Cathryn Lavery is the founder and CEO of BestSelf Co., a company that keeps customers organized through paper products that double as productivity tools. Cathryn believes that becoming your best self as an entrepreneur isn’t just about hitting your business goals. It’s about making sure that the vision you have for yourself extends into your personal life, self-care routines, and relationships, too.
"My love language is efficiency. I’m always toying around with my process and my daily routines so I can get as much done in as little time as possible. Once I figured out how I needed to operate to balance my busy lifestyle and had a great framework in place, I decided to turn it into products that would help people become their most productive selves."
Cathryn started her career as an architect but would spend her days dreaming up side hustles and business ideas inside of her many notebooks. She had tried her hand at many ventures over the years but found that one side of the business—specifically, the part where she was a one-woman sales team—proved challenging.
“I would go all-in on an idea that I had until it became time to actually sell it.Then I’d get bored and toss the idea aside instead of sticking with what I had. That’s when I decided that if I wanted to build a sustainable product business, I would need a strategy and a team to help me with the sales and marketing piece.”
Before she ever listed her products on AppSumo, Cathryn was a long-time fan and late-night software shopper. She would scroll through the marketplace for hours, trying to find the best tools for her company that would help save it both time and money.
“I’ve bought so many products on AppSumo that I couldn’t have found anywhere else. When it came to expanding our market, I also knew that the people who could benefit from what BestSelf Co. had to offer were the ones scrolling through the marketplace just like I had been. Because I’d had such a great customer experience, I knew that when the time would come for us to expand the BestSelf Co. market presence, listing on AppSumo was non-negotiable.”
Cathryn is also the type to tell it like it is and she doesn’t subscribe to “boss babe” culture. After years of knocking on the door of the male-dominated startup scene, she found some significant gaps for women in the entrepreneurial space. But that didn’t mean Cathryn was going to pull out her power suit and wear pink from head to toe.
“People ask me all the time what it’s like being a female entrepreneur, and I think the biggest misconception there is that there is no such thing as a female entrepreneur—you’re an entrepreneur. You’re not a boss babe, you’re just the boss.”
Cathryn is always looking for fresh products to bring to AppSumo, and she shared that her products tend to mirror the learnings that are happening in her life.
Over the years, the BestSelf Co. product suite has branched out from personal productivity-themed products to other include other topics like career, relationships, and even the art of persuasion. Cathryn recently became a new mother and anticipates that her next round of products will likely embody the productivity hacks she’s discovered as a working mom and entrepreneur. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for when they hit the AppSumo marketplace and see what she’s dreamed up along the way.
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