🥈Celebrating 2 years of MVacay on Substack!

gratitude for this community + a 5-year milestone, I'm so glad you're here :)

Five Years with MVacay! Wow 🙏

In April 2019, I created MVacay on Instagram, where I started sharing travel/events guide infographics with my followers. How far I’ve come! In April 2022, I started this Substack email newsletter, so I want to take moment and reflect and celebrate two years of showing up in your inbox.

It’s Me, Lis!

MVacay’s Mission:

Why I’m Here:

• I care a lot about equity of promotion - It matters to me to promote smaller events and businesses that get less coverage. I’m always seeking out new, sole proprietor, BIPOC and women-owned businesses who I can amplify. More popular events and older island organizations can get a lot of attention and media, and while I definitely support some of them, I know what it means to be scrappy and do it all yourself.

• I care a lot about well-organized information - there’s nothing worse than sending 15 links and texts to your friend who is visiting MV for the first time on how to get here, or searching for a hairstylist on Google to find half of the listings closed. So I created the space I wanted to exist - somewhere clean, pretty and updated.

We love the island and consider ourselves personal cheerleaders for every new business that opens here. Our mission is to create a space so everyone can equitably access and explore what makes MV beautiful.

What MVacay has accomplished in Year 2:

• Steamship Authority Partnership - I started writing blog posts and emails occasionally for Steamship, which is a fun way to expand my reach

• Grants - I won MVYRadio’s Business Diversity Initiative Grant and received promotion on their radio station (hearing Laurel Redington say MVacay blew my mind).

• Our Mobile App family has grown - my husband Court added MV Bucket List to the family, and keeps our Events and Ferries apps updated as well.

• Formalizing my Exchange of Services Approach - I’m excited to partner with a few companies this coming summer to share more about what they’re doing. My goal is for 10 total partnerships this summer and I’m already halfway there. (Want to learn more? Shoot me a note at info@mvacay.com)

• Understanding my Voice - I now predictably know exactly what types of guides I do and don’t do, and hopefully readers also know what to expect from me.

• Double the Subscribers - more of you are here, and I’m learning to maximize Substacks’s tools to make it a great experience for everyone

What I hope to Accomplish this Year:

• Build Meaningful Relationships - I want to gain my confidence in approaching business owners in person more this summer, and I have several friend-crushes on the island I hope to spend time with IRL. Coming out of two-under-two as a mom means I will have more time to venture out and do that.

• Never Stop Exploring - I love to try every new business that opens, and I have a long bucket list of events and places I still want to make it to this season

• Make MVacay Sustainably Profitable - I’ve chosen not to pursue paid advertising, which has limited my earning potential. I had hoped that reader subscriptions would be enough to venture into full-time with MVacay, but I still have a long ways to go with that. I will always keep showing up, but I need to get creative on how to make this project profitable.

❤️ Thank YOU!

• I am deeply grateful for the DMs, the kind email replies, and the genuine support that you all have given me over the past five years. I know I’m in the right place, with the right thing, and that 2024 will be better than ever.

• I have a big heart for growing island businesses and any support you can share with me in return is FELT. Every financial contribution is a true blessing to our family, and helps to continue making this possible. Even if you’re not able to become a paid subscriber, your engagement is a huge act of generosity.

With love and gratitude,

Lis, Court, Evy and Ari Bluford