We were lucky to catch up with Caitlin McCarthy recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Caitlin, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience is defined as the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties, also known as toughness. But I really hate this definition.
I sometimes feel that I am not resilient because I don’t recover from things quickly. In fact, I tend to air of the side of rest and digest to really move forward in anything. I take my time to process things, rest, ponder, think things through, and then probably rest again.
However, just because I personally feel I don’t recover quickly, doesn’t mean that I am not resilient. Resilience is so many things and varies based on situations and factors beyond our control. To me, resilience isn’t necessarily recovering quickly, but the choice that even when things are hard, you will recover or you will continue on. No matter how long it takes or how hard it gets. And I think that is more my definition, the one of withstanding.
I have been unfortunate enough to be chronically ill most of my life, starting at 16 and then suffered a traumatic brain injury while abroad in Malawi, Africa in 2014 that took me out of medical school and prevented me from becoming the surgeon I had always dreamed of being.
Because of my chronic health challenges and then my traumatic brain injury, I have had to learn to roll with the punches that life throws at you while still choosing to get back up in the fight each time. That there are times when “fighting” means to push and sometimes your fight calls for rest.
Through all of it, I have made the conscious decision to continue going. Even when things were slow, hard, painful, or there was no plan. When it was hopeless and dark, I just kept getting up and going through each day.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I plan luxury slumber parties for stressed out and exhausted mamas so they can focus on the fun of the party while I focus on a low stress, memorable party experience.
Events can be stressful… there are a lot of moving parts and details to keep track of. From guest lists and decorations, to food and favors, throwing an amazing party is lot of work! Add in the duties of being a caregiver and mom, and your day is gone! But, it doesn’t have to be….let Practically Perfect worry about the details while you enjoy the party. Let us handle the stress while you have the fun!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My resilience is defintiley one of the key qualities that has helped me to grow and build my business. I would encourage others to build resilience by taking a step back when things get hard and critically examining things. What happened? How did it happen? What systems failed? Do you have a process for this or do you need one?
I would also encourage you to do things the hard way sometimes… I know. That sounds crappy, but hard work breeds these characteristics and sometimes working smarter not harder inhibits our ability to use those thinking skills and get down to how our brain works and how we can use our brain to our advantage.
Resilience is like a muscle, if you don’t work it, it won’t improve. So be critical when stressful things happen. Work that resilience so things become more muscle memory and require less thought.
Creativity has been another important quality for my business. Not just when it comes to designing themes and planning perfect parties. My creativity flourishes in many aspects of my business. Customer care, social media, emails… the list goes on. It allows me to problem solve in so many unique ways and has really served me when my business or an aspect needs a pivot or to be reworked.
Just like resilience, creativity has to be worked to be the most beneficial and there are certain areas that may call your creativity more than others. Follow them. Let your creativity take you where it wants to go. That is where your secret sauce lives, in your brain. No one else knows this or can see it. Figure out what makes you creative then sit back and let that brain get to work!
My final quality that I feel is MOST important would be my endless curiosity. I am a sponge for knowledge and absolutely love learning. Whether it’s tax code, contracts, social media, you name it, my brain LOVES to learn everything about my business, other’s businesses, and the world. I never stop learning and growing.
My curiosity has lead me to some wonderful groups, events, people, and so much knowledge that has helped me build a business that is successful and built around MY life and how I want it to look. The need to always learn more, do more, see more is what pushes me every single day and is vital to a successful business.
My favorite quote by Walt Whitman is “be curious, not judgemental” and it is truly amazing when we approach our businesses with that mentality of always asking questions vs judging ourselves, our clients, our work etc….
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Luxury slumber parties are now the hot party and because of that, Amazon, Shein, and Temu have launched their own very inexpensive (and very cheaply made/poor quality) DIY kits that are less than half the price of our full service parties.
Many people believe that can do it themselves for cheaper, and they will either keep the supplies to reuse them or sell them. While the packages look appealing online, many customers do not take into account the number of hours of work it takes to do it yourself, the space ti takes to store it all, or the time to source the rest of your party materials and to resell the equipement (especially in a super saturated market)
They think the setup is very quick and a breeze, but it is only that way because I have done it hundreds of times and I know what I am doing. So when you see my timelapses of a party for 12 that I set up in under 2 hours, I promise you, your party for 12 being done yourself will take you double or more than what I spent.
I am currently launching my own DIY services and trying to make a big push in my marketing to support local for DIY not only for the cost, but the actual work. When you purchase from amazon, you are setting everything up from scratch. The teepee tents come in a few dozen pieces, same with the trays. You have to wash the sheets and blankets. Find pillows to match. It is a huge investment of time.
With me, everything is already done for you. The theme is curated perfectly saving you time on finding all the supplies to match or coordinate. Everything is assembled, you are just setting it up at your place. Your money stays local vs supporting a big corporation. And unlike amazon, if something goes wrong, you can call me and I am a real person who can help you troubleshoot things!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.practicallyperfecteventsmi.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/practically_perfect_events/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PracticallyPerfectEventsMI/
- Other: @Practically_Perfect_Events on IG
Image Credits
I took the photos, however the backdrops for nerf and barbie were done by Balloons N More Decor, another woman owned business that is my preferred vendor so I would love for her to get credit for them if those photos are chosen.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
