Coach: Ashley Ruba
Founder, After Academia
Coach Introduction
Article is condensed & summarized version of interview
I’m Ashley Ruba, and I got my PhD in developmental psychology in 2019. The expected career path after a PhD is to become a professor, which was my plan. But after a prestigious fellowship, just before COVID-19, I realized I didn't want that career anymore.
Making that change was tough, emotionally, and due to stigma. So I started posting on X about leaving academia, and then people started reaching out for [career] help.
I did free resume reviews for about 100 people over two years.
Once I started posting on LinkedIn, my account blew up. A lot of people wanted my help, but I didn't have the time. So I wondered if anyone would pay me to help them. Then, about a year ago, I decided to create a career development program for PhDs who want to change careers out of higher education.
My first cohort in the program was almost a year ago. While I had started this program, I also had moved through multiple nine-to-five jobs. And it was in June of this year that I decided that I wanted to go into my business full-time.
So, I never saw myself as an entrepreneur; I thought business was boring until I was doing it. Now, I find it fun. It's been between three and four months of full-time work, navigating the challenges of starting a business.
How Do Clients Find You?
At this point, people know who I am because I've been posting on social media for about three years. First through X, then LinkedIn. Now I have 60,000 followers on LinkedIn and close to 40,000 on X. I was invited to give a lot of talks, be on podcasts, and now I’ve been publishing in journals in Science; I should have another career essay coming out in Nature pretty soon.
How Did Your Find Your First Clients?
I started writing on LinkedIn, and my account went from 0 to 20,000 followers in one month. It was overwhelming and I ended up taking a nine-month break from all social media. I questioned whether I wanted to come back because it had become too much.
I told myself that I would come back if I was getting paid for my help.
My first offering was $50 for a 30-minute meeting. From there, I began working with a business LinkedIn coach who had developed a coaching program, which inspired me to create a program of my own. My main service [now] is a course that's hosted on Circle, with a community built around it. I didn't want to do a digital course because there are so many out there and they have super low completion rates. There's no help when you need it [in typical online courses], and typically no community. That route didn't make sense to me.
My program is group-based and people can book individual one-on-one meetings with me. This group structure is usually enough for people to learn everything they need. I also have office hours to help people along the way.
The first iteration of my program was $300 for a three-month program that was pretty intensive on my end in terms of the amount of help I was giving people. The first cohort had 50 people; I made a lot of mistakes!
What Did You Learn From Your Mistakes?
My biggest mistake was pushing myself too hard. I was diagnosed late with autism and ADHD. That has colored my ability to do work and my experience of burnout. At the time [during the first cohorts] I had a nine-to-five job. I worked a lot during those three months, running three cohorts back-to-back without breaks, and with my birthday coming up, people kept asking about the next one, but I was burnt out.
It became clear that I had to choose. I was more interested in doing this full-time than my nine-to-five job. I decided to leave my job and opened a fourth cohort soon after. Now, I've set a firm rule of no weekend work, which has helped with burnout, though I still struggle a bit more with neurodivergent burnout than overworking.
Was There a Moment You Decided to Leave Your 9-5?
I remember being hired for a specific project at my last job, and I was going to be removed [from the project] because I wasn't the right fit to lead [my burnout was affecting my work]. My manager suggested I step down, and around that time, Karen Kelsky, a prominent figure in academia, wanted to collaborate with me. These events made it clear I was too burnt out, and if I had to choose, I'd prioritize my business. I emailed my managers just before my birthday and flew to the East Coast. On the plane, I was overwhelmed with emotion—crying the whole way, scared but knowing this was what I wanted, despite fearing it might not work out. Deciding to go full-time was tough.
Which Social Channels do You Like to Use?
Originally, I was most active on Twitter (now X). The reach can be pretty substantial and drive a lot of people to my website. I’ve also been active on Instagram, but given my niche, LinkedIn makes the most sense for career coaching.
So, It might sound surprising, but I don’t like being on social. So, I started taking a newsletter-intensive class where I drive traffic to the newsletter through digital ads.
