Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennie McClelland.
Hi Jennie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In 2014, my family had just come home from a Saturday youth soccer game. We had driven by some sort of event that would have been fun to go to, but we didn’t know about it. I said, “Wouldn’t it be helpful to have a community website that listed all of the local family events in one place?” My husband said, “Why don’t you make it yourself?” I was a stay-at-home mom who did a little bit of substitute teaching and volunteer work. How could I start a website?
After thinking about it, I researched website design and looked at other communities’ websites for families. I decided to go for it and launched BlueWaterParent.com in 2014.
My business model was pretty simple: provide content and sell ads. I sold a few ads and created a community calendar with local events that were intended for families- no pub crawls or late-night concerts. I created a few directories also- schools, preschools, parks, playgroups. I did a lot of marketing of the website. I created refrigerator magnets that are on practically every refrigerator in St. Clair County. I handed them out at community gatherings for several years.
Around 2018, I took a break from active publishing for caregiving responsibilities and other career pursuits. I worked as an online English teacher, an in-person substitute teacher, and a local newswriter. With encouragement from my friend Emily Herbert, who worked as my ad salesperson, BlueWaterParent.com was relaunched in 2022 with a focus on a robust calendar, timely news stories, and useful community guides. Emily did a great job selling ads, and I worked hard to bring value to my advertisers. I published several news stories each week, had a few guest writers, and participated in many community events. I loved hearing that people were using the calendar to find playgroups, learn about local festivals and fairs, and build relationships with other parents whom they met at these events. I grew my social media presence and published a bi-weekly newsletter. In 2025, I started floating the idea of selling my business to someone who had a shared vision for BlueWaterParent.com and could guide it into the future. I sold BlueWaterParent.com to Lyndsey Brownfield in early 2026. I still contribute news stories, but the daily operations and ad sales are now managed by Lyndsey. Handing over my “baby” was not easy, but it has been gratifying to have created something of value that lives on in the community and provides a supplemental revenue source for a young mom.
BlueWaterParent.com taught me so much about my community and myself. I didn’t think I had the skills to create a website out of nothing in 2014. But I learned what I needed to learn and was then able to make something that was both creative and technical. My experience as a “founder” of something that is important to the community has given me the confidence to pursue other career aspirations like news writing, freelance writing, and essay writing. I continue to substitute teach and plan to start a school newspaper/website with my students. I attended the famed Erma Bombeck Writer’s Conference this year and was able to connect with other writers and people who use writing to inform, inspire, and entertain.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Imposter syndrome is a big obstacle. Jumping into web design with no training, creating a product, and then selling ads was a big leap of faith, and I constantly second-guessed myself. But as I got feedback from parents telling me that BlueWaterParent.com actually was a useful tool, I gained more confidence.
Learning technical skills on the fly was a real challenge, but I did it. There were a few times when I hired tech support, but they made the problem worse, so I just figured out some of the programming and hosting issues on my own. For someone who learned about computers using DOS back in the 1900s, having real conversations about CMS, API, and IPs was surreal.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a writer, but I guess I am also an entrepreneur. Before BlueWaterParent.com, I had a string of short-term entrepreneurial ventures, all borne of necessity. As a young mom, I wanted to stay home with my daughter, so I became a licensed child care provider and had an in-home daycare for a few years in the 1990s. I had a piano sitting in my living room and wanted some supplemental income, so I became a piano teacher in the early 2000s. I had a short run with direct sales of children’s books until the manufacturer went out of business, also in the early 2000s, and my kids got a ton of free books.
While I have a college degree in Public Policy, I didn’t end up going to law school or pursuing a government career. But the writing skills I honed in college and the ability to complete projects have been valuable skills as an entrepreneur.
Like all mothers, I put the most work into my kids, and they are what I am the most proud of. Besides my kids, BlueWaterParent.com is definitely the crown jewel (so far) of my meandering career path. To be able to create something that is useful, practical, and creative, and then be able to pass it on to someone else is incredibly gratifying
Contact Info:
- Website: jenniemcclelland.com and bluewaterparent.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennie-mcclelland-74166b214/
