This is the 19th in a series of small success stories called “10 Questions with” that features a creative entrepreneur or small business owner who has an incredible story and advice to share. It’s the perfect series to follow for budding entrepreneurs and creative people who want to know more about other people’s creative processes. Check back here every Wednesday to see who the next small business profile will be. The interview is below the images.
The first thing that jumps out at you when you visit Savvy Every Day is that there is SO much information. And it’s all incredibly well organized. It’s not overwhelming; you actually want to stick around and read posts from every topic, which, if you read a lot of blogs like I do, then you know says a lot. This is not surprising, considering Savvy Every Day’s founder Shari cut her teeth at Circle of Moms/ POPSUGAR. She not only has a lot of experience blogging, but her blog is beautiful, as is her photography. You’re immediately drawn in by all of it.
I love featuring bloggers in the “10 Questions” series because I really feel like it’s possible to turn blogs into real businesses, and the women I talk to are doing it. They’re supporting their families doing something they love, and I think it’s empowering to other people who are interested in pursuing blogging as an actual career path. And make sure you read about what inspired her to start her blog. I love hearing how people got their starts!
Small Business Success Stories: Shari Wargo Stamps, Founder of Savvy Every Day
Glad to chat with you! First, tell us where we can find you online.
I’m Shari Wargo Stamps and my blog is Savvy Every Day. Find it online at http://www.savvyeveryday.com/.
What inspired you to start your own blog?
When I was working at the Center for Investigation and Improvement of Journalism in college I started thinking about creating my own website for women that includes resources for teen moms so that they don’t feel backed into a corner and like they can’t do it. But I didn’t know how. I had no idea blogs existed past what my ex’s little brother would do on Live Journal to connect with high school friends.
After several job changes I ended up at Circle of Moms/POPSUGAR Moms just as they were merging and right when they were growing a ton thanks to their blogger programs. I learned enough about the importance of blogging (it started as a blog!) to decide to start my own once I left them. My kiddo was about 2 years old by then and my career had been focused on childhood education and parenting writing for the last 5 years so I went with a family lifestyle site in hopes of adding the Teen Clinic sort of section (on my To-Do list!). It’s evolved into a lifestyle site for both parents.
What inspires your work and what sets you apart from everyone else?
Parents are busy. Though I love niche sites I wanted to create a one-stop-read for both parents. Savvy Every Day covers everything from cars to travel with the family in mind. Unlike a lot of family sites I focus on the parent experience rather than it being about the kids. I also avoid complaining about kids in a way that comes off as “I hate my daughter” or “I hate being a mom.” Motherhood is tiring, it’s tough, but I love it! I’m at times snarky and definitely don’t shy away from discussing the trials of parenting on the site, but I feel like there are too many mommy sites that get their edge by coming off as anti-kids/parent.
Men and women are also so different that having separate websites for their parenting seems like further division in co-parenting and the home. I’m hoping that as I add more dad contributors to the site this will help get new parents on the same page.
Another thing that I find different about Savvy Every Day is that there’s a theme of gentle/attachment parenting and extended everything. I try to make the site accessible to any parent no matter their style, but it’s a pretty obvious theme. I avoid politics on the site when I can but definitely touch on social issues and highlight businesses and nonprofits that parents may be happy to support.
What is your background and how did you develop the skills to start your business?
What has helped me learn what I need to know for my blog? Haha a lot. I’ve been in journalism and writing since yearbook class in 6th grade (and high school). I started writing hard core emo poetry in 7th grade, which carried me to the decision to get an AA in Journalism and BA in Creative Writing from SF State (closest CW program that I loved at the time and best alternative to being a film critic). After graduating from community college I was offered a last-minute Summer teaching job and paid faculty wage! I took it thinking it would be a one-time thing but it ended up lasting 8 years (of Summers). While at SF State I worked for CIIJ and learned a lot about journalism that isn’t taught then snagged a job at my local newspaper.
