Work At Home Success Story: Kasy Allen, Annapurna Digital
This week’s Work-At-Home Success story comes from Kasy Allen of Annapurna Digital. She has expertise in digital strategy, eCommerce, content strategy, and search engine optimization (SEO). She also has solid experience in web analytic, path analysis, and coordinating overall marketing efforts.
She is mountain girl at heart, loves small town life, and has a crazy passion for general web-geekery. If you want to learn more about her, do a search, and you’ll likely find everything from recipes to restaurant supplies to rare conditions. She’s kind of all over the place.
1) How did you get started working from home?
I got started working from home after working more than 2 hours away from home for the previous 5 years. I was away from my family – including 2 kids – every week and started to become a weekend mom. The positions I held over those 5 years definitely gave me the experience I needed to start my own business and come back home, but it was getting to the point that I’d rather do anything other than drive away from my family every Monday.
2) How did you choose the work-at-home career you do?
I started small with my business. I knew how to build websites and do Internet marketing, so I could start my own business doing without any overhead – other than a computer and some software, which I already owned. I started Annapurna Digital, a Colorado based website design and SEO firm, in 2014 while still working full-time. I only had one client at first, so it was easy to juggle, but before long, I had so many clients, that it was getting hard to do my full-time job and build my business. It was easy at that point to part from my current full-time job and make my way home to run my own company.
3) How did you get started (basic initial steps)?
I’m a storyteller at heart. I believe that strong brands do more than just write content, they tell stories. One of my favorite things to do with start-ups is to help them find what their story is – why are they creating a business to begin with? This is also where I started. I basically wrote a story for Annapurna – why I wanted to be in business, what I wanted to accomplish, and how I wanted to be seen to my team, clients, and community. Of course, starting off, my team consisted of just me, so it was easy to convince myself to jump on board with the brand. After that, it was pulling those feelings and the story into how the brand should look – the logo, the colors, and the voice/tone of the stories we tell. It wasn’t until after this was done that I even started worrying about a website.
4) How did you get your first client or customer or job?
I got my first clients by putting it out on my own social media page what my plans were. I offered free search engine optimization (SEO) audits and did a lot of favors and trades at first. What I learned from all of that was I really enjoyed being actively involved in my community. I was volunteering time to help non-profits build their brand and websites. I wasn’t getting paid much, if anything, but these not only felt rewarding to the soul, it led to word-of-mouth advertising – a win-win. When I wrote our company mission statement and values, I made sure to include giving back as part of who Annapurna is – not just committed, but involved with our team, clients, and community.
5) How do you market your business?
There are a couple marketing tactic that have worked best for us thus far, but my favorite is probably networking – attending community events and being involved with the chamber. I’ve gotten some of my best and favorite clients from teaching, too. I offer free classes about once a quarter – each of them in-person – to teach small business owners how they can do some of the marketing themselves. A lot of what I’ve felt strongly about with Annapurna is stepping away from the computer and getting face-to-face time. We’re creating lasting relationships, and I feel that’s important.
6) What does your usual day look like?
My day usually includes getting the kids off to school and sitting in front of the computer to start my day around 7:30am. I still eat lunch in front of my computer, but I try to take at least a 30 minute to hour long walk with the dogs every day. The walk gets me away from the screen, gives my eyes a break, and I get to take in the beautiful Colorado scenery while playing with the dogs. This has to be one of the best parts of my day. I usually take off by the time the kids get home, which is around 4:45 pm (long day for the kids, yes; but they don’t have school on Fridays).
7) What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
I wish I knew more about sales. I’ve been so involved in marketing for the past 8 years, that sales was never part of my plan, but I know now that it’s critical to growing any business.
8) What advice would you give someone who wants to work from home?
If you want to start working from home, I’d advice getting the experience first. You can’t go fresh out of college and expect to start a successful business; well, I guess you can if you’re Mark Zuckerburg (who never graduated college). The point being, I loved the experience I’ve received along the way. I’ve met mentors and I’ve mentored. I learned to find my confidence and I learned to listen. Some of these skills you only learn along the way – and it’s great experience.
To connect further with Kasy, visit
Website Annapurna Digital
