February 18, 2019

Our Bold Plans for 2019

Putting our bold plans in motion.

Our Bold Plans for 2019

We’re well into the new year and feeling good! After a slower start in January, we hit our stride a couple weeks in, and a lot has been happening both in front of and behind the scenes here at CarrieColbert.com

With our word for February being bold, we decided to share with you, our dear readers, some of our bold plans for the year. We fully believe in the power of manifesting what you think and put out into the universe, so that’s what we’re going to do!

First, you might remember last week we did a little Instagram poll to find out more about what all of you are interested in hearing about from us, and we were floored with the amount of responses. We are so thrilled that you shared your feedback with us.

We thought you might be interested in the responses we received. Below are some of the responses we received and then we’ll share our bold plans!

Question 1: Are you an influencer / blogger / content creator?

Almost 80 percent of you said that you are not an influencer / blogger / content creator.

Question 2: Are you an entrepreneur / business woman?

This one was split right down the middle. 50/50!

Question 3: What podcasts do you listen to?

I’ll just list out some of these responses, in case you might find something new to listen to!

“Crime junkie”

“The Minimalist”

“Creepy Kingdom”

“Jenna Kutcher”

“The Dream”

“How I Built This”

“Pivot by Jenny Blake and Coaching for Leaders”

“Joe Rogan”

“Super Soul Sunday”

“Rachel Hollis”

“Entrepreneur on Fire”

“Mainly podcasts that tell stories”

“Typology; Suzanne Stabile; Dear Prudence”

“The Morning Toast, Bad on Paper, and love crime pods!”

“Second Life, Getting Curious, This American Life, Freakanomics”

“Happy Hour, Struggle Well, Glorious in Mundane, How it Works”

“Comp + Coffee”

“Naturally Nourished with Ali Miller and the one that just featured you! (Hashtag No Filter)”

“My Favorite Murder”

“Selfie”

“Goal Digger, The Weeds, Pod Save America, My Favorite Murder”

“Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, Unladylike, No Man’s Land”

“Anything true crime and How I Built This”

“Super Soul Sunday, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ted Talks”

“Serial, Armchair Experts”

“Book review podcasts and Still Processing”

“99% Invisible, The Life Coach School, Joe Rogan Experience”

“The Popcast, Trailercast, Marriage is Funny, Goal Digger”

“Armchair Expert”

“Young House Love”

“The Daily”

“Hashtag No Filter”

“Casefile”

Question 4: How often do you visit CarrieColbert.com?

Responses included daily, a few times a week, and weekly.

Thank you so much for your continual support! Your frequently visiting helps us to be able to do what we do here!

Question 5: Why do you visit CarrieColbert.com?

This one was really fun to read!

“Your use of color makes the world more happy and inspires me!”

“Cool local personality”

“Love of color”

“Color!!”

“I love all your colorful pictures. It brightens my day to see something so filled with art.”

“You’re genuine! And I love all the color.”

“Like your outfits and how you designed your baby’s nursery”

“I love the colors.”

“From your scrapbooking days to now, you’ve always had a fresh perspective I admire.”

“I like your style. I also appreciate that your brand is more than just a face.”

“Bright colors brighten my day and Elle is just so cute!”

“I love your style..ever since scrapbooking days.”

“Because I love your take on life and your heart.”

“Fashion and decor ideas and Elle”

“Because it sparks joy.”

“For all the stylish color inspiration”

“I relate on the single mom level”

“I love your aesthetic and that you’re a mom.”

“Because you mix fashion and lifestyle with so much color!”

“Color and trend inspiration, ideas for my blog and business, places to go in Houston”

“Inspiration so I can be colorful, too!”

“Because your site brightens my day.”

“Love the color, your personality, and business sense.”

“I love your style – I love all the bright color, beautiful things, and positivity.”

“I enjoy your style of writing and thought.”

“The color and positivity (and Elle!)”

“Houston local with great color”

Question 6: What other blogs / websites do you visit? Or do you not visit blogs?

