I’m so excited to introduce January’s Mompreneur! Cary Heise is the beautiful, creative, and energetic force behind Social Butterflies and Stay At Home Rock Star, and she recently formed the Facebook group Raleigh Mompreneurs. She is every-woman and everywhere, and I was so happy when she agreed to meet me for coffee last week!
Cary, thank you for this interview! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I grew up in Myrtle Beach and went to Clemson for a little bit, but came back and graduated from Coastal Carolina University. I moved around a lot as an adult, to California, Delaware, Raleigh twice, and probably a few other places! I met my husband in 2002, and we have two children, Ashlin, 7 and Carver, 5. We are really lucky to stay in Raleigh to raise our family, and we love living here. There’s always something to do!
You currently run two businesses, Social Butterflies and Stay at Home Rock Star. Tell us about them!
Social Butterflies is a local online guide to free kid and family events. It’s totally biased, because I only put in things I think my readers will love! We’ve got about 2300 subscribers now.
Stay At Home Rock Star was just a fun idea I had two summers ago, to put a slogan on a t-shirt. Neither was a planned business for me, they were just fun ideas that I had, and other people liked them too!
What inspired you to start Social Butterflies?
When my daughter was about one, in 2005, I was trying to find family activities to do, and I was always frustrated because it seemed like I was just missing the fun stuff by a week! Now I always know what’s happening and I can share with everybody.
What’s your favorite part about running your own business?
Definitely meeting people! I also just love serving people, which is what Raleigh Mompreneurs is all about. I love connecting with people, and connecting people with other people. I don’t get paid for it, it’s just fun!
Speaking of serving people, you recently went on a mission trip. How was that?
Yes, I went on my first trip to Belize in August of last year. Belize is a resort country, but really it is very, very poor. We held a Vacation Bible School, which I loved! We also built bunk beds for children and visited a refugee camp to do a women’s ministry and youth sports program.
How do you manage to juggle motherhood and your businesses?
I don’t know that I’m doing a really good job of it, but this month I cleared my schedule, and I’m focusing on staying at home this month, not so much working at home. At 4:00, once the bus comes, the computer is off. We’re busy talking, catching up, eating dinner, doing homework, doing bed and bath. Sometimes when I try to check email in between everything else, I get caught up in all the loose ends and get stuck, so I try to just let email wait. And some projects can wait, too.
What inspired you to start the Raleigh Mompreneurs Facebook group?
I meet a lot of different women, some stay at home moms, moms with businesses that advertise with Social Butterflies, and then women I’ve met through Stay At Home Rock Star – mentors and other women that I would cross-promote and network with. And I really felt like those worlds should collide! I thought if I could combine those two, everyone could meet each other and network and learn from one another. And here we are, with over 500 members already!
What’s the best thing about being mom to Ashlin and Carver?
We love to get away and spend lots of quality time together! I love to plan trips and get away from the distractions at home. I plan the beach trips and Disney trips and the weekend getaways, even going to the museum for the day. I love to just unplug and get away with them.
If you could share one tip for mom entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Balance your time. Go ahead and schedule it out. Otherwise, it’s just not going to mesh well. If your child gets up at 7am and needs to be at preschool at 9, leave those two hours to get the family ready. And if you need to do work in the morning, get up early and do it before the kids are awake. Schedule your personal time too, like Girl’s Night Out and date night.
Also, realize that you are your own boss and you’re setting your own deadlines. If something isn’t working, you can change it! Because we all do our best work when we take our time to do it well.
Finally, where can our readers find you?
Social Butterflies: website | facebook
Stay At Home Rock Star: website | facebook | twitter
Raleigh Mompreneurs Facebook Group
Email: caryheise@yahoo.com
Make sure you click on those links to see what Cary has up her sleeve next! Thank you Cary, for being such an inspiration to all of us Raleigh Mompreneurs!
~ xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo ~
Are you a Mompreneur, or do you know of an amazing mom entrepreneur who would like to be featured here? Send an email to christy@betrueimagedesign.com, and we’ll be in touch for a future feature!
Local Mom Entrepreneurs – come join us on the Raleigh Mompreneurs Facebook page!
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