We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maura Navin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maura below.

Maura, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

When I started my business, these two beautifully overgrown lilac bushes were 80% of the view outside my home office window. I loved their blueish periwinkle color and the way you could tell they were about to bloom because you could smell them before you could see them. They were a lot like I believed marketing should be—a subtle knowing, eye-catching, using multiple senses, and most of all, real.

When it came to naming my business, I wanted it to mean something. My mom had recently passed, and she was my rock, my biggest supporter, and my cheerleader. She was a petite and mighty Italian mamma and nonna. So, of course, I went to Google and looked up blue lilac in Italian–Blu Lilla. To me, it sounded like a sad, sick gorilla. I don’t know, but it just did.

And that was the moment that LillaBlu was born.

Maura, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a mindful marketing strategist and visibility coach who helps overwhelmed business owners gain the confidence and know-how to market their business mindfully by designing a personalized strategy, building an easy-to-do action plan, and untangling the mindset monsters that get in the way. Why? When small business owners show up fully and have fun with their marketing, it leads to consistent and increased revenue – and who doesn’t want that?

But before LillaBlu, I had a great career in public relations, non-profit communication, local government, and finally, as the Marketing Director at an educational software company. Over the course of what I refer to as my career journey, I learned a lot about what I loved and how to do things like manage others by empowering them, negotiate for win-win-win situations, and be honest and transparent in all things. More importantly, though, and what shaped the next chapter, were the lessons I learned about what I didn’t like to do and how NOT to do things.

Every role I’ve played has been about building relationships and empowering others, and I knew that when I started my own business, those would be central to what I was building. So, I started LillaBlu with the goal of changing the way the world did marketing by focusing on what was real–real stories, real experiences, real success, and even real challenges and mistakes. I started by doing marketing for others, then doing it with them, then teaching them how to do it, and eventually realized what my first business coach told me was spot on – I was a coach all along. Part strategist, part doer, part cheerleader–all coach.

I’m a big-picture strategy geek with a passion for empowering others to do what lights them up and build a life and a successful, sustainable business doing it. My three-part approach to marketing can be applied to life across the board: you need a strategy–your roadmap and guide to go back to when you get lost; you need an action plan–one that is realistic for YOU to put that strategy into play; and most importantly, you need to get your mindset at the top of its game. Because if we’re being honest, the only thing that stands between your awesome strategy and doing the things that will get you to your goals and beyond is you.

What I love about the work I do can probably best be summed up in this email I got from a client. “Your mini session left me feeling seen, heard, understood, and supported; PLUS I had the actual action steps.” This. This is what lights me up. Whether we work 1:1 over the course of the year, in mini-sessions or VIP days, as part of the Marketing: Untangled Mastermind – for everyone, or the Single Mamma Edition, at a Mondays are for Marketing UN-Networking event, or on one of my Untangled Retreats, you are fully supported. I’m going to tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I’m going to be right beside you, with support, resources, and the connections and community you need to thrive. I also work with larger businesses and organizations as a speaker, mentor, guide, and consultant when things and teams change. And if we’re far apart, you can listen to me and my guests on the Super Real Human podcast!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Within three years of starting LillaBlu, my marriage ended, I had major surgery to resolve uterine fibroids, and I was diagnosed with a rare Low-Grade Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma. Literally, my odds of winning the lottery were greater…but there I was!

This string of events taught me how to ask for and receive help–something this “control enthusiast” was not used to. I couldn’t drive or lift anything, and as someone responsible for all the things, including her family’s income, this was terrifying. I had just signed on with a business coach that came with a hefty investment, and I promised myself I would do my very best to maximize the impact of the work. Through these challenges, I found support, accountability, and community that helped me keep my business operating at the same revenue level despite the fact that I had no choice but to take time off and heal physically, and learn to live with a host of emotional changes as well.

One of the first videos I shared shortly after my diagnosis centered around gratitude despite the season I was in. It illustrates the foundation of how I was able to survive and thrive. This is when it became abundantly clear that my mindset and how I choose to approach any situation could, in fact, impact the outcome. It forever changed the way I handle all challenges and obstacles AND the core of my business.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

I think all small business owners have had some version of a “near-death” moment when we honestly couldn’t see how to move forward and keep going, and we were looking at indeed.com to find our next gig. It’s unpleasant to talk about, but I think it’s important. When you are that small, and there is no backup, it can get really real, really quickly, and other business owners need to hear about it.

Two years after my cancer diagnosis, and at the height of the pandemic, the relationship with my ex-husband went south. There had been rough patches, but this was different. He remarried, and the environment became toxic for my daughters. What ensured over the next few years was unimaginable. From enormous legal fees and persistent migraines for me to physical ailments to emotional trauma for my girls, the situation wreaked havoc on our home and, inevitably, what energy and effort I was able to give my business, which was our primary source of sustenance. The icing on the cake was that this was also while my dad was failing, and my siblings and I were managing his care.

I had experienced challenges in the business before, such as not being able to pay interns and part-time (amazing) contractors what I would have liked to while trying to grow the business and times when drawing on my retirement was the only option to pay the bills, but this was a season of business like no other.

This season impacted me and my business so significantly that it took years to get through and feel stable again. I was missing due dates, incurring late fees, and praying that nothing unexpected would happen. The problem was that, at that time, I was in mamma bear survival mode and wasn’t building a pipeline or thinking far enough ahead. And…

This was the wake-up call I needed. The lesson I needed to learn. The reminder that mindset, along with strategy and action, was exactly what I needed. I focused on my goals, gratitude for what I had, and opened up to all possibilities and opportunities. I went back to basics – the basics of what I do and how I serve. I refocused my energy and effort, and I did it all after conversations with my girls. Ensuring they were okay, solid and stable, and ready for mom to shift some of her focus back to work…for us. I re-taught myself what I teach my clients. Every. Day.

Then, as if by magic, business shifted. Opportunities presented themselves, reinforcing that showing up matters. Mindset matters. And when that all appears, you jump in and make the most of every second. This experience and lessons promoted me to offer a very specific cohort of my Untangled Mastermind – just for single moms running businesses. It can be hard, even traumatic, and the things you need most are a supporting community and someone to guide you through with specific action items you don’t have to think too hard about. It’s that easy…and not…all at the same time.

You’re going to have those moments where you have no idea if you’re going to make payroll or not, and you’re contemplating whether this is the end of your business or not. Rest assured, you’re not alone, and you can do it. There is always a way, even if it means getting a side gig to support your once side gig-turned-business. You’ve got this.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lillablu.com
• Instagram: @maura_navin (https://www.instagram.com/maura_navin/)
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurawebster/
• Other: Please credit the photo submitted to Raya al-Hashmi / Raya on Assignment

Image Credits
Raya al-Hasmi / Raya on Assignment