PODCAST – IAFHH Trusted the Vision to Go Global. Where Are They Now?

In Episode 57 of The Wild Womn Hotline, we are joined by Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and Functional Hormone Health Expert, Ashe Milkovic, who shares her story of trusting her brand vision to take her company global.

Throughout this conversation, Ashe introduces the Wild Womn fam to the steps she took to embody the leader of a global brand, and how a key mindset shift allowed her to hold the intensity of massive growth.

As a previous client of WWH, Ashe also shares how working with the Wild Womn Haus team helped her to rebrand her business to be positioned for international growth, industry recognition, and a global impact.

In this episode, we discuss…

• Ashe’s journey into entrepreneurship and the turning point which changed the game for her business.
• The many pivots that Ashe’s business went through to arrive at her desire to be an educator for holistic health practitioners.
• How Ashe identified an untapped market within the functional health industry that led her to bet on her vision for a global brand.
• How to stay grounded in your vision when the inevitable challenges of life, love, and career throw you a curve ball.

Meet the Host and Guest Expert 

Links and Resources

Connect with Ashe Milkovic and The International Association for Functional Hormone Health:

• Learn more about the Functional Hormone Specialist (FHS) certification program
• Instagram @functionalhormonehealth 
• Facebook @functionalhormonehealth 

Looking for stories from our previous clients?? Check out these suggested case studies and podcast episodes!

• Branding with Purpose – How Erika Immediately Signed Her Ideal Clients
• Rebrand Your Business – Cara’s Evolution From “Food Blogger” to “High-End Healer”
• Brand Strategy Development – Rohini’s Journey of Building a Soulful 6-Figure Brand
• Repositioning Holistic Health Brand “Free Air Life CO” Into the Corporate Wellness Market
• Market Segmentation for Reaching New Customers featuring “Your Cosmic BFF”
• Resonating w/Customers Through Internal Brand Alignment featuring “Ignite Your Light, LLC” 

Audio Transcript

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: [00:00:00] Okay. I have been waiting to have this conversation for so long, and I am so honored to have you on today, Ashe. So for anybody that’s new or maybe doesn’t, isn’t familiar with you and what you do, Can you introduce yourself and kind of tell us your story of how you got to where you are today? As long or as short as it needs to be? Go for it. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here too. Um, especially because you’ve been such a big part of my journey as well. This is an honor, um, just to be here and to share my story with you too. Um, so my name is Ashe Mel Milcovik and I am a nutritional therapy practitioner and functional hormone expert.

I am the CEO and founder of the International Association for Functional Hormone Health, which is a brand that we created together, and is just transformed into amazing, beautiful things over the past year. Um, but through the association I serve. An educator and a mentor for women’s health [00:01:00] professionals in expanding their education and their expertise in functional hormone health.

And our mission is to really create global change in the way that women receive healthcare all over the world. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: And I, it’s so crazy to hear you like publicly exclaim all of these things because when you and I first started working together, There was this inner knowing that you had, that your current brand was meant to be so much bigger and there was a lot of, I want, it wasn’t even so much fear, it was more like, how?

How do I make this happen? Because without a shadow of a doubt, I know this is meant to be bigger. But how do I make this happen? So can you talk a little bit about what you were doing before you launched the association and what that experience of feeling called to expand felt like to you? 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:02:00] Um, so I’ve been a practitioner for just about six years now. Um, and when I first. Graduated nutrition school. There really wasn’t any information or guidance on creating a business, creating a brand, identifying your ideal client, you know, finding your niche and finding what you excel in and maybe what you’re also not so great at so that you can shine in what you do excel in.

And so for the first few years, I kind of fumbled through that as a practitioner, just working with a variety of different types of people. Um, my first year in private practice and business was not great. , um, I, you know, I was like, Way undercharging for my services and I had no idea what my, um, ideal client was or who they were, or what they were struggling with, or who I wanted to work with.

And I DIY a brand that was like, Not [00:03:00] great. It was okay, you know. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: But, uh, I’m like, you did a great job, DIYing like please does not see yourself short. Cause it looked very good. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: So that was my second time DIYing what you’re talking about. My first one was called Renovated Roots, and it was like so cute, so small, and it was, I started my practice in person.

