Case Study: Cassandra Comeau

How did you find out about WP Rockstar?

Now this is a few years ago. Feels like forever, when I first saw Julia, what she was doing, teaching on a webinar or something like that. 

And it really intrigued me because, at that point, I was only light touch, like I was in WordPress, messing around with things and learning things and just DIY as I went, as I was supporting clients because I worked under a marketing agency at the time, and I had some website building background a little bit from high school and, you know, but I didn't per actively pursue.

But I happened to see one of her trainings, and I think there was an ad I saw on Facebook, and that's what piqued my interest. I'm like, well, I'm in here. I might as well brush up on my skills. So that was what started it. And I believe it was lik a free webinar or a free challenge or something to that effect.

And then I got the offer to jump into the program. 

What was your light life like before you joined?

I was just a generalist VA. I had been in the VA role for about a year, I think, at that point, and I was working on blogs, loading vlogs, learning SEO, just like tangible things that I was being taught. 

And I was sitting there going, well, I used to do like back in high school, the old school way of coding websites and tinkering and computer class.

I'm like, well, I got that behind me. So that's where that came from. But I also was in training to be an online business manager at the time. I was going through a training program. 

And part of that is also about launch management, managing tech. And I always enjoyed trying to figure out things and problem-solving and that sort of thing.

So it just felt like a natural additional skill to add to my repertoire. And nine times out of ten, I'm going to be tech support for most of my family. So it was one of those things where I just rolled with it. 

What actions did you take as a result of taking the course and being part of the community?

Well, I was part of the coaching program as well as the actual curriculum, so I was able to participate in some of the training calls and be in that slack channel. And it was amazing to see questions being asked and seeing the answers and getting some of that hands-on approach. And at the time, I was trying to decide as an online business manager at the time, I was trying to figure out like, where do I want to dial in my focus?

Because I really enjoyed seeing what launching looked like and how that but how you got to launching and all of those steps that led up to it. Because customer journey is so important, regardless of where you are in the sphere. It pulled those pieces in for me. 

And it just from there I started, okay, I'll put web development projects in and then I started taking these other little small projects, or I do these updates for clients or be pulled in to look at SEO or look at the plug ins because they would get word of mouth to me.

Other clients would refer me, and then I would just go in and try and fix whatever was broken, basically. And I would just and I used the skills and then I started building my own website. 

And then I've got a passion project website that I was building at the time. So it was amping up my skills, getting more portfolio, and it was just like a slow rolling opportunity.

And it's led to the point now where I'm doing web design and I'm doing funnel building as well. So I'm looking at the integrations component of the automations as well. So how does all of this overarching and pulling it all together? So that's been the slow roll of the progression through the whole. 

Did you have any experience as a freelancer before that?

In 2019 I went full time as a VA, but I was still sticking where my wheelhouse was from corporate, where I was more office manager accounting into those sorts of things. But I was finding it wasn't my niche, it wasn't my area. I found it very energetically exhausting for me. At the end of the day.

So I was trying to find other ways to still contribute and support businesses. And that's when I started looking at Freelance Plus schedules. And then the whole 2020 thing happened. I don't want to say the name because I don't like the name anymore. It definitely opened up a lot of doors with my kids and the flexibility and the freedom to be home and handle homeschooling and all of that stuff.

At the time, while everybody was navigating the chaos that ensued at the time. So it made it a lot easier in the long run for my family and I. And now, we actually moved to the East Coast, and I'm still working with a lot of the same clients, and I'm still meeting new ones and learning more opportunities and diving in.

And it's been a lot of fun and just having this flexibility. It's definitely helped me through everything. I've moved three times. So I'm doing that and trying to work at it. 

Have you had any contact with coding before the course, or did you feel intimidated by it? 

I don't know that intimidation was part of my like, my skepticism. It was more the personal, identifiers. Right. It's like, do I have what it takes to do it? Do I, you know, can I own what I'm learning and those sorts of things?

So it's been a confidence building and a lot of waves, and it's definitely helped me because I'm a naturally speedy individual. So my deliverables are usually pretty quick. And so it just aided in that. But all of this is slowly building up my corpus along the way, which has been huge, to find my own identity in the freelance space because it feels like such a huge community that you worry whether or not your voice is there.

But it's definitely helped through all of that for me. 

How long did it take you to earn back your investment in the course?

I built my first website within a year of going through the program, so I haven't completely finished phase three yet. I'm still working on that piece just because I want to give it a good effort.

But, it took me about a year to get my first website project, but that's because I was still focused on OBM, so I was not filling in the web design role or anything like that. 

But if I were to take any and all opportunity that came out of it, because it did uplevel my skills in that role, probably within three months I had that money brought back up.

So, you know, depending on how you look at it as a web designer for about a year, but as an overarching skill set and being able to support or manage a team and be able to help when through a launch process or anything like that, it within weeks I was able to recoup that. 

There's the thing, just the troubleshooting and email marketing, like it's how it all talks to each other. Building the forms, understanding how the forms integrate into your website so that you can lead, collect and make lead magnets like it's a very diverse program. 

It definitely helps even if you're a generalist business owner and you're not necessarily wanting to support clients, but you want to do your own, it's definitely a program, even for that, because then you get a better understanding of each of the phases so you have better appreciation, whether you outsource or not, to bring in that that ideal person.