Meanwhile, I had also been working with newborns and moms-to-be/new moms at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital after getting a CNA license in high school and then started working with elderly nuns while finishing college. My background in education and journalism landed me at job at Edutopia (The George Lucas Educational Foundation) where I learned a ton about the state of classrooms and types of learning techniques being used in schools worldwide. This is also where I learned basic HTML and had the opportunity to work in video, art coordination, online, email and so much more. I guess my medical background paired with what I learned about education from Edutopia and writing classes all helped me develop skills. But having my daughter is what really pushed me to do something about it all and create something for myself. Working at POPSUGAR was also a huge help. Prior to starting there I still thought content was king. I was living in the magazine and newspaper world where I didn’t focus on numbers instead of context. I learned a lot about the new world of digital and branding.
What has been your biggest success to date?
The biggest success in my life is by far having my daughter. As a business, it has been hosting three mom’s night out events for Bay Area moms that were freaking fantastic. The turnouts were horrible but the events were low-cost, had alternatives for child care, were mom-focused instead of kid-focused and blew away everyone who attended.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Exposure. Well I have a few big challenges in my business, but exposure of my site has been super difficult, which in turn made the turnout at my events a sad state of affairs after months and months of hard work. My other challenge has been finding quality contributors. I find a lot of people who want to do their own blog thing and it kills me because they’re struggling and I know that if they became the expert for a section on my site it would be gold. I’d love to bring on a contributor who specializes in each section of my site and so many more dads and parents from other countries/around the world. I don’t want my site to be a personal blog, it was never set up to be that way. It should amplify the voices of all types of parents everywhere so that it finds it’s way to a parent who really needed to read those words.
Describe your typical work day.
My typical work day starts with me turning off my alarm a few times until I’m in “We’re late!” mode. I scurry around repeating the morning mantra of “We’re going to be late!” while getting the kiddo (who just wants to lay in bed and watch shows on my phone) dressed then hopping in the shower so I can wake up and get dressed myself. After dropping the kiddo off at school (this takes anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 depending on how clingy she is) I drive down the street to Starbucks and plop down to get into work mode with my no water, no foam with whip Chai (I used to add caramel sauce on the bottom and top too but I’m cutting calories. Try it though).
I usually have a plan for my day, like write tomorrow’s post, but start by going through emails because I don’t like an Inbox full of unopened emails. The email train takes me to a bunch of sites and links which leads me to checking in on my blogger groups to see if there are social media or opps or something I need to know or talk about with them.
About an hour and a half into my 3-hour Starbucks work period I realize it’s time to get some writing done. At 11:55 I drive over to get S from school and we drive home where I continue working for another hour or two before taking a break until about 8 p.m. If I’m on a roll I’ll be updating old content and SEO (I just did a logo and site re-design so there’s no end to the work to be done) until about 2 a.m.
Which small businesses are you inspired by?
I’m inspired by my friend Reichel Broussard at Copy Cat Chic because she is a mom and manages to balance things fairly well to the point that she’s able to turn social off at night and on weekends to spend time with family. She’s incredibly business savvy and smart. I am also inspired by a lot of random businesses that I find by happy accident and then go and try to implement something I saw there on my site. There are SO many beautiful websites out there. A lot of small mom or dad owned businesses find a way to be socially responsible and give back as well, and that is something that I will always look up to.
If you could go back to the beginning knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?
I would have started a website for my college writing project instead of publishing a book of emo poetry, that was about 2006/2007 when a lot of the now bigger bloggers started. Other than that I would have never started on Tumblr and moved my site over. I would start self-hosted on WordPress with a handful of parents to write on the site with me. I also would spend a few months branding rather than just coming up with a name and thinking the brand would follow.
What’s your best advice for someone who wants to start her own creative business?
Create a plan. Come up with a sound strategy for social, branding. Really find what this idea is and then get creative on how you’re going to market it before it even starts. Start by guest posting and freelance writing to get your name out there. Think about whether a solo gig is really best, or if maybe you should join forces with someone else. There are a LOT of blogs out there so don’t start one up on unless you have something new to add. if you don’t, consider becoming a part of someone else’s blog — You just might be a part of something amazing.
Tell us YOUR small business success story! For a chance to be featured in one of our small business posts, email info {at} cuteheads [dot] com & tell us about your business.
Been loving the series. It’s always great to hear from entrepreneurs and overall amazing people doing what they love to do. Keep them up!