Let the Adventure Begin
It has taken me 11 and a half years to finally decide to launch a blog. Have I tried multiple times in the past? Yes. None of them have worked out. I gave up before it got to the launching part. Why? Because I always thought I was far too busy to take the time to make it work. But here I am finally making one of my dreams/goals come true.
I’ll start by giving some background. My name is Ashley Cordner. I grew up in a small town in upstate NY. I spent all my school career determined to become a writer. My goal was to write books. I learned very quickly that making that my only goal was not realistic. There are many successful authors who have made a living from their writing. So, I decided to go the college route to find a career that was a little more realistic. I orginally went to school for journalism. I loved my classes and teachers, however, I did not like that I could not choose what I wrote about fully. We were given a list of topics to choose from. I wanted more creative freedom. I chose to transfer to a different college to major in education and creative writing. I was told to double major in english education so I could make a career out of my studies. I decided that I did not want to teach students the way the state wanted them to be taught. So I fell back on the fact that I wanted creative freedom.
At this point, I had a toddler and was planning my wedding. So I made the decision to leave school so I could focus on my son and my wedding. I had my second child 9 months after my wedding. At that point I was working as a waitress to make ends meet. My husband and I both worked full time so we could save up the money to buy a house. My daughter was born about 2 years after moving into our house. I worked multiple dead end jobs to make ends meet and help give our kids everything they needed.
In 2019 my older sister hired me to work at her gym as the front desk assistant. I was in charge of giving the clients a good experience as well as recruit new members. My favorite part was learning the ins and outs of running a business. I never thought owning my own business was ever an option. We weren’t raised by entrepreneurs. Our public school did not talk about owning a business or even have any business classes. I did research for a year before I saw a post on Facebook of a coffee shop closing its doors in the next town over from where I live. It was another small town that I actually spent a lot of my childhood at because my grandparent’s live there. That post changed my life. I immediately contacted the owner for a meeting and really the rest is history. I fell in love with the coffee shop and knew I wanted to turn this into my passion. I bought the coffee shop in December 2019 and opened my doors to Donna’s Home Treats February 1, 2020. What a wild year to open a business.
The business took off and did amazing and then covid hit and I chose to close my doors to keep my kids safe and home. My husband was still working full time but I stayed home. After 3 months, I was able to open my doors again and I gave it all to the business. Unfortunately, covid did affect business negatively. I fought gallantly to keep my doors open, but after the birth of my 4 child, I had to make the decision to close my doors permanently. Ever since then, I felt like a piece of me was missing and I’ve spent the last year reassessing.
What did I find from that year, that I am a very passionate person and refuse to just give up. This blog is the start of me finding myself and my passion. It’s going to be a whirlwind with the ideas running through my head. I hope you’ll all join me in the fun and chaos and maybe find some laughs along the way.