Then you understand the workflow just a little bit better.

Can you talk a little bit about this first project? 

The very first project I jumped in on was actually more tied to log loading and building a new blog landing page and doing SEO.

So I was working on a client's website. 

I came in as a generalist for her, but that's where it really started for me, is getting into that and understanding headings and seeing all of the pieces and being able to help them while they built their SEO and all of the things that tied to that.

So that was the first project, and it was a monthly retainer, a small monthly retainer, and I was doing it consistently for almost two years. I think I worked at that by doing that work. 

And what about the first, web design project? How did you find that? 

Word of mouth. Most of my clients seem to be word of mouth because I get to work with somebody.

I don't know if it's my personality or what, but it's a lot of my referrals. A lot of mine have been relationship referrals. So, it was a colleague of mine. She referred me in to do a build. And then on top of that, my sister in law, she actually hired me to do a website for her as well.

So it was in tandem with the two projects. So it was between doing like the SEO, the linking of forms and those integrations was on one side. And then my sister-in-law had me build a full website. So I was doing a repair and a build simultaneously. So it was definitely a quick project.

Both of them.

Did you feel supported when you were going through the course and being part of the community? 

Yes, I still feel suported. I still randomly go into the Facebook group. I still go into like, I'll email in if an email comes in from Julia or even, Shannon's Wynn's email comes in, I'll send something back and I'll be like, can you tell me more about that?

They still interact even now, so it's been amazing. And it's interesting to see everybody's growth like some of the ones that were in some of the cohort that I was, seeing how advanced and how everybody's doing. It's been really neat to see everybody's skill progression along the way as well, and just their confidence building, because there's been a lot of that.

I find it very much a confidence builder program in part to it as well, just that empowerment. It's been really good. 

What are your future plans now? 

Well, I'm still deep diving into the web design components. I'm still doing those projects. I've got three website projects I'm working on right now simultaneously. I don't know if that was smart, but I'm doing the work.

And then, in addition, I'm adding in, working with, Go High Level products as well. So like I'm doing funnel building and integrations with WordPress and doing the funnels and the email automations. So I haven't fully identified the title that should go with it because it is tech VA, but it's also web design and funnel designer.

So I just haven't found that unicorn name for all of that yet. But it's definitely leaning into my tech side very heavily now. And the baseline that I had as my OBM role and my generalists roles all have brought me. 

It was all part of that journey to bring me to this point. So I have an understanding of the holistic process when it comes to marketing and running the business for a client and being able to give suggestions and feedback along the way.

So it's that I've tried to value add outside of what I do. If I see something as an opportunity to help the company grow and scale and do the things that they envision to also because of their wins or my wins at the end of the day. 

Yeah it's definitely and it helps too because it's you don't feel like in corporate you have your, your box that you live in when you're in the freelancer role and in this type of role, you get an overarching appreciation of the entire process, the entire project, and even just it gives you a better understanding of how that company operates so that you can best cater your skills to that company.

Because if you understand it and understand where they're going, it makes life easier to make recommendations and make progress on them, in their business with them. So it helps them better support. 

What stood out to you about GeekPack and the WP Rockstar? 

I am a self-identified nerd, so the fact that I naturally gravitate to anybody that uses the word geek, nerd.

I've always been that quirky, doesn't really fit in any one box. Like I'm very multi passionate. So it was just the fact this was the start of the avatar building for Am. As much of a nerd as I am a coffee person, so it's the two parts of my identity and the fact that we get to, you know, you get the personality with it.

So I appreciated that and I identified that with Julia as well, because I thought when she I didn't know, she spoke my language, but I don't know, it was just it, everything clicked. It all clicked. 

What would you say to someone who's on the fence about joining the WP Rockstar? 

If you're on the fence, talk to some of the former students.

Ask the questions that are making you pause, because we're going to be the ones to tell you, oh no, that's covered. Or oh, that would be a great suggestion to tell them. Or, you know, these are things that can help improve the program and maybe make it even more. 

Not that it's not already diverse in everything, but it just brings even more to the table and more support, because the digital marketplace we all know has changed in the last one year, three years, five years, ten years.

So if there's anything that's making you pause, ask the questions. Because the team, whether it's Julia answering you or, or Shannon or just anybody on the coaching squad, they're going to give you the best answer and they're going to get you that, personally, if you only dive in just to get a general understanding, I think that alone will bring back ROI for you, even if you don't pursue, anything to do with websites or tech integrations or anything like that.

It just gives you a better understanding of just the thought process and the thinking and the and it gives you a little bit of appreciation for your team. It also helps you better set up your team for success too. So it's multifaceted both ways. 

What is your number one tip for someone who wants to learn a new skill?

Practice and break it. Break it. Smash it to smithereens. Rebuild it. Because honestly you do work best and you do learn best when things go sideways. So don't be hard on yourself. Like I've had epic, epic failures on automations and things like how it was tested and everything like that. But it just made me stronger, made me a better problem solver, and it also made me a better person to be able to put my hand up and ask for help.

So there's always somebody smarter in the room. You don't have to troubleshoot it all by yourself, but the biggest thing is get in there, get dirty, break it if you need to, and then rebuild it. And that honestly will set you up for success in the long run.