Stacy Caprio inspires women and men to start their own entrepreneurial side hustles and businesses with her posts and interviews on her site Her.CEO. Stacy invests in websites and teaches others how to do profitable website investing. Her online marketing background is what inspired her to get into the online side hustle and website investing space when she first started her own company.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I graduated from Boston College with a Psychology B.A. degree in 2014 and got my first marketing job at an e-commerce agency when I graduated. I learned how to do Google Ads fast and well for e-commerce stores, averaging over a 600% return on ad spend across all accounts I managed. From there I went on to another company where I worked on not only Google Ads but also Pinterest and Facebook ads, growing my skillset and knowledge base. Then I started to learn more and really dive into SEO and analytics at the next company I worked at. By the time I started my own company I had deep online marketing background and knowledge which helped me a lot.

What inspired you to start your business?

I felt burnt-out and anxious working my corporate 9 to 5 job. I had always felt a calling in my heart to start my own business. I always had an entrepreneurial spirit and had started my first business teaching swimming lessons in my backyard during college summers.

After working marketing 9 to 5’s for 3 years I finally took the leap, quit my job, and decided to go all-in on creating my own full-time business.

Where is your business based?

Chicago, IL

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

First, I cut my cost of living expenses to almost nothing by moving in with my 93-year-old grandma, who is the most loving and generous person in the world.

Then I spent my days working on a few projects seeing which would generate revenue. The first one to work was designing and selling T-Shirts on Amazon Merch, and I was designing T-Shirts for 8 or more hours a day and posting designs on Amazon.

At the same time, I was working on website investing, and growing the websites I already owned.

I was also keeping an eye out for other sites I wanted to purchase. I finally purchased my biggest site around this time and that is when things started to work out really well financially for me, so I shifted to focus on investing in websites and growing them.

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

Going on podcasts has been the most effective way to raise awareness so far. One podcast I went on over a year ago I still get regular messages from the podcast listeners wanting to work together or connect on some level.

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

Being patient enough to wait to see results is one challenge I have faced. I know many people quit before they see results and it is easy to see why people give up too early. Creating a business is like planting a garden. You have to be patient and wait to see results while watering the garden and working on it every day. 

How do you stay focused? 

I write a to-do list each night that has my important tasks on it, and my next day laid out from start to finish. This keeps me focused each day so I know what I have to work on as opposed to wasting time trying to figure out what I need to do each day.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition? 

I personally interact with all people who reach out to my business and give people the attention and personalization they crave in this day and age.

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

Organic Search optimization

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

Put in the work consistently for months and years before you expect any results. Be patient and hardworking, on the right things of course, and results will come. Yes, it is hard to know what the right things to work on are and if you get that wrong you’ll be wasting your time, but you will start to see small wins right away and keep working on what produced those to start seeing bigger wins, but be patient in the mean-time.

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

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca is my current favorite book. It reminds the reader that time is the most precious resource even though it is the resource we most freely waste, give away, and allow others to control for us. It is a great reminder of how we need to be in control of our lives and time and makes a great case for why. 

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

I love Google sheets because it is free and easy to edit from anywhere in the world, updating in real-time. It’s a great tool for SEO collaboration and tracking, especially for lower budget companies who can’t afford a higher-end SEO tool.

Who is your business role model? Why?

My grandma because of the way she looks at the world, thinks, and asks questions. She helped me when I started my business, both in giving me a place to live and discussing business topics, helping me expand my thinking, and decide what my goals and next steps would be.

What is your beauty routine? What are some of your favorite products?

I love using Rosehip oil on my face to moisturize at night and get Vitamin A into my skin.

How do you balance work and life?

I go on a run six days a week to balance out any stress I am feeling and break up my workday with music and exercise. I find running to be one of my favorite parts of each day that also forces me to take a work break I may not have taken otherwise. 

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Stretching and yoga help me decompress and my body and mind always feel so much better after stretching, focused breathing, and quiet. Yoga with Adrienne is a great stretching and deep breathing channel for Yoga beginners looking to give Yoga a try.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

I want to start interviewing successful founders on my own YouTube channel and start a podcast. I’d love to learn from other’s successes more and share their lessons with those looking to learn and expanding my YouTube channel is my next step to do this. 

I’m also going to get back into apparel design, but with a better focus and higher quality, so keep an eye out for that and I will also announce it on the Her.CEO blog.

How can our readers connect with you?

People can connect with me by emailing me stacy@her.ceo, signing up for the two separate email lists on Her.CEO,  tweeting at me @stacy4startups, or watching my YouTube channel on which I plan to increase video output and interviews starting later in 2020 http://www.youtube.com/c/StacyCaprio

- twitter: www.twitter.com/stacy4startups
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/her.ceo
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/stacycaprio
- youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/StacyCaprio
- website: www.her.ceo