Before you go reading the ubiquitous About Page trying to decide if you like us or hate us, all while trying not to drip wine on your keyboard, let’s get one thing straight:
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Are you a corporation or organization wanting to work with our team? Our corporate division, House of Moxie, Inc., is coming soon! In the meantime, email ash@houseofmoxieinc.com with inquiries.
Ash Ambirge, CEO House of Moxie, Inc. + Founder of The Middle Finger Project
TMFproject was founded by Ash Ambirge, the go-to creative director for businesses + brands who want PERSONALITY. (Oh, and money. Money is nice.) Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine for her marketing shenanigans, to writing for celebrities like Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings and the Demi + Ashton Foundation, she gets around. She’s served as Director of PR for everyone’s favorite email marketing company, AWeber, and takes pride in having once written the world’s most shameless Seinfeld teaser commercials for the FOX Network. Yet, it all probably started way back when people still used AIM Instant Messenger, and she became the original protégé of billionaire CEO Andy McKelvey of Monster.com. (He made her cry the first time they met. True story.) In other news: Producers from the Rachael Ray show have recently been calling about doing a special segment, but then when they caught on to the fact that SHE CAN’T COOK, realized it was all a big mix-up. This is wise, because if anyone asks her to make so much as a grilled cheese? She’s calling her lawyer.
Jenny “J-Fo.” Director of Business Development + Creative Direction + Wine.
Detroit native. Transplanted Portlander. Regularly boycotts green juice in the name of cheese curls. (This is sort of a team mentality.) We’re pretty proud of the fact that Jenny: a) Looks like Courtney Cox, b) Has a Mid- West accent (despite whatever she says), c) Has successfully built some really important companies from the ground up, d) Once worked alongside the editor of Cosmo, e) Has a daughter she calls Mini-Fo. DARE YOU TO FIND SOMEONE BETTER THAN HER AT, WELL, ANYTHING.
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Jess. Lead Project Manager & Creative Strategist.
The dog ate Jess’s bio. One of the newest members of our team, she’s quickly proven herself to be smarter than at LEAST Ash, and since Ash insists on only hiring people who are smarter than her, ALL IS WELL. Also: moustaches. Great word.
Lyndsay “L-dog”. Copywriter + Creative Strategist.
Personal taglines include: “I’m Having a Great Time,” “Totes Profesh: 247,” and “No Cheese Left Behind.” Passions include puns, slogans, wordplay and creating OPI nail polish names. When she’s not hard at work you can find her hardly working, drinking too much coffee, and walking around barefoot. Usually all at the same time.
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Meredith. Project Coordinator.
Washington State native. Started out this thing called life by pursuing a doctorate in primatology (monkeys!), until she first traveled to Costa Rica to study them, fell in love with the country, and never left. Meredith is our right-hand woman who handles all the sticky logistics that everyone else at this company is really terrible at. Things like scheduling, contracts, billing and everything else that makes our world go round. She’s also most likely the first person anyone has any contact with. (Unless Brad Pitt is emailing, in which case Meredith has explicit instructions to forward immediately to Ash.)
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Marta. Design, Development and Uh Oh Technical Moments.
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Rachel. Legal and all things fine print.
Native New Yorker–as in, a real one from Queens. (And obviously since King of Queens is our company’s favorite show, Rachel was a natural fit.) Half Irish. Half African American. Half Badass. (Wait, that’s too many halves. MATH.) France, muffins and lychee martini obsessed. To counteract her indulgences (and make the rest of us feel like lazy assholes), Rachel does burpees every single day. She also writes a ton of contracts and legal documents for everything TMF. In a nutshell: Rachel’s responsible for covering our ass. And might we say, our ass is lookin’ pretty fine.
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Kyle. Numbers. (Thank goodness.)
