Business & Faith = They're on the same team.

1) PUT CAREER AND CALLING ON THE SAME TEAM

You are created to love and influence people right where you are. We each have a unique sphere that is often times determined by our careers. You have people you are interacting with that other women will never have the opportunity to impact or influence. Work out your calling of loving others THERE. Your career is a vessel wherein you can outwork your calling. The career is the vehicle, the vessel, and we need that! And now allow it to expedite the calling of love, influence, impact and leadership that is on your life! It’s not something that’s in the way, it’s something that creates A WAY for you to make an impact! You don’t wait until 5:00 so you can check out and then go about your calling, find opportunities in the M-F!

If you put calling and career on different teams that war against each other and compete with one another, you will end up exhausted and highly inefficient. Put them on the same time, and watch the fireworks!

2. WORK YOUR BUTT OFF

Sometimes we just think, well God will provide, I’ll just sit back and wait. Mmm Yes God provides, but Scripture also tell us to WORK HARD!

Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others. Colossians 3:23-25

We have to WORK OUT BUTTS OFF! As if we’re doing it for God himself, not merely man.

If we even just took that one piece of scripture and applied it to our day to day “PUT YOUR HEART AND SOUL INTO EVERY ACTIVITY YOU DO” imagine how much more productive, accomplished, invested, happy, ambitious, satisfied, and impacting we would be!

People would be like… what the HECK has gotten into HER!

3. YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. Romans 6:10

Scripture tells us as believers that we actually have God’s spirit deposited into our spirits. We have access to that power! So are we operating out of our spirit or THE spirit? 

We should have an edge! If we truly believe God’s Spirit is living and active inside of us, we should be able to draw on that power source and make quick decisions, to be creative in our workplaces, to come up with unique problem solving solutions, to think of things that haven’t been thought of, to work through problems with peace and joy despite circumstances. You have an advantage!

4. REFUSE TO MISS OUT

I don’t know about you, but I refuse to miss out on God’s vision for my life.

I want you to take a moment, and in your CURRENT career or business situation, I want you to close your eyes and I want you to picture what God’s dream is for you in this career. What does it look like, what do you look like, what are you doing, how do you feel, how are you making other people feel?

REFUSE to miss out. Put career and calling on the same team, work your butt off, and realize you have an advantage!

HOMEWORK:

Write a personal mission statement that combines your calling and your career.

Okay now that we have our mission statement, how does our schedule and weeks reflect this? List out some practical things you can do day to day that bring this mission statement to life.

And now, have people in your corner that know your missions statement and are helping you bring it to life.

Let’s do this thing!

Love you all.

Ash

Why I started the B O N N E brand.

I guess I have always been wired as the type of person that came up with an idea, and wanted to bring it to fruition by finding the right people to bring it help me bring it to life. And these ideas were always ones that brought joy to people, made them smile, entertained them, or added value and zest to their lives.

Take for example, coming up with plays, musicals, songs, devotionals, dance routines, spy kids club, sticker club, you know “that kid”, well, that was me. Oh and I would BEG my parents to have yard sales. I always wanted to pick out my things and sell them to other people, yes to get some cash but because I wanted to share my things with people and wanted them to be excited about getting to enjoy them too.

And this went into my teen years. I remember walking into Starbucks/Chapters and seeing all the magazines for women that I found motivating and encouraging and inspiring in areas of health, wellness, style and fitness. I used to think, maybe I will have my own magazine someday and get to influence readers in a positive way. OR one of my dreams still yet to come, getting to have a show like Live with Kelly.

But these were before the days of social media, digital blogs, IGTV and the ability to really communicate and connect instantly with “new versions” of magazines and television.

Throughout my career I have had many amazing opportunities with charities like The Gideons International In Canada, travelling the world reporting on their global work, I have been able to report with CBC, work on television shows with BellTV on the marketing side, and other cool opportunities too. But I always had this desire to pull together everything I truly enjoy, and get to do what I LOVE for a living, with myself being the only “ceiling” to what I could accomplish.