In the future, I would like to add more resources to my website to improve my organic search (SEO). After finding my ADHD coach through a Google search, I learned that he gets all of his clients that way.
Do You Spend Money on Ads?
No, not really. With Karen, who runs the Professor Is In, she has a Facebook group called The Professor is Out, which has about 35,000 members. Right now, she promotes my program there, and in the future, I’d like to switch to promoting my newsletter instead. I've realized that the people who are coming to my website aren’t converting at the rate that I would expect. There needs to be more nurturing before people are ready to buy. Now I'm prioritizing the growth of my email list, which I should have done sooner because you don't own your audience on social media.
When Elon Musk took over X, I switched to LinkedIn because people seemed to be leaving, and I didn’t want to lose my following. LinkedIn has been a much nicer place, but in hindsight, I wish I’d been growing my email list all along. I currently have 5,000 subscribers, which isn’t bad for the time I’ve been doing it.
In general, LinkedIn followers are more likely to spend money than any other platform. That's why I prioritize LinkedIn over Instagram.
How Do You Keep Track of Your Progress?
I use Fathom Analytics for my website traffic and Kit for my newsletter and email marketing. I also use Circle for my program; I really like Circle. Right now they're building out their marketing feature; when it's build I'll move over [to Circle] manage the marketing side of the business too.
I check [my progress] every day and check my open rates on Tuesdays when I send out my newsletter. Then, with LinkedIn, I use a plugin called Authored Up, which I like because it allows you to preview all of your posts and see formatting-wise how long they are, and other important analytics.
You can look back and see what you were posting a year ago, checking if any of it was good or if you can reuse content. Content creation is a long-term game; you'll repeat yourself often, and you'll get bored of your own content much faster than your followers will.
I try to keep it interesting. I like writing, and I don't use AI tools to write posts. I can tell when something has been written by AI. It is very obvious to me. I think that's kind of the quickest way to have people feel like this is just generic and boring and doesn't add a lot of value.
I read the news, from Forbes to the Chronicle of Higher Ed, to see what people are talking about. If you can just say the same thing but attach it to a new story that's come out, then you can keep it more up-to-date and current. I think your strategy changes a bit as you get more momentum. I spend a lot of time on my LinkedIn content. I think I will probably spend less time on it at some point and just double down on my own website and newsletter. I haven't quite figured out the best content repurposing strategy yet. What I try to do more often is when someone in my program sends me a message saying they really liked a module or learned something that changed their perspective, I'll screenshot it, anonymize it, and use it in a post. That way, it serves as a testimonial and social proof.
I've learned that mentioning my program or services, like resume reviews and one-on-one meetings helps. People often don't realize there's something they can buy from you unless you talk about your offerings.
How do You Leverage Testimonials?
I used to use a testimonial plugin, and now I just have people write me recommendations on LinkedIn because it is attached to someone's account. So there's no way that I can use AI to fabricate it. Then I’ll put them on my website.
One of the main principles of influence and persuasion is social proof. Having other people vouch for your product and your service is better than anything you could say. That's the same reason you go on Amazon and say, “Which product has the most reviews and the most five-star reviews? I'm probably going to buy that thing.” And you probably wouldn’t buy something without reviews unless it was cheap and it was exactly what you were looking for.
Having these nice written reviews has been great. I do struggle to ask for them, but it’s something I try to do with everyone who’s been through my program.
How Did You Build Your Offers?
Currently, the six-month program has a basic tier where you can pay $75 monthly or get a slight discount with a one-time payment. The total cost for the six-month program is between $900 and $1,000. For that, I offer weekly office hours and coworking sessions, and I'm available to answer questions within the community.
For more personalized help like multiple resume reviews, meetings, and interviews, there's an upgrade option. That costs between $2,100 and $2,400 for six months, depending on payment method. And I'm considering whether to keep this higher tier in the next six months. I’m unsure what price this niche market will bear because there’s no successful model to emulate.
