Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Clark.
Hi Ashley, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was 22-years old (2012), I was living at home with my parents having just graduated from Clemson University. I was still working my first job that I got at 15 at a law firm in town. Counting the number of times my dad had been to a Kilwins on one hand, he made a suggestion out of the blue: “Have you ever thought about owning a Kilwins franchise?” He really liked the ice cream and he saw an entrepreneurial spirit in me that I didn’t yet know I had.
I ditched my law school plans and started exploring Kilwins! I was dating my husband Landon at the time and we opened our first Kilwins franchise in Greenville, SC, in September 2013. For the next five years, we worked together to build a successful business with the mission of creating enjoyment and making people happy. We thought we were getting into the ice cream business, but what we soon realized was that we were in the people business. In 2018, I was selected as the South Carolina Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the US Small Business Administration and in 2021, she was selected as the inaugural ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award recipient by the Greenville Chamber.
In spring 2019, we began expanding. We sold our first house in Greenville and walked away with $86,000 from the house. We needed $80,000 to put down on our SBA loan to buy our second Kilwins–in Highlands, NC. We moved into a 500sf rental house in Highlands and bought the store! In 2021, we bought our third store in Franklin, TN, and moved to Nashville! In 2022, we bought our fourth store in Hendersonville, NC and in 2024, we bought an existing store in Alpharetta, GA, and opened our sixth store in Nashville, TN.
We’ve committed to opening at least 2 more stores in Nashville, a store in Brentwood, and store in Roswell, GA, and Marietta, GA. We love building relationships with our team. We teach our team to show up on time, deliver on promises, and be better communicators. We are passionate about inspiring our team to do the things that inspire them. And we are looking for leaders!
My husband and I grew up in western NC and met in 4-H when we were kids. We’ve lived in three different states with Kilwins and currently reside in Nashville with our two young daughters. When we’re not working, although I love to work, we enjoy doing CrossFit together, hunting, and college football.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ha. If any business owner says it’s been a smooth road, they’re lying. The biggest struggle is managing people. It’s also the most rewarding part.
Someone told me once–business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple and it’s that hard.
We have some of the most wonderful people we get to work alongside in the trenches every single day and they make it worthwhile. But it takes constant fighting and clawing and digging to find the wonderful people and then it’s even harder to keep them. We’re committed to the challenge!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What sets me apart from others is how I love and lead my people–high warmth and high expectations. It’s the same way I raise my kids. I was an English major in undergrad. I wanted to go to law school. Now I’m basically an HR professional. Such a wild turn of events thanks to the Lord’s providence over my life. But in 12 years in business and counting, I’ve worked hard to educate myself on how to love and lead people. I knew nothing about it before. But through a lot of training and self reflection, I now know about myself that I have a high energy factor and I’m optimistic about the results I can achieve. I want to be a winner and have an inherent dislike for losing. I will work long hours until a tough problem is solved. After it is solved, I become bored with routine work that follows. I work hard to find the best and brightest to work with and then I lead and love them with high warmth and high expectations.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Love EntreLeadership, Pat Lencioni podcasts! My team and I livestream EntreLeadership Summit every year. I teach John Maxwell leadership books to younger managers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kilwins.com/pages/stores-near-me-nashville-tn-37201-0265
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kilwinsnashville/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kilwinsnashvilledemonbreun
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyclark615/
