Meet Kara Blakey | Content and Copywriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kara Blakey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kara, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Never in my life did I think I would be a business owner. I’ve just never really been motivated like that. It seemed super intimidating, overwhelming, and like way more responsibility than I ever wanted to take on. I think COVID really put things into perspective for me. I watched a lot of my close friends with remote jobs take trips – working from cool places like Costa Rica and various mountain towns and just maintaining a work-life balance that seemed much more sustainable than my current situation. My boyfriend and I had just bought a school bus to renovate into our traveling vacation home yet the thought of actually being able to utilize it seemed so far away given my current work situation.

Something had to give.

As many teachers do, I had a wide variety of side hustles helping me stay afloat – many of them centered around creating educational content. Another teacher friend of mine who had left the profession a year before me had gotten into copywriting and loved it. She was her own boss, she chose who she worked with, made her own hours, and was working significantly less than I was and making a lot more money. This felt like the dream – an attainable dream.

I loved teaching – for the most part. I love literature and I really lucked out with the students I had, and I worked with some AMAZING and inspiring people most of whom I still am very close with. But I am young, and the world is big, and I was tired and grouchy all of the time. I needed and wanted more out of life and there are really not many ways to move up in the world of education – especially not financially.

So, my thought process was, either I stay in this career that has not really brought me joy for many years, or I take charge of my life and make it what I want. I wanted to be able to actually focus on the future. I wanted to be able to hop on our bus and just go whenever we wanted. I didn’t want to work for someone else again. I didn’t want to have to put in time off requests or go to meetings – I wanted to be in charge – so, I figured, I’ve already acquired these contracted side hustles, why don’t I just turn myself into a business? And thus, Kara Blakey Content and Copy was born.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was a 6th-grade Language Arts teacher for 11 years. And honestly, I thought I would be in education my entire life. I worked at Kinard Middle School in Fort Collins for 7 years under the most wonderful leadership with the best teachers in the world – and I’ll stand by that forever.

In 2019, some life changes kind of rocked my world, and in order to be able to fully heal, I felt I needed to relocate and that meant leaving my job – which may have been one of the most difficult decisions I ever made. I moved to Denver and taught for DPS which could not have been more different from Poudre School district. While I did like the last school where I taught, I slowly lost my love for teaching amidst the politics, inequity, and high demands placed on myself and my colleagues. I wanted to leave for many years, but just didn’t know what I would do. I felt stuck, unqualified and just truly too exhausted to put the energy into finding out what else I could do.

And to be honest, had my boyfriend not gotten a job in Aspen, it’s likely I would still be teaching for DPS today. I credit him and his courage to take a risk by also changing careers and locations for my success in doing the same. He is just such a positive, adventurous person who motivates me and supports my every decision. If it weren’t for his unwavering encouragement, I’m not sure I would have overcome a lot of the challenges that followed with such grace.

His new job opportunity meant another relocation, and I had a choice – apply to teach in the Roaring Fork Valley or get off the proverbial pot I had been sitting on for the past 4 years. I chose the latter.

But, no, it wasn’t easy at all. When you have the exact same job for 11 years with very little professional development that can be applied to other careers, it is easy to feel like you are incapable of anything else. I started to slowly put the wheels in motion around the start of 2022. My incredible friend, Lexi Yeager, had been trying to get me to jump on the copywriting bandwagon for the past year after she herself left education and found a lot of success in the profession. She was kind enough to hand over a few amazing clients to me, and I essentially started to build my copywriting career in the air taking online courses and learning as I went. I owe a lot to those first clients who placed their faith in me when I , low-key, had no idea what I was doing.

I went back and forth a lot – and to be honest, I still do – about whether I am a) cut out to be self-employed or b) should just stick with what I know I am good at even if it did not fill my cup. I started to write for mental health practitioners who were providing Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in the Northern Colorado area and just started to learn so much. After the better part of a decade learning primarily about literature and education, my brain was exploding with new information and, I wanted to learn more. Since then, I have taken on clients in the alternative health and wellness industry, e-learning, and food and beverage and while there are benefits from sticking with one niche, I felt a little pigeonholed by the idea of sticking to one topic.

As a new resident of the Roaring Fork Valley, I really tried to immerse myself in the community right away. I love getting to know new cities from the food and bars, to the art, to the community members who are making a difference and keeping the city strong. There is a lot of local loyalty around here as well as a lot of change over the past few decades and the dedication to supporting local business is palpable. So I figured, what better way to get to know my new home than to write about it.

This was a decision I made super recently and now I finally feel like I have a trajectory.

There is a fantastic F Scoot Fitzgerald quote that I think about often and I would like to echo the message in this quote to anyone who is unhappy with where they are in their life. I’ve started over a few times in my life, and each time I have become a better person. I truly feel I am the absolute best version of myself at this point in my life and it’s because I have gotten rid of the people and things that didn’t add value to my life and sought out things that did. Here is the quote:

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.” – F Scott Fitzgerald

What I want people to know about my business is that I am so freaking excited to keep learning. I’m excited to learn copywriting techniques, I’m excited to learn how to run a business, I’m excited for my free time and the adventures that await and when we work together, I will be excited to help you grow your business. I may be new at this, but I strongly believe that teachers are some of the hardest working, intelligent, and dedicated people who spend their careers helping children find their talents, value, and voice and I intend to help the business and people I work with do the same. Bring. It. On.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh my gosh, I LOVE this question. OK, here is what a week in the Roaring Fork Valley during the early summer months would look like with yours truly. I made it a Google Doc so you could have some links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rCNynt3yp08dRGR2tBd5XJn1M-SI_XzGuwtWAMryRNQ/edit?usp=sharing

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My dear and wonderful friend, teaching partner, and mentor, Lexi Yeager. In 2018, Lexi was hired to be my long-term substitute teacher as I finished my master’s degree in school counseling. We connected immediately and throughout the years have helped each other in a multitude of ways. Lexi’s courage, determination, grit, and badassery inspired me to take a chance on changing my career. Watching her go from starting her copywriting courses to becoming a wildly successful copywriter in less than a year made me feel so proud of my friend. She hipped me to a wonderful copywriting course, shared and continues to share all of her resources and wisdom with me, and continues to support and encourage me when I get stuck in my head and lose confidence in my journey. She is a legend, and I love her.

Website: kblakeycc.com