In terms of the future, I’ve been talking with some folks over at the American Psychological Association about seeing what a collaboration could look like. It’s super preliminary right now, but it is a direction I could go. I’d also love to become a thought leader and publish books on Human Development & developmental psychology.
What Does The Future Look Like?
I'm still toying around with the best structure of my program. Starting this week, I’m going to add urgency and scarcity by opening up 10 to 15 spots at the beginning of the month with a deadline for enrollment.
Once those spots are filled, they're gone until the next month. I know others have switched to this model because selling evergreen offers without significant website traffic can be challenging. That's my plan starting this week.
Also, I'm launching a podcast to nurture leads more through email and content, providing people with more insight into who I am before they invest hundreds of dollars to work with me.
What Business Decisions Worked For You?
Before launching anything for money, I spent about two years providing immense value for free, which built a lot of trust with my clients. When I finally announced my program, over 200 people messaged me asking to join, which was far beyond my expectations of maybe 10 people. This was because I had never charged before, so I'd established a strong reputation for free services. As a user researcher, I also engaged deeply with people to understand their struggles and pain points, having gone through similar experiences myself.
I also had a good understanding of how hard it was. That allowed me to create better content and a better program. The program stood out from other people who finished their PhD and went into coaching and never applied for a job or worked outside of academia.
I understand what’s required to get a job and how it works. Additionally, my writing resonates with people, often leading to questions about where I learned copywriting. I believe that mastering writing and copywriting for social media, emails, and personal storytelling makes you much more relatable. People are more inclined to buy from someone they connect with, not just a faceless brand. They want to buy from people who they resonate with.
Which Business Skills Are You Developing?
I've struggled with making decisions, putting on my CEO hat, and trusting myself. For instance, I considered switching to a cohort model with monthly openings a few months back, but someone talked me out of it, and I listened. In retrospect, I realized I should trust my own judgment more since I'm the one running the company.
You have to pick and choose what fits your niche and your business because business advice isn't one-size-fits-all. There's this idea that you can just create your course and make a lot of money. But that's often because these people already have hundreds of thousands of followers. Not everyone can just put up a $200 course and suddenly be earning seven figures. It's not how it's going to work in every niche, especially if you're just starting.
Trust yourself, and don’t be afraid to pivot. I've rerecorded my curriculum four different times based on student feedback.
People want resume help, but they NEED to build their network. You have to give people what they want and then try to encourage them to buy what they need.
What Business Resources Have Influenced You?
I worked with my friends at Graywolves.com, who helped me analyze the competition and identify what kind of business fits me best. When starting in a niche, many ask, "Why would anyone buy from me with so many established sellers?" You have to position yourself as the best option for your ideal customer.
- Justin Welsh is one of the original people who built this business on LinkedIn, and he has great resources on his website. I've purchased several of his courses, and he shares a lot of valuable information in his articles.
- Alex Hermosy's books.
- I've read a lot of career books like How to be Everything which is a good book that talks about people who have multiple interests and how you combine them into a single career path.
- Anything that Dory Clark writes, I think, is great, like Stand Out by Dory Clark. which is about becoming a thought leader and how you determine your big idea and ultimately spread that to other people.
- Influence by Robert Caldini is excellent. It has classic marketing principles, and also talks about persuasion.
Any Advice for Aspiring Coaches?
I got excited about my business at first and then burnt out, but what's been helpful is reminding myself that I'll be doing this for years. If you’re expecting instant success, you're going to be disappointed.
It's also about setting boundaries, showing up and doing a little bit every day, and knowing that we overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. A year ago, this business didn't even exist, so when I feel like I haven't made the progress I hoped for, I remind myself: I'm not where I was a year ago, AND ask what can I achieve another year from now?
Having a growth mindset helps. Even when this feels hard, I have a strong belief that I'll figure it out eventually. That conviction is what keeps me going.
It's important to get through those days when you feel like quitting. Most businesses fail within the first year for a reason: it's hard to create value where there was none before.