Featuring Jeremy Ashburn, PushLeads
Interviewed by Cliff McCrea, Action Coach Business Growth Partners
January 21, 2025
Episode Introduction
CLIFF McCREA:
Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McCrea filling in for Bill Gilliland with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners. I’m really excited to have Jeremy Ashburn with PushLeads as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Jeremy, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself, your company, and what primary products or services you offer our community?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Sure. I’m Jeremy Ashburn with PushLeads, and what we do is help small business owners get more leads without struggle or frustration. What we primarily do is get your business visible at the top of Google and also recommended by AIs, such as ChatGPT or any of the other AIs out there. I’ve been doing this for about 15 years full-time. We’ve got about 45 clients that we work with on an ongoing basis, and it’s just been a lot of fun. I’m kind of living the dream, doing what I love and helping businesses grow at the same time.
Starting From Square One
CLIFF McCREA:
Obviously with 15 years in business, I’m sure you’ve got some things you can share here. If you had to start from square one in your business, what would you do differently?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
If I had to start from the beginning, what I would do is go out there and hire one or two sales reps to beat the streets and pay them a really nice commission for generating leads. If I would have done that from the beginning, I probably would have been growing more exponentially like I am now.
I have a really amazing outside sales rep who also doubles as my social media queen. Her name is Andrea, and she has been going out there, meeting with potential new clients and bringing them different reports of what they can do to get higher in Google. If I could go back, I would have hired an Andrea—an outside sales rep—15 years ago. But I didn’t. I started on my own, joined networking groups, and grew slow and steady. If I could go back, I would try to bring on people like her from the beginning.
CLIFF McCREA:
So basically, you were juggling everything by yourself?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Yeah, and that’s the mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make—they think they’re going to do everything on their own. When you’re dealing with cash flow issues and starting a business, it can be difficult. But what I’ve found is that you can create a structure that rewards people for doing their work. If they’re motivated and producing income, that income also helps your business.
That’s the arrangement I’ve come up with my current outside sales rep—she gets a 20% commission on any business she brings in. She also handles social media, so she gets 100% commission on that work because she’s doing it all herself.
I’ve found that people need to have motivation to work. If they don’t have the motivation, they won’t do a lot. But if you find somebody—young or not young—who has drive, shows up, does the work, is grateful for the revenue you’re paying them, and is consistent, then that kind of person is like a superpower for your business.
It’s hard to find that person because so many people just don’t have drive. But when you can find someone like that, test them on a small project, see how they do, and then give them more work—that’s a recipe for success. One thing I’ve figured out is that how you do one thing is how you do everything.
Finding the Right People
JEREMY ASHBURN:
With Andrea, I said, “Hey, here’s one of my clients—a wax salon in Los Angeles. They’ve been my client for a couple of years. Let’s meet with the business owner, show them where they are in Google, and talk to them about doing social media.” She was interested, so I said, “Let’s come in at a lower-than-market price, around $300 to $400 a month, and see if we can produce results. You don’t have a lot of experience, but if you can be consistent—posting on their Instagram, their TikTok—then the client will keep working with you.”
She took that client on and started posting for them on TikTok and Instagram. That was three or four months ago. Now she has 10 clients, and I’m paying her roughly $500 to $1,000 in commission every week because she is killing it. I need about five more Andreas!
CLIFF McCREA:
Shout out to Andrea! It sounds like you got a really good one there.
Biggest Learnings as a Business Owner
CLIFF McCREA:
What have your biggest learnings been as an owner since you started your business?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that it’s really important to understand something intimately as a business owner before you delegate. But once you do understand it, delegate as soon as possible so you can free yourself up to do more things.
For example, one of the things we do is publish inner hidden pages on websites for our clients around different subjects. One of our clients is a roofing company, so we publish a lot of inner pages around roofing costs, maintenance, DIY guides, and things like that. What I found is that I like to enjoy doing this process initially—coming up with a strategy and then documenting it. Once I test it and know it’s producing results, I pass it off to one of my virtual assistants, and they start doing it consistently.
