Most funeral home owners are overwhelmed.
-They serve families daily.
-They lack enough agents.
-They rarely have time to grow pre-need sales.
-And they don’t know where to start.

That’s where I come in.

-Founder of Legacy Success Academy.
-Licensed agent, sales strategist, and marketing partner.
-A true extension of your brand.

I bring:

Proven sales systems.

Targeted marketing campaigns.

AI tools built for funeral homes.

Here’s how I help:

Write pre-need business for you remotely.

Set qualified appointments for you or staff.

Keep your pipeline full without chasing leads.

Run Facebook ads that spark conversations.

Host seminars that turn attendees into clients.

For smaller homes, staffing is the biggest roadblock.

That’s why I created Seminar in a Box.
I run it start to finish — you get the appointments.
Your staff writes the business, or my software does it with them.
Even without a license.

No hiring delays.
No licensing headaches.
Faster results.

My fitness, coaching, and clinical exercise background gives me a unique edge.

-I know how to motivate.
-I know how to build trust.
-I know how to drive performance.

My mission is simple:
Help you achieve more in less time.

Partners see:

Consistent year-over-year growth.

Control over their programs.

More time for what matters most.

If you want the same results…

Let’s talk.

Schedule a 20-minute conversation today.
7 minutes to learn about your funeral home.
13 minutes of tailored growth recommendations.

Your future pre-need sales start here.

It’s hard to imagine how much time has passed since that first Coast Guard Auxiliary meeting Grandpa Art inspired one seemingly random winter night.  The phone rang, my wife picked up, and Carl and I answered the call.

Art was a Merchant Marine who lived his life with quiet strength and a deep sense of duty, he worked to inspire as many of his kin as possible to serve.  Because he knew that what service really teaches you is that legacies are made, not inherited.

He wanted those he loved to serve, not just their country, but their own futures.

He understood what service gives back.

He understood the promise of the GI Bill...still one of the best deals going for anyone who wants to start life debt free after college.

I’ve heard Carl Ashworth say more than once that boot camp alone changed his life and trajectory in dramatic ways. I still remember that graduation day.  It was the first one post-pandemic.  I'm so grateful we got to be there...the air heavy with pride, relief, and awe.

If you’ve never experienced a military graduation, find one. You’ll walk away changed.

To all who’ve served in my family and beyond, thank you!

#VeteransDay2025 #gratitude #legacy #service

John Ashworth

li_at

JSESSIONID

Network Security Engineer at McDonalds | Security+ | GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) | PCNSA | TS/SCI

Pre-Need Growth Expert for Funeral Homes | Proven Sales Systems + AI Tools | Write Pre-Need Business Without an Insurance License

It’s wild how the calendar can ambush you.  December creeps up, and suddenly the glow of the season brushes shoulders with the weight of the people who aren’t here anymore. I feel it every year, and this season it’s hitting with a different kind of clarity.

I know I’m not the only one.

Plenty of us carry this quiet ache while the world shouts for joy and celebration. And we comply because that’s the script. We smile, we toast, we light things up. All good things. All necessary.  Keep celebrating...

But behind it, there’s this other truth: loss doesn’t clock out for the holidays.

Most folks don’t talk about it, not because they don’t feel it, but because they’ve been conditioned to hide it. To not “ruin the mood.” To not pull the room into something tender or complicated or painful.

I’m done with that.

This December, I’m inviting you into a different kind of space. One where we don’t have to choose between grief and celebration. One where you can hold both without apology. Because the people we’ve lost aren’t burdens on our joy. They’re part of why we feel joy in the first place. 

They shaped it. 
They fed it.
They taught us how to love.

So for the next six weeks, I’m opening this conversation. Not every post. Not every day. But consistently enough that it becomes a thread we can follow together.

A thread of legacy.
A thread of memory.
A thread of connection that doesn’t disappear just because someone’s no longer in the room.

If you’re carrying someone in your heart this season, stay with me. Comment if you feel it. Share if you want to. Or just read quietly. You’re welcome in this space either way.

Let’s honor the ones we’ve lost while celebrating the ones who are still right here with us. Both matter. Both belong.

