I have followed Ashley Longshore for some time now. I was told about her by one of my business mentors, who said she sells her work on Instagram- and it literally sells out in minutes. I’m not talking one piece being sold. I’m talking, like, hundreds of pieces being sold within minutes of her posting “the shop is open”.
I got sucked in left right and centre- this lady is the most incredible, insanely talented, honest, authentic version of herself you could possibly imagine. If you check her out, she might not be your cup of tea. But you know what? She gives every artist and every woman the encouragement, the motivation and the belief that she can smash her goals, her dreams and the world. Because Ashley did.
She says this overnight success was not overnight success. It was 24 years of hard graft, copious amounts of rejection and people telling her to go get a proper job. And yet, she stayed the course, she kept her head down, kept hustling and finally she made her dream come true. And she believes we all can too. She is one of the most famous living artists, financially rocking the world and living her dream right now.
I decided I wanted to order a painting from her. So as soon as she had released her new limited edition paintings I logged on to Instagram and went straight to the link…. SOLD OUT SOLD OUT is all I saw. Disappointed I was reading the 100’s of comments below the post… “I’m so upset I wasn’t quick enough” …“when are you next releasing work”… “I’m gonna be quicker next time” …“I WILL get one of your pieces eventually- I will!”.
I looked around her website a bit longer and manged to buy her book – completely and utterly inspirational, written about her journey as an artist. But the best bit about my purchase was the email I received. It made me laugh so hard that I printed it off and have kept it on my desk to remind me to be myself, be authentic and don’t be scared of who you are and who is listening. Have a read below…
