Contenders Wanted

Episode 21 - Shaking off the blanket of success for greater impact with Cara Macklin

• Rob Cook / Cara Macklin • Season 1 • Episode 21

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Show Notes


Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were fairly successful but you felt called to something more? Something that would be uncomfortable or maybe even a little risky?  Well our guest today is Cara Macklin, the founder and CEO of Caram, a professional coaching and business mentoring organization based out of Northern Ireland, and she understands these feelings all too well. 

Cara is a creative thinking entrepreneur and business success coach. She grew up in my family business and opened her first business at 15. She spent 15 years as Director of a multi-award-winning healthcare & hospitality group, growing from 3 businesses with 200 employees to 7 businesses with over 600 during this time. She gained in-depth experience of the highs and lows, the growing pains and the successes that come with scaling a business in a tough industry. Her passion is constantly growing businesses through a creative culture and methodology to develop the best people who are inspired to deliver growth. Through her personal experience and understanding her unique purpose, she envisioned a new model of elderly healthcare creating Northern Ireland’s first lifestyle care home, ‘Milesian Manor.’ Having also worked in Marks and Spencer’s Food Trend Studio in London, her passion has always been how to think creatively and do things differently to grow and succeed. In today’s world of uncertainty, speed of change, complexities and volatility, she believes the ability to think creatively, adapt quickly and be flexible are crucial. As a professional coach and business mentor she runs her company, Caram, where she combines her entrepreneurial experience with coaching. She developed her unique creative methodology, helping leaders and businesses strengthen their creative ability, think differently and achieve powerful change. She has been recognized for her work, being named an Institute of Directors finalist for Director of Innovation, Northern Ireland’s Top 40 under 40, Women in Business Young Businesswoman of the Year and Women in Business Outstanding Innovation awards. She has been featured on dozens of podcasts and media including, the BBC, UTV, Qradio, IIBN podcast, TEDx circle, and she will soon be featured on Fox TV in September 2021.  On the show today we discuss the following:

  • Who is Cara and what does she do (4:20)
  • What was life like growing up in a family business and lessons learned (5:06)
  • What experiences enabled Cara to be successful growing the family business (11:54)
  • Cara's advice for solving a problem you have no idea how to solve (19:01)
  • How Cara disrupted the elderly care market (27:11)
  • What fears Cara faced in leaving the family business (30:45)
  • How Cara overcame these fears (34:25)
  • Cara's musing on dealing with not making progress fast enough (44:00)
  • What does it mean to Cara to be a Contender (49:29)


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How to learn more about Cara:


Additional Books, Individuals, or Items Discuss in the show:

  • Rich Keller
  • Erin Brockawich
  • Dominique R
  • Fraser Cameron Episode


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