“Every person has within in them the ability to create a business that gives them more time, money, and freedom. The most important tip for success is to remember it’s not about you. It’s about the people you serve.”
This interview is with Lauren McManus, co-founder and full time blogger of Create and Go.
What is your company and what is its main goal?
My company that I co-founded with Alex is Create and Go. While our goal when we first started working together was simply income, we quickly realized our actual goal was freedom. As we started creating freedom for ourselves, we became passionate about teaching others how they could have the same thing. It’s honestly what lead to the development of the Create and Go website. We could have easily kept making money in the health and wellness space, but as more people started asking questions related to how we built a successful business, we became obsessed with giving people the answers so they could learn how to replicate our success.
When did you start your business and why?
We actually started our first blog in 2014, and boy did it fail miserably. We began the business with dollar signs in our eyes. We thought we could get internet famous simply by posting silly photos, while drinking and making recipes. The goal was to get out of our nine to five jobs, but we completely went about it the wrong way. We made it about us. When we shifted our focus to our audience, everything changed and we started making money.
What makes you different from your competition?
I think one of the biggest things that makes us different from our competition, is that we don’t see them as competition. We see what some would refer to as our “competitors” as potential partners, collaborators, and even friends. While our mission is to become the go-to place for all things learning how to start a successful, money-making blog, we believe in working together more than tearing each other down. However, I will say that in terms of other website owners, I think one thing that separates Alex and I from the herd is our passion for our community. We want everyone to live the life they dream of on their terms, and we work tirelessly to help make that a reality for the people we work with.
What marketing channels do you use for your growth?
Pinterest continues to be a massive channel for us. We use it to drive traffic to both of our websites, and it’s actually how we had some of our major success during our first “official” year in blogging. We were getting so good at designing pins on Pinterest that we got lucky enough to have one of them go viral resulting in our first 5 figure month of income. Then, we figured out how it happened, developed a Pinterest recipe, and have had other pins go viral and yield income since. Other than Pinterest, we do drive traffic with Facebook Ads as well, but Pinterest holds a special place in our hearts!
What are you expected to grow in terms of revenue in the next 12 months?
We have no doubts that we will easily clear 7 figures in revenue in the next 12 months. However, we do have some goals that we’re working on to make earning that money easier. Those include improving our rankings on Google, Pinterest and YouTube, as well as building an amazing team. We want to enjoy the spoils of our hard work, so we’re looking at how to scale and make our business less dependent on us. It goes back to that passion for freedom, I guess.