In November of last year, I started Bonne Media while I was also working in digital marketing at Sun Life Financial. I started Bonne Media as a marketing company that would help business owners bring their vision, service or product to life for other people, connecting them to their target audiences in order to engage and really accomplish what they’d set out to do. This work began to be one of the most exhilarating and rewarding things I’ve been able to do. I really approach it as if it’s my own business, with the same energy, and care as if it really were my business. (So now I get to be a collaborator with many businesses across the city and country!) I absolutely LOVE it. And we’re still growing and accepting clients AND interns if you’re interested. ;)

So fast forward to last July. I had just gotten married, went on a dream honeymoon, and I came home, quit my job and pursued my dream job of running my own business.

But very quickly, I wanted to have a little more room to explore and really expand my brand into more of a lifestyle brand. A brand that people recognized as one that inspires them and motivates them in many areas of their lives. And in very much Ashley style, I like to do a bit of everything. I know I know, there’s also the strength of doing one thing well but let’s continue… so I wanted to expand my brand. So I choose a few buckets that are all under the umbrella of BONNE.

Bonne means good, pleasant, well in French. And Bonnell was my maiden name. I really like that combination and wanted to keep that. I’m about adding zest to everyday life and living life to the fullest. If you want to live your dream life, you can! That’s the message I want to enforce.

Here are the sections of my brand, I would LOVE for you to explore, take a look around and be inspired!

B O N N E everything is:

B O N N E Media: full service marketing agency

B O N N E life: blog & podcast about living our best life!

B O N N E fashion: SHOPPING! I love to shop. This is a curation of items from my closet that you can buy, as well as an original line I’m having fun with and other recommended favs of mine!

B O N N E fitness: An inspiring collection of fitness training opportunities to inspire you to be the best version of yourself!

B O N N E travel: This is launching in JANUARY! This will be an everything you need to know about over 20 destinations globally I’ve been to with my recommendations! It’s also a travel service where I can curate a trip especially planned for Y O U!

BANFF

Behaviours

You ever find yourself doing something that you clearly inherited from a close family member?

The other day I found myself saying, “yes, no”. And I laughed.

My mom used to do this unique thing with my brother and I when we were kids. When we would ask for something that was just outlandish she’d use the, “yes, no.”

Let me explain.

She used to acknowledge what we were saying with a yes, and then immediately say no.

She’d say yes, and you’d think maybe she’s saying yes, and she’d follow it with no.

It’s a “yes, no.”

“Yes” I hear what you’re saying but, no.

Now whenever she would say this, it was warranted. “Mom I really want a third bag of chips” , “Mom I really want another new sweater for the third time this week.”

I have only ever heard my mom say this, but now, I’m saying it.

Yes Joshua, I know you are hungry but no, we aren’t ordering pizza for the third time in one week after 8 pm.

Yes, no.

It got me thinking about behaviours.

Behaviours are contagious. Most of the time you adapt to the behaviours of the people you are around the most.

What behaviours of yours are positively affecting those around you, helping them thrive? And what behaviours are negatively affecting others, getting in the way of their success and growth?

Let’s stewart our behaviours not only for our own good, but for the good of others. Good behaviours and habits, breed good behaviours and habits. Bad behaviours and habits, breed well, you guessed it, bad behaviours and habits.

It’s like the pizza example. I’m not ordering pizza anymore until post vacation, which means 3 months of no pizza. My disciplined behaviour will affect my husbands’ behaviour to not order pizza (well, maybe, let’s hope.) And so on!

Yes, no. Pizza. Behaviours.

That’s all for today folks,

Ash

Control Freak

So sometimes I think we are all… well, control freaks. We have an idea of what we’d like to happen, or something we’d like to have, and we want that exact thing to materialize, when we want it to materialize. And we like to think that we have that power and we have that control.

