Approach the Throne
Ashley Ann Jones is social media royalty. With seven-figure facebook and instagram accounts, @KingAshleyAnn is a name to follow. With 11,000 clients boasting monetized social media, 600 generating six-figure incomes, and 146 topping $1,000,000 per year, she’s a force to be reckoned with. “I realized if you build a niche you don’t need to be an influencer,” Ashley Ann explains. “You can build a community that is into your stuff. They will purchase your products, listen to your podcast, visit your store, restaurant, etc. You literally can make money with no product through affiliate marketing, curation, and commentary. So I figured out a system to develop these audiences and communicate with them.”
Proving Herself
Even with that system, Ashley Ann had to separate herself from the pack in a digital world where there’s a scammer on every street and a guru on every corner. She did this by proving that her method worked and, perhaps even moreso, by acknowledging when mistakes were made. “I am transparent,” Ashley Ann says simply. “I show what works and what doesn’t. I share my wins and learning experiences.” When building a name for herself, Ashley Ann live streamed on Periscope every day for two years, showing the world her results in real time. “You will be hard pressed to find anyone with more receipts and testimonials of individuals and companies that get proven results,” she adds. “We get Kommas in the Kingdom. There is proof of the money made in these Social Media Streets.”
A New Approach
But before Ashley Ann could build her company or anyone else’s, she had to remove the barriers keeping her from building herself. “I went through what I call my bankruptcy period,” she recalls. “My health was trash, I was surrounded by frenemies, I felt like I was trapped inside of a physically abusive marriage, and I was extremely depressed.” To remedy this, Ashley Ann says she had to take ownership of her life and see things more clearly. “I learned that accountability and ridding yourself of being a victim is liberating and the key to creating the life you want,” she explains. “If you make the decision to acknowledge the part you play in things that happen to you instead of being so focused on what others do to you, you can redirect energy, stop repeating cycles, and literally tap into your power and create the life you want.”
Wisdom From the Castle
With her empire ever-expanding, Ashley Ann makes a point to give back. Whether donating $250,000 in scholarships, another $250,000 in community service projects, or helping black-owned businesses secure more than $20 million in funding, she is always looking to serve others. That extends to other aspiring digital entrepreneurs, to whom she offers this advice: “Put some thought into what you can add to the world,” she begins. “What are you good at right now or what skill set do you currently have? Once you get a pulse on that thing then start to dive into the community through commentary, live streams, hashtags, and strategic content.”