And so I was just reaching out to friends and family and acquaintances and people that I knew, and I was offering these services for like $75 for three months. Like, oh my god, you know? Insane. Very undercharging. And of course my business didn’t grow, you know, because I didn’t know my value. I didn’t have clarity in what I was doing.

Um, you know, I thought I had like a cutesy business name, but that was like it, you know, I had no clarity surrounding that. Mm-hmm. . And so my first year, A big struggle and there was a lot of imposter syndrome that came through and I really came to this point where I felt like, you know, maybe this wasn’t cut out for me.

Maybe I wasn’t a great [00:04:00] entrepreneur. Maybe I just wasn’t able to do this. Maybe it was just too much for me. Um, and so, You know, through this, like I’ve learned six years down the road why I had that experience, you know because it’s, I’ve learned from it at this point in time where I’m at. Um, but what had happened was that I kind of came to this like fumbled, confusing, not sure what I’m doing, not sure where I’m moving forward, um, state, but then I was offered.

My dream job is on a silver platter to me. And so I took that. It was, um, a corporate health coaching position. And I took that because, you know, it was easy, it was simple. Um, it gave me experience, it gave me chance to work with clients. It gave me the chance to learn how to be a public speaker. It gave me the chance to really refine my education.

And, you know, I, I. Built a lot of confidence in that. And it was nice because I was able to just kind of get into [00:05:00] the swing of things without worrying about where my paycheck was coming from, without worrying about the marketing or anything else. And so I’m lucky that I had that because I had two years to kind of be in that position and really refine my clinical skill, which was very important.

Um, but when I was in this position, Was not allowed to be selective of who I worked with. So I worked with, you know, a lot of guys, a lot of like mm-hmm. , ver variety of age ranges. Mm-hmm. , you know, variety of conditions and situations and there I just wouldn’t have as much motivation for some working with some individuals versus.

And so when I was in that position, um, I started to, of course, I couldn’t be selective, but I started to pay attention to who it was that I really enjoyed serving in my work, which [00:06:00] was women who would come in and they were experiencing hormonal, reproductive concerns, things like that. And so, you know, through this position, I was also required to upkeep.

I think it was like 168 with some random number, 168 hours of continuing education a year. Wow. And so, yeah, which was nice because it kept me up to date with my education, and then they paid for all of it, And so, you know, I found like every opportunity I could, once I identified. Oh, I wanna work with women, I wanna work with hormones.

You know, I, I want to, this is a new passion of mine like I’m 100% in this. I started finding all of the continuing education opportunities that I could, that centered around that. Um, and I will say that that was difficult, that was really difficult to do because in this field of work, this information is not very accessible.

And there’s a lot of conflicting information out there and it was really [00:07:00] confusing to navigate and you know, it was just something that I had to kind of work through and figure out and find the resources and do my own research and understand it on a level for myself. Um, and so, Once I kind of got through, um, you know, those two years, and it was really like the last year or so that I started to dive a little bit deeper into this, um, from that point I felt.

Like, I was just kind of over not working with people who weren’t women dealing with hormone issues. Like no offense, you know, to anybody who’s maybe listening to this mm-hmm. , who’s not aligned with that. But like, you know, for me I was like, I don’t wanna work with guys in their digestive, um, acid reflux, you know, issues. Like, no, this is not my passion. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: And also like being previously in that industry, I’m sorry, but men are the worst. The worst clients. The worst patients. Like I, I can’t, we can’t say patience, but we can [00:08:00] say clients and it’s, it’s true. They don’t, they don’t like to listen to our advice. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Yes. And there are layers upon layers as to why that is.

You know why that is. Why it is. But I just, you know, I just was over it. I was like, I don’t want to be. I don’t wanna be working with these people. Plus like around this time, the company that I was working for was getting really big into keto and I was just not like, I understood it. I understood the science.

Like I, you know, I was given trainings by like Mark Sissen and stuff, or mm-hmm. , I really understood keto by the end of it, but mm-hmm. , it also wasn’t aligned with me. Mm-hmm. . And so I just came to this point like two years in where I was. Okay. I am working for a job. For a job. You know, one of the best jobs that I could really like, I could imagine being given to me in that kind of level, but it wasn’t aligning.