And sometimes, holding both at once is the thing that changes everything.

-johnny renaissance

#legacyoflove #holidayreflection #griefandgratitude #rememberingtogether #honorthejourney #storyliving #familylegacy #celebratingconnection #theashflash #johnnyrenaissance

too many funeral homes still hide their pricing, hide their process, and hide their expertise. Meanwhile the world is out there searching for answers in seconds. And if you’re not the one giving those answers, you’re already losing. Falling behind. Left in a dusty cloud of old and worn-out belief systems, and worse, FEAR!

This clip digs into the shifts you can’t outrun: 

education based marketing. 
Transparent pricing. 
Straight talk. 
Real stories. 
Clear guides. 
Killer content.

The stuff families crave and reward with their time, attention, and money.

If you want to stay relevant, trusted, and chosen… this is where the game is headed. All you have to do is take the ball in that direction.

Catch the full episode — it’ll change how you show up online, and how your community sees you.

https://lnkd.in/gSkwyw28

#funeralhomes #preneed #advancedfuneralplanning #funeralprofessionals #funeralmarketing #communityfirst 
#educationbasedmarketing #transparencywins #funeralservice #johnnyrenaissance

The funeral directors who thrive often ask me this question.  The ones who don't, NEVER do...and I don't come back to visit these folks.

The funeral directors who struggle most often ask me: "How do I compete with the big consolidators?"

The ones who thrive rarely ask that question. They're too busy studying their market, learning their families' needs, and mastering their craft.

Dan Kennedy built his fortune by reading a book a day for 25 years. When aspiring copywriters asked how to command $100,000 fees, he'd tell them exactly how. Most rejected the answer. They wanted rewards without building the value.

Here's what Kennedy understood: Time is democratic. When he chose to study for an hour at day's end, others chose to watch TV. Those choices revealed everything.

Success in funeral service, just like any business, requires mastering a handful of critical competencies. Marketing is always one of them.  Repeat after me...

"I'm a marketer in the business of funeral service."

ooohh, i know.  that's likely a tough one for you, but it's real.

Now, I help funeral homes market their pre-need programs. But here's what I tell every potential partner: Hiring me doesn't mean you hand it all over and walk away.

This is a partnership. You need to engage. You need to learn. You need to be in it with me.  You need to own it.  Marketing is the one thing inside your small business that you should NEVER complete turn-over to anyone.

I won't work with partners who don't show up.

Why? Because the funeral homes that win don't just hire consultants.  They become students of their own business. They ask questions. They study what works. They apply what they learn.

The know-how is available. The real question is whether you're willing to do the work.

I'm here to help...

Johnny Renaissance reporting for duty, and wow… this one hits a nerve in the best possible way.  Nobody reads the mail anymore?  That’s exactly why you should....

I was talking in this week’s podcast about Joe Girard.  The guy who sold more cars than anyone alive. The legend who quietly built an empire one handwritten card at a time.

Every month he dropped thousands of personal notes into the mail.

Valentine’s cards. 
Thank you cards. 
“Thinking of you” cards.  
Nothing fancy. Nothing poetic.

Just presence.

And here’s the interesting part to me…

When people say “nobody reads the mail anymore,” they say it like it’s the end of an era.

To me and hopefully to you, it’s the biggest open lane left.

When the mailbox gets quieter, your voice gets louder.
When everyone hides online, the person who shows up offline feels like a miracle.  That's right, a little personal miracle in someone's mailbox.  Think about that for a second.  The potential impace you could have with the right commitment to the right kinds of mail.

When competitors pull back because they’re scared of spending a few thousand… you earn the story no one else is telling.

Could you drop $15,000 a month on mail?
Could you stomach $150,000 over a year?
Could you find the guts to actually test it?

Because if you did...if you committed to showing up where nobody else is showing up, you might unlock the kind of momentum funeral homes used to take for granted before the world moved to screens and scrolls.

Direct mail is not dead.  It's the commitment to embrace your marketing in more meaningful ways and strategic ways that's dying.

Your competitors are asleep.  They are NOT reading this.