Again, I’ll just list and link to some of the responses, in hopes you might find a few great new reads… 

“Just look at Instagram mostly”

Later blog for Instagram tips”

Ali Edwards’ blog

“Food blogs”

“Mostly fashion blogs that show good sales’

Damsel in Dior, Carrie Bradshaw Lied

Atlantic Pacific, Lemon Stripes, Kelly in the City, Memorandum, Style Charade

Studio DIY, The Miller Affect, The Stripe, Style Charade, Veronika’s Blushing, Atlantic Pacific”

Motherly

“Not anymore – all IG now”

“I hardly read blogs anymore – not enough time! If I do, they are book related.”

“Ali Edwards, Mackenzie Horan, The Everygirl, Oh Joy

“The Stripe, Being Bridget

“Food blogs”

“I rarely read blogs anymore”

The Style Scribe, The Stripe, Lemon Stripes”

Camille Styles, Damsel in Dior, The Stripe”

Question 7: Would you be interested in a #morecolorplease line of products?

Now, with this one, you really got our minds going with possibilities!

“Decorating items – can be swapped seasonally”

“Keychains and iPhone cases”

“Totes and accessories”‘

“Artwork / prints”

“Planner, paper goods, lifestyle things”

“Household items and clothing and accessories”

“Tees!”

“Clothes, accessories, home decor”

“Seasonal / party decor and more wall coffee table books from other cities”

“Candy”

“Office supplies – pens, notebooks, etc. And colorful scarves.”

“High quality linens for table, accent pillows, jewelry always”

“Bags, sunglasses”

“Cool paper / stationery products”

“Accessories, clothes, home decor”

“Color shirts”

“T-shirts, sweatshirts”

Our Bold Business Plans for 2019

We definitely believe that words have power in shaping our mindsets and our realities. In many ways, you get what you put out into the world.

So, with that being said, we wanted to share with you a small glimpse at what we wish to manifest here in 2019. Now, with that comes some risk… What if I fail? What if others think my plans are outlandish? What if we fall short? What if we don’t make it all happen? What if people think our endeavors are silly or foolish?

Well, I’m reminded then of the Teddy Roosevelt quote that Brené Brown popularized with her book Daring Greatly –

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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

Having said all that, here are some of our ambitious plans for the year:

We want to continue to create colorful content, but we also want to move beyond content creation here.

We want to do more public speaking.

We want to do more teaching.

We want to do mentoring and coaching.

We want to offer products to help you to live more colorfully.

We want to become your one-stop resource for empowered, colorful living.

Basically, we want to further our mission of empowering women to live, think, and dress with more colors in more ways.

A Note on Clouds and Dirt

When we talk of living boldly, we usually think of positive, “rah-rah” cheerleading, onward and upwards sort of talk. Much like what I just presented to you.

But there’s a flip side to living boldly that’s just as important. It’s a dose of realism.

One of my biggest business inspirations Gary Vaynerchuk terms this concept “clouds and dirt“. In his terms, in order to manifest our dreams, we need both the clouds and dirt. The clouds are the high-end philosophy of what you believe, and the dirt is the low-down subject matter expertise that allows you to execute against it. Forget about everything else, he says.

In other words, it’s great to have your head in the clouds and dream big. But we also need our feet firmly planted on the ground in reality.

To that end, we have a big “dirt” related goal this year: to make this venture a profitable business capable of supporting my family.

We’ve seen incredible growth recently in terms of page views, deals we are getting, leads we are pursuing, etc. But truth be told, I simply must focus on profitability. Bluntly put, this business has to support my daughter and me.

How does one make a business more profitable? (1) Raise revenue, and (2) cut expenses. So, we will be taking a look at both sides of the equation.

In reality, the dirt stuff is not as sexy or exciting as the clouds stuff. But it is equally important.

In Closing

If you’ve made it this far, well thanks for reading my rambling thoughts.

And if you like the “clouds and dirt” concept, check out these cloud and dirt sneakers Gary did with K-Swiss.

2 comments

  1. Lilian Vega says:

    I wish you all the best with all these plans for 2019, for sure you are going to make it, with lots of challenges but just as Brene Brown also mentioned “The middle is messy but it’s also where the magic happens” . You are already a great example for your daughter. Can’t wait to read more of Carrie Colbert 🌈 🤗

    1. So very kind of you, Lilian! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. And I love that quote!

      Wishing you all the best as well!

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