And so there was this big. Like conflict [00:09:00] within me of feeling like I wanted out of this. But yeah, I was giving up such a great opportunity and I was giving up such a great job in all of this stuff where, you know, for me it was, especially from my last experience of a year prior, you know, the years prior of trying to run my own practice and like not having it work out there was, I felt really intimidated by this.

I was like, okay. You know, I’m gonna step away from this position, but I also have no idea what I’m doing. And I had a little bit more clarity at that point in time of like who I wanted to work with, my ideal client, things like that. But the marketing world, Putting yourself out there on the internet was just really challenging.

Mm-hmm. , um, to, to understand and to grasp and to work through and to fumble. Um, and that’s really what I did. I just fumbled and figured it out as I went , you know, and now I’ve got like 17,000 followers on social media or something. It’s like, you know, you figure it out as you go. But like when I first started out, like I look [00:10:00] back at some of my content and I’m like, whew.

Like wow, okay. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: Thank God we are past that. We’ve all, we’ve all been there. Like, ooh, that one hurts my pride a little bit. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Yeah. But it’s, it’s a part of the journey and you know, so there was like this big shift within me where I was like, okay, you know, I’m gonna have to leave this position. I’m gonna have to figure out this new world.

I’m just gonna have to. Be afraid and do it anyways and show up and just take action and let it be messy and just figure it out as I go. Um, and I just had to have the courage to trust that my vision and my passions were worthy of coming to fruition, and that I could hold that container because I had more clarity around.

Um, so that’s what I did. You know, I took a leap of faith, I left my position. Everybody was like, oh my gosh. You know, it’s like a big thing. Um, but because it came as like such a surprise, I didn’t tell anybody until I was like, I’m doing this now. Okay, [00:11:00] bye. Mm-hmm. . So it was like a big thing for my community cuz my community was very um, You know, wrapped in with what I was doing.

Um, so I started, um, you know, my business from that, and I, I also didn’t have like a new business name. I didn’t go back to Renovated Roots. I kept Asmo, KOIC, np, NTP as my business name. And, um, I just went with that for a while. And then, um, you know, this is when I was trying to figure out social media and all this other stuff.

And then I hired like, um, I went through two different programs. I went through like an online business program as a group program, and then I did like a DIY branding thing, and created, um, Reproductive Radiance, which was my next business name, which is what you’re familiar with, cuz that’s what I started with when I started working with you.

Um, and I ran reproductive radiance because I, I [00:12:00] had more clarity in working with women, um, in their hormone health, in their reproductive health. My biggest thing was like reproductive health is more than just. You know, baby making and all this other stuff, there are, you know, hormones are affiliated with many other areas of health and wellbeing.

And so that was kind of my angle. That was kind of my aim to it is, you know, we can, we can address and approach all of these different areas and, um, I had clients like my business actually. When I look back on my brands now, I’m like, Ugh. You know, that was, I think back on that. I’m like, Ugh, how did I get clients with that?

But I did, like, I, I grew my business. I made my, my, um, My first year in, uh, uh, reproductive Radiance, I made the same salary as I did in my corporate position. So like, oh, you know, I was doing something right? 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: Yep, absolutely. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Doing something right. Um, and so, you know, I, I fell with a reproductive [00:13:00] radiance, um, and I was, I was loving what I was doing.

I was loving the people that I was working with. Um, but I knew that there. There was more that I had to offer and there was more that I wanted to do. Um, and one of the bigger pivots and transitions that I’ve had over the past, um, you know, like year and a half or so, maybe close to two years now, um, I.

Really love teaching. And so that was something that I got from my corporate position that I wasn’t doing in my private practice. Um, and I’m also like a very scientific, high level thinker. And so I don’t, there was always this. Whole within me of feeling, um, compelled or feeling like I had to teach lower level classes because those were the people that I was attracting, you know, into my business.

Um, but it didn’t, it didn’t feel aligned with me. It wasn’t like, it [00:14:00] didn’t make me go out and do the research and continue my education and like do all this stuff. Um, so I started offering. Some webinars, uh, free webinars, just to my colleagues and to my community about hormone health. Um, and so I started to do that and that took traction.

Um, my school, the Nutritional Therapy Association, started to recognize what I was doing. They started to uplift me. They hosted me for a few presentations. Um, and I just started to gain a name in my community of being the hormone health. Through this, I just found such, first of all, I found such a passion for it, like being able to teach at this higher level, being able to speak the research and speak the science and not, you know, water it down so that it can be receptible to a larger population.