When I first got started, I was doing all that myself. It’s one thing if you have five or ten clients. But you can’t really scale to 20, 30, or more clients if you’re doing everything yourself.
We’re huge fans of using Loom to record the screen—it’s a screen recording tool with a little bubble of your video in the lower left-hand corner. I can take any of my tasks, record it, get that transcription, and make a step-by-step SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Then I can use that as training for any team member to start doing that work.
That’s what I’ve really done in the last six months—documenting a lot of my processes and then hiring different people to do that work for my clients so I’m freed up to go after more clients, meet with my clients, or do whatever I want to do.
Common Misconceptions About Running a Business
CLIFF McCREA:
What would you say are some common misconceptions about running a business?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I think one common misconception is that you need to go out there and get a huge loan to be successful. It’s not always the case that you need a lot of initial capital, especially if you’re considering going off on your own.
When I first discovered that I really wanted to do this full-time, I had one client paying me about $5,000 a month. I was thinking, “What happens if I lose this client? I’m just month to month, no annual contract.” So I went to the bank and got a $12,000 loan, thinking I could last maybe three or four months if I stretched it.
Then I lost that client because I’d finished the work he wanted, and he didn’t want to keep paying. At that point, I literally had three months to make this work. It was a total sink or swim moment. I did not give myself the option of failing.
After about three months, I was making about $3,000 to $4,000 in income—not enough to totally survive, but enough to rob Peter to pay Paul and keep going. Eventually, I got to the point where I was making enough to survive.
You don’t necessarily need $50,000 or $100,000 to start a business, especially if you’re working full-time and doing what you love on the side as a gig that could become full-time. Having that drive to produce, having a time limit, and having a goal—those are all things I found are super important.
Manifesting Success
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I’m really big in manifesting—believing something and then bringing that into reality. It really comes down to coming up with a goal: What do you want to accomplish? Then taking actions toward that goal, saying different affirmations that begin to make that goal a reality. Sometimes also just letting it go and letting it marinate, because you can work too hard. So it’s a balance.
I was able to make it work because I had a goal, I had three months to make it work, and I had a strategy in place. I had joined two different networking groups, went every week to let them know what I do, started getting clients. Looking back on it, it was kind of crazy to do, but it was a sink or swim moment for me.
CLIFF McCREA:
A lot of people in that situation would actually crumble. But you took that 90-day period as “I’m going to make this work, sink or swim.” That says a lot about you and your character, because a lot of people—you give them a timeline and it just puts more pressure on them to fail.
JEREMY ASHBURN:
There’s this whole thing we don’t really talk a lot about in our culture—resilience. When the going gets tough, how tough are you? Are you going to work late? Work weekends? Take personal time to recharge so that when you are working, your work is super productive? Resilience is super important.
Finding Your Passion: The Steve Jobs Inspiration
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Years ago, before I went full-time to what I do now, I saw Steve Jobs’ speech to the graduates of Stanford in 2005. I watched it on YouTube probably in 2008 or 2009. You should totally go to YouTube and look it up if you’ve never seen it before. It just blew my mind. I literally almost started crying when I saw this. I’m not a fan of Apple or the company as a whole, but I found this speech to be so inspiring.
Basically, Steve Jobs says in the speech: If you can find what you love and find a way to make money doing what you love, you’ll never work another day in your life. It will still be work—you’re still showing up, doing the tasks, meeting with clients—but it won’t feel like work because it’s your passion.
It just hit me at that point. I thought, “Wow, my passion is helping small businesses grow. What if I could make this into a career? What if I could make money doing this?” It just became the impetus for this drive to be successful.
That would be a piece of advice I would give aspiring entrepreneurs: Find what your passion is and see if you can find a way to make money with that passion. If you can make money doing what you love, it really won’t feel like work.
