Michael Ashley

You hear it all the time, “Great entrepreneurs have confidence.” And, “That girl is really talented.” Or, “He comes from privilege.” And you think to yourself, “I’m afraid to start my own business, I’m definitely not gifted, and I don’t have the privilege, connections or money that create luck.” The truth is most of us aren’t born with confidence, talent or privilege—yet we create amazing businesses and build successful careers every day. What’s the secret? Confidence is just one tool entrepreneurs use to overcome the fear, doubt and anxiety we all feel when starting something new, or doing something important. Talent is a gift that helps people focus when there are too many options in front of them. Privilege is a starting point at the front of the same race we are all running. Confident, talented and privileged people use these tools to persevere when others quit. They still face the same challenges and they, too, must persevere in the face of incredible obstacles. So, the secret is ...

It's easy to get distracted by titles. I have been the CEO of a mapping startup, CTO of a book publishing company and Product Owner at a secure collaboration SaaS platform. But I've never been happier than just being, "Mash, the guy who helps people get stuff done." Before I can tell you about that, I need to tell you about this… When I was 14 my Mom, a 5-foot tenacious Vietnamese business woman, taught me how to sew. Yes, needle-and-thread-in-a-sewing-machine-making-clothes kind of sewing. She would drive me down to the fabric store and we would pick out cool colors and Hawaiian prints that my friends might like on their Clam-Diggers. If you don’t know what a clam-digger is, imagine going down to the beach to forage around in the shallow water for clams. If you wear pants, they will get soaked. But if you wear shorts, you’ll get cold. So clam-diggers are basically short-pants. At 14 I didn’t want to learn how to sew clam-diggers, but I did know that my friends and I ...

 I've been on silent mode for the last 6 months but it's time to emerge from the cave and start talking about CORL8. If you're a startup founder or small business marketer, we've created a platform to make it easy for you to get organized start making progress on your fundamentals. I'll share more details as we roll out the beta program. But for now I encourage you to take a look, give it a try and send us some feedback. We really want to do this for you, we want to help you and make your life easier and more productive. Check it out, www.CORL8.com