Um, I just felt so invigorated by that. Um, and then I would have colleagues who would reach out and ask for [00:15:00] mentorship support. So how would they work with clients that had this hormonal reproductive health concern? And so I started mentoring and then through all of this, you know, because I had just taken the time to really understand and work with this field on my own and do the research and, you know, go through the programs and, and just have a more solid understanding.

Of what, um, hormone reproductive health means within women’s health and research, but also like how the research is lacking and how much misinformation is out there, and how much confusion there is out there. I’d hear this a lot from my colleagues. They’d be like, I don’t know what to trust. I don’t know where to go.

I’d read all the books, but I’m still confused. Um, you know, and. I would just hear the same thing over and over again. And I started leaning a little bit more into the inadequacies in the research of how women aren’t included in research and they really haven’t been included, uh, for a very long time, since, you know, more clinical [00:16:00] research even started and up until still today in 2022.

Um, and so there are just a lot of issues with the research and there’s a lot of confusion with understanding this topic of hormone health. Um, and I just saw a big need for there to be clarity here. Mm-hmm. . And so, um, I started what was originally a group mentorship program, which I called the Functional Women’s Academy.

And um, I ran that for three rounds. So I think I did that for like a year. Yeah. Ish. A year, like a year and a few months or so. Mm-hmm. , um, I ran the functional women’s Academy and I started like pivoting entirely to working with just practitioners and to mentoring through my, through my academy. And I just had so many people tell me.

Like, thank you. You’ve, you’ve clarified this topic for me. You have brought so [00:17:00] much, um, more context to this that I really understand it and I really know how I can integrate this into my practice and with my clients. And I just got so much feedback. Um, you know, and, and that was just like, I think one of the biggest affirmations that this work was important.

Um, and that, and my, the way that I, you know, translated that in my mind, like, yes, of course it’s important, but that also means that it’s willing to be invested in, you know, this is, this is, this is a market, an untapped market that I have some leverage in and that I can help to move forward because I have the greater vision for it.

And I see where the confusion is, and I’ve walked this path and I hear, you know, I work with practitioners and I’ve trained them now. And so in, um, I was still running all of this through reproductive Radiance, , and, um, it just didn’t feel as aligned anymore at a certain point in time, I was like, this is not the, [00:18:00] the, this is not speaking to the clientele that I’m working with at this point in.

And so I had been following you for, on just social, social media for I think like a year or so before I decided to work with you. Mm-hmm. , um, you know, and we talked back and forth in, um, dms and I just really resonated with kind of your like unapologetic boldness in like. Owning your, your vibe and, um, the way that you operate your business and your vision.

Um, and just like the confidence that you exuded into the world from that, which allowed me to feel like I could tap into that too. Whatever energy you had cultivating in yourself or your passions, you know, I wanted a piece of it too. , like I did . I love it, you know. So like, I just, I just knew like there was something in me.

Like I just knew that you were gonna be the person to work with who, um, helped [00:19:00] to bring this vision to light. Um, and so when I reached out to you, like as you said in the beginning of this, yeah. Like I was really confused because I had been in. Things had just been working for me in this other position, and I was just kind of roaming off of that.

And I was like, this, you know, this is, this is what I’m good at. This is all I know. And I knew that what I needed to do, or what I wanted to do, or what the vision was that I had was so much greater. Um, and it was what I had created times 10. I just didn’t know how to get there. Mm-hmm. and I didn’t like, I don’t have.

I’m not the, the biggest like, aesthetically aware type of person. So branding had always just kind of been difficult for me as it was, like I didn’t really understand the psychology behind it and all this other stuff. Um, and I just really. Wanted to get crystal clear. I wanted to pivot only work with other [00:20:00] practitioners, both in their business and as a mentor and as a practitioner for other practitioners.

I wanted to refine my niche further because I realized that where my superpower was in supporting people was in working with the more complex topics. So not talking about basic nutrition, not talking about basic lifestyle, but really getting to the meat of it. And helping people to find, you know, I don’t do diagnostics or anything, but helping to guide them to get the proper diagnostic and stuff like that.