Entrepreneur vs. Employee
CLIFF McCREA:
Do you think you are a better entrepreneur or employee? Why?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I think I’m a better entrepreneur than employee because I really enjoy the whole idea of learning something new. I’m always learning, always growing. It used to be where I read books all the time. Now I really talk to AIs all the time, which I know sounds crazy, but AIs can teach you a lot more in a lot shorter amount of time.
I do still find the importance of reading books and being offline—taking long hikes in the woods, listening to the trees and the wind. But I also use the technology we have. Continual learning keeps you mentally fresh, and to me, that’s what being an entrepreneur is.
I like learning things, then testing them out to figure out if they’ll help my business. If it works, I start documenting that process and have my team implement it. As an employee, you’re the person who takes these standard operating procedures and does them consistently. That kind of wears me out, honestly. I’d rather have people do that for me. I’ve just learned that’s how I’m hardwired.
Handling Vacations and Work-Life Balance
CLIFF McCREA:
How do you handle taking vacations while running your business?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I tend to be somewhat of a workaholic. I love what I do so much that I tend to work a lot. My partner has really helped me work on work-life balance—having a time where you stop responding to emails, stop responding to texts, and you are just completely offline. Be present with your partner, or if you’re single, be present with yourself.
This year, my goal is to do either a weekend or week-long vacation once a quarter. For Valentine’s Day, we’re going to one of my client’s cabins—a cabin we love—and we’re going to try to be offline the entire weekend. Just be present with my partner. Her love language is quality time, and quality time is when you are focused and attending with your partner.
On a week-long trip, I try to let my clients know I’m unavailable for that time, send them an email or group text, and have someone take over tasks if something comes up. What I’ve found is that the more you can disconnect from your business, the more productive you are when you’re in productive mode.
“You’re a Cadillac”
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Years ago, my ex-wife told me, “You’re a Cadillac.” I said, “What?” She explained: “Cadillacs are a high-end brand that requires a lot of maintenance. But if you maintain the car—regular oil changes, all your permitted maintenance on time, not driving it too hard—it will reward you with a long life.”
She said, “That’s what you are. You are a Cadillac. Your tendency is to burn the candle at both ends and go hard. But the harder you push yourself, the more exhausted you are when you’re working. If you could learn to disconnect and be with your family, then you’ll be a better, more productive worker.”
Even though that marriage didn’t work out, I took that advice. I thought, “Yeah, I am a Cadillac. It’s okay to not work. I need to set aside time to just be present, to be offline, to be in the woods, to be sitting with my partner watching a show or reading books.” It’s still a work in progress, but that’s what I’ve been learning.
CLIFF McCREA:
Being called a Cadillac—hey, there are worse things to be called! Great story.
The Growth of PushLeads
CLIFF McCREA:
What have you attributed to the growth of PushLeads so far?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
The growth has come down to, first, understanding what my passion is—helping businesses grow. Second, taking action to connect that passion to something that produces results clients can see. They’re getting higher in Google. In addition to improving their visibility, Asheville businesses can track their progress through local seo metrics for asheville businesses to ensure their strategies are effective. By analyzing these metrics, they can refine their approach and focus on areas that yield the best results. This data-driven mindset allows them to remain competitive in a bustling marketplace.
I completely self-taught. I taught myself Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Now I’m teaching myself how to show up for the AIs, how to be recommended by the AIs—whether we call it generative engine optimization, AI SEO, or whatever. This whole idea of learning the industry on your own has been the foundation for my success.
I’m a kinetic learner. I learn by watching people do things, then doing them, imitating them, and then doing them on my own. Testing things, seeing results, and then implementing—that’s been foundational. But also meeting with potential clients, showing them my work, and bringing them on as clients is super important.
The Journey: From Tech Blog to SEO Expert
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Way back in 2003, I read a book about how to show up in Google. Back then, it was really about writing a blog—creating a blog about your passion and sharing it with people. Eventually, that would turn into income. I was like, “I don’t know how that’s going to happen, but okay, I’m going to do this.”
