Welcome!
Welcome!

Welcome!

Purpose

Welcome to my newest blog about saying, “Yes”!

Let me begin by introducing myself a little while explaining what the intention of my blog is. My name is Ashlee, and I am an explorer and an entrepreneur at heart. I have no idea why my username is justcountmein followed by a bunch of random numbers and letters, but I am pretty sure that was not my intention. Anyway, I have traveled across the globe to hike, and I have owned two businesses. Believe me, my mind never shuts off as I am constantly looking for new ideas on how to improve whatever it is I am working on. I never settle for mediocre as I was not raised to give 99% or less at anything I do. One of my main purposes of my blog is to encourage others as my anxiety can sometimes put my life on hold. However, whenever it comes to business, my mind quickly transitions to entrepreneur. I will explain how I began to tell my friends, “Count me in!” momentarily. For my upcoming posts, I want to bring my readers along on my adventures that may seem absurd, boring, or even mesmerizing, because I will be saying, “Yes!” as long as my bank account can handle it.

My second purpose of this blog is to share my writing with people I am looking to work for. As I began researching employers and jobs, I noticed a vast majority were looking for writing samples. After a few moments of thinking, I said, “Yes, I want to be creative with my writing, and I want to write about my new chapter in my life while showing former writing samples. I want my potential employer to know who I am through my words and what my words are capable of achieving.” Anyone who may read this will soon discover that I am very passionate and hard-working at whatever I put my mind to. Second, I find creative ways to sell ideas as my mind constantly searches for the best marketing strategies for products and services. I am continuously looking at logos on vehicles and packaging while critiquing them. Last, I tend to write in a few different styles as I have business ethics and strategies, technical writing experience, and the experience of writing my own personal blog. Whatever is on my blog can vary from deep thoughts, to humor, to extreme triumph through tragedies and dedication.

Point A to Point B

I never expected to one day be out of work for two years after owning my own store followed by working retail. Life happened, and I realized that whether I took pride in working retail or continued to think I was a failure was up to me. I soon discovered that many of my co-workers were like myself. Many had their Bachelor’s while some were even working on their Master’s degrees. This job was truly not for the faint of heart. These were hard-working people who devoted to getting up as early as 2:30 in the morning to make sure people received what they needed. Those 4AM shifts were brutal by the way.

Four months prior to the pandemic, I began working for a major big-box retail store while not knowing what was about to happen. Things suddenly went from busy to, “This is worse than Christmas Eve!” Our online sales went up as much as 1400% for nearly six months. In the beginning, I found it to be an honor to help those who may be more vulnerable to the virus as I was literally shopping for people or packing the items away into a UPS semi. We were even considered to be heroes at one point. Time passed and people became increasingly cranky with anyone and everyone. I was no longer being yelled at for not having toilet paper or hand sanitizer, but now I was being yelled at for not having dumbbells or Nintendo Switches. You could clearly see the frustration and the fatigue of the shoppers and my co-workers.

everest

As I stated, the orders were out of control. My co-workers were taking Leave of Absences (LOAs) while we were frantically trying to hire emergency seasonal workers to help lighten the load. We burnt out quickly as things did not slow down. I could feel my mind and body wanting to give up on me from walking 8-15 miles a day, but I pressed on. This past January, my foot gave out on me. I knew it was not a good sign, but I continued to press on. My stubborn Norwegian side finally decided to get my foot checked only to discover I had chronic tendonitis and a ruptured tendon. Lovely. My doctor’s only instructions were, “Ashlee, you need to quit your job now and find a desk job.” I was devastated as my job gave me meaning, and my co-workers were amazing.

I went to my human resources manager and explained the situation. We attempted to figure out a solution as there are not many jobs in which one can sit all day in retail. Our first solution was for me to pack orders and ship them off. However, my foot was not improving with the bending and some walking. On to plan B we went. My boss and my human resources manager came up with the final plan of putting me in the fitting rooms and folding panties all day long. I took a deep breath, laid down my pride, and accepted the mission despite my passionate heart wanting to contribute much more to my team. After day two of panty folding, and customer #498 yelling at me, I was becoming frustrated as I know I have a lot to offer the world, and I love to learn. If you did not lose your mind even the slightest during this pandemic, then I already know you’re lying.

i am capable

As I began exploring new career ideas, it dawned on me how much I enjoyed my job with Daktronics as I had the amazing opportunity to promote their products and services with technical writing and product descriptions in their catalogues and on their website. I came upon the conclusion that I had spent more time putting other people before myself during this pandemic and it was now time to make myself happy and do the things that I have been too afraid to try. A light-bulb went off in my head, and I knew it was my time to put in my two-weeks. My mission of taking care of my community during a pandemic was complete, and I did not walk out the door disappointed in myself as my foot, my heart, and my mind gave this unique opportunity everything they could while meeting many amazing people. As my dear friend and former co-worker, Jon taught me years after his death, “I am capable!”

Conclusion

While my blog and my new life chapter are only getting warmed up, I encourage you to send me messages about any of my past experiences, what I am looking for, how I can benefit your company, why I climb mountains, or even if you are curious as to how many items per hour I could pick for our guests. I am excited to share about all of the interesting, “Yeses” I have committed to or have already completed. I am even more ecstatic to see where my new adventure takes me, and I am truly hoping that I can one day brag about how I went from being an injured panty folder to a great writer that helped businesses accomplish their business goals.

Here is a brief idea of what you can see in my upcoming blog posts that will be rolling out shortly. I guarantee you that there has not been one dull moment on my journeys.

  • Saying “Yes” to Changing Careers
  • Saying “Yes” to a Bowling League
  • Saying “Yes” to Day Trading
  • Saying “Yes” to Dating (I may simply leave it as me being thankful for the free meals)
  • Saying “Yes” to Skydiving
  • Saying “Yes” to Volunteering
  • Saying “Yes” to Saying “No”
  • Saying “Yes to Improv
  • Saying “Yes” to Being a DoorDasher (this will have some fun posts)
  • Saying “Yes” to Writing a Blog for Complete Strangers

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