Um, so working with practitioners just. Aligned because they already kind of had the general basis and I could help take it a step deeper. And so when I started working with you, um, I was looking at some of my competitors, other people who were providing education in hormone health or just education in general.

And there was just a very like, Sterile academia feel, like, feel to to that. [00:21:00] And that I think is pretty common. Super common. And so when I was working with you, like what I knew, all I knew was that I grew my business from a foundation of connection and community and being an embodied leader and sharing my journey, the ups and the downs, you know.

Not knowing what I’m doing and showing up and doing it anyway until I figured it out, you know? And that was how I built my community. That was how I built my brand. And so it had this like very feminine feel and existence to how I knew how to operate and run business. And so I was feeling confused because I wanted to kind of step into this position where I could have more traction in the academia world so I could be taken more seriously with what I was doing and what I was teaching.

Um, but still cultivate this level of connection and community and femininity and embodiment [00:22:00] and like, I was like, I had no idea how these two things were going to come together. I was so confused on that. Um, so that’s what led me to, you know, work with you and to really dig at the inside of me and my core and what brings.

what makes me unique as a, as a person, because that is ultimately what my brand has been built off of. And you know, like brands, they’re as unique as personalities, right? Mm-hmm. . And so today I look back cuz we just launched in, in June and at the time of this recording it’s September. So, you know, I just look back at it and I.

Oh wow. You know, like, I didn’t think that it was possible, but it was absolutely possible. It was just about having blind faith and just moving forward and just trusting the process and not being afraid to invest and receive support and that, you know, ultimately [00:23:00] just trusting that journey. Trusting the vision is what has brought me to where I am.

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: Yeah, and I also just want to, I’m leaning in because of course at the height of the conversation, there’s a freaking plane flying . I’m leaning in because not only is this like so emotionally compelling because I witnessed you move through all of thing, these things, but it’s also, there is an element of of blind faith that has to happen where you trust your instinct more than you.

The quote unquote rationalities that your fear brain will scream at you anytime you go through these massive stretches. And I’m so grateful that you are somebody that is so giving with your experience in terms of sharing what went on behind the scenes. Because I think there are a lot of people in the business space that talk about going through these stretches.

Without really showing us or telling [00:24:00] us what that means. Mm-hmm. and I will tell everybody listening right now, that being an entrepreneur is a, is a world, it’s an experience of extremes. You will have moments of feeling absolutely unstoppable. You can conquer anything, height of confidence, and then you will have moments of.

Just diving into the pitfall of I know nothing. I can do nothing, right? Everything is crumbling. What is happening? I don’t know which way is up. And the difference between somebody that can successfully navigate that and somebody that would maybe succumb to the intensity of that experience and maybe abandon ship or close down their business is somebody that is a willing to be in the discomfort of extremes, because both the highs and the.

Are intense and also somebody that is resilience goes in with willingness, but it’s not even [00:25:00] resilience. It’s more of a conviction to your vision and a conviction to. The feeling of what you are trying to create, and that’s really what I resonated with you a lot around when you came to me and when we started having conversations is I saw in you that experience of.

I don’t know exactly what this is gonna look like. I don’t even need to know. All I know is that this has to come into life, otherwise I’m gonna go crazy. Like this is literally all I’m meant to do right now is bring this forward and there’s nothing that’s gonna get in my way and stop me. And I just saw that come out of you time and time and time again.

And I just wanna reflect that. I think that is what got you to where you are today, and that is what is gonna continue to move you forward. And I hope I’m not crossing a boundary by sharing this, but I just remember you saying, and it, it literally made me cry later that day when I, when I was thinking about it, is that you were the [00:26:00] first production in your family that is going to become a millionaire, and that you’re the first person in your family that is kind of breaking those generational chains of scarcity or, you know, Whatever you wanna call it.

And I just thought that is such a beautiful representation of her conviction to the vision and how much I just respect and also appreciate you for who you are as an entrepreneur. Cause I think it’s such an example for anybody that wants to excel in a business or in your industry in general. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Mm. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is about, About trusting it, and you ask for growth, you’re going to be given trials to expand you into the place that you need to be to experience that growth. Um, so it’s not an easy process, , and I knew it wasn’t going to be, and I, I didn’t know what the full vision was going to be. I [00:27:00] just, I just had this knowing.