Around 2002, I created a blog called BuyAPC.org. The whole idea was if someone’s looking to buy a computer, maybe they’ll read my reviews and potentially buy a computer. I started posting weekly about the most popular laptops and desktops—this was before smartphones and all the modern technology. For years, I would write about computer hardware. I’m a total geek, so I would write about what I loved about particular pieces of hardware.
Two or three years later, I discovered that I could write about hardware on Amazon. I started doing that and realized I could put a link so if somebody clicked it, went to Amazon, and bought that computer within 24 hours, I would make some money. By 2009, I was generating $20,000 a month in business for Amazon and making about $5,000 a month just from the commission.
The whole process is this: A lot of times, your goal or destination—you can’t see it from here. All you can see is the next step in front of you, or maybe two or three steps. Imagine standing in front of a river in the woods—a long, wide river with regular stones popping out of the water. You’re on one bank and can see the first couple of stones to hop to, but from there you don’t know where to go.
It’s not until you hop to that first stone, then the second, that you can see, “Oh, there’s another stone,” or “Maybe I have to go through the water at this point,” or “Maybe there’s a branch I can hang on to.” You’re eventually going to cross that river, but you can’t see all the steps—just the first stone in front of you.
A lot of us are too afraid to jump to that first stone, to take that first risk. But if we step out there, then our vision gets wider. We have greater perception because now we’re in the river. Now we can see that next stone. That was my whole process of starting a tech blog, learning how to show up on Amazon, getting those links and money. Then I was really surprised when I logged in and saw I was generating $20,000 in hardware sales. It’s very iterative.
Quickfire Round
CLIFF McCREA:
Now we’re going to move on to what’s called the quickfire round. I’m going to throw out one word, and I just want you to tell me the first idea or thing that comes to your mind in regards to running your business.
Education
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Continual learning. I’m part of a BNI group—a networking group—and one of their ideals is continual education. We need to embrace this as a core value, to always be continually learning, because the more you learn, the more you earn.
CLIFF McCREA:
I totally agree. Let me dig into that a little bit. What networking groups would you recommend for small business owners looking to grow?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I would definitely join the local chamber. The Asheville and the Hendersonville chambers are important to join, but more than that, going to a weekly leads group is super important. It’s going to be a group of 5, 10, or 20 people, and everyone has one minute to talk about their business. Then people will walk right up to you afterward and ask about what you do, potentially wanting to set up a one-to-one. Those one-to-ones are how you get business, how you get clients. Asheville is still very face-to-face, so I recommend joining the chamber and looking into BNI groups.
I’m also part of an online networking group called the Mosaic Momentum Networking Group. We meet on Mondays at 10 a.m. It’s a group of about 10 entrepreneurs—business coaches, therapists, service-based businesses. It’s different from BNI; we start with a “spark,” which is like one big win from the past week. Then we talk, do a breakthrough session about issues and how to solve them. We meet one-on-one in Zoom rooms and end with a victory lap where we talk about wins. It goes a little deeper, and the deeper you can go with people, the more effective you can be.
I’m also forming a group for other people who do what I do—SEO professionals. Our first meeting is 10 a.m. Friday, January 30th, and it’s called SEO Geeks and Freaks. It’s a no-BS monthly mastermind for SEO professionals who live and breathe anything about SEO. Whether you’re a geek for technical details or a freak for the latest algorithm updates, this is your tribe. We connect and collaborate, build genuine relationships, stay current about AI updates, share real strategies, and grow together. A lot of SEO people are just off on their own. This group is a way to give back and share what’s working.
Planning
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Planning is about understanding where you are right now, where you want to go, and how you’re going to get there. My best time to do planning is generally on weekends—first thing Saturday or Sunday morning. I sit down, look at what’s going on with my clients, what needs to happen, and come up with strategies. It doesn’t take a lot of time—maybe 30 minutes to an hour—because I want my weekends to be mostly offline, mostly with my partner or hiking in the woods.