The mailbox is wide open.

And if you’re willing to step into that empty space…

You may be the only one in your town with a direct line to every family you hope to serve.

A short podcast clip is below if you want the full fire.  The full podcast in on theashflash.com as always.

Let me know when you’re ready to talk strategy.

-johnny renaissance from the road...

#preneed #funeralprofession #deathcare #marketing #directmail #advancedplanning #johnnyrenaissance #theashflash

The truth about showing up, and why it still wins...What’s up everyone, Johnny Renaissance checking in from the road. This week it’s Rockford, Northwest Indiana, Tennessee, and then back through Central Illinois. I always get a little jolt when I fire up the chariot for a run like this. You never know which conversation or chance meeting is going to bend the arc of your future and create magic.

Showing up still works.

Not Zooming. Not texting. Not “circling back next week.”

I mean showing up in person. Walking into the room. Shaking hands. Looking someone in the eye and making something real happen. There is an energy transferred in those moments you will never manufacture through a screen. No matter how good or well positioned your camera is.

And I love virtual tools. They make me faster, sharper, more efficient. But they don’t replace presence.

Presence changes people. 
Presence changes business. 
Presence changes momentum.

So here’s the little challenge I’m leaving with you.  The same one I’m leaving with myself as I crank out miles across the Midwest:

Pick one place you’re going to show up before the end of the year. 

One room. 
One meeting. 
One visit. 
One handshake. 
One moment where you go in person instead of sending a note.

Because that one moment might set the tone for your 2026.

We all live inside the rhythm of the 33 33 33 rule. A third of the time we feel unstoppable. A third of the time we're in a routine. And a third of the time we’re dragging ourselves out of the mud just to keep the wheels turning. The trick is showing up in all three states and as many different states as possible.  Pun intended 🤓 Showing up even when you don’t feel like you have much to give.
That’s where the magic piles up.

Three years on the road with Golden Considerations Inc. has taught me something simple: momentum belongs to the ones who consistently stand in the room.

So tell me...where are you going to show up before the year ends? And what ripple could that create for the next chapter of your business and your life?

If you want to follow my road adventures and some of the wild stuff I encounter between funeral homes, partners, and backroads, check out my Instagram stories at @johnny_renaissance

See you out there....

-johnny

Golden Considerations Inc.

The Coffee Shop That Got It Right...Sitting in a downtown coffee shop in Sparta, Tennessee yesterday morning, I found four simple things that stopped me in my tracks.  I consider them proof that someone here actually cares.  Not to mention the friendly service and perfect Americano...

The details were perfect. Not flashy. Just right.

It stood in stark contrast to many other things I've experienced on this trip.

The salad at dinner the night before.  Wilted, joyless, thrown together by someone who'd stopped caring hours ago. The Hampton Inn gym this morning...a soda can sitting in the same spot for 24 hours, coffee barely lukewarm, dirty towels overflowing at the pool. All the telltale signs that when the boss left for the weekend, so did the standards.

These aren't catastrophic failures. They're quiet erosions of trust. Each one whispers the same message: "We don't really care when no one's watching."

But here's what haunts me: 90% of what we do, no one sees.

The question isn't whether people are watching. It's whether you can take professional pride in every single thing you do especially when they're not.

This is why I'll drive anywhere, anytime for the small partners everyone else overlooks. The ones who don't show up on the radar of companies chasing only the big deals. Because I see what others miss...your potential, your willingness to do things right, your capacity to build something that lasts.

Customer obsession. Long-term thinking. Operational excellence.

These aren't buzzwords. They're choices you make when the cameras are off, when the boss is away, when it would be easier to let something slide.

They're the difference between a coffee shop in Sparta that makes you want to tell everyone about it, and a hotel experience that quietly diminishes a brand you've trusted for years.

The little things aren't little. They're everything.

What are you doing when no one's looking?

-johnny renaissance
Instagram: @johnny_renaissance

#CustomerObsession #OperationalExcellence #ProfessionalPride #SmallBusiness #Partnership #LongTermThinking

Funeral homes are running out of runway. And most don’t even know it. AI has already changed how families search, choose, and trust a funeral home. The shift isn’t coming. It already happened.