Oh, look! A man! It’s a Kyle! And Kyle is our numbers guy. Rocking all sorts of astounding qualifications that make everybody jealous like having once been a former nuclear technician (really) and then deciding to go get his post doctorate in tax law, Kyle’s our braniac that makes us good with the IRS. Did you know that when you refund someone through Paypal, Paypal keeps 30 cents? Yup. I bet you didn’t know that. But Kyle did. And that’s why he’s the one who keeps our books straight. Oh, and he’s also the co-founder of Our Deal, an online e-sign service, and has successfully started and another company or two, too. AND did we mention he’s also ran a 56 mile marathon in South Africa before? Where do we find these people, right? We don’t know. But we’re sure glad we did.
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The Founder’s Story + How It All Got Started (No boring details included – great for anyone who feels like the world is against them.)
- 1984: Born. There was blood.
- 2001: Private scholarship awarded from Andy McKelvey, Founder of Monster.com based on entrepreneurial potential and uncanny ability to land a triple axel on rollerblades while smoking cigar.
- 2005: Works in marketing + sales, with a specialty in copywriting and getting people to do what she wants.
- 2005-2006: Starts first freelance writing + marketing consulting business, while simultaneously painting the walls of her apartment sea horse purple. There is, of course, no such color, but she appreciates exotic sounding names involving mystical-looking sea creatures.
- 2007: Business earns excellent revenue. Builds house with an Asian man. Has everything with exception of the iPad. Those weren’t invented yet.
- 2009: Falls in love with a Mexican man instead. (What? Every story has a love story.)
- 2010: Starts from scratch and starts TMFproject. (This!) Does PR for everyone’s favorite email marketing company, AWeber. Eventually decides to move abroad to Chile. Does not fall in love with a Chilean man. They have mullets.
- 2011: Continues to specialize in sarcasm and grow TMFproject, run entirely from a Macbook. Lives in Chile and Barcelona. Ends up dating man with mullet against her will.
- 2012: Likes life. Goes to live and play in Chile, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
- 2013: Presently lives in Costa Rica. Eats a lot of peas. Continues to build TMF into 7+ figures, oversees the copywriting division, has plans to publish book, is building at least two new companies (one of which may or may not be called Life Hooky) and will be starting a new community to help anyone who’s ever felt a dullness settle in their bones–before it settles in their hearts.
1. FOUNDER, TMFproject.
Whether you’re a new business owner ruefully wondering if you’re in over your head (you’re not), or an experienced business owner trying to find that mystic creature called balance, here at TMF, we’ll take you by your shirt collar, shove a glass of whiskey into your hand, show you how to feel ALIVE again–and market yourself like a PRO.
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2. CRASSLY CHARMING ONLINE MARKETING, PR & SALES EXPERT.
The go-to copywriter + online marketing sexpot for businesses + brands who want PERSONALITY. (Oh, and money. Money is nice.) Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine for her marketing shenanigans, to writing for celebrities like big, burly football player Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings and the Demi + Ashton Foundation, to having served as the Director of PR for everyone’s favorite email marketing company, AWeber, and having been the protégé of billionare CEO Andy McKelvey of Monster.com, she gets around. And usually gracefully, unless she’s wearing spiky high heels, in which case all bets are off. In other news: Producers from the Rachael Ray show have recently been contacting her about doing a special segment, but then when they realized SHE CAN’T COOK TO SAVE HER LIFE, decided to pretend it never happened. This is wise. Also: Licorice, coffee + thigh highs. Unrelated.
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3. MENTOR.
:: Need more clients? Click here.
:: Want to build your first digital product? Click here.
:: Curious to see how I earned 6 figures my first year in business? Click here.
:: Want to learn how to sell with words–and get more customers to buy your stuff? Click here.
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4. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HEAD OF THE COPYWRITING DIVISION OF TMF, NO APOLOGY INCLUDED.
She got a master’s degree in Linguistics for something. Here at TMF, we create personality-infused, eyeball tangoing web copy for hip companies that understand that they aren’t wooing a consumer–they’re wooing people. And people are the backbone of it all. So it’s people you need to connect with.
