Meet Serena Bishop Gordon, founder of Special Blend Gravel—a cycling camp designed to help women push their limits on two wheels in the most supportive, empowering environment imaginable.
The camps? Pure magic. Life-changing experiences that turned nervous beginners into confident gravel goddesses.
The business? Struggling to survive with 50 newsletter subscribers and the marketing power of a whisper.
The brutal irony: Special Blend Gravel was offering transformational cycling experiences that women DESPERATELY wanted but those women were talking themselves out of registration due to concerns about fitness levels, worthiness, and belonging.
Here's where this story gets juicy and heartbreaking at the same time.
Serena's camps weren't failing because they sucked. They were struggling because women are absolute masters at talking themselves OUT of amazing opportunities.
The research revealed some soul-crushing truths:
The plot twist that broke my heart: Women would show up to camp and say, "I wish I'd known it was okay for someone at MY fitness level to be here!"
These incredible humans were literally gatekeeping THEMSELVES from their own transformation!
Our approach focused on addressing both the tactical business needs and the emotional barriers preventing conversion.
1. Establishing Independent Brand Voice
We developed a comprehensive email marketing strategy centered around four content pillars that would provide ongoing value while building community:
The content calendar was designed to be sustainable for Serena while consistently demonstrating expertise and building trust with potential participants.
2. Website Experience Redesign
We completely reimagined the user flow to address specific anxiety points identified in our research:
Clarity and Definition: Added explicit explanation of what "intermediate cyclist" meant, with specific examples and benchmarks to help women self-assess accurately.
Social Proof Integration: Strategically placed testimonials from past participants that directly addressed common fears and concerns about belonging and capability.
Comprehensive FAQ Development: Created an extensive resource addressing practical, emotional, and logistical questions that emerged from our user interviews.
Visual Storytelling: Coordinated professional photography showcasing diverse women enjoying the camp experience, emphasizing joy and achievement over intimidation.
3. Methodology and Validation
The project included competitive analysis of similar cycling camps and women-focused athletic events to understand industry standards and identify differentiation opportunities. We developed high-fidelity prototypes in Figma and conducted user testing with both past participants and potential customers to validate our approach before implementation.
The transformation was both immediate and sustained:
Community Growth:
Business Performance:
Professional Development:
Timeline: These results were achieved over an 18-month period, with initial momentum building within the first quarter of implementation.
"Working with Megan to ensure our site was providing the correct content, in the correct places, at the correct time, was an eye-opening journey. She not only helped me understand the value of the revisions, she walked me through her process and provided suggestions and examples of how we could improve it, resulting in a website focused on allowing us to reach our target customers and our goals."
The lesson that'll keep you up at night: Your customers' biggest barrier to buying might not be price, features, or competition. It might be believing they deserve what you're offering.
Are you accidentally gatekeeping your own customers with messages that feed their self-doubt instead of fighting it?
Because there's a whole world of people out there who need exactly what you're selling—they just need permission to believe they're worthy of it.
Want to see similar results for your business?
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