And yet… so many firms are still treating their website like a brochure, their story like an afterthought, and their tech stack like a chore they’ll tackle “someday.” Or, they're avoiding it altogether as a result of old, worn-out and broken down belief systems about how tech lives inside your business.

Someday doesn’t exist anymore.

The homes that act now will own the next decade.

The ones who wait will watch the ground move under their feet. I just released a deeper dive on this over at The Ash Flash — including exactly what funeral homes must do today to stay visible, relevant, and chosen in an AI-driven world.

If you want to understand what’s really at stake, start here:
Read the full piece → https://lnkd.in/gSkwyw28

And if you’re already feeling that internal nudge to stop waiting… good. That’s where momentum begins.

Just start...I'm ready when you are.

#funeralservice #preneed #marketing #leadership #sales #johnnyrenaissance #funeralhomeowners #theashflash

Most funeral homes treat their website like a billboard… when it should be a building.  Not a decoration. Not a placeholder for obituaries.  Not something you “update when you have time.”  A building.

A piece of real estate you own in the digital world.

I said this in the podcast clip I’m dropping tomorrow, but it’s worth saying here too:

Your online real estate is every bit as important as your physical property.  And if you don’t treat it that way, someone else in your market will.

Search has shifted.

AI has changed how families look for answers.

And the homes that combine their story with strong copy, clear messaging, and real optimization are the ones quietly taking over.

This is exactly why my pre need partners are seeing major gains.

This is not magic.
Not tricks.
Simply finally taking digital presence seriously, and matching it with story.

I wrote a deeper piece on this over at The Ash Flash.

If you missed yesterday’s post, go catch up before you fall another step behind.

Full article → https://lnkd.in/gSkwyw28

Your community is already searching.

The question is whether they can actually find you in the right places.

#funeralservice #preneed #johnnyrenaissance #marketing #funeralhomeowners #leadership #theashflash

AI won’t replace funeral directors.  But it will replace the ones who keep marketing like it’s 2005.  If you’re still waiting for “word-of-mouth” to carry your business — you’re waiting for a train that’s not coming.

Families aren’t just asking around anymore.

They’re Googling.
They’re scrolling.
They’re watching.

And the funeral homes that show up with empathy, clarity, and confidence will win the call before it’s ever made.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

AI isn’t just about automating tasks.
It’s about amplifying trust.
It’s about turning one great message into a hundred conversations at once.  The funeral home of the future doesn’t cold-call.

It invites.
It educates.
It builds community through story, through service and through data.

That’s exactly what my Seminar-in-a-Box program is built to do.

It fuses AI-driven marketing with old-school, in-person connection..The kind that fills rooms, calendars, and pre-need pipelines.

If you’ve been waiting for a system that actually moves the needle — not just another “lead list” — this is it.

🔥 Message me or comment “SEMINAR” below, and I’ll show you how to fill your next event without lifting more than a finger.

The future’s already here.

The only question left is...

 are you ready?

“What I would give to share another brownie with David.”  That line stopped me cold this morning.

It came from a newsletter by the owner of Rutabaga Paddle Sports here in Madison.  A story about friendship, loss, and the strange courage it takes to keep living after someone you love is gone.

It reminded me of my best friend, Eric, who died suddenly during the pandemic.

Over the summer, my son Carl Ashworth  and I went to Eric’s old house to move his workbenches. massive things he’d built with his own hands. One of them now sits in my ash flash workshop. I see it every day. It reminds me that grief doesn’t end… it evolves.

We carry what they leave behind.
We keep building.
We stay curious.

Read the full reflection here: 

[The Ash Flash – What I Would Give to Share Another Brownie]

https://lnkd.in/gUyDDAKY

#grief #legacy #friendship #theashflash #johnnyrenaissance #lifeandloss

you can't go back in time, but you can build the future.  most funeral homes think they need new business and more calls.  what they actually need is a system that keeps them in front of the families who already raised their hand.

