Case Study: How Blogging Led to Cara’s Dreams Coming True

(ALL IMAGES IN THIS POST WERE PROVIDED BY CARA)

I’d like you to meet Cara Vincens.

She’s a positive person that is lovely to be around, a business owner and mom of six!

Cara is an excellent example of how you can absolutely be both a great mom and run a mini empire of your own. (You know how I say that if others can do it, so can you? Well…I won’t embarrass you by going any further but come on ladies!)

Cara helps women stay organized with their pretty planners. In her adorable world, a planner can be both attractive as well as a workhorse to keep you organized. She teaches planner-related classes and is working with companies like Studio Calico and Big Picture.

I literally squealed when I read (in an email from Cara) that she had teamed up with Studio Calico. I get multiple kits from them every month, so Cara automatically became one of my girl crushes.

For those of you who aren’t in the scrapbooking/planner/stamping world, Studio Calico is a big darn deal.

The reason I’m introducing you to Cara is because I want to share her case study with you (and she’s doing some awesome things that are really inspiring).

She’s been a member of Sunday Society, my membership program for creative entrepreneurs, since February and has already seen changes in her business.

I constantly get emails from women asking if Sunday Society is the right fit for them, their situations and their businesses. Some of those emails are from moms who wonder if they can make the most of the membership.

I’m not a mom (unless you count my fur babies), but we’ve got a lot of moms in our group and Cara is one them who is killing it.

When Cara first joined Sunday Society, she knew from previous courses with me, like my CreativeLive course on blogging, that she would learn a lot (*blush*).

Direct quote from Cara:

“April has always packed her lessons with so much information and I figured that Sunday Society would be the same (and I was right!). Sometimes when I’m given too much information in a course, it can get really overwhelming. April is different, she has a way of presenting a lot of information in such a way that you know it’s doable. I really wanted to get some of her genius to help grow my business.

I was also drawn to the accountability aspect. I felt an accountability partner would give me the external motivation that I need and craved. I LOVE that on Mondays we list what we’d like to accomplish for the week and check back in on Fridays.”

When Cara joined Sunday Society, she was feeling stuck in the muck of running her business.

She felt like she wasn’t making the money that she should be with all the work that she had been putting in. She also felt that her business had become stagnant and even though she had been working hard, it wasn’t reflected in the growth of her business.

She wanted to join Sunday Society to breathe new life into her business.

When Cara joined the group she had a mental shift through the live calls.

She realized that she was in charge of her business and could build a business that she adores. She didn’t need to keep doing the icky stuff.

That’s where teaming up with other brands came into play. She could put together a course (the creative part which she loves) without having to do any of the technical stuff (a.k.a., the icky stuff) and then a company like Studio Calico or Big Picture could do the rest.

When Cara and I recently chatted about her experience in Sunday Society, I was so happy for her when she told me that she had this realization.

A lot of us get caught up in the day to day running of our businesses and don’t remind ourselves that we’re making all the decisions.

Every business and project comes with the not-so-fun stuff, but some of it is absolutely avoidable. For instance, if you hate editing videos but you enjoy making videos, switch to live video. That way, you get to do the parts you enjoy and avoid the crud that gives you a headache.

Okay…back to Cara.

When I asked Cara about the most important things she’s learned since becoming a member of Sunday Society, this is what she had to say:

“I’ve learned that having blog posts ready in advance helps me stay consistent in posting fabulous content. It helps more than I thought it possibly could! When I first joined Sunday Society, I went back and tackled some of the older monthly challenges that I knew would help me. I tackled the October challenge and brainstormed a whole year’s worth of blog post topics. It’s been a HUGE help in staying consistent and also making sure that I am putting out great content for my readers every week.”

Cara took my Build a Successful Creative Blog course via CreativeLive and it changed blogging for her. Then, she joined Sunday Society and used one of the past monthly challenges to brainstorm a year’s worth of blog content (you can still access all past monthly challenges when you join).

Let’s talk about the main changes she’s made with her blog.

Instead of spending the entire day on Thursdays working on her blog posts, she spreads out the work throughout the week. And, according to Cara, this makes blogging seem like it takes no time and gives her the opportunity to spend time on other things such as creating video tutorials to post on YouTube.

Each week, she’s able to write a blog post draft or two when waiting for one of her kids to get done with a weekly appointment. Then, she gets the rest done throughout the week.

It’s turned blogging from an obligation to something easier and fun.

Cara is putting out consistent, awesome content that she’s proud of (YAY! Go Cara!).

I know some of you wonder if blogging weekly is actually worth the hard work. Cara is another example of why it’s so verrrrrrry important to create valuable content regularly.

A planner manufacturer found Cara via her blog content which is leading to one of her business dreams coming true (more about that soon). She’s become known as an expert in her niche and all that free content shows that Cara is really good at what she does. Brands like Studio Calico have called her an industry expert!

How cool is that?

You become an expert in your niche through putting out free content and showing people you know your stuff.

I asked Cara what she’s currently working to achieve and she said:

“I would love to continue to establish my expertise in the planner world. Teaching for well known, reputable sites has gotten me on my way and I would like to continue. Teaching in person and travelling Europe has always been the dream since I started my business and I may get my first crack at it later this year. A little increase in income would also be quite welcome!”

And, to wrap up, I want to share what Cara said when I asked her if she thought Sunday Society would help her to reach the above goals:

“Of course! There’s so much content and even though I’ve been working really hard to go through it, I feel like I’ve only put a dent in all the things I can learn inside Sunday Society. Like I said before though, it’s not overwhelming in the least. Now, if I’ve only put a dent in the content in Sunday Society and my business has grown this much already, think of the possibilities as I keep going through all the existing content and diving into the new content each month.

Ok, but now is the real juicy bit! I’ve been checking off goals left and right. During a live call a couple of weeks ago, April had us shut our eyes and really visualise what we wanted, how it would feel etc.

One of my recent goals was to work with a planner company. I was focusing on planners that I knew already existed, especially one that had a design team call out at the time. Four days later, a new planner company approached me to be their first brand ambassador and I’m going to be designing for them and even helping them at the European Planner Conference this fall.

Since traveling Europe and teaching has been a goal of mine since the beginning, this will literally be a dream come true! Betcha can’t guess where they found me. My blog of course. The lady who contacted me said that my posts (and my classes) are really impressive. It looks like I’m truly on my way. Thanks April.”

THANK YOU, Cara for sharing your experience in Sunday Society and your business with us.

Congrats, Cara on all of your successes! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.

Want to connect with Cara (I highly recommend it!)? Check out her blog here and follow her on Instagram here.