Click here to read how we can do that for YOU.
OBLIVIOUS
When tears silently fell from her cheek upon finding the note from her lover, 3 days before their daughter was born that read: ”I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
ASHAMED
When classmates asked me what my daddy did for a living. I lied & told them he was Crocodile Dundee, and had to be in Australia to tame the outback.
CONFUSED
When we used different money than everyone else to buy bread & milk.
BITTER
When I was 14 and stood waiting in the hospital for my step dad to come out of the doctor’s office. He handed me a pamphlet. It read, “Helping Your Family Cope with Terminal Cancer.”
NOSTALGIC
When I would hear Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” come on the radio after he died, just a few short months later, after tearfully asking me to call him “dad” instead of “Jimmy,” like I always had. I got to call him it twice.
MORTIFIED
When it was just me & my mom after that, and all of the other 15 year olds had basements underneath their houses. We had wheels.
FRUSTRATED
When my mother’s debilitating anxiety & social disorder prevented her from ever coming to watch me play volleyball more than once in 4 years. We were almost state champions.
RELIEVED
When the founder of Monster.com thought I was worthy enough to be awarded a 4-year, all-expense paid scholarship to a private, liberal arts school—room & board included. The scholarship was based on financial need & demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit. My mom cried.
GUILTY
When I took the scholarship and left her all alone.
SADDENED
When an unexpected card would arrive with $50 that she didn’t have inside, telling me to go buy myself something pretty.
ANNOYED
When, 6 years later, I found myself in that same hospital waiting room. But this time, it was my mother I was waiting for to come out of the doctor’s office.
SCARED
When I realized the seriousness of the matter.
PATIENT
When she taught me how to pay all of the bills, as I wrote out check after check from her hospital bedside, as nurses came in and out to take her blood.
LIVID
When the doctor’s arrogant insensivity to her pain one day made her weep.
VENGEFUL
When I let him have a piece of my 20 year old mind.
FRUSTRATED
When college friends ragged on me for not going out that weekend to party.
RESENTFUL
When I couldn’t.
SHOCKED
When I got the phone call while driving to my first day at my internship at a local TV station.
DEVASTATED
When, by the time I got to our house, the coroner had taken her body & simply left a note on the door.
BITTERSWEET
When, 4 months later, I walked across the graduation stage & got my college degree, not even bothering to look out into the crowd for a familiar face, knowing there wouldn’t be one.
INDIFFERENT
When I hastily auctioned off all of our things.
LOST
When I sold our house & moved to Costa Rica—mostly because I didn’t know what else to do.
DISTRAUGHT
When I loved it there, but still felt the pressing need to “live up to my potential” & become a CEO.
HOPEFUL
When I flew back to the United States several months later to interview for my first real job.
WORRIED
When I realized that I didn’t have a home to return to.
GRATEFUL
When the job went so well, I received a promotion to head up marketing efforts.
DISHEARTENED
When I’d see planes pass by my office window, and longed to be one of the passengers on board.
DISAPPOINTED
When the realization came that I could only be one of those passengers for up to two weeks a year, from now until the day I retired.
DISILLUSIONED
When I discovered that my dreams of corporate success were never worthy of my time.
DESPAIRED
When others told me I was naïve, and that I just had to suck it up.
LONELY
When those same people spent Thanksgiving & Christmas with their families.
ARROGANT
When I quit my job in 2007 & decided to start a copywriting business instead.
FOOLISH
When I actually thought that spending my time developing corporate communications materials that didn’t interest me would be any better.
EXCITED
When that same year, Escape Artist gave me a contract to write an eBook on visiting Costa Rica.
SMART
When I realized they didn’t have exclusive rights, and I could develop my own site & sell the book there, too.
DETERMINED
When I laboriously tried to learn HTML.
ELATED
When I saw my very first sale come through Clickbank.
INTRIGUED
When I discovered the world of Google Adwords.
