Pursuit 365 Day 220: Blair Kaplan Venables

Blair Kaplan Venables is an expert in social media marketing and the president of Blair Kaplan Communications, a British Columbia-based PR agency. She brings fifteen years of experience to her clients which include global wellness, entertainment and lifestyle brands.

As a pioneer in the industry, she has helped her customers grow their followers into the tens of thousands in just one month, win integrative marketing awards, launch their businesses and more. Yahoo! listed Blair as a top ten social media expert to watch in 2021. She has spoken on national stages and her expertise has been featured in media outlets including Forbes, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur and Thrive Global. Blair is also the #1 bestselling author of Pulsing Through My Veins: Raw and Real Stories from an Entrepreneur and co-host of the Dissecting Success podcast. When she’s not working on the board for her local chamber of commerce, you can find Blair growing the “I Am Resilient Project,” an online community where users share their stories of overcoming life’s most difficult moments.

What makes an opportunity exciting to you – in business or in life?

I’m driven by a passion to create and help others. My purpose in this lifetime is to be of service to my fellow humans and to empower the people who come into my orbit. I’m always inspired when presented with the opportunity that ignites this passion in a way that involves innovative thinking, storytelling and creativity.

What has been the greatest shift in your career or life and how did you navigate through it?

In October of 2019 my husband suffered a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery when he was on 43 years young. I was by his side while he was in the hospital for three weeks and it was during that time that I knew I had to change my business model. Our life together flashed before my eyes and I knew there was a way to do things better that would award us more money and free time. During that period in my career, I was faced with capacity challenges and blurry work boundaries. I knew that I wanted to create a business where I could empower more people, make more money and have more free time. It was during that time that I knew I needed to make a shift to being more of a mentor and creator than a manager of other brand’s marketing. Since I am a thought leader in the social media space and an extremely creative person with a passion to teach, I knew that it was time to switch from the “done for you” business model to the “done by you” and “done with you” space. This switch has allowed me to set boundaries, have more control of my income and innovate in ways that I didn’t even know were possible.

What has been your favourite experience you love to share?

Everything that happens in my personal life, influences my business. Everything that happens in my business, impacts my personal life. I set out on a journey to learn how to write a book by writing my first book, Pulsing Through My Veins: Raw And Real Stories From An Entrepreneur. This was my practice book before working on the I Am Resilient Project book (coming out this Fall). I loved the entire process of creating, writing, publishing, accidently becoming a best seller, strategically becoming a best seller and holding my very own published book in my hand. I found the entire process very empowering and inspiring.

Recently, after the tragic and sudden loss of my mother after I a very short battle with cancer, I found myself packing up my childhood home. While going through my pre-adult life prized possessions, I found multiple diaries from various stages of my life. In each one, I stated that I wanted to be a published author. I loved to write poems and stories and understand now, that is how I expressed my emotions. I would spend hours writing by candlelight or typing up my poems and binding them together with shoelace. In fact, these books of poems was a staple gift to the people I loved most. I didn’t know then, but I was setting a big goal for myself. As I got older, I forgot about this dream until after my book was published and these goals from little Blair appeared in my life.

What are you up to right now that people should know about?

The past year has been a time of transition. A lot of significant life events occurred which caused me to drastically change my life’s goals. The summer of 2021 is a time to heal, get curious and grow while ramping up for my biggest fall ever. My sister and I will be publishing the first I Am Resilient Project book, which we have been working on for a few years. This book is a collection of stories of resilience from around the world and these stories will inspire you on a cellular level. I’m also gearing up to launch Empowerment, which is the ultimate group coaching experience that hones your social media and publicity skills so that you stand out from your competition and become a recognized thought leader in your industry. You can learn more about everything that I’m working on at www.blairkaplan.ca and get yourself a coveted spot on the list to be empowered (aka sign up for my newsletter or Stress Free Social Media Checklists).

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