That this needed to exist and I didn’t know what it was yet. It was, you know, one of the things that I reflect on a lot is that my business is not me. My business is an entity completely outside of me. It is like its own multidimensional like thing that has already existed in the Ether A and I am just here to facilitate it coming.

You know, and so once I like started to dial in what that was and I started to create the vision and really not even create it, but just maybe like better yet align with it, like once I started to. See it and I started to allow myself to be receptive to it, to come through. It was like the faucet turned on and it never stopped.

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: I remember you saying that like, I swear, like my creative tap [00:28:00] has been like dripping for the past year and it is now on overflow and I can’t turn it. 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: I can’t turn it. I still can’t turn it. And you know, the hardest part about that is that like it’s on its own timeline, you know, and I’ve also experienced, like on a personal level, some of the most difficult and trialing years of my life between, um, getting married and having a complex relationship and, uh, experiencing a life threatening miscarriage, and now going through a divorce and like all the other little things in between.

You know, just there’s been so much trauma that has happened to me on like a personal level too, through this whole experience that at times made me feel like. I wasn’t cut out for this, you know, at times was just like really pushing me to my edge and to my limit because like the way that I express it is like this is my business is separate from my personal life.[00:29:00] 

You know, it’s its own thing. Once I turned on the faucet, it never turned off. Once I started aligning to it, it started to come at me with more full force. It started to show itself. It still is, you know, we just had a conversation a couple weeks ago of like, how we’re going to take it. You. Further and like this is a new vision within the vision that just came to me like a month ago, you know,

And I’m like, it’s just continuing to grow and continuing to expand and like, you know, amongst it, like I’ve also, I just had just some of the most difficult years of my life too. So it’s just been fumbling through that, fumbling through all of this like feeling that major imposter syndrome. Also just like, I mean, I have no idea how I’ve managed to get to where I am today with everything that I’ve experienced, but it is just, it’s, it’s just, it’s all from that trust.

It’s all from that level of like, this is my, this is the only thing that I can hold onto [00:30:00] is this trust that this was given to me for a reason. I am the one to facilitate it no matter what happens in my. Um, you know, I’m not entirely in control of it, but I also like am in an extent, you know, so there’s been some learning lessons of like learning how to control the flow of it as well of like, you know, the business wants to come through at such this great extent, but then I’m over here like, Drowning in the water of this faucet that’s coming through.

And I’m like, oh, you know? So I have to like also learn how to set my own boundaries through it and learn that like. I think this, this, this entity, this, this business. Like it wants to come through and if it had all of the means to come through, it had, you know, I’m growing my team, but if it had the team, if it had all the resources, if it had all the funds and everything, it would be here tomorrow.

You know? So like a part of my role is to recognize that, [00:31:00] to see it, to say you will come in your own divine timing. you will come through and you know I am ready when I can hold you and I can facilitate you. And a part of my role is to learn how to navigate that and learn how to hold that and learn how to keep it in a place where like, because even if it were to just come through and flood through and probably wouldn’t be as sustainable.

So even though it’s there, it’s my role to help guide it and to shift it. And through that, Holding my own boundaries and holding my own level of self care and respect and grace for everything that I’ve gone through, through this whole process, both professionally and personally, and just finding that sweet spot between cultivating, navigating, holding, and also establishing boundaries.

Mm-hmm. so that I don’t, I don’t go crazy , you know, from all of. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: 100%. And there’s a couple things that I heard when you were sharing, and the first [00:32:00] is, and this is, you know, I am somebody that. Exists in the Woo, but also shows up to work hard. I’m not a person of one or the other. They both have to coexist in my world.

And that’s what I hear a lot in your sharing too, is you have this faith in divine timing in the fact that, and I, I love so much that you worded it to be, my business is its own entity. It is not me. And that. Connection of my business is me. I am, my business is, in my perspective, one of the most dangerous mindsets you can have as an entrepreneur, because that means every single success, but also every single failure is a direct reflection of you as a person.

That’s not fair, and it, it becomes very heavy. When everything that happens in your business is a direct reflection of your worth, your intelligence, your values, all of it. So I’m so glad that you called that out because that is a learning [00:33:00] curve I think a lot of people have to experience on their own, especially with if you are in more of the spiritual realm.

that connectivity piece is really strong in how we message spiritual business, or even just approaching business from a spiritual lens is it’s all the same entity and it’s honestly not. So I love that you brought that up, and I also love that you were talking about how, you know, you’ve had to set boundaries with your business itself, as if it were a person.