I put together a short carousel that explains the shift happening right now in pre-need — and why the homes building pipelines instead of waiting are the ones winning.

Take a look. If it speaks to you, let me know...

-John

YOu can't go back in time...

The farm teaches you that nothing lasts forever, but everything matters. Every season feeds the next.  The fields are quiet now, turned and ready for winter's deep cold and rest. 

This morning I found myself thinking about Thanksgivings past...parents, in-laws, family members who've moved on. The faces around the table have changed, but the spirit of the farm and the memory of the ground remains.

There's something profound about how this place holds time. How it holds me and my family.  Each harvest writes itself into the soil. Seeds planted by hands now gone still nourish what grows today. The cycles continue.  

Planting, growing, dying back, feeding what comes next. 

What's different about the farm is that it teaches you to see it: nothing lasts forever, but everything matters.

It's the same with the people we've loved. They're not really gone. They're in us, like nutrients in the soil. Their wisdom, their quirks, their way of doing things All of it feeds who we're becoming. Every season and experience feeds the next, both in the ground and in our hearts.

Time keeps moving forward whether we're ready or not. We can't pause it for the moments we wish would last forever. But we can be present for what's here now. We can notice the connections we still have, celebrate them a little louder, hold them a little closer while we can.

Today I'm grateful for the people still here, for the memories that nourish me, and for this land that keeps reminding me what matters most.

-johnny renaissance

#Thanksgiving #FamilyFarm #Gratitude #FarmLife #Seasons #Legacy #Family #Memories #AgricultureLife #FarmingLife #RuralLife #Heartland #Roots #Present #TimeWithFamily #Harvest #FarmingCommunity #RuralAmerica #FamilyLegacy #Perspective

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Most Funeral Homes Don’t Fail Overnight.  They Die Quietly...From Passivity.  You see it every day in America: a slow drift toward complacency.  People waiting for rescue. Waiting for change. Waiting for someone else to fix what’s broken.  

And that same disease has crept into the funeral profession.

Most funeral homes aren’t dying because of competition, or cremation, or the economy.

They’re dying because the owners went passive.
They’re waiting for calls instead of creating them.
Waiting for leads instead of generating them.
Waiting for reputation to do what only marketing and connection can.

Here’s the truth no one wants to face:

Every day you stay passive about your pre-need program, you’re losing ground you can’t see.

Families are being served by someone else. Someone who showed up first, reached out first, called first, cared first.

And when the decline finally hits, the passive owner does what passive people always do:

They find someone to blame.

The economy. The cremation rate. The politicians. The public. The agents. The funeral directors. The challenge of finding great people in general.  if you want, you can put almost anything on this list.

But the real problem isn’t out there.
It’s in the mirror.

The invisible killer of funeral home growth is passivity.

If you feel that drift in your business, this is your johnny renaissance wake-up call.

Stop waiting. Start building.
Reignite your pre-need program. Build a system. Lead your team.

No one’s coming to save your business.

But if you act now with courage, strategy, and purpose you can save it yourself.

👉 If you’re ready to take that step, let’s talk. I help funeral home owners and pre-need teams build the systems that wake up growth and keep it alive.
Connect with me or visit ExpertFuneralPlanning.net to start the conversation.
#JohnnyRenaissance #FuneralHomeGrowth #PreneedSales #Leadership #ResponsibilityRebellion #ThinkDifferent #LegacyBuilding #FuneralProfession #WakeUpAmerica

#legacyinmotion #happysaturday join me on instagram 🤓

Open article: Watch this story by John C Ashworth on Instagram before it disappears. by instagram.com

Watch this story by John C Ashworth on Instagram before it disappears.

Snow storm today in #wisconsin was a good opportunity for a Riverside (https://lnkd.in/gFudEcPP) live stream test from the home office window :). Check it out here if you're interested: https://lnkd.in/gjAegxX2

if you want to actually join and start a conversation, you can do that with this link.  Yes!  I'm here on and off today...

https://lnkd.in/gzpQY2Dd

Holiday breaks are always a great opportunity for innovation.

Always looking for the slight edge here on the ash flash and beyond...

-John 🤓

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