ADDICTED
When it became apparent that you really can make money online.
CONFIDENT
When I painstakingly slaved over a book proposal to write a non-fiction narrative titled, “The Truth About Mangoes.”
TORN
When I repeatedly received the infamous rejection letter (after rejection letter after rejection letter after rejection letter).
DESPERATE
When I wasn’t making as much money online as I thought I would, and had to borrow money from a boyfriend to pay my $1,000 a month rent.
HOPELESS
When I caved to pressure & agreed to take a job as an advertising account executive in order to pay the bills.
ENCOURAGED
When I got contract after contract signed on the spot.
UNCERTAIN
When, in my heart, I knew I needed more than signatures & commissions.
PETRIFIED
When, despite that knowledge, I was too scared to make any bold moves, knowing that I had no one in the world to back me up if I failed.
INCENSED
When I stood by and watched that fear get the best of me.
OPTIMISTIC
When I returned to school for my master’s degree in Linguistics.
ANXIOUS
When I imagined that my degree would allow me to indefinitely travel the world, and make anywhere I pleased my home.
IRRITATED
When loan applications were denied without a parent co-signer.
STUBBORN
When I decided that I would teach English online as a way to make up for it.
HEARTBROKEN
When, at a time when I was just barely making ends meet with $26 in my checking account, a good friend told me I needed to find a new place to live so her boyfriend could move in.
DEFEATED
When I had no choice but to go stay with a mysterious new guy I had been seeing.
DESTROYED
When, a few weeks later, I fought for my life as the mysterious new guy almost strangled me to death, and physically threw me outside onto the pavement because I was late.
HOPELESS
When I was alone & scared in the middle of the night, with everything I owned and no place to go.
ANGUISHED
When a friend told me it was my fault, and that if I had only just played by the rules & had continued to go to work everyday like everyone else, I would have had had a savings & would have never have been in that situation.
OBSTINATE
When I decided to start The Middle Finger Project as a way to find people who GOT IT. Who got ME, and this NEED to seek MORE out of life…despite the consequences.
DILIGENT
When I taught myself everything I needed to know about the online aspect of marketing–versus my background in traditional marketing
VALIDATED
When my ideas were well-received, and I began to grow an audience.
COURAGEOUS
When I remembered how good my online success felt in 2007, and decided to learn as much as I could about affiliate marketing.
AMAZED
When some months I was making > $1000+ as a result.
EXHILARATED
When I found myself up until the wee hours of the night writing for the blog, which told me I was finally on the right path.
DEDICATED
When I decided I wanted to make it my full-time gig.
INSPIRED
When I continued on with TMF, and began plotting & executing some other online projects as well.
PEACEFUL
When my influence online grew & grew, and we began experiencing more & more revenue.
INVIGORATED
When I decided to move to Chile, simply because I wanted to, and I can, since I no longer have to be in any one physical location, thanks to the internet. And later, Spain. And later, Costa Rica.
HAPPY
When I looked around me yesterday, took a sip of my wine, and finally felt like I was doing what I was meant to do, and being what I was meant to be…despite the long road it took to get here.
That said, I have a message.
For everyone out there thinking to yourself that it’s unrealistic, YOU ARE WRONG.
For everyone out there shackled by fear, telling yourself that you could lose everything, YOU ARE RIGHT.
And for everyone out there that, despite that knowledge, is still willing to risk it by fighting for something more out of this fleeting speck of time we’re granted here on earth, YOU ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO WILL TRULY SUCCEED.
Because at the very least, you know that you did everything you could.
Not many people can say the same.
CONTACT THE TMFPROJECT TEAM:
General Inquiries: sayhello@themiddlefingerproject.org
Client + Customer Relations: meredith@themiddlefingerproject.org
Tweet Us: @TMFproject
Like Us: www.facebook.com/TMFproject
Disclaimer: We like jokes. Sometimes in excess. But hey – what would biz be if you couldn’t have any fun?