Mm-hmm. . There is always going to be new opportunities that come to the surface or new things that you can do, and it can feel really frustrating when you’re kind of at your human capacity with the skills and the tools and just the, the funds and the energy and the time that you have available. It can be really frustrating to say, okay, I wanna do this so bad, but we have to back burner it for.

So that I can focus on this. And I think it’s a really powerful dynamic that you have with [00:34:00] yourself and your business to where you literally treat it like its own living, breathing entity with which you have to set boundaries. Mm-hmm. so that you can be accountable to yourself, but also be efficient with your time and energy.

So I think that is such, I don’t know if you intended that to be invite advice, but everybody listening, that’s a fantastic piece of business advice and I just really appreciate you sharing that cause It’s very, very true. . 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And that I think has been my saving grace through a lot of this.

Because if I, if I did take things on personally, and I will say there are times where I think it’s inevitable that you’re going to feel that, like you’re not going to experience the successes that you want, and it’s not. About you, but it still doesn’t mean that your psyche can just make it not feel about you immediately like it comes through.

And this is a part of our responsibility as a business owner, as you know, the facilitator is to to be the separator. [00:35:00] So we have to have a subjective look at our mind versus the reality of what’s happening versus the story that we are creating around what is happen. Um, and learn how to separate that because there have definitely been times where, you know, I am at my personal capacity through everything that I’ve experienced and yet, you know, a client fell through or a launch shouldn’t quite go as planned and it just feels extra.

Mm-hmm. , it feels like so much more cuz I’m. I don’t deserve this too, on top of everything else that I’m dealing with. Like why, why me? You know, like why like I’m, I’m doing everything right. Like, why, you know, why is this not working out the way that I want it to? And so really my saving grace has just been to remind myself that this is separate from me.

It’s going to go through its own ups and downs just like I am right now. And I need to learn how to detach from that and allow it to grow and allow it to fumble and allow it to come to, and. [00:36:00] Trust that it can maintain itself. Just, just like I have to trust, you know, that I can maintain myself and all of this at the same time.

Mm-hmm. . 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like I could talk to you for hours, which we would go on for hours, but I would love so much if you could fill us in on where you’re going, moving forward with the association, cuz we’ve. , all of these changes. A whole new brand identity, a whole new brand experience.

You’re speaking to a new target audience, new versions of your offerings, new price point. I mean, literally everything is different. So now that you kind of have this new platform that you’re playing with and that you’re kind of bringing all of your vision to life through, where are you going moving forward?

What’s, what’s the global vision and what is the immediate vision for the business? 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: That’s a big question. Cause there’s a lot, there’s a lot of layers, you know, and there’s, there’s also things that I’m [00:37:00] still defining, like I, like right now at this period of time, we just launched in June and over the past couple of months I’ve been navigating, um, separation.

And I just moved cities and Yeah, and new places. And like, I’m in, I’m in the thick of things right now. And so, I like my business has been kind of slowing down a little bit and I’m like, thank you, in some ways, cuz I’m like, I need like a breathing moment, you know? So mm-hmm. , there are things that I have like big vision pictures and then there’s all of the little steps that I still need to kind of figure out to get there because it’s not like you can see the six foot cliff, but you can’t just like jump onto that six foot cliff yet.

So there’s like steps and processes and, and. You know, the journey of getting to that point that I’m still kind of waiting out and still kind of figuring out, um, the pieces and the steps to get there. But the [00:38:00] big, the big, big vision that I see is creating a platform, creating a community, creating a space for practitioners of all different backgrounds to come for the most up to date, cutting edge.

Inclusive research regarding women’s health and hormones all over the world. So, That’s what we’ve, what we’re pride, excuse me. What we are providing currently is more of the educational piece and the mentorship piece, and giving this level to practitioners to build their confidence and build their expertise and their knowledge in hormone health and functional hormone health.

But I’d love to see it into the future. Go to even greater lengths and extents where we are potentially funding better quality research and guiding [00:39:00] higher level academia, um, you know, institutions or, uh, accreditations or individuals in, um, being aware of. Including women and female bodies in research, because that’s really where the issues come in.

