Mikaela Walker is the Managing Editor of Orlando Parents Family Fun Magazine, where she writes about fun activities for local parents to do with their kids. Her goal is to help families create lifelong memories together. Mikaela is a mom of two, and she enjoys exploring Orlando and the world with her family. She has also recently discovered a love of cooking, the outdoors, and bike riding.

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

I am a graduate of Princeton University and I have an MBA from Oxford University. My background is in marketing and market research and for the last 15 years, I have worked as a Pharmaceutical Consultant at a small consulting agency assisting clients with market research, strategy, marketing, and business planning. I started my business, Orlando Parents Family Fun Magazine, 4 years ago, but didn’t really start investing time in building it until this year.

What inspired you to start your business? 

My daughter was actually the inspiration for my business. When I first had my daughter, we were in a new city where my husband was attending law school. I was constantly looking for things that we could do together, and it was hard to find fun activities. Planning activities sometimes felt like a second job. When we returned to New York, after my husband was finished with school, I happened upon a site that provided information about fun activities to do with kids and reviews of things to do. It was all right there. I no longer had to do the research. 

After I had my son, I wanted to stop traveling as much and wanted something that would allow me to be at home more. When we decided to move to Florida, I decided to start a business similar to the one that I utilized when I was in New York. I wanted to make it easy for parents to get out and do things with their kids; they already have a job during the week. Planning family activities should not feel like work.

Where is your business based?

My business is based in Orlando, Florida 

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I first did research online to see if there were similar businesses to the one that I wanted to start. I also looked at if there was room for an additional player in the market. I then researched possible website names and purchased my domain. I wrote a few articles and then went live with my site.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business? 

Social media has been the most effective way of raising awareness of my business. I joined a lot of mom groups on Facebook since I moved to Orlando and I share posts that will be useful to other moms. I also respond to questions that people ask about things to do in the area. I have also run giveaways featuring local companies, and most recently I started running ads on Facebook and Google which is building business awareness as well as driving a lot of traffic to my website.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

My biggest challenge came earlier this year when people were staying home due to COVID-19, which is understandable. Traffic to my website dropped tremendously as my website was mainly focused on leaving the house to do activities with kids.  

I quickly pivoted and started adding more at-home activities that families could do together, such as escape rooms, backyard activities, board games, etc. I also started including homeschooling activities and virtual activities that kids could do since most schools were closed and parents needed to keep their kids occupied. I ran my own series of free classes and shows with local artists and performers that kids could attend. 

Most recently, I have been working on featuring activities that families can do outside of the house while still being socially distanced, such as hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, etc.  

Local parents have been very receptive to both the at-home activities and the socially distanced activities, so I will probably continue to do them.

How do you stay focused?

I try to stay off of social media, which seems counterintuitive as that’s where I do a lot of my marketing. I used to go on Facebook a lot and end up down a rabbit hole, which I wouldn’t emerge from for hours; I would constantly lose hours, which was not productive.

I also work on one thing at a time. As an entrepreneur, there is always a myriad of things that I need to work on, but I have to focus on one at a time to get things done. Everything is organized in a list and I attack them one-by-one based on what is most important. 

Since I work from a home office, I also make sure not to work on household/personal stuff during the day. While it is easy to say let me throw in the laundry or make dinner during the day, this hinders productivity; I have to make sure that I am as focused and dedicated as if I worked outside of the house.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition? 

I work on providing more content than my competitors. I provide not only lists of places that people can go to, but I also provide reviews of places that I have been to. This lets people get insight into what a place is really like before deciding to spend their money there. I am trying to be a one-stop-shop for local parents where they can get all their family activity information.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? 

Advertising on Facebook and Google has been my most effective marketing strategy to date. Not only are they driving traffic to my site, but they are helping to grow business awareness. Parents who did not know about my site before, learn about it and will hopefully come back in the future or sign up for my newsletter.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs? 

It does not matter where you are in life or what age you are, you can always make a change. Do not be afraid to try new things and do not be afraid to fail. Failure is just learning. If the first thing you tried does not work, then try something else. 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

I do not use a lot of apps, outside of social media apps, for my business. I would have to say the one app that I cannot live without is my Google Calendar app. I like to say that “I live and die by my calendar”. I currently have 6 calendars to help me keep everything organized. I have my personal calendar, one for each of my kids, a consulting calendar, a business calendar, and a travel and entertainment calendar.

My favorite business blog is Gary Vaynerchuk’s blog. Gary Vaynerchuk provides a lot of advice for entrepreneurs based on what he did when building his business. He also keeps it real; I feel that a lot of business people try to make themselves look better or make it look easier than it really was to build their company. They also try to soft-pedal things so that people don’t get scared. Being an entrepreneur is a lot of work and you have to be willing to get down in the trenches and get your hands dirty and he explains that always honestly and sometimes quite brutally.

My favorite book is The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. I think many of us get into a rut of doing the same thing and not trying anything new. Being an entrepreneur is having a willingness to try new things and get out of your comfort zone. We need to be willing to fail in order to succeed.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

My favorite business tool is Trello. It allows me to keep everything organized and in one place. I have different Trello boards for my business, my consulting work, which I still do part-time, and my personal life. It allows me to jot down things quickly when I have an idea for a future article or if I don’t want to forget something I need to do for the kids. I am also able to take Trello on the go with me on my phone if I need to look something up quickly.

Who is your business role model? Why? 

Tyler Perry is my business role model. I remember when he first started out writing plays and performing them around the US, then moving on to producing movies and then building his own movie studio. He started from nothing and built himself up to owning the largest movie studio in the US. He has always emphasized owning something, not just working for someone else and building their business, but owning your own and having something to pass on to your kids. Tyler Perry did not just wait for someone to give him a seat at the table, he created his own table.

How do you balance work and life? 

This is an area where I struggle. Part of the reason why I wanted to work for myself is to be home more, but even now that I am home more I work more because it is my business and I work from home. I am working on having a hard stop time at 4 or 5pm where I can spend time with the kids for a few hours and then go back to work when the youngest goes to bed around 8:30. I also don’t work on Saturdays. Saturday is family day.

What’s your favorite way to decompress? 

My favorite way to decompress is to go for a walk. I am usually in my home office all day sitting at my desk and working on my computer. Evenings and weekends are usually busy with the kids, so there isn’t a lot of down-time. In my neighborhood, there are a lot of trails and lakes, so it is great just to go for a walk by myself and relax.

What do you have planned for the next six months? 

For the next six months, I want to continue work on driving greater awareness of my business in the community. I am looking to partner with some local businesses on promotions that will benefit us both. I will also be working on putting together my first event.

How can our readers connect with you?

Readers can connect with me by email at mikaela@orlandoparentsmag.com or on my website at orlandoparentsmag.com.