It’s also important to not always be left-brain. Planning can also be a right-brain experience where it’s more spontaneous. Based on what a client is saying—”Hey, I need more leads in this area”—okay, let’s stop and plan for 30 minutes. It’s important to have planned planning but also spontaneous planning.
Inspiration
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Inspiration is connected to your passion. We’re all designed differently—different things inspire us. I really don’t care about football or sports; I’ve never cared about it. But I really enjoy technology, art, and science. Start to be around people who do the same things that inspire you. Or if you can’t be around those people, maybe it’s a podcast or a group that gets together.
The more you can be inspired, the more you can aspire to new heights. A lot of times we get stuck in the rut of doing the same thing. Years ago, there was a study in New York City where they tracked phones throughout the city over a year. They found that people tend to take the same route to and from work, go to the same places to eat, congregate with the same people. It’s like we’re all in a video game, just NPCs doing the same thing over and over.
The more you can break out of that pattern and do something different—something off the grid, away from your normal pattern—the more you can be inspired. Part of what I try to do is plan times where I’m not doing things I normally do. A lot of times that means I’m in the woods.
Commitment
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Commitment to me is consistency. When I reached out to Andrea about six months ago, I said, “I have clients that need you to post consistently on social media. Is this something you’re interested in?” She said, “Man, I’m on TikTok all the time. I really wanted to do social media.” I said, “Let’s start with one client. If you’re successful and consistent, we can give you more. But if you’re not consistent, it’s not going to work.”
She proved herself. We ended up getting 10 clients within about three months because she was consistently showing up, doing the work, closing clients with me, and actually delivering. In my own life, it’s showing up and meeting with clients on a regular basis, showing the work that’s getting results, and being transparent about it.
Ethics in the SEO Industry
JEREMY ASHBURN:
The biggest problem in my world is that a huge portion of companies that do what I do will just take your money and run. They’re not ethical. They don’t care about producing results—they just care about taking your money. I didn’t know this was a thing until I started calling companies out of the area and they thought I was trying to scam them.
I was referred to a lawyer in New Jersey about seven or eight years ago. He said he was spending $1,400 a month with his previous SEO company. I asked what kind of results he got. He said, “I’ll tell you in a second, but first log into the website and see what they were doing.” I logged in, pulled up all my tools, and from what I could tell, they were doing about 1% of the job to get to the top of Google. He was spending $1,400 a month for a company doing 1% of the job. He got one call in a year.
It’s super important when you’re looking for a marketing company that you do your research—or have an AI do research on them. Make sure they can show you results for other clients in similar industries. Make sure they’ll sit down with you on a weekly basis and show you the work they’re doing. The scammers won’t be transparent because they’re not ethical.
It’s called ethical marketing—doing marketing in an ethical way that produces results, brings income to you as a business owner, and helps your clients. It’s really about giving back. I found that when I talk to a potential client, I start by saying, “Hey, have you been scammed?” Everyone has their own scam story. I say, “Here’s how I work: We’re going to meet on a weekly basis. I’m going to email you and show you the tasks I’ve done. We’re going to look at the tools and see you getting higher in Google, see you being recommended by AI. If we can be transparent, then we can be ethical.”
Final Words of Advice
CLIFF McCREA:
You’ve given a lot of really good advice, a lot of great nuggets on this podcast today. What final words of advice would you offer to other business owners, specifically small business owners who are looking to grow?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
I remember hearing this years ago: “See a need, fill a need.” What is the need you’re seeing out there in the marketplace? Is that something your current offerings are satisfying? If so, how can you satisfy that better?
For me, my roofing clients’ need is that they need more leads from Google, more AIs recommending them. If I can fill that need—the better I can fill it—the more consistently they’ll be working with me. A lot of my clients are month-to-month or quarterly. I don’t have annual contracts, which I know is kind of ballsy, but I’m really big in proving myself: “Let’s continue to work together and I’ll continue to show you the results I’m getting.”
If you can see a need and fill a need, improve on that process, and help people with their pain point—whatever the issue is in your industry—the better you can give back.