You know why women are 70 to 75% more likely to experience adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs than men? You know, why? For the past, you know, a hundred ish so years, uh, most research has included only males, male animals and male cells specifically. So we need to, there needs to be a reform in here.

And we can educate practitioners to the all the extents. You know, we can provide that level of education, provide that level of awareness and attention to what research they are using to funnel in their protocols or their recommendations. But we also need to go beyond that and really get at the root of it.[00:40:00] 

So the big, big vision is something along those lines of helping to facilitate change on a more. Level of really changing the world of women’s health and research so that women are more included and that we can move forward beyond 2022, but move forward into new research. With women being included as the norm.

So I don’t know yet what the steps are to get us there, and that’s kind of what I mean. I’m like working out those details, but I’m also just kind of sitting in this like really beautiful space that we’ve created in a container for practitioners to expand because mm-hmm. , that is also the first step, right?

Mm-hmm. . We’re fine tuning that right now. Figuring out ways to, um, really cultivate that and create, like, create that as the foundation. And then beyond that, we want to be expanding and having [00:41:00] more of a global impact. We already do, we already expanded into 13 different countries, so we already have a global impact, but like, you know, and more of like a research based setting, I.

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: Ash, I have no doubt in my mind because these are kind of the cycles that you, you personally, as an entrepreneur go through is this big level of expansion and this moment of quiet and receptivity, and then it’s.

Explosion of expansion and where you’re going is in such alignment with what you’ve built, that it is literally a matter of time and the fact that you’re already in 13 different countries and you’re gonna continue to expand and that you have positioned yourself like literally gives me chills that. I think you are such an archetype and a prime example of what it means to be a modern entrepreneur and what it means to be a self educator and what it means to be tenacious and to have conviction for something that’s bigger than you, but also to be a.

You know, energetically [00:42:00] receptive. I don’t know if you identify with the word spiritual, but being that is willing to allow something bigger than themselves to move through you and to kind of be the caretaker or you know, Shepherd seems like a weird word, but caretaker for that vision. Like, okay, I am here to help you come to life because this is something that is meant to impact the collective change millions and billions of lives.

And I am not gonna make this about me and my human experience. I’m gonna get out of the way and facilitate this change coming to life. Cuz clearly it’s coming to me cuz I’m the one that can help bring it to life. And I think that is so, you are such an example of how to balance. Action oriented, you know, logical with the receptivity, vision, creative side of things.

And that’s really what I think is required to succeed as an entrepreneur in this day and age. And so I just wanna acknowledge you for that and how. Wonderful it has been to support you and to know that I’m gonna get to continue to want [00:43:00] you expand and grow and hopefully be a part of that journey. But thank you so much for coming on.

You’re a incredible order, a fantastic storyteller, and obviously an educator cuz you do this so well. But I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story and what it was like to work with the agency, work with me, and. Continue to pursue that big vision that you have. It’s so badass.

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Thank you so much, tri, this has been, this has been really an honor and a joy to share my story.

So thank you for holding space like you do so well. Yes, you are incredible at that, so I appreciate you. So thank you for everything, of course. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: And for anybody that is interested in connecting with you, whether it is a professional connection or they were inspired by your story and they wanna connect with you more, where should they.

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Yeah, so our website is I A F H h.com. Um, you can also find me on Instagram at Functional Hormone Health, and those are probably the two best ways to get ahold [00:44:00] of me for the time being. Amazing. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: Okay. And if you had to leave the Wild Womn Fam with one message or one, you know, theme to hang their hat on to keep themselves going when things get hard or whatever it may be, what would you, what would you leave us with?

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Mm-hmm. 

Um, you will never be given a vision that you cannot obtain. So even if it sounds scary and it sounds big, and it sounds intimidating, just know that you were given the vision for a reason. You will. You will never be faced with a challenge that you can’t overcome. You will never be given a vision that you cannot obtain.

So hold on to that. Trust the process. Receive help when needed. Do the work, get yourself out of the way, take a line to action, and everything will unfold perfectly within divine timing. 

HOST: Tristan Thibodeau: I wouldn’t have expected anything less than that. Beautiful statement. Thank you so much, Ash. This was so much fun. [00:45:00] 

GUEST: Ashe Milkovic: Thank you.