In a day of the “I am all powerful” movement, this can be our default mentality, and one that can easily seem right. We think that we deserve exactly what we want because we work hard for what we want. We think that believing that we CAN have total control over our lives in order to get and achieve what we want can seem almost noble, as we try to be our best and do our best for the greater good.

Wouldn’t you RATHER the God of the universe be in charge of directing and organizing and providing in your life rather than your own capabilities? When we trust Him, He goes ahead of us, paves the way, gets the opportunities ready, and blocks harm from our path. He’s like a conductor of goodness in your life.

Believe me, I love all of this positivity, go get it, live the fullest life mentality. I’m ALL about that. 

BUT— I’m all about that with the proper context. 

I had a friend recently ask me, how I could really give credit to God for everything when I work so hard for everything that I have and the things that I accomplish. 

It got me thinking about the answer.

To me, I have this innate inner belief that is so unshakeable, that everything I am and everything I have truly comes from God. And yes, I have to work hard, but I believe that God gives me the ability, the energy, the inspiration, the vision, the strength and the opportunity to do all of that. 

I believe God created us to work purposefully on earth in order to accomplish good, and he has given us the ability and opportunity to do so. What we do with it from there, is partly on our shoulders, but when we invite God into our lives and our work, and our pursuits, HIS blessing is all of a sudden on what we are doing. And what we can accomplish with God, is just so far beyond what we could accomplish on our own. Imagine you’re running a race, and you’re running it well, but then if you invite God to run it with you and strengthen you, it’s like all of all of a sudden having rocket boosters on your feet, or unlimited hydration in your body. And you never truly get to experience that, unless you ask God to be apart of your day in and day out, submit it to him for his blessing, and look for his provision. You’ll start to see it. 

You’ll start to see things come together that have to be God, you’ll start seeing favour on your life that you couldn’t have worked hard enough to receive. It’s because God is living and active in our lives. 

He is working behind the scenes in so many ways that we probably won’t even realize until the end of our lives one day. I imagine we’ll have the opportunity to see all the doors he purposely closed, the ones he opened, the people he put in the way and out of the way. 

But God is a LOVING God, a Father, we are his kids. He is FOR us, not against us, has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. He wants more good for us than we could even want for ourselves. 

So with that said, it’s a RELIEF that He is in control, that we can surrender our lives to Him, still work our butts off to accomplish what we want to accomplish in life, but it’s a whole lot easier knowing that we’ve given a perfect God the control to lead, guide and direct us, to open the doors that should open, and close the ones that should be closed. 

Then the pressure is OFF us to figure it all out, and we are FREE to live our the best version of ourselves, STRESS FREE knowing that God is ironing out all the details as we follow him, he’s got it! 

Imagine that there was a physical person that literally had all authority and power on earth, endless resources, and could make literally anything happen, and he was your dad. 

Imagine your dad said, “Hey love, you can choose to do life on your own without the HELP of my authority, the HELP of my direction, the HELP of my resources. But if you’d like them, just let me know.”

When we allow God to lead us in life, it’s kind of a similar picture. We are trusting that he is more powerful, more wise, more able than we are, and we GET TO put our trust, lives, in His much more capable hands than our own.

Do we still get to be an active player in our own lives? OF COURSE! But we get to do so knowing that the creator of the universe has our back and is backing us, supporting us and leading us with a birds eye view of everything, with endless resources to provide for our every need. 

If you haven’t experienced that in your life, than all you have to do is start living with the posture of trusting God. Look for his direction, ask for his help, submit a situation to Him, do as you feel he is leading you  rather than perhaps just your selfish desires. You will see God accomplish things in your life you never could on your own. 

You can do with God in 1 year what would take you 10 years alone.  Or what you could never do alone.

It’s EXCITING that we GET TO, not have to, but GET TO, surrender our lives to God, and live in his BEST WAYS for us. Because remember, he has better things in mind for you than you could even dream up for yourself. He has chosen you, and he has a plan for you, but you have to opt in.

Ashley XOXO