In every interaction—whether you’re in a podcast like this, sitting down with an employee, or with a loved one—are you giving back? How much are you giving back? You can give back in every interaction and help people. You can be a listening ear. You can be somebody who solves problems.
If you are giving—the more you’re giving—the more the universe, the higher power, will give back to you to give away. That’s what I’ve learned it’s all about: giving without expecting something in return and just helping people out. That’s probably the biggest key to success—what BNI calls “Giver’s Gain.” If you are giving without expecting return and helping people, they’ll want to work with you. They’ll be attracted to you. They’ll want to be around you, talk to you, work with you. Why? Because you are giving back.
I sat down with a real estate agent friend a couple of years ago. I had a question, and he gave me an hour of his time, gave me all these documents I needed for a real estate transaction. He did all this work for free. But his time was super valuable, and I still remember those two hours he gave me—even though that was two or three years ago—because it was high touch, high quality, and it really made a huge difference.
I always ask myself: Am I giving back? How much am I giving back? If you can end an interaction and people are complimenting you, saying things like, “Man, I can’t wait to hang out with you again” or “I can’t wait to connect with you again”—if you leave them wanting more, then you’ve done your job. You’ve helped them, and they want more from you.
If I could give advice to new entrepreneurs or someone growing their business: Find a way to give back. Find a way to help people. Find a way to serve your clients better than what you’re doing. The more you can do that, the more you’re going to grow, because people and businesses will be attracted to you.
What’s Next for PushLeads
CLIFF McCREA:
What’s the next big thing for PushLeads?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
We’re looking at potentially creating an SEO operating system—an entire system that does automated SEO for your business. Right now, everything is a mix of AI and manual work, and I always feel that humans will always be a component of the process. But I’m experimenting with having more of what I’m doing automated.
My biggest win last year was creating an AI automation that scans your website, understands what your brand and voice sounds like, and then writes content that sounds like you wrote it around any subject. We’ve found that when we publish that content on a website, AIs see that content and start recommending you.
If there’s one piece of advice I could give to all business owners: Start publishing inner, hidden pages on your website around related subjects to what you do and sell. The more you are an expert in your field by publishing these inner pages—not in the menu—the more an AI will recommend you.
I’ve been testing this with a med spa in West Asheville. We started publishing content around their core services—one of which is a chemical peel. My AI automation started publishing content that sounds like they wrote it as an inner hidden page about chemical peels. They went to the top of Google for “Asheville chemical peels” and went from 10 to 40 searches at the top of Google around these related subjects. It made a huge difference. We want to take that whole idea and slowly move into more automation, but being very careful—because if you give AI full control, it will go crazy. It’s really about having a human as part of the process while trying to automate a little more.
How to Connect with Jeremy
CLIFF McCREA:
What’s the best way for someone to find you or get in touch with you if they’re interested in hearing more?
JEREMY ASHBURN:
You can go to pushleads.com and book a meeting with me right from the homepage or contact page—set up a Zoom meeting directly. You can also call at 828-348-7686. I do have an AI secretary that answers the call—I apologize, but it is an AI. If you ask to speak to a real person, it will connect you to me, or you can ask it to set up a meeting. You can also email me directly at jeremy@pushleads.com.
You can look me up on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok—look up PushLeads and follow me there. You can also look me up on LinkedIn—Jeremy Ashburn. I regularly post videos about what I’m doing with my clients. If you want to get to know me a little bit but not necessarily book a meeting, go to my LinkedIn. I’m most active there. You can see videos I’ve posted, results I’ve gotten with clients, as well as different experiments I’m working on. LinkedIn is kind of like the modern phone book—the modern Yellow Pages—but much more interactive.
Closing
CLIFF McCREA:
Thank you so much for being a part of the community and for all that you’re doing. We certainly wish you continued success with everything you’re doing with PushLeads, Jeremy. I really appreciate you coming on today.
JEREMY ASHBURN:
Thanks for having me on, Cliff. I appreciate it. Thank you.
— END OF TRANSCRIPT —
