ago is that I get energy from learning, both on my own and alongside others. So here’s to new beginnings, and to never stop learning